Lebanon - Anjar - UNESCO World Heritage Site

"The city of Anjar was founded by Caliph Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century. The ruins reveal a very regular layout, reminiscent of the palace-cities of ancient times, and are a unique testimony to city planning under the Umayyads."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage List

Founded during the Umayyad period under Caliph Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malak (705-715), the city of Anjar bears outstanding witness to the Umayyad civilization. Anjar is an example of an inland commercial centre, at the crossroads of two important routes: one leading from Beirut to Damascus and the other crossing the Bekaa and leading from Homs to Tiberiade. The site of this ancient city was only discovered by archaeologists at the end of the 1940s.  Excavations revealed a fortified city surrounded by walls and flanked by forty towers, a rectangular area (385 x 350 m).
Dominated by gates flanked by porticos, an important North-South axis and a lesser East-West axis, superposed above the main collectors for sewers, divide the city into four equal quadrants.  Public and private buildings are laid out according to a strict plan: the great palace of the Caliph and the Mosque in the South-East quarter occupies the highest part of the site, while the small palaces (harems) and the baths are located in the North-East quarter to facilitate the functioning and evacuation of waste waters.
Secondary functions and living quarters are distributed in the North-West and South-West quarters. The ruins are dominated by spectacular vestiges of a monumental tetrapyle, as well as by the walls and colonnades of the Umayyad palace, three levels of which have been preserved. These structures incorporate decorative or architectonical elements of the Roman era, but are also noteworthy for the exceptional plasticity of the contemporary decor within the construction.
Anjar was never completed, enjoying only a brief existence. In 744, Caliph Ibrahim, son of Walid, was defeated and afterwards the partially destroyed city was abandoned. Vestiges of the city of Anjar therefore constitute a unique example of 8th century town planning. Built at the beginning of the Islamic period, it reflects this transition from a protobyzantine culture to the development of Islamic art and this through the evolution of construction techniques and architectonical and decorative elements that may be viewed in the different monuments.
What do you think about this lovely Lebanese UNESCO site?

Seychelles: Aldabra Atoll - UNESCO World Heritage Site

"The atoll is comprised of four large coral islands which enclose a shallow lagoon; the group of islands is itself surrounded by a coral reef. Due to difficulties of access and the atoll's isolation, Aldabra has been protected from human influence and thus retains some 152,000 giant tortoises, the world's largest population of this reptile."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage List

The least-disturbed large island in the Indian Ocean, Aldabra is of outstanding scientific interest. It is the only place in the world where a reptile is the dominant herbivore; some 150,000 giant tortoises (more than on the Galápagos Islands) feed on tie grasses and shrubbery, including plants that have evolved to take advantage of tortoise grazing patterns. The tortoises are the last survivors of a life form once found on many Indian Ocean islands; slow-moving and vulnerable, the giant land tortoises on all other Indian Ocean islands have been driven to extinction by human exploitation, leaving Aldabra as their only remaining stronghold. The island's isolation has allowed the evolution of a distinct fauna, with two endemic birds (Aldabra arush warbler and Aldabra drongo) and another 11 birds that have distinct subspecies (showing evolution in action); among the most interesting is the Aldabran white-throated rail, the last representative of the western Indian Ocean flightless birds - all others have gone the way of the dodo.
Aldabra is a classic coral atoll which has been built up from the seabed. It consists of four main islands of coral limestone separated by narrow passes and enclosing a large shallow lagoon. Most of the land surface consists of ancient coral reef (about 125,000 years old) now raised above sea level, the rest being even older reef limestones. The lagoon contains many smaller islands and the entire atoll is surrounded by an outer reef. Geomorphological processes have produced a varied topography, generally rugged, which supports a variety of habitats with a relatively rich biota for an oceanic island, and a high degree of endemism. Over much of the surface of the islands, weathering has led to dissection of the limestones into holes and pits, although at the eastern end the surface is more continuous on upraised lagoonal sediments. Along the coast are undercut limestone cliffs, with a perched beach and sand dunes on the southern (windward) coast. Marine habitats range from coral reefs to mangrove mudflats with minimal human impact. Tidal range is more than 3 m, which can lead to strong channel currents.

Mauritania: Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata

"Founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve the caravans crossing the Sahara, these trading and religious centres became focal points of Islamic culture. They have managed to preserve an urban fabric that evolved between the 12th and 16th centuries. Typically, houses with patios crowd along narrow streets around a mosque with a square minaret. They illustrate a traditional way of life centred on the nomadic culture of the people of the western Sahara."
Source: UNESCO World Heritage List

It literally seems to be as a red village and is an amazing site! The complete site is listed in the list as "Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata" whereas the view on the postcard is from "Ancient Ksour of Ouadane".

What do you think?

Mauritius: Aapravasi Ghat - A UNESCO World Heritage Site

"In the district of Port Louis, lies the 1,640 m2 site where the modern indentured labour diaspora began. In 1834, the British Government selected the island of Mauritius to be the first site for what it called ‘the great experiment’ in the use of ‘free’ labour to replace slaves. Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million indentured labourers arrived from India at Aapravasi Ghat to work in the sugar plantations of Mauritius, or to be transferred to Reunion Island, Australia, southern and eastern Africa or the Caribbean. The buildings of Aapravasi Ghat are among the earliest explicit manifestations of what was to become a global economic system and one of the greatest migrations in history."
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Sites Page

Aapravasi Ghat is another beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is located in Mauritius.

This postcard is also sent by Postcard Interactive Company of Sydney.