Wander Lord

Interesting on art, nature, people, history

Category Archive: Countries and cities

Cairo – city of thousand minarets

Cairo - city of thousand minarets

Cairo – city of thousand minarets


Since ancient times, Cairo has been called the city of thousand minarets. It is the most diverse among the megacities of Africa. It has the features of all the capitals of Egypt – the antiquity of Memphis, the divinity of Luxor, the Christian antiquity of Alexandria, the most ancient mosques of the East are preserved in it. And therefore the origins of Cairo’s greatness should be sought in the history of Egypt.
Approximately ten thousand years ago people began to populate the fertile valleys of the Nile, build dwellings along its shores, cultivate the land. It was the fertility of the Nile valley that provided the beginning of Egyptian civilization, its amazing creations – unique mosques with high minarets, majestic pyramids and mysterious sphinxes.
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Berlin Wall – death strip

Berlin Wall - death strip

Berlin Wall – death strip


The construction of the Berlin Wall, the most grandiose construction of the Cold War, began 56 years ago. Now you can see only a small fragment in the capital of Germany which was turned into a memorial. But the inhabitants of Berlin still remember with shudder this monster of concrete and barbed wire. This wall separated thousands of German families for 28 years.
Despite the fact that on May 2, 1945 the capital of the Third Reich was completely captured by the Soviet troops, at the Yalta conference it was decided to divide Berlin among the victorious countries. So the city, like a holiday cake, was cut into four pieces: the eastern one went to the USSR, the other three went to the United States, Britain and France.
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Matryoshka – Russian doll

Matryoshka – Russian doll

Matryoshka – Russian doll


The matryoshka is a set of four to eight hollow wooden dolls of graduated size nesting inside each other. It is the most familiar item of Russian folk art.
The rounded female figure was a familiar fertility symbol in pagan Russia. The most ubiquitous matryoshka is the pink-cheeked peasant woman in native sarafan, her head covered with the traditional scarf. However, there are a lot of variations. Nests of dolls with the faces of famous writers, members of artistic circles, military heroes, politicians or members of a family were created.
The first matryoshka – plump cheerful girl in scarf and Russian national dress – was born not in ancient times, as many believe.
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Greece – Land of Islands

Greece - Land of Islands

Greece – Land of Islands


Greece is surrounded on three sides by seas: to the south is the Mediterranean Sea, to the west is the Ionian Sea, and to the east is the Aegean Sea. More than 2,000 islands in the Ionian and Aegean seas belong to Greece. The islands are divided into the Ionian Islands and the Aegean Islands. The Greek mainland shares borders with Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Its area is 131,940 square kilometers. Its official name is Hellenic Republic.
In ancient times Greece was a center of science, philosophy, and art. In the late 300s Greece became part of the Byzantine Empire. In 1453 the Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered Greece. In 1821 the Greeks began a war of independence. Supported by Great Britain, France, and Russia, Greece declared its independence in 1829.
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Karelia – land of lake and forest

Karelia - land of lake and forest

Karelia – land of lake and forest


Karelia is a land of lake and forest, mist and rain. It has 40,000 lakes, among them Ladoga and Onega, the two largest in Europe. There is pine, spruce and the famous Karelian birch here. Fog often blankets the forests and lakes.
In Karelia, archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Neolithic (3000-2000 B.C.) settlements, and many rock drawings – masterpieces of primitive art—have been found. About 600 drawings have been discovered on the eastern shores of Lake Onega. The primitive artists hewed human figures, animals, birds, fish, reptiles, symbols of the moon and the sun with tools made of rough stone. The site for the pictures is on the edge of a cliff by the water. Rock drawings are best seen in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
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Waterfall – performance staged by nature

Waterfall - performance staged by nature

Waterfall – performance staged by nature


Waterfalls are a unique phenomenon of nature. A waterfall is a place in a river where water spills suddenly downward. Waterfalls are known for their beauty and awesome power. Large waterfalls are called cataracts and drop straight down. Smaller or less steep waterfalls are called cascades and fall over a number of short rock walls.
Flowing river water wears away the soft rock before the hard rock. The hard rock that is left creates a steep wall. Waterfalls also form as a result of movements in Earth’s crust.
The Niagara Falls is one of the largest and the most grandiose in the world. However, Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, near the border with Venezuela, is the largest. Its height is 226 meters, which is five times higher than Niagara Falls. And there is the national park with the same name, where there are about 300 smaller waterfalls.
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Ural Mountains – Backbone of Russia

Ural Mountains - Backbone of Russia

Ural Mountains – Backbone of Russia

The Ural Mountains form a natural boundary between Europe and Asia, a boundary that links, rather than separates. Stretching from the icy Arctic Ocean in the north to the blast-furnace heat of semi-desert in the south, the Ural mountain range has traditionally been known as “the backbone of Russia”.
There are many legends about the Urals; one of the most famous concerns the Lady of Copper Mountain. She lives in the form of a small lizard with a diamond crown on her head – the queen and custodian of the underground Ural kingdom. Whenever she meets travelers who truly love the Urals, she changes into a charming woman and guides them around her realm, proudly revealing where the richest ores and semi-precious stones are hidden.
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