SWORD BROS. Documentary 2019
With the eyes of the world on Russia, here are 7 interesting things you might not have known about one of the world's most intriguing countries.
1. The Hotel Astoria in St Petersburg is where Hitler planned to hold a huge celebratory banquet once he'd conquered the city (it was called Leningrad back then). Its restaurant remains an institution and one of the best places in the city to sample traditional Russian food.
2. Russia's greatest museum - The Hermitage, also in St Petersburg - is home to around 70 cats, which guard its treasures against rodents. The tradition dates back to a 1745 decree of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, founder of St. Petersburg. The museum also has almost 14 miles of marbled corridors.
4. The name Red Square has nothing to do with communism, but derives from the word "krasnyi", which once meant "beautiful".
5. The icicles hanging from the gutters in Moscow in winter are so enormous that the pavements below are cordoned off - as they'd kill you if they fell on your head.
6. There is a bronze sculpture of a dog with a shiny nose at Ploshchad Revolutsii metro station - it is shiny because it's supposedly good luck to touch it.
7. That isn't the only sculpture of a dog in Russia - there's also this monument to Laika, the hound that went to space in 1957.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...
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7 facts about Turkey that will surprise you
1. It has one of the world’s oldest and biggest malls.
Istanbul‘s Grand Bazaar, or Kapalı Çarşı, dates to 1455 and was established shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Over the centuries it has grown into a warren of 61 streets lined by more than 3,000 shops and currently occupies a nearly incomprehensible 333,000 square feet. You’ll never possibly be able to explore it all, but that doesn’t keep people from trying — according to Travel + Leisure, the Grand Bazaar was the world’s #1 attraction in 2014, drawing over 91 million people.
2. You might find chicken in your dessert.
The signature Ottoman treat is tavuk göğsü, or chicken breast pudding. It’s a strange blend of boiled chicken, milk, and sugar, dusted with cinnamon. And it’s delicious. Look for it on menus across the country.
3. Turkey is packed with cultural heritage.In fact, there are 13 spots in Turkey inscribed on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites, and a whopping 62 on the tentative list. They range from a Mesolithic temple (Göbekli Tepe) to a Biblical city (Ephesus) to a World War One battlefield (Gallipoli), and help make Turkey the sixth most-visited tourist destination in the world.
4. Santa Claus is from Turkey.
Saint Nicholas was born far from the North Pole, in Patara. And he’s not the only saint with connections to Turkey — the Virgin Mary’s resting place could be near Ephesus, while Saint Paul was from Tarsus in the south. Other Biblical figures include the Prophet Abraham, born in Şanlıurfa. And after the deluge, Noah may have run his ark aground at Mount Ararat.
5. One of the Mediterranean’s primary sea turtle nesting beaches is here. İztuzu Beach, just west of Fethiye, is a major breeding ground for the endangered loggerhead sea turtle. The turtles arrive between May and October, climbing ashore at the exact site of their birth to lay a new generation of eggs. The beach sees around 300 nests dug each year, and government regulations have succeeded in balancing tourism with the need to protect and conserve this precious natural resource. Just down the coast, Patara is the longest beach on the Mediterranean (12 miles of pristine white sand dunes).
6. Turkey gifted tulips to the world (you’re welcome, Netherlands).
It’s uncertain where the first tulips were grown, but what is known is that the Ottomans popularized the flower and facilitated their introduction to Europe. A simultaneous export? Tulipmania. The seeds of the world’s first speculative bubble were sown when a Flemish ambassador to the 16th-century court of Süleyman the Magnificent brought back the bulbous flowers to Holland. Other commodities for which Europe owes a debt of gratitude to Turkey are coffee and cherries.
7. More than 130 peaks reach over 9,800 feet (3,000 meters). Don’t let the balmy coastal climate fool you. Turkey is home to spectacular mountain ranges, and wintertime visitors can hit the slopes at nearly a dozen resorts. Palandöken, in the eastern province of Erzurum, is Turkey’s highest at 10,200 feet (3,125 meters) and claims Europe’s longest natural ski run.
https://matadornetwork.com/notebook/1...
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