Adam *'s favorite photos

The legendary view from the Nebelhorn at a height of 2.224 m towards ‘400 mountain peaks’ with Zugspitze, Lechtaler Alps and Swiss mountains.

Gortys, (also called Gortyn or Gortyna) was the most important Roman town on Crete, but its origins go back to the end of the Bronze Age. It is one of the most important cities in Crete with an unbroken history of 6.000 years and one of the most extensive archaeological sites in Greece. The city was destroyed in the 9th century by Arab raiders and the area has been uninhabited ever since. At the end of the 19th century Italian archaeologists began excavating ancient Gortys, which continues until today. The pictures show a small Roman amphitheatre, where musical recitals were staged. There are still four carved stone stepped rows of seats and two flights of stairs. The stage is paved with brick and marbles; the semicircular orchestra has white and grey marble slabs. The north wall of the stage has four niches, which were used for statues.

Chester Rows can be found in the four main streets in the centre of Chester. They consist of covered and continuous half-timbered walkways at the first floor with shops and other premises. At street level there are also retail premises, which can be entered by going down a few steps. Some original 13th century buildings, have survived the ravages of time, but many of the impressive facades are Victorian copies. The Rows, with its double-decker architectural design, are unique in the world. The earliest written records of the Rows date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, but it’s possible they actually existed in some form for many centuries before that. Most probably they may have been built on top of rubble remaining from the ruins of Roman buildings. Still their origin is subject to speculation. Undercrofts were constructed beneath the buildings in the Rows. The undercrofts were in stone while most of the buildings in the Rows were in timber.

Portmeirion is a coastal resort on a peninsula in North Wales with hotels, cafe and tearoom, restaurants, shops and self catering cottages. Situated in the heart of Snowdonia it is overlooking the stunning coastal scenery of the estuary of the River Dwyryd. Portmeirion was created by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis from 1925 to 1976. He wanted to show how a naturally beautiful site could be developed without spoiling it. Clough Williams-Ellis had conceived of a tightly grouped coastal village on some romantic clifftop site, perhaps on an island or a remote estuary. This idea stayed with him for about 20 years until in 1925 he found the Aber Iâ estate on the Dwyryd estuary near his home. He did not feel Aber Iâ was appropriate as it could mean 'frozen river mouth', which was not ideal for a holiday resort. He changed the change the name to Portmeirion: ‘port’ to put it on the coast. and 'meirion' the correct spelling of Merioneth, the county in which it was located. The Italian-like village of Portmeirion was built in two stages, from 1925 to 1939 and then once post war building restrictions had been lifted, from 1954 to 1976. Today Portmeirion is owned by a charitable trust and can be visited on payment of an admission fee.

Muriwai's gannet colony at Otakamiro Point is a one of the three colonies on the mainland of New Zealand, although out to sea, the colony continues on two vertical-sided islands (Oaia - where the colony first established - and Motutara). About 1.200 pairs of Australasian gannets nest here from August to March each year. The birds return from Australia to establish contact again with their lifelong mates. The nests of the breeding colony are just centimetres apart. Each pair lays one egg and the parents take turns on the nest and strive for food by diving into the sea at up to 145 km per hour. The chicks hatch naked, but within a week they're covered with fluffy down. As they mature, they grow juvenile feathers and begin to exercise their wings in preparation for the one-shot jump off the cliff. Once airborne, the young gannets leave the colony and cross the Tasman Sea to Australia. A few years later, surviving birds return to secure a nest site at the colony.

Blick durch den Neptunbrunnen auf die Hinterseite von Schloss Schönbrunn (Wien).

Im botanischen Garten von Schloss Schönbrunn (Wien).