The Trulli Houses of Alberobello

The small town of Alberobello in the province of Bari, in the southern region of Puglia, in Italy, displays some remarkable examples of a traditional mortar-less construction called Trulli. These dry stone huts are constructed out of limestone slabs stacked on top of each other to form pyramidal, domed or conical roofs. Despite the lack of mortar, the structure is surprisingly stable.

Trulli were built during a period of history, when the construction of stable dwellings was highly-taxed. The ingenious inhabitants of the region came up with the idea of the trulli – temporary houses that could be dismantled at short notice, particularly when the tax inspector is around. This is known to have occurred in 1644 to thwart tax inspectors sent by the King of Naples.

Hot & Sexy Photo Albumb of Jordan Carver

Karakul Lake in Tajikistan

Lake Karakul or "Black Lake" is located in the high and dry Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan, within the Tajik National Park, in one of the most beautiful and remote location in Central Asia. It is a deep brackish-water lake lying in a closed basin at an altitude of 3,900 meters above sea level. Surrounded by high mountains which block humid air masses, the valley receives less than 30 mm of precipitation a year making it one of the driest places in Central Asia. Between October to May the lake is entirely frozen and forms a white expanse when viewed from Karakul village where a small community of Kyrgyz people survive through nomadic herding of yaks, sheep and goats.

10 Most Beautiful Landscapes of Finland

Finnish nature photographer Tea Karvinen shares her list of Finland’s ten most beautiful landscapes. Utö, Finland’s southernmost inhabited island is a very unusual place. Travelling there by car and boat from Helsinki takes just as long as flying to New York from Helsinki, even though the distance to Utö is a mere fraction of a trip to the United States.

Yet many Finns prefer to visit the island of Utö, especially during the winter or in the spring and autumn to watch the migration of the birds. The rocky island is just over one square kilometre in size and only about 50 people live there all year round – the number triples during the summer. After the Finnish Armed Forces vacated the island in 2005, their premises were taken over by locals that are now rented out as accommodation for tourists.

Jurmo, an island village close to Utö, is also worth visiting for those wishing to gain a glimpse into the nature and life on the Finnish archipelago, which is one of the world’s largest island clusters. Koli in northern Karelia is Finland’s most well-known national landscape. Imagine the blue (white in winter) of Lake Pielisjärvi, speckled with its many islands and the rocky summit of the Ukko-Koli Mountain soaring above you. This is surrounded by beautiful hills covered with tall candle-shaped spruce trees. This amazing landscape is only a short 10-minute walk from the Koli Hotel.

In Koli National Park, you can walk to a wide variety of natural wonders: traditional gardens, ancient forests, hilly scenery covered with trees, flowery meadows, sheep grazing areas, and lush groves. Over 100 years ago, Finnish artists and nature enthusiasts, such as classical composer Jean Sibelius, writer Juhani Aho and painter Eero Järnefelt, began elevating Koli’s status as an important national landscape.

10 fascinating photo from Finland

Finnish Lapland is known around the world primarily as the birthplace of Santa Claus.However, in this wonderful edge has another unique feature - a forest, which in the winter turns into totally unrealistic, mysterious figure.