Night of Power at the Masjid-al-Haram in Makkah

These breathtaking aerial photographs taken from the “Abraj al-Bait Towers”, also famous as the “Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower”, show Muslim worshippers praying at the “Masjid al-Haram”. These spectacular aerial photographs were captured in the early hours of July 16 2015, just one day before the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. After that all Muslims will celebrate Eid festival. The dazzling “Masjid al-Haram”, which is just located in the holy city of Makkah, contains Islam's holiest site the “Kaa’baa” and can now accommodate more than two million people. Moreover you know the Grand Mosque is also known as “Masjid al-Haram” and is the world's largest. The virtue of Night of power is equal to 1000 months of consistent praying. Muslims have strong belief on Allah Almighty and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.  

Almost 1.85 million visiting Muslims face in the direction of the Kaa’baa while performing obligatory five time daily prayers. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires that every Muslim perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime. Moreover, Hajj is one of the largest annual gatherings of people globally and many thankfully, the present structure covers an inspiring 88.2 acres, including the indoor and outdoor praying spaces. However, the Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to Allah Almighty, and happens in the last month of the Islamic calendar. It is heartiest feelings to associate with the prophet Hazrat Muhammad ﷺ in the 7th century, the ritual of pilgrimage actually date back as far as Prophet Hazrat Abraham (A.S). The prophet Muahmmad ﷺ is the greatest human who changed the life of countless peoples with his powerful character. 

Source: Dailymail

Baba Vida: Bulgaria

Baba Vida is the only completely preserved medieval fortress in Bulgaria, featuring both a fortification and royal castle in northwestern Bulgaria and it is town's primary landmark. It comprises of two fundamental walls and four towers. As the most significant fortress in the region, it played a vital role in the game of power during the several centuries. Baba Vida is situated at an altitude of 39 m. The fortress construction was started in the 10th century at the place of an Ancient Roman watchtower. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a “Danubian Bulgarian King” who pompous ruled at Vidin actually had three beautiful daughters: named “Vida”, “Kula” and “Gamza”. Before his death, he decided to distribute his realm between them. The name “Baba Vida” refers to these Bulgarian sister princesses, two of whom married impetuously and wasted their inheritances while the third one “Vida” - remained single and built the fortress in her city. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin. The Carpathians, However, Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, the name of the castle means "Granny Vida".

Baba Vida served as Vidin's main defensive building during the course of the middle ages and acted as the most vital fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. The Baba Vida stronghold stood an 8 month-long siege by Byzantine forces led by Basil II, but was badly damaged and once again erected during the rule of Ivan Stratsimir, as whose capital it served. Moreover in between 1365 to 1369, the fortress was in Hungarian hands. Vidin was abruptly attacked by the forces of Louis I of Hungary, but it took quite a few months to overcome Baba Vida. In 1369, “Ivan Sratsimir” managed to regain control of his capital, albeit having to remain under Hungarian over lordship. Although, in 1388, the Ottomans attacked Sratsimir's lands and forced him to become their vassal. But in 1396, he decides to join an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the King of Hungary, “Sigismund”, placing his resources at the crusaders' disposal. The crusade finished in the terrible Battle of Nicopolis at Nikopol, Bulgaria, with the Ottomans conquered most of Sratsimir's realms shortly thereafter, in 1397. The fortress played a role during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, serving as a weapon warehouse and a prison, also as residence for Osman Pazvantoğlu, as it has been no longer used for defensive purposes since the end of the 18th century. 

As the time passes, Baba Vida was opened as a museum to visitors in 1958. In 1964 the medieval castle was declared a cultural monument of national importance. Well, over the course of its existence, the Baba Vida Fortress been built and rebuilt on various occasions, with elements of its past visible throughout. These days, this restored site and museum has a main courtyard surrounded by an inner and outer wall as well as four towers, where finds and intelligence about its history are kept. Being a famous tourist attraction in the towns, the fortress has been restored to its earlier appearance. Source: Charismatic Planet

Fort Jefferson, Florida United States

The unfinished Fort Jefferson is a massive coastal fortress, actually a largest masonry structure in the United States. The Fort is beautifully composed with more than 16 million bricks. The fort is located on Garden Key in the lower Florida Keys within the Dry Tortugas National Park, about 110 km west of the island of Key West. The massive fort construction started in 1846 and continued for 30 years, but unluckily it was never finished. The development of rifled cannon and armored ships made Fort Jefferson obsolete even while its construction was under way. However, much of the work of fort building during the years before the Civil War was done by enslaved laborers. Therefore, in 1847, one of the bravest attempts every made to escape slavery was made by seven workers at the fort. However, commandeering or disabling as several schooners and boats as they could, they set out from Garden Key in a frantic attempt to sail away to freedom. The good-looking islands still do not exhibit any standing fresh water or even seasonal streams, therefore the name "dry". Owing to the potential difficulties of survival in such conditions, one of these islands was used as the location for filming a military survival film used to train aircraft personnel.

The Fort Jefferson design called for a four-tiered six-sided 1000 heavy-gun fort, with two sides measuring 415 feet, and four sides measuring 564 feet. The walls met at corner bastions, which are large projections designed to let defensive fire along the faces of the walls they joined. Fort Jefferson was designed to be a huge gun platform, impervious to assault, and capable to destroy any enemy ships foolhardy adequate to come within range of its powerful guns. The fort remained in federal hands throughout the Civil War, however hostilities was finished in 1865, the fort's population declined to 1,013, consisting of 486 soldiers or civilians and 527 prisoners. On January 4, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who visited this place by ship, designated the area as Fort Jefferson National Monument, but in 26, Oct 1992 the Dry Tortugas, including Fort Jefferson, was established as a National Park.

Well, if you want to visit this Fort, then can be reached by a daily ferry from Key West, as well as by chartered seaplane and private yacht. As a national park, camping is allowed on the beach. Tourists by ferry usually spend four hours on the island, which is enough time for a guided tour of the fort, lunch on the boat and swim snorkel equipment provided on the reef. The island has a gift shop but no food is available for visitors. Fort Jefferson was built to protect one of the most strategic deep-water anchorages by fortifying this spacious harbor. Due to its imperativeness, it could also serve as a potential staging area, or springboard, for enemy forces. From here they could launch an attack virtually anywhere along the Gulf Coast. Fort Jefferson, the most sophisticated of these, was a brilliant and undeniable symbol that the United States wanted to be left alone. Though never attacked, the fort fulfilled its intended role. It helped to protect the peace and prosperity of a young nation. Abandoned by the Army in 1874, the fort was later used as a coaling station for warships. Though used briefly during both world wars, the fort’s final chapter as “Guardian of the Gulf” had long since closed. Source: Charismatic Planet

Stunning Crescent Like Lake in the Gobi Desert of China

Yueyaquan or Yuèyá Quán is actually a beautiful crescent-shaped lake in an oasis, six kilometers south of the city of Dunhuang in Gansu Province, China, the Crescent Lake is a fresh water spring in the shape of a half moon. It was named “Yueyaquan” in the Qing Dynasty which is easily called crescent lake a natural wonder in the Gobi Desert. Mildred Cable & Francesca French visited the lake during their travels in the region and recorded their impressions in their book The Gobi Desert, "All around us we saw tier on tier of lofty sand-hills, giving the lie to our quest, yet when, with a final desperate effort, we hoisted ourselves over the last ridge and looked down on what lay beyond, we saw the lake below, and its beauty was entrancing. In fact, the lake is resembles a crescent fallen down into this desert, surrounded by sand dunes for thousands of years, though given countless surprise attacks by sandstorms, Crescent lake still gurgles clear, and still remains worthy as the first spring in the desert. This lake was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  The area is surrounded by beautiful high mountains, but has an arid climate and is extremely hot in the summer and cold in winter. However, rain only occurs in small amounts and quickly evaporates, resulting in the desert landscape. Desertification has become a foremost environmental problem in China which the government has tried to tackle in numerous ways. But this includes the proposed creation of a “green wall” of forests to counter the spread of deserts.

However, in 1960, the lake measurements were made, the average depth of the lake was four to five meters, with a maximum depth of 25 feet (7.5 metres). Therefore, with the passage of time, the, the depth of the lake continually declined. Moreover, in the early 1990s, its area had shrunk to only 1.37 acres with an average depth of 0.9 to 1.3 meter maximum. Hence, the local government give some attention in 2006 and decided to step in and rescue the oasis with the help of the central government started to refill the lake and restore its depth; its depth and size have been growing yearly since then. More recently, reservoirs have been built a short distance away in hopes that water would seep into the ground and help Crescent Lake, also called Crescent Moon Lake and Crescent Spring. The pressure is now to preserve major cultural and historic significance of this lake. The lake and the surrounding deserts are very popular in sightseers, who are offered camel and 4x4 rides. Moreover, the key to retaining the oasis will be in the dropping of water consumption.  In spite of the tourism that the Crescent Lake entices the amount of glacial melt from the distant Qilian Mountains that feeds the Dang River has not changed for several centuries. If the Three Forbids is strictly enforced then maybe the Crescent Lake will be relished by various generations to come.

Jabuka, The Charismatic Island

The island of Jabuka, which means apple in Croatian, is a 97-meters-tall uninhabited volcanic island located in the Adriatic Sea; around 52 kilometers west of the island of Vis. Jabuka, along with Brusnik, are the only two Croatian islands that are entirely of volcanic origin. Together with Palagruza, that is only partly of volcanic origin, the three islands form an area called "Adriatic Volcanic Triangle". Brusnik, Jabuka, as well as some parts of Komiska bay on the island of Vis and some parts of Palagruza originated from an eruption of magma due to the breakup of the Pangea prehistoric continent over 200 million years ago. Jabuka has charismatic properties due to the presence of magnetite, a naturally happening iron oxide, in the rocks that origin the magnetic needles of compasses of passing ships to go awry. The island is both a remarkable and frightening sight during nice weather in summer but in winter, when the winds blow causing large waves, Jabuka turns into a life-threatening adventure.

Though some say that ships actively avoid the island because of its magnetic anomaly, truth is, the island lies far from all sea routes. Therefore, boats can hardly be seen in the vicinity except those who have made the island their destination. But getting to “Jabuka” can be really difficult. Moreover, standing alone in the deep waters, “Jabuka” is exposed to all winds, and since even the fragile winds cause large waves in the open sea, it takes a lot of skilled maneuvering and luck to avoid crashing into this volcanic rock. Furthermore the shoreline is not appropriate for docking, and there’re no bays that could keep your boats safe from the wind. The steep cliffs make it difficult to build shelter and the surrounding waters are 200 meters deep and not appropriate for anchoring. In addition, the rocks are smooth without natural protrusions where the boats could be tied. The sea surrounding Jabuka, though, is tremendous fishing-ground that entices several brave fishermen. A very small number of plant and animal species have also adapted to the rough climate, including two endemic species a plant called knapweed and an animal species of black lizard. Some 50 years ago, the island was home to another endemic type of carnation, but is now extinct. In 1958 the island was declared a geological monument of nature. Moreover, when there were no motorboats, only the valiant, most enduring fishermen dared go to the island in order to make available for their families by catching large fish and trapping valued lobsters.

 Source: Amusing Planet