Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps

This is not a very easy site to see because most of the piles are underwater. I was already a few times in Morges and I didn't see a single sign of where the piles could be.

Remains of Pile Dwellings in Austria 

Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps is a series of prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements in and around the Alps built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands.

Reconstructed Pile Dwellings in Unteruhldingen, Germany

This postcard was sent by Crazy-Cooper

111 sites, located in Austria (5 sites), France (11), Germany (18), Italy (19), Slovenia (2), and Switzerland (56), were added to UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2011.

Isolino Virginia, Italy

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Excavations, conducted in only some of the sites, have yielded evidence that provides insight into life in prehistoric times during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Alpine Europe, and the way communities interacted with their environment. As the nomination stated, the settlements are a unique group of exceptionally well-preserved and culturally rich archaeological sites which constitute one of the most important sources for the study of early agrarian societies in the region.

Reconstituted Pile Dwellings in Hauterive, Switzerland 

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Contrary to popular belief, the houses were not erected over water, but on nearby marshy land. They were set on piles to protect against occasional flooding. 

Drawing of the Pile Dwellings in Kolisca, Slovenia

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Because the lakes have grown in size over time, many of the original piles are now under water, giving modern observers the false impression that they have always been this way. - in: wikipedia

I'm still missing a postcard from France 

Flemish Béguinages

The Flemish béguinages are architectural ensembles composed of houses, churches, ancillary buildings and green spaces built for the Béguines, women who dedicated their lives to God

Church of the Béguinage de Hoogstraten

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The beguinage of Hoogstraten probably originated around 1380 en prospered in the 17th century, having 160 beguines at its peak. The last beguine left in 1972.

A first chapel was built in 1381. During the 17th century this chapel was replaced by the current baroque church.

The church has a lush interior painted in white. The floor, made of black and white marble, holds several tombstones dating back to the 17th, 18th and 19th century. The paintings in the choir (18th and 19th century) represent the Fathers and Our Lady of La Salette. - in: https://openchurches.eu/en/churches/sint-jan-evangelist-hoogstraten

Grand Béguinage de Mechelen

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Around 1560 the beguinage outside the city walls was destroyed. The beguines re-established themselves inside the city walls, where the Large Beguinage grew up. They bought up existing buildings and built new dwellings, which explains why the Large Beguinage is rather different in character from beguinages in other cities.

Because of its typical Flemish character and unique architecture, the Large Beguinage was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. The little houses are listed. Kindly respect the privacy of the residents as you stroll along the quiet, picturesque streets of the beguinages.

Beguinages were small towns within a town. They had their own bakery, brewery, nursing home, church and bleaching fields. Beguinages were founded in the time of the crusades. - in: https://toerisme.mechelen.be/en/large-beguinage

Béguinage de Bruges

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The Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaerde is the only preserved beguinage in the Belgian city of Bruges. There are no more Beguines living there, but since 1927 it functions as a convent for Benedictines, founded by canon Hoornaert. In the same year the houses at the west side were also reshaped and enlarged into the Monasterium De Wijngaard, a priory of Benedictine nuns.

Béguinage de Bruges

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The complex includes a gothic beguinage church and about thirty white painted houses dating from the late 16th, 17th and 18th century. Practically all of these are built around a central yard. - in: wikipedia

Béguinage de Kortrijk

This postcard was sent by Javier

The Saint Elisabeth Beguinage dates back to the year 1238 and was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1998, a unique piece of history in the heart of the city.

The beguinage has been destroyed several times over the course of the centuries. It was given its current shape in the 17th century. It features some forty Baroque houses with a private front garden.

In the Saint Anna room visitors find out exactly what a beguinage was through authentic heritage and modern media techniques. The very last beguine in the world, Marcella Pattyn, resided at the Kortrijk beguinage from 1960 to 2005. She passed away in her sleep on 14 April 2013. She was 93 years old. - in: https://www.toerisme-leiestreek.be/en/do/kortrijk-beguinage

The 13 Béguinages (in red what I have):

• Béguinage de Hoogstraten
• Béguinage de Lier
• Grand Béguinage de Mechelen
• Béguinage de Turnhout
• Beguinage de Sint-Truiden 
• Béguinage de Tongeren 
• Béguinage de Dendermonde 
• Petit Béguinage de Gent 
• Béguinage de Sint-Amandsberg / Gent
• Béguinage de Diest
• Grand Béguinage of Leuven 
• Béguinage de Bruges 
• Béguinage de Kortrijk 

Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System

The mines of Rammelsberg were used for 1000 years and it was one of the largest silver deposits in the world

Rammelsberg Mine

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The Rammelsberg is a mountain, 635 metres (2,083 ft) high, on the northern edge of the Harz range, south of the historic town of Goslar in the North German state of Lower Saxony. The mountain is the location of an important silver, copper, and lead mine, the only mine which had been working continuously for over 1,000 years when it finally closed in 1988. - in: wikipedia

Imperial Palace of Goslar

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The Imperial Palace of Goslar (German: Kaiserpfalz Goslar) is a historical building complex at the foot of the Rammelsberg hill in the south of the town of Goslar north of the Harz mountains, central Germany. It covers an area of about 340 by 180 metres and stands. The palace grounds originally included the Kaiserhaus, the old collegiate church of St. Simon and St. Jude, the palace chapel of St. Ulrich and the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche). The Kaiserhaus, which has been extensively restored in the late 19th century, was a favourite imperial residence, especially for the Salian emperors. As early as the 11th century, the buildings of the imperial palace had already so impressed the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld that he described it as the "most famous residence in the empire".  - in: wikipedia

Market Church St. Cosmas and Damian

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The Goslar Market Church, first mentioned in 1151, was built as a smaller copy of the Imperial Church, which no longer exists, in the form of a triple-aisled, pillared basilica with two spires in the west. In the 14th and 15th centuries the choir was enlarged and an additional nave was added on both sides. Today it not only attracts attention through its central location on the Market Square but also because of its very high unmatched steeples, which assist in orientation and provide attractive views from various points in the Old Town. - in: https://www.goslar.de/sightseeing/churches/355-market-church-st-cosmas-and-damian

Upper Harz Water Management System

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The Upper Harz Water Regale (German: Oberharzer Wasserregal) is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region of Germany. The term regale, here, refers to the granting of royal privileges or rights (droit de régale) in this case to permit the use of water for mining operations in the Harz mountains of Germany.

The Upper Harz Water Regale is one of the largest and most important historic mining water management systems in the world. The facilities developed for the generation of water power have been placed under protection since 1978 as cultural monuments. - in: wikipedia

Mistaken Point

More than 10,000 fossil impressions, ranging from a few centimetres to nearly 2 metres in length, are visible along the coastline of Mistaken Point.

Mistaken Point

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This fossil site is located at the south-eastern tip of the island of Newfoundland, in eastern Canada. It consists of a narrow, 17 km-long strip of rugged coastal cliffs. Of deep marine origin, these cliffs date to the Ediacaran Period (580-560 million years ago), representing the oldest known assemblages of large fossils anywhere. These fossils illustrate a watershed in the history of life on earth: the appearance of large, biologically complex organisms, after almost three billion years of micro-dominated evolution. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1497

Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island

This site covers 40% of the Réunion Island

Réunion National Park

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Réunion National Park (French: Parc national de La Réunion) is a National Park of France located on the island of Réunion, an overseas department in the western Indian Ocean. Established on 5 March 2007, the park protects the endemic ecosystems of Les Hauts, Réunion's mountainous interior, and covers around 42% of the island. 

The park's fauna includes notably several endemic bird species, such as Barau's petrel, the Réunion harrier, and the Réunion cuckooshrike. In total, 18 bird species are found at Réunion, half of which are endemic. At least 22 bird species have already gone extinct since human colonisation. A major threat to the bird fauna are introduced cats and rats. Of mammals, the Mauritian flying fox recolonised the Réunion after going extinct from the island. Notable butterfly species include Papilio phorbanta and Salamis augustina, and an endemic reptile is the Reunion Island day gecko. - in: wikipedia

Sinharaja Forest Reserve

With these beautiful waterfalls of Sinharaja I completed Sri Lanka :)

Waterfalls of Sinharaja Rain Forest

This postcard was sent by Javier

Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a national park and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It is of international significance and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Sinharaja is the country's last viable area of primary tropical rainforest. More than 60% of the trees are endemic and many of them are considered rare.

The hilly virgin rainforest, part of the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests ecoregion, was saved from the worst of commercial logging by its inaccessibility, and was designated a World Biosphere Reserve in 1978 and a World Heritage Site in 1988. The reserve's name translates as Lion Kingdom.

The reserve is only 21 km (13 mi) from east to west, and a maximum of 7 km (4.3 mi) from north to south, but it is a treasure trove of endemic species, including trees, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Because of the dense vegetation, wildlife is not as easily seen as at dry-zone national parks such as Yala. There are about 3 elephants, and 15 or so leopards. The most common larger mammal is the endemic purple-faced langur.

Birds tend to move in mixed feeding flocks, invariably led by the fearless Sri Lanka Crested Drongo and the noisy orange-billed babbler. Of Sri Lanka's 26 endemic birds, the 20 rainforest species all occur here, including the elusive red-faced malkoha, green-billed coucal and Sri Lanka blue magpie.

Reptiles include the endemic green pit viper and hump-nosed vipers, and there are a large variety of amphibians, especially tree frogs. Invertebrates include the endemic common birdwing, butterfly and leeches. - in: wikipedia

Central Highlands of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's highlands are situated in the south-central part of the island and includes three properties: the Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles Conservation Forest.

Horton Plains National Park

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Horton Plains National Park is a protected area in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and is covered by montane grassland and cloud forest. This plateau at an altitude of 2,100–2,300 metres (6,900–7,500 ft) is rich in biodiversity and many species found here are endemic to the region. This region was designated a national park in 1988.

The vegetation of the park is classified into two distinctive groups, 2,000 hectares (7.7 sq mi) of wet patana (Sinhalese for "montane grasslands") and 1,160 hectares (4.5 sq mi) of subtropical montane evergreen forests. Nearly 750 species of plants belonging to 20 families have been recorded from the park.

The vertebrate fauna of the region includes 24 species of mammals, 87 species of birds, nine species of reptiles and eight species of amphibians. The Sri Lankan elephant disappeared from the region in the 1940s at the latest. At present, the largest and the most commonly seen mammal is the sambar deer. Some research findings estimate the population of sambar deer to be around 1500 to 2000, possibly more than the carrying capacity of the plains. Other mammal species found in the park include Kelaart's long-clawed shrews, toque macaques, purple-faced langurs, rusty-spotted cat, Sri Lankan leopards, wild boars, stripe-necked mongooses, Sri Lankan spotted chevrotains, Indian muntjacs, and grizzled giant squirrels. Fishing cats and European otters visit the wetlands of the park to prey on aquatic animals. A subspecies of red slender loris, the Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides formerly sometimes considered as Loris lydekkerianus nycticeboides) is found only in highlands of Sri Lanka and is considered one of the world's most endangered primates. - in: wikipedia