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Die faszinierende Tropfsteinhöhle Coves del Drac (Drachenhöhle) bei Porto Christo beherbergt den größten unterirdischen See Europas...insgesamt sind hier 7 unterirdische Höhlenseen miteinander verbunden....man kommt sich vor wie in den Minen von Moria aus Herr der Ringe....
The fascinating stalactite cave Coves del Drac (Dragon Cave) near Porto Christo is home to the largest underground lake in Europe...a total of 7 underground cave lakes are connected here.... you feel like you're in the mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings....
Mallorca / Islas Baleares
Panorama vom Hirschberg-Gipfel (1.670m) in den Tegernseer Bergen, links vom Gipfelkreuz ein Teil des Tegernsees. Am Gipfel selbst war ich gestern alleine, bis auf die rund 10 Butterhirschen, die den Gipfel auch für sich beanspruchten :-))
Panorama from the Hirschberg summit (1,670m) in the Tegernsee mountains, to the left of the summit cross a part of Lake Tegernsee. I was alone at the summit yesterday, except for the 10 "butter deers" that also claimed the summit :-))
Google Pixel 8 Pro PANO
Hungary takes its name from the tenth century invasion of the Magyars, a nomadic Eurasian steppe people who crossed the Carpathians and raided deep into Europe in the late 9th century. They were mistaken by Europeans for the Huns, who had cut similar capers in the 5th century. So, when the Magyars settled down and converted to Christianity, their new kingdom (misleadingly) came to be called Hungary.
Despite this deep history, what you actually see in the capital of Budapest is very modern. In addition to periodic catastrophic floods, the city was razed several times by invading Mongols (1241), Ottomans (1526), anti-Ottoman Christian forces (1686) and Soviets (1944-5).
Many of the prominent buildings and elements of infrastructure date to the late 19th century, when Hungary was planning a millennium celebration to mark a thousand years of history. This would be a major exhibition, aimed at reinforcing Hungarian pride in an era of growing nationalism, and also staking a claim to equality with Austria, long the senior partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The problem was that no one knew quite when the Magyars--who at the time of their migration were a nonliterate and nomadic people--had arrived. In 1882 a committee of historians was tasked with determining the date, but historians like to hedge their bets and the committee could only settle on somewhere between 888 and 900. The government felt it needed something more precise, and picked 894 for their arrival, making 1894 the date for the millennium celebration. Construction then began on ambitious new buildings like the enormous neo-Gothic Parliament Building (above), along with the latest forms of transportation, such as electric streetcars and subways.
As is often the case with these things, the projects ran over time and it became clear that the city would not be ready to celebrate the millennium in 1894. So, the government stepped in and declared by legislative fiat that the Magyars had actually arrived in 896, buying two more years to prepare for the millennium. As it turned out, that was still not quite enough time, as the Parliament building, with its symbolic height of 96 meters, was not completed until 1904.
The Danube and Parliament Building viewed from a balcony of the National Art Gallery in Buda Castle, Budapest, Hungary.
Armenia became the first Christian state in the year 301. It's hard to separate fact from fiction in early Christian writing, which aimed not to record history dispassionately but to promote conversion through the recounting of miracles. The traditional story begins with Gregory, a certain Parthian nobleman of a rebel family who converted to Christianity and came into the service of King Tiridates III. In due time Tiridates discovered both Gregory's Christianity and his lineage. It's not clear which was the more offensive, but the king had Gregory tortured and thrown into a pit to starve. A dozen or more years later--or so the story goes--the Christian God decided to punish Tiridates for his penchant for martyring guys and gals like Gregory by inflicting upon him a nasty illness. When the king's sister had a vision that only Gregory could provide the cure, she found him--somehow still living--and his prayers brought about the desired cure, which was quickly followed by the conversion of the king and the adoption of Christianity as the state religion.
As occurred elsewhere when Christianity became state doctrine, persecutions of pagans (and for that matter heretics, Christians whose theology differed from that endorsed by the state) soon followed. Pagan idols were smashed, literature destroyed, sacred places desecrated, architecture toppled, holy trees felled, and pagan priests harassed and sometimes killed. Gregory (now remembered as Saint Gregory the Illuminator) found himself reconciled with the king, on the other side of the law and at the front of the persecution. This was hardly unique. Despite all the legend to sort through in the hagiographies of Gregory and other saints, they generally agree that many of the most famous and admired saints of this era behaved quite violently towards the pagans. Most everywhere, before Christianity became state religion it grew slowly by example and moral suasion. After, it grew rapidly through force and coercion.
Above, the Upper Zhamatun of Geghardt Monastery, much of which (including the room seen in the photo) is carved from solid rock. Current structures date largely to the 13th century, but the monastery is said to have been founded in the fourth century by Gregory himself, and--as many early Christian churches were--on top of a pagan holy site. Geghard Monastery, Azat Valley, Armenia.
Northern lights, 20. Januar 2026
Greiling / South Bavaria / South Germany
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Astromodus
4min Belichtung via 16sec Einzelbilder (Stacking)
ISO 471
25mm KB
Mrs. Orca and I stopped at snake heaven on our bike ride today and found even more snakes out, many of them mating. Puget Sound garter snake, Olympia, Washington
carried by the wind
nature sings a solemn song
mountains cut the sky
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa.
I was walking by the pond and out of all the frogs that jumped in, this guy was content to stay on the rocks. He seemed amiable to having his picture taken, so I took the opportunity.
Another endemic somehow thriving in the alpine zone of the Pirin Mountains. Ferdinand's Saxifrage (Saxifraga ferdinandi-coburgi), on the Five Mountains Trail (E4) near the summit of Banski Suhodol (2884m), Pirin Mountains, Bulgaria.
I've noticed that the beauty comes in stages; first the daffodils followed by the dandelions. then comes the lovely purple stalks of flowers that the bumblebees find delicious. Those are followed by the delicate tiny buttercups that dot the whole mountain from clearing to clearing. My husband refuses to mow until the pollinators have their fill. The buzzing of the bees and songs of the birds are carried on the mountain breeze as it rushes up one side of the mountain, then plunged down our side and across the ridge down into the hollow.