THE NEW PLACES CLASSIFIED BY UNESCO AS WORLD HERITAGE

Recently, the Committee decided to open up to new categories such as cultural landscapes and routes, industrial heritage (for example, this year, Ivrea, the industrial city of the 20th century, in Italy), deserts, marine sites coastal and small island sites, so that the list is more diverse and more representative of World Heritage. The sites proposed for inscription must meet at least one of the ten selection criteria, such as, for example, representing a masterpiece of human creative genius, testifying to an exchange of influences during History, to bear exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a living or extinct civilization, or else to represent natural phenomena of exceptional beauty and aesthetic importance or, of course, to be eminently representative examples of ecological and biological processes …
Italy is the country with the largest number (54), followed by China (53), Spain (47), France (44), Germany (44), and finally, Mexico (35).

China: Fanjingshan, a very rare ecosystem
South Korea: the Sansa, mountain Buddhist monasteries
France: the Chaine des Puys Tectonic High Place – Limagne Fault
Indonesia: Heritage of the Ombilin coal mine in Sawahlunto
Australia: Budj Bim Cultural Landscape
Colombia: Chiribiquete National Park and “The Maloca of the Jaguars”
Czech Republic: Landscape of breeding and training of ceremonial carriage horses in Kladruby nad Labem
China: Archaeological ruins of the city of Liangzhu
Turkey: Göbekli Tepe and its mysterious temple
Laos: Xieng Khouang Megalithic Jar Sites – Plain of Jars
Burkina Faso: Ancient iron metallurgy sites
Denmark: Aasivissuit-Nipisat, Inuit hunting grounds
Azerbaijan: Historic Center of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace
Oman: the ancient city of Qalhat
India: City of Jaipur, Rajasthan
South Africa: the mountains of Barberton Makhonjwa
Bahrain: Tombs of the Dilmun culture
Canada: Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi
Germany: the border archaeological complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke
Japan: Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Set: Ancient Japanese Burial Mounds
Spain: the caliphal city of Medina Azahara
Spain: Cultural Landscape of Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria
Italy: The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene
Iran: The Sasanian Archaeological Landscape of the Fars Region
Mexico: the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley and its original habitat in Mesoamerica
The 20th Century Architectural Works of Frank Lloyd Wright
Iraq: Babylon
Myanmar: Bagan
United Kingdom: Jodrell Bank Observatory
Czech Republic: Mining region Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří
Poland: Prehistoric striped flint mining region of Krzemionki
Portugal: Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga
Korea: Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies
Portugal: Mafra Royal Building – Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park (Tapada)
Russia: Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture
Iceland: Vatnajökull National Park – the dynamic nature of fire and ice
China: Migratory bird sanctuary along the coastline of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Gulf
France: French Southern Lands and Seas
Brazil: Paraty and Ilha Grande – culture and biodiversity

THE END

Censer of Santiago de Compostela

An unforgettable spectacle! Do you know what the real reason is?
It all started when the clergy of Santiago de Compostela Basilica felt pity for the way the poor pilgrims, their great most, spent the night before the religious ceremonies in honor of Santiago: snuggled together, out in the open, in the rain, and to the cold. So it was decided that they could shelter inside the
Basilica. Of course, the scent inside it was almost unbeatable, there were times of little or no personal hygiene, pilgrims arrived at the Basilica after many kilometers made on foot, sweaty, with dirty clothes, etc. To fight this smell someone remembered that it would be convenient to fill the Basilica with the smell of incense. But, as the main nave is majestic, only a monumental incense burner would fulfill the intended objectives. Hands to work, a giant incense burner, a system of ropes that would allow you to swing it and call this exercise has another ceremony of praise to Santiago de Compostela!
And so was born the giant incense burner used on pilgrimage days to Compostela… As I say, History is made of the sum of little stories…

For those who have never seen it… and for those who have seen it, remember!

A place in Peru

In a place in Peru, there is a surprising landscape of salt terraces, they are “Las Salinas de Maras”.
Their exploitation is as old as the Inca empire and they are located on the side of a hill in the “Sacred Valley”. The name of the salt flats in Quechua is Kachi Raqay and it is made up of about five thousand pools of about 5 square meters each, the water is filtered in the pools and evaporates by the action of the intense sun, causing the crystals of coarse salt to sprout. After 1 month the salt reaches 10 cm tall and has to be harvested.
In one part of Peru, there are some islands built with totora, where a community lives whose origins date back to times before the Incas: they are the Floating Islands of San Pedro de Kapi in Lake Titicaca, home to the Uros. They are located in the Bay of Puno and there are about 20. Each one is inhabited by 3 to 10 Uro-Aymara families, who build and roof their houses with reed mats, as well as make the islands. The Uros call themselves kotsuña, “the lake people”, and maintain the tradition of artisanal fishing, especially karachi and silverside, as well as hunting wild birds.
In a place in Peru, there is a place of visual magnificence: it is the Cordillera Huayhuash, legendary for being the source of the mighty Amazon. It has peaks that rise above 6,600 m, the Huayhuash is a compact range of 20 main mountains knotted by the blue of the glacial ice and beautiful lakes. It is considered the best place in the world for Andean trekking. A trip around the entire circuit is 170 kilometers of hard walking.

Photography: own and from the internet

Taken from a PowerPoint design by: Eliza

Kopi Luwak Coffee

From the coffee plantation to your cup, in photos

Peasants collect red coffee beans by hand on the plantations. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
The farmers carefully select the best coffee beans by hand. (Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/GettyImages)
The best coffee beans, ready to be served as a meal to the civet. (Photo: UletIfansasti GettyImages)
The civet, a small animal similar to the raccoon or the weasel, is the main protagonist in the Kopi Luwak production process. (Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/GettyImages)
A group of civets are fed coffee beans during the complex kopi luwak production process. (Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/GettyImages)

To obtain the kopi luwak, the civet must be fed with the ripe fruit of the coffee plantations and, then, collect its feces to remove the already digested but still whole grains. (Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/GettyImages)
A worker cleans the feces of the civet to remove the already digested but still whole grains. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
The feces of the civet are collected to remove the grains already digested but still whole. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
Once the civet’s feces have been collected, it is carefully broken up to separate the coffee beans. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
The gastric juices of the civet break down the proteins that make the grains traditionally bitter and make them sweeter. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
A worker washes the coffee beans after they have been extracted from the civet’s feces. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
Once washed, the beans are dried. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
The coffee beans are only lightly roasted, so as not to spoil the complex flavors that have developed during the digestive process. (Photo: UletIfansasti/GettyImages)
Ready to eat: a cup of kopi luwak can cost $40 and a half-kilo bag can sell for between $100 and $400. (Photo: Don MacKinnon/GettyImages)
As rich as it is exclusive: only between 300 and 400 kilos per year of kopi luwak are produced. (Photo: DonMacKinnon/GettyImages)

Author: jose

A Celtic Hymn to Love

With images from Scotland
May the path meet you.
May the wind always blow at your back and the rain fall soft on your fields.
And until we meet again, may the Future smile on you constantly.
May you live as long as you want and may you always be able to live fully.
Always remember to forget the things that made you sad, but never forget to remember the ones that made you happy.
Always remember to forget the friends who turned out to be false, but never forget to remember those who remained faithful.
Always remember to forget about the problems that have already passed, but never forget to remember the good things of each day.
May the saddest day in your future be no worse than the happiest day in your past.
May the roof never fall on you and may the friends gathered under it never leave.
May you always have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and may the way always open at your door.

May you always have warm words in a cold evening, a full moon in a dark night, and may the way always open at your

May you live a hundred years, with an extra year to repent.
May the Future keep you in its “hands” and don’t squeeze its fingers too much.
May your neighbors respect you, problems leave you, your friends accompany you, and your health does not fail you.
And may the fate of the Celtic hills embrace you.
May you never regret being born.
May your conscience be light and your heart heavy with friendship and love.
May good luck pursue you, and each day and night you have walls against the wind, a roof from the rain, drinks by the fire, laughter that comforts those you love, and that your heart may be filled with everything you desire.
May you see your children’s children, may your misfortune be brief and leave you rich with longing. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.
May you have many years of life, pursuing Friendship, Solidarity, and Peace among all Human Beings…
…and so be it every year, forever!

Original: “Saudação Celta” by an unknown author!