historic sites (4)

China's Hidden Caves of Wonder

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Buddhist cave art was first developed in China during the Northern Wei Dynasty around 400 A.D. The thousands of caves held temples and intricately detailed statues of Buddha and his disciples that ranged in size from the length of a finger to the size of four story building. The carving frenzy continued until the Song Dynasties hundreds of years later. Once a place for worship, these caves are now a major destination for art fans and history buffs from around the world. Of the surviving caves, t

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9008775656?profile=originalIf it were 25 years ago, you wouldn’t want to go to San Lucas Island. The small, forested island in the middle of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Gulf was the roughest jail in the country. Being sent to San Lucas Island was a terrible prospect; prisoners’ lives were short and often spent in torture.

Thankfully, today, the prisoners are gone and San Lucas Island has been transformed into a national wildlife refuge to protect the island’s ecosystem, its wildlife, the historic buildings of the penal colony, and

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We started you off on a cross-country road trip with Summer Travel Part 1. Now we're revving our engines for the next leg, which sees us passing through the“Cradle of American Culture” to the Badlands out West.

"Cradle of American Culture": Tour the Mississippi Delta to see the roots of much of American culture. Visit historic private homes in Vicksburg and Memphis, and enjoy a coffee reception at Mont Helena Manor, a magnificent example of Colonial Revival architecture. You can also tour the Del

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The Abbey de Cadouin in Dordogne, France


Founded in 1115 and situated in a narrow valley in the south of the Dordogne, the Abbey de Cadouin is classified as a 'monument historique'. For 800 years this Cistercian abbey drew in pilgrims making the journey to view a sacred piece of cloth believed to have been part of the shroud of Christ.

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The piece of tissue discovered in a church in Antioche during the first crusade, was brought for safe keeping to the abbey. Then in 1934 a scientific examination of the tissue established that it was in

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