Showing Results 1-12 of 238 |  Sort by:     
Page 1 of 20  |  Go to page    Next» LAST»»
VPG-DVD-116 - SINGAPORE Singapore is a city of gardens and the heart of South East Asia. Its history began in 1819 with Stamford Raffles, a young official who worked for the British East India Company. Raffles estimated that the natural harbour was perfect for trading ships and so he bought the land from the Sultan of Johor and founded a trading settlement. As a free port, Singapore attracted trading ships from all over the world and today four million people live here on an area that covers 640 square kilometres. In June each year there is an exciting boat race in Marina Bay known as the Dragon Boat Race that features magnificently painted dragon boats with hand-carved heads and tails accompanied by the sound of frenetic drumbeats. Dating back to colonial times, British influence is omnipresent, whether the Cricket Club or the Parliament, traditional English spirit rules despite Singapore's Independence. The World Famous Raffles Hotel is situated in the Colonial District near to the Singapore River. In the hotel's Ashanti Bar it was customary to throw expired peanut shells directly onto the floor and at the same time to reverently sip a Singapore Sling, the national drink. The Singapore Zoo is one of the finest in the world in which the animals can roam freely, their territory being surrounded by a landscaped ditch. Approximately 2800 animals live in the spacious enclosures and even those from the world's coldest regions can be observed both below and above water, thanks to cleverly designed viewing areas. A complete mix of ethnic cultures, there's Chinatown, Little India and the Arab Street Quarter in which there are mosques, women wear burqas and there is all the hustle and bustle of a bazaar. Singapore is an exotic city of skyscrapers, a cultural melting pot and the exciting gateway to South East Asia!
Vista Point SINGAPORE
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m42s
Views: 18  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-117 - MARRAKESH Marrakesh, the 'red pearl' of Morocco was founded by Youssef Ben Tachfin in 1602. It is one of the country's four Royal Cities. Up to the beginning of the 20th century the city was a trading centre for both the north of Morocco and the Sahara and the monarchs of various dynasties made Marrakesh their capital city. The large souks of Marrakesh's Medina are divided into numerous sections and stock just about everything known to Man! In spite of the city's apparent calm there is much activity and the traffic is surprisingly well disciplined. Marrakesh has the largest souks in Morocco. As well as shoes and clothing they stock all the necessities of life and of course bargaining and haggling are the norm! Daily life in the souks is dominated by trade. They are a vital meeting place and trading centre for the farmers of the High Atlas. Those who wish to experience Moroccan daily life can do so here and a stroll through the narrow alleys taking in the city's sounds and aromas explains far more than any travel guide. Place Jemaa El-Fna is the 'Square Of The Beheaded' and is Marrakesh's most famous attraction with snake charmers, musicians and storytellers. In 2001 the Square Of The Beheaded was designated by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. Built in 1158, the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosquee is the symbol of the city. The seventy seven metre tall sandstone minaret served as the model for the Giralda in Seville and the Hassan Tower in Rabat and most of it was built by Spanish prisoners of war. Marrakesh is an historic bridge that unites both urban and nomadic cultures - an exotic gateway to Africa and a captivating window to Europe!
Vista Point MARRAKESH Morocco
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m32s
Views: 22  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-108  FÈZ In the early and late Middle Ages, the royal city of Fez was the capital of Morocco. Where two of the most important trading routes from the Sahara to the Mediterranean crossed, a follower of the prophet Mohammed established Fez in a delightful river valley. In the old walled town of Medina in which Muslim belief is omnipresent, everyone lives within easy listening distance of a minaret and also the relentless babble of traders and craftsmen. Through the old city gate of Bab Boujeloud is entered the exotic world of the Arab-Islam Middle Ages. The beautifully restored inner courtyards of the city palaces show the splendour of Spanish-Moorish architecture. Arabesque wall decorations and floor mosaics represent 1200 years of Muslim belief and reflect the cultural prosperity enjoyed by this royal city whose historic past today intermingles with aromatic aromas, a wealth of craftsmen, and the smell of dough-cake as baked in the time of Roman occupation.
Vista Point FES Morocco FEZ
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m30s
Views: 19  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-157 - YUNNAN Kunming is located in the Chinese province of Yunnan in south west China. The Buddhist temple of Ykan Ton Si dates back to the Tang Dynasty. The design of the city's largest temple complex was influenced by many diverse ethnic groups. The highlight of the complex is a lake in the middle of which a number of bridges lead to an octagonal pavilion. The Temple Of Total Penetration (yes, that's it's name!) is a tranquil and peaceful haven amid the busy alleys of Kunming's old town. In the west of Yunnan Province there are magnificent views from Xi Shan Mountain across Dian Lake and nestling among the rocks there are numerous temples that were once the scene of ritual sacrifice. On the downward journey the temples loom larger and larger while earthenware images of Buddha depict various stages of life. Yunnan's most famous site is the unique Stone Forest of Shi Lin. Its limestone rock originated from a long since dried--up ocean when the elements set to work on creating its fantastic and bizarre forms. The most amazing formations were given dramatic names such as The Sea Of Fire, Dragon's Tooth and Heavenly Sword. Pagodas, columns and strange flowers appear to rise from the rock and to facilitate access, tunnels and paths have been cut into the rock face. The Venice Of The Far East is the nickname of the ancient Chinese city of Lijiang in the northwest of Yunnan Province. The picturesque centre of the old town of Dayan is an architectural gem. Three rivers and several small creeks flow through the historic cit and there are various splendid stone bridges date back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Buy Shan is a typical village of the region. Just as it was hundreds of years ago with farmers slowly leading their ox wagons through the village. The houses were built over a period of more than two hundred year between the Ming and Qing Dynasties in 14 and 16 A.D. Yunnan Province - place of simplicity, exquisite culture and spectacular natural wonders!
Vista Point YUNNAN China
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m38s
Views: 19  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-231 - VIENTIANE Since the sixteenth century Vientiane has been the capital of Laos and is situated in the heart of Indochina. The city originated at the point at which the first navigable section of the Mekong River joins with the Gulf Of Thailand. Vientiane was once a group of rural settlements and even today contains several village-like districts each with its own temple and traditional marketplace. At the end of the nineteenth century the French began to renovate the city's most important buildings and made Vientiane the administrative capital of their new colony and gave it a French look. There are some fascinating places to visit outside the city such as the Cultural Park Of The Laotian People, a large area on the banks of the Mekong River. Historic Vientiane also has some fine reconstructed buildings such as the Wat Impeng on the western bank of Pagoda Street. Artistic wooden carvings on the windows and doors, along with the paintings and stucco work on the walls, feature various legends from the life of Buddha. Some signs of affluence are beginning to appear and in future years Vientiane may become yet another Asian metropolis with skyscrapers, smog and manic rush hours. It is now poised to leap into contemporary times as it gradually emerges from its atmospheric curtain of bamboo.
Vista Point VIENTIANE Laos
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m29s
Views: 13  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-173 - VANCOUVER Vancouver is the third largest city in Canada and one of the most beautiful on the American continent, a dynamic metropolis set in a beautiful location with a temperate climate throughout the year. Close to the harbour area the city's skyscrapers have proliferated in recent years. The capital of the southwestern province of British Columbia has developed into an economic centre of renown. The city's oldest buildings were built less than a hundred years ago because the former wooden houses of old Vancouver were destroyed by fire. Several buildings reflect the origin of their inhabitants and are similar to those in the United States and Europe. Inspired by the Colosseum in Rome, an elegant structure of pink stone and glass, Canada Place, is located in the busy centre of the new harbour district and is also the city's most recent landmark. Close by is Harbour Centre, a modern skyscraper complex with a shopping centre and a Skylift to the top floor. A glass elevator transports visitors to a one hundred and sixty seven-metre high observation platform where the view across the city, harbour and bay is overwhelming. The exciting Skytrain is the city's most popular means of transport, an ultra-modern train built on posts that zig zags its way through the city. Each of the city's most important destinations are easily accessible and it has reduced the city's traffic problems considerably. For the World Exhibition of 1986, on the edge of Chinatown gardeners and craftsmen from Suzhou in China established Canada's first classical Chinese garden, the Doctor Sun Yat Sen Garden. Its ponds, bridges and small pavilions are similar to those in China, masterpieces of Far Eastern garden design. Everything in Vancouver is youthful, attractive and dynamic, a place in which Canadian politeness unites with the Pacific way of life!
Vista Point VANCOUVER Canada
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m28s
Views: 17  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-216 - VALLETTA Valletta is the capital city of the Mediterranean island of Malta and is also known as The City of Palaces. It was once inhabited in turn by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks and in 1530 the Order of the Knights of Malta moved its main residence to this section of the island. Malta's pre-historic epoch is demonstrated by its primeval stone temples and graves. They belong to the Menhir period that extended to the British Isles. The St. John's Co-Cathedral was built in1577 by Gerolama Cassar as a monastic church of the Order of the Knights of Malta. At the command of Pope Pius the 7th, in 1816 it was designated as a cathedral and was given the same privileges as the bishop's seat in Medina, thus its somewhat strange title of 'Co-Cathedral'. Situated on the northernmost point of the peninsula is the famous Saint Elmo Fort, a dominant feature of the coast. Throughout the centuries it has been witness to many bloody battles and much courageous resistance. It reached its zenith during the time of the Knights of Saint John who expanded the fortress and made it almost totally impregnable. Its walls successfully fended off the Turks and later the French blocked off the harbour entrance to the British fleet. During the Second World War anti- aircraft artillery were positioned on the fort's upper levels to defend against both German and Italian bombers. The Orient and the Occident have both left their traces in Valletta a picturesque location carved from stone. The former City Of Knights in which the future joins with the past.
Vista Point VALLETTA Malta
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m27s
Views: 13  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-178 - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Situated on the Arabian Peninsula between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, the United Arab Emirates are like a fairy-tale from the One Thousand And One Nights. In just a few years the region has been catapulted from the Middle Ages into the 21st century and it is now an international financial centre within an ancient desert region. It contains seven sheikdoms that are united both politically and economically. Dubai is a wonderful holiday paradise with a romantic desert and a long history in which the past unites with the present. It is the second largest state in the United Arab Emirates and is situated on the north coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Fifteen kilometres from Dubai is the tiny Emirate of Sharjah where life continues according to age-old Arabian tradition. Tourism was once popular on this former pirate coast but the Saudi king subsequently prohibited the consumption of alcohol and thus the tourists stayed away. Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven Emirates and means, Father Of The Gazelle, a name derived from an ancient legend. The seventy three thousand square kilometres of the Abu Dhabi region cover eighty-six per cent of the United Arab Emirates and in the 1960's the city had a population of five thousand that has now grown to almost a million. As the oil supplies gradually trickle away the sheiks are becoming increasingly cautious with their spending and the oil boom has now been followed by tourism in this fairy-tale holiday paradise that is full of desert romance.
Vista Point UNITED ARAB...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m24s
Views: 13  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-103 - TUSCANY Tuscany was named after the Etruskans, who were called 'Tusci' by the Romans. The kingdom was eventually divided into independent dukedoms and, from 1531, the Medici ruled, a family of businessmen and bankers. Capital of Tuscany is Florence, a city of art and joie de vivre and past home of important artists and sculptors such as Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, plus the writers Dante and Boccaccio, not to mention the scientist, Galileo Galilei. Lucca, one of Tuscany's most important historical towns, rises from the lower reaches of the Serchio river, on a former swamp. Dating from the Middle Ages, it is surrounded by a massive 4.2 kilometre long brick wall which helped the town retain its independence, and also protected it from the floodwaters of the Serchio. The precarious imperfection of The Leaning Tower Of Pisa is in stark contrast to the grandiose palaces and religious buildings of the Medici family and the natural contours of the hills and mountains of this European nirvana complete the connection between art and nature. Tuscany satisfies all the senses!
Vista Point Tuscany Italy
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m34s
Views: 21  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-148 - VILLE DE QUÉBEC On behalf of the French crown, in 1608 Samuel De Champlain established a fur trading post from which originated Québec, a city that today looms over the Saint Laurence River like a majestic fortress. It is the birthplace of French culture in North America. With its small towers and green glimmering roofs the Chateau Frontenac majestically watches over the city. The castle like hotel was built and lavishly furnished in 1894 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and in 1943 was the rendezvous for the allies who met to prepare for the Normandy Landings. Québec's upper city is encircled by a four kilometre long fortified wall that was alternately built upon by the French and the English. In former times, various gates barred entry to the fortress but today they are wide open and welcome visitors into the well preserved old town. Designed by master builder Baillairgè in 1844, La Cathedrale Notre Dame De Québec was Canada's first Catholic cathedral. The Baroque dome of the basilica demonstrates the splendour of Catholic Church design while the altar captivates with its rich detail and paintings of the Holy Mother. The Funiculaire connects the upper city with the lower, the Quartier Petit Champlaine that was the country's first settlement. The train station looks like a mediaeval castle and its large hall seems to be the grand entrance chamber of a palace. The station's anterooms contain huge windows while its ceilings display colourful glass images. Canada's oldest city has successfully retained its deep and historic roots and has sensitively linked them to the needs of the modern world. Québec is truly a sparkling gem of French culture in North America.
Vista Point Town Of...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m22s
Views: 15  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-212 - TAIPEI Taipei is a pulsating metropolis in the north of the South Asian island state of Taiwan, a land of gods, spirits and temples. With around three million inhabitants it is the largest city in Ilha Formosa, a beautiful island that is located a hundred and thirty kilometres from the Chinese mainland. The famous Grand Hotel is the most impressive building in Taipei and is in the typical Chinese palace design of the Ming Dynasty. The large interior hall of the fine building is supported by massive red pillars and it features a magnificent open staircase with marble banisters. The south western edge of the city was where wealthy trader, Lin An Tai, once had a huge residence. It is one of the most well preserved examples of a building in the style of a classical southern Chinese residence and designed according to the strict rules of Feng Shui and Chinese Geomancy. The Confucius Temple is a place of contemplation and a replica of the Temple Of Qu Fu, Qu Fu having been the home town of Confucius. A large wall surrounds both the temple and its inner courtyard. This silent place is one of five temples in Taiwan dedicated to the great Chinese philosopher who founded a religion that even today has many followers. Taipei is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, a modern Asian metropolis that is full of ancient traditions as well as futuristic flair.
Vista Point TAIPEI Taiwan
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m22s
Views: 12  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
VPG-DVD-166 - SULTANATE OF OMAN The Sultanate Of Oman is a fabulous land full of surprises, a splendid example of original Arabia that extends from the Straits Of Hormuz to the southern Dhofar. Up until the 1970's the third largest country in the Arabian Peninsula was only accessible by various caravan routes but today it boasts an abundance of mysterious desert towns and splendid palaces. The white city of Sohar is the historic harbour of the Islamic world and the 'Gateway To China'. It is still guarded by the white Sohar Fort, a mighty four-storey structure that dates back to the 14th century. The Hajar Mountains extend for almost six hundred kilometres from the Musandam Peninsula in the north to its eastern sections. They are also known as the Oman Mountains and divide the coast from the inland. Oman covers around three hundred thousand square kilometres and is one of the most sparsely settled countries in the world with only one and a half million inhabitants. Nizwa, the religious center of the Omans, has a moving past that manifests itself in the city's defensive fortress. Until the 12th century it was the capital of the Desert State of Oman. Even today this oasis city and trading metropolis has lost none of its former importance. Al-Hamra is the name of a three hundred year old oasis village that dates back to the reign of Imam Saif Bin Sultan. At the end of the 17th century members of the Abriyin Tribe settled here the descendants of whom still live in the Jebal-Akhdar Mountains. Al-Hamra means 'The Red One', an Arabic name that is also to be found in the word 'Alhambra', in Spain's Granada. The Sultanate Of Oman is a treasure trove of rarities. Its twelve thousand year old history is visible throughout the entire country and the beauty of the mysterious Arabian Peninsula is a truly captivating experience.
Vista Point SULTANATE OF...
Categories: Holiday Location and Places 
Added: 105 days ago
By: travel-video
Runtime: 1m19s
Views: 12  | Comments: 0
Rating: Not yet rated
Page 1 of 20  |  Go to page    Next» LAST»»