Wander Lord

Interesting on art, nature, people, history

Category Archive: Countries and cities

Menton France Colorful Lemon Festival

Welcome to Menton France Colorful Lemon Festival

Welcome to Menton France Colorful Lemon Festival


Traditionally, the riot of yellow color is Lemon Festival which lasts from late January through mid-February. Meanwhile, since the 1930s the town of Menton, France, has celebrated it annually. About 300,000 people visit the town during the festival. In particular, they enjoy the colorful parades featuring larger than life-sized figurines made entirely of citrus fruit, a specialty of the region. Besides, no less interesting are other activities. For example, performances of local folk music and dance take place during the festival. In addition, visitors may stroll by scenes from famous stories reconstructed out of citrus fruits and displayed in one of the city’s parks. Noteworthy, the Lemon Festival coincides with another important local event, the Orchid Festival. And those who attend this exhibit of orchid specimens may also sample regional foods and view the work of local artists.
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Indian Blue Lotus Festival

Symbol of the festival. Photo by Oakridge Keg & Cask Festival. Indian Blue Lotus Festival

Symbol of the festival. Photo by Oakridge Keg & Cask Festival. Indian Blue Lotus Festival


An International event, the Blue Lotus Festival focuses on presenting the richness of Indian culture and music! The visitors coming to the festival discover the sounds of India at Pushkar, Rajasthan. The event takes place in February. The mission of an unprecedented international event – to present the richness of genres and styles of best of Indian music. In particular, Sufi, Folk, Traditional, Gypsy, Tribal, Devotional, Spiritual and Indigenous music from 13th to 18th February 2013. The festival in Pushkar, an ancient town of great cultural and historical importance is in Rajasthan, India.
According to Indian mythology, Pushkar has originated from the petal that fell from a blue lotus held by Lord Brahma – the creator of the universe. From the fourth century BC people have been visiting Pushkar for pilgrimage and some settled here transforming it into a town of unique spirit with hundreds of hidden temples and picturesque ghats surrounding the lake.
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Indonesian rainbow village Kampung Pelangi

Undoubtedly, color matters. Indonesian rainbow village Kampung Pelangi

Undoubtedly, color matters. Indonesian rainbow village Kampung Pelangi


In fact, color can affect not only the fate of a single person, but also the whole village. An amazing story, in particular, happened in the usual Indonesian village of Wonosari, whose inhabitants once chose life in color. Traditionally, any Indonesian village looks like this – houses of dirty white or gray color with equally brown roofs. However, after the houses in the village were repainted in bright colors, they had to rename the village itself. That is, Kampung Wonosari became Kampung Pelangi, which literally means “Rainbow Village”. Indeed, all 232 houses changed their colors – into bright red, blue, yellow, green, pink, and orange. The village became iridescent!
In addition, bright drawings and patterns adorn most of the rainbow houses. Meanwhile, the transformation of the village became possible thanks to the government’s program to attract tourists. And of course, thanks to $ 22,000 spent on repainting. And apparently, it really worked!
By the way, thanks to the color, the village in a moment became one of the most attractive places for the Instagram users. Undoubtedly, color matters, and the inhabitants of the rainbow village know this not by hearsay.
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Singapore melting pot blue color

Blue color of night illumination. Singapore melting pot blue color

Blue color of night illumination. Singapore melting pot blue color


In fact, every country has its own, distinctive color. For example, we associate green color with Ireland, but Spain – with red color. Also, country of lakes, good ecology and clean water – Finland, which we associate with blue. Mongolia, the country of steppes and desert terrain – with a gray-yellow color. Traditionally, Russian associate their country with pink, just because on all political maps it is pink.
And what color is Singapore? In fact, nobody can answer. However, in my opinion, it is blue, even deep blue, and especially at night.

Some information about Singapore:
Singapore’s status as a successful melting pot for diverse races is remarkable, achieved within a short time, since the island became a republic in 1965. The government has, to a large extent, succeeded in ensuring harmony between the races by means of legislation. Also, thanks to good public housing and education schemes, and compulsory military enlistment for males aged 18. The locals, especially among the younger population, see themselves first as Singaporeans and only secondly as Chinese, Malays, Indians or Eurasians.
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Spain – distinctive European Country

Spain - distinctive European Country

Spain – distinctive European Country


Spain is a country in the southwestern corner of Europe. Its area is 504,782 square kilometers. Kingdom of Spain is the official name. It borders Portugal, France and Andorra. But most of the country lies along the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, so there are a lot of beautiful beaches. The Pyrenees Mountains form a natural border between Spain and France.
The Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean belong to Spain. By the way, Spain controls the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco.
In ancient times many different peoples from Europe and North Africa settled in Spain. The Romans ruled the region from the 200s BC to the AD 400s. Muslim Arabs invaded in 711. After more than 700 years Christian kingdoms in the north began to take back territory.
In the 1500s and 1600s, Spain was a world power. It was the first country to colonize much of the Americas. The powerful navy was called the Spanish Armada.
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Turkey – amazing country

Turkey – amazing country

Turkey – amazing country


Turkey lies partly in Asia and partly in Europe. For centuries it was the heart of two great empires – the Christian Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Most of Turkey is on Anatolian peninsula and its small part is in southeastern Europe. Narrow waterways and the Sea of Marmara separate the two parts of Turkey. Its official name is the Republic of Turkey. Its area is 780,580 square kilometers. Turkey borders Bulgaria, Greece, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Georgia.
Humans have lived in the Asian part of Turkey, called Anatolia, since at least 7000 BC. Greeks and Persians later fought over the land. Romans took over Anatolia by about 30 BC. In AD 395 the Roman Empire was divided into western and eastern parts. The eastern part became known as the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople (now called Istanbul) was the capital. The Seljuk Turks invaded Anatolia in the 1040s.
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Jaipur – Pink City

Jaipur – Pink City

Jaipur – Pink City


If you believe the guidebooks, Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, began to be called Pink City in 1875. Before the visit of the Prince of Wales, son of the British Queen Victoria, the facades of the city buildings were painted pink. But the city’s buildings were primarily built from pink sandstone. The influence of Islamic art in the form of Moorish arches or lattice windows was reflected in the architectural appearance of the new capital, founded in 1727.
Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, who was then governor (the city was named in his honor), hired Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, young talented architect from Bengal, to fulfill his dreams about perfect city. And this, perhaps, was the first city in India, built according to the plan, based on the Shilpa Shastras (the ancient Indian treatise on architecture) principles. According to it, the city was divided into rectangular sectors with parallel streets. In the central part of Jaipur, most of the palaces and monuments are located.
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