5 tons of water fall off into the ravine every single moment, roaring, raising steam and disseminating spatter in all directions. ‘Liquid wall’ of Iguazu Falls extends its crescent on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
Noise of stream, as if someone forgot to turn off tens of thousands taps, can be heard from the distance of several kilometers to fade in… Finally, a valley filled with numerous cascades (275, to be precise) greets your eyes. Tourists, vested in raincoats, gather on viewing platforms, add amazed exclamations to the sounds of falling water and wonder who has created such beauty.
There are a couple of answers to that. Local legend has it that waterfalls are the outcome of unshared feelings of ancient Indians’ supreme god who fell in love with a native woman called Naipi and demanded that the chieftain of the tribe, and concurrently the father of the girl, give him his beloved. The severe father, who didn’t dare to stand up to the “Great One” agreed, of course, despite entreaties of the heiress to leave her alone for she had already got herself a groom, although not a divine one. On reception of a square ‘no’ the couple decided to run away. Their way went through a river. They were oaring in attempts to get to land as soon as possible and hide in impenetrable jungles but the rejected potential husband noticed them, got outraged and put his huge foot down into the river – and this was how the waterfalls emerged. Trivial scheme as for myths: gods + mortals + unhappy love = wonder of nature.
In opposition to the fairytale, scientists, as always, suggest their own theory. In this case – the one of the falls being volcanogenic. Out of enormous amount of lava high rocks were formed and later rains ‘overfilled’ local river so it started falling over blocks to create a tremendous complex.
“Poor Niagara…” – that’s all that the first lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt managed to utter on visiting the place. Yet, she wasn’t even looking at the entire panorama from a helicopter! For present day’s tourists it won’t be a problem, well, except, perhaps, a financial one – the flight will cost 110 dollars. Those who want not only to see but also to literally ‘feel’ the waterfalls will have to lay out half the price. Tourist boats will take them for a tour along rivers that tons of water fall off into. When speeding together with the rapid flow of Parana that waters on the side of Paraguay, or Iguazu itself, that stems from the territory of Brazil and Argentina, it is as if one is melting in the huge stream and feels like its part.
275 water points of interest are joined by another one… When we were children running out after a summer rain, abruptly replaced with clear weather, we used to admire a colorful arc bestriding the blue sky, not understanding how and why it appeared. When we found out that it is a reflection of sun rays in steam or fog, its mysteriousness in our imagination faded a little. But a rainbow over Iguazu is something special, first of all, because it is there almost all the time, even after dark. Formation of the night ‘septicolored’ is nearly the same as of the day one, only Sun and Moon exchange places to create natural illumination. But particularly religious local Indians perform their rituals, chant praises for the multicolored celestial rim that is believed to be a secret shaman sign…
Eastern cities are hard to imagine without a huge number of the commercial places. It is in the genes of the local citizens to sell and buy regardless their age and status. Despite the fact that Istanbul is semi-European city, the metropolis has prominent oriental features. So as to know exactly where to go and what to buy, OUTLOOK talks about the most spectacular markets after returning from Istanbul.
Today we are inviting you for a walk in the oldest neighbourhood in the city of Lisbon, the famous Alfama, an emblematic quarter we often see in the movies and works of popular culture when it comes to the Portuguese capital.
What season can be better than warm months to conquer summits, overcome seas and climb on the rocks? People often make great efforts to enjoy the comfort through the whole lifetime. But sometimes our soul needs some romance, so OUTLOOK presents seven unique canyons.
Each of us wants to escape rush of a city from time to time and lie low somewhere far from everything and anything. And it better be a place where one can listen to whisper of waves, feel light breeze and forever make friends with inimitably loud silence that muffles every disturbing thought…
In the world there are two Cartagenas. In both, their inhabitants speak Spanish, love bullfighting, and in the evenings they go to the beach to skip the mojito and breathe the salty wind. But only in one of them a rhythm of hot salsa, placers of emeralds and pearls can burst into a languid city walk, and bright, hot beauties can cross the road. And this is Colombia!
Iceland is a ‘country of ice and fire’, ‘country of thousand rivers and lakes’, countless waterfalls and geysers. There, like in a fairy tale, again and again, you feel like pinching yourself to check if you are dreaming or does it all really exist…
Spiegelgasse is originated from German collocation ‘Mirror street’ or ‘Mirror alley’. However, it is not the biggest and the most important street in Zurich. Moreover, it is vice versa, incredibly short and narrow… Well, being situated in the quiet nooks of the old city in such a way that no tourists could see it.
Many city dwellers are irritated by cats, dogs or even pigeons in the streets. Attempts of zoo-advocates to save them from attacks of people and from starvation are mainly ineffective. But there are wonderful cities in this world where people perfectly coexist with deer, peacocks and cattle…
Land-art is not simply the landscape design but also the whole direction in art which in thee 21-st century considered one of the most important when only lazy people do not speak about the ‘green technologies’ and environment. The names of stars of such an activity have sturdily come into the speech of the tutors, critics, and connoisseurs, especially they outline Patrick Dougherti.
Despite many pessimistic forecasts of urbanists of the 20th century, on-street trammanaged to stand up competition withsubways, cars and other means of public transport, and even found a second wind in modern city. The beginning of the 21stcentury, with its incredible technologies will surely become history as an era of "tram renaissance".
Canary Islands are not only the sea, beaches and cocktails. They are also the charred history of this part of the earth, the fire-breathing vents and salt mines. Especially hot temper among the rest of the islands, the land of Lanzarote is famous. Earlier on this land, volcanic eruptions occurred with an enviable regularity. Now, here tourists go to see the power of fire and magma and even look into the "underworld".
With the onset of summer, many of us ever and again cast a glance at the calendar, waiting for annual leave. And since summer vacation to a greater extent is linked to the relaxation by the water, we usually associate it with beaches – desirable destinations that can be very different.
Croatia is dubbed the pearl of the Adriatic coast. This country in the south of Central Europe recently became a member of the European Union. Now its beauty sites are much visited: every year more than 10 million tourists come to enjoy it, that is even more than population of the country. Let’s find out what attracts travellers so much.
Going to the Comoros a tourist wants to see pure exotic and immediately gets into an oasis of wildlife. "Moonlight" tenderness implicit in Arabic interpretation of the name "Comore" ("moon"), was taken from the neighbouring Madagascar, initially claimed to be called "Comoros".
Many travelers just don’t want to go into all the troubles to get an American visa for some two weeks of holidays. But having glanced at pictures of Puerto Rican Mosquito Bay they’ll change their minds instantly. Dark sea slick, silence… when suddenly mysterious green glow from the depth extends the darkness to shock the public on the shore.
Each state has its own official symbols: flag, coat of arms and anthem. But in addition to the traditional "identification mark" there are symbols chosen by people, for instance, a favourite bird. It is about them OUTLOOK expands below. To register the people's love by document, in 1960 in Tokyo at the International Conference on the Protection of Birds was created the concept of "national bird".
Amazon River – the river that not only South America but our entire planet cannot be imagined without – seems to have been explored length and breadth. But somehow every year scientists find out something about it they’ve never thought of before. We tried to gather most interesting and least-known facts about it in our feature.
...The virtuoso chisel inhaled the heat of a living soul in a cold stone block and created a khachkar - an inspired narrative about the spiritual search and longing for a lost paradise, unhurriedly unfolding tenacious rings of ancient mysteries in the curls of mystical ornaments.
In recent years Georgia has rightly become very popular touristic spot on world map. Probably, everybody will find something for oneself in this proud mountainous state: amazing nature, delicious food, devote and cordial friends and much, much more. Outlook try to visit it as often as possible and share all kinds of interesting stuff with you. Today we’ll tell about a marvelous Sataplia Reserve.
If you spent half a day enjoying chips with mayonnaise, herring, eel and cheese; your imagination managed to find solutions for all the riddles of the universe while waiting for hours in endless queue to the Rijksmuseum; and within a couple of hours you were almost knocked down on the road thrice, it means, no doubt, you were spending that day in Amsterdam.
