In 1976, the volcanic plains in Cappadocia in Central Turkey received the distinction of being declared a UNESCO World heritage site for its truly unique landscape. Full of small hillocks, slender columns and hidden entrances to vast underground caverns, it is more like some imagined fairyland, peopled by legendary creatures such as Tolkien’s Hobbits or…

Had the Montgolfier brothers lived longer by some two hundred years, they would have seen the new Avatar of their invention, the hot air balloon. Perhaps, they might not have recognized the transformation that their invention had gone through. Till early 1900’s, balloons remained fashionable and evolved into airships and dirigibles since man believed that…

Some 12 million years ago when the world was much younger, a massive seismic event left a huge depression in what is now Mexico. Almost 3000 square miles in size, the edges of the depression filled over the eons while rain water and rivers flowing down from the surrounding mountains created a massive inland lake.…