Most of the world's population lives in cities. A little smaller - in villages and towns. And what remains for those who do not fit into either the first or the second category?
Someone likes – or has to, there is always more than one option – to live among the rocks or on top of the mountains. Others climb into caves and underground burrows. Still others live on offshore platforms or rafts. Today we will talk about the strangest places that someone calls home.
Xuankong-si
One of the scariest and most amazing places in China. First, all three major Chinese denominations are united in this temple - Taoist, Buddhism and Confucianism. Secondly, the foundation of the structure are thin piles of oak, boarded up in the rock. Pagodas hang over the abyss, and the rock itself acts as one of the walls. The monks who built this place 1600 years ago were clearly guided not only by religious considerations - so the place is also protected from the elements, snow and rainwater.
In order not to overload the structure, guests are allowed here in a homeopathic dosage - especially since eight dozen heavy clay, iron, stone and bronze statues are located inside. Well, it can also not be said that this place is completely safe: sometimes after prolonged downpours something falls here. A piece of basalt, for example.
Al Hajera, Yemen
This amazing architectural ensemble, built a few dozen kilometers from the capital of Yemen, in the mountains of Haraz, is very picturesque. To the uninitiated, it seems to be part of a mountain, although in fact people clearly had a hand here.
The city is built on the edges of the rocks, and some of the buildings that make it up by medieval standards can be called skyscrapers - their height reaches tens of meters, they number 5-8 floors. All this is designed to protect the locals from attacks from the outside, because once the city was a trading hub and supplied pepper to the coast of the Pirate Coast, from where trade was conducted with India and European colonies, as well as with the Persians and Zanzibar.
Cappadocia
In this desolate Turkish region, there is a mystery to complete with the envy of any surrealist landscape and a variety of mountain and rock landscapes.
Once this now seemingly completely devoid of life region was densely populated. The locals were engaged in animal husbandry and crop production, turning the valleys into monasteries hidden in caves and tunnels. Among the most famous examples of such underground cities is Derinkuyu, a whole city that consists of dozens of tiers extending deep into sixty meters, and long tunnels, whose total capacity exceeds 20 thousand people.
The tuff that makes up the local rocks is soft and malleable, so housing here can be drilled with a shovel or even a spoon, there would be patience.
The tourist infrastructure of this place is represented by hotels, shops and restaurants made in the same style.
Meteora Monasteries
These are Greek sandstone and rock fragments located in the north of Hellas. In appearance, they look like colossal towers of stone. At the top is a huge temple complex, which is inferior in size to only one in the country - Mount Athos.
It is believed that monastic hermits settled this place in the IX century. They spent the night in caves and depressions among the rocks to protect themselves from external threats.
Now tourists rush here, as well as potential monks, because in these places there are six male and two times less female monasteries. Most of them have now been replaced by lifts, some of which are made in the form of baskets, the other - rope nets, and still others resemble self-made elevators, only made of wood. Progress is incredible, since for centuries people have climbed here with the help of hemp-woven stairs. According to the statistics of the XVIII century, every thirtieth rise ended tragically.
Setenil de las Bodegas
And here is another amazing place for a person - a tiny town in the west of Andalusia, Setenil de las Bodegas. Above it, like a balcony, hangs a huge rock, which looks about to collapse, but this has not happened for eight centuries.
Those who wanted to settle here hammered themselves a cozy cave in the thickness of basalt, creating residential buildings and cellars for wine. In summer, a stone block saves residents from the heat, and in winter - from the wind, although you have to fight the cold yourself, heating the housing with wood or coal.
Now there are three thousand people living in the service of tourists, as well as the manufacture of jamon, chorizo and other meat and sausage products, whose reputation is deserved and extends far beyond their hometown.
