20 Places you should visit it before your death Part I

The " international business time " advise their readers with " 20 Places you should visit it before your death " so I wanted to share with you today with the #20 place :

 #20 Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

You often hear about the grandeur of Angkor Wat, but nothing can quite prepare you for that special morning when you watch the saffron sun peek over the world's most audacious religious beacon and bathe the surrounding countryside in its sizzling glow. Spiraling out from Angkor Wat are as many as 200 other equally imposing temples constructed between the 9th and 15th centuries, which collectively comprise the largest-known pre-industrial settlement complex in the world. You'll need at least one battery-operated fan, two memory chips and three days to navigate the 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of the former Khmer Empire, and though it may be the most hyped set of ruins in the world, it wasn’t built to disappoint.

#19 Sydney Opera House (Australia)

What do you get when you mix a handful of orange peels, a bushel of palm fronds and a Maya temple? If you’re Danish architect Jørn Utzon, you dream up an opera house that will, almost single-handedly, turn a faraway city into a global capital. The Sydney Opera House is a landmark on the city skyline, a lighthouse for ferries entering the harbor, a projection screen for Sydney’s myriad festivals and a barometer of global artistic talent. Utzon’s dream building is many things, but above all, it’s an architectural marvel that was built well ahead of its time, far ahead of the available technology, and one that changed the image of an entire country.

#18 Easter Island (Chile)

It’s one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, boasts 887 monolithic stone “heads” and is a cautionary tale of the effects of overpopulation and depletion of resources. Easter Island could easily evoke the inner mythbuster in even the most empty-headed of visitors.  Within its vast open-air museum of archaeological marvels, perhaps nothing is more famous than the mysterious moai, which were transported throughout the island from a single quarry site using an as-yet unknown method that has left historians scratching their heads for decades. Known alternatively as Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua, this triangular speck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is as beguiling a place as you will find anywhere on earth.

#17 Berlin Wall (Germany)

The Berlin Wall was the setting for one of the most defining moments of living memory when, on Nov. 9, 1989, it “fell” after nearly three decades dividing Germany into East and West. At least 136 people died trying to cross it between 1961 and 1989, and the barrier is remembered today more for what it was than what it is. Presently, just two sizable sections remain as memorials: the Bernauer Strasse section in the city’s north, which acts as an exhibition about city life in the time of the Berlin Wall, and the East Side Gallery, which is full off colorful murals, including the famous Fraternal Kiss, depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev smooching Erich Honecker, his East German counterpart.

#16 The Louvre (France)

Though Mona Lisa continues to underwhelm nearly 9 million tourists a year, the world’s most visited museum has some 380,000 other artifacts on display to wow discerning guests. Indeed, from Ancient Egyptian antiquities to decorative arts of the Middle Ages, this gargantuan former palace is a perpetual jaw-dropper, and one that’s best digested in small doses. Highlights include Venus de Milo, Rembrandt’s self-portraits, Michelangelo’s The Slaves and the chapel of the tomb of Akhethetep.

 #15 Venice Canals (Italy)

If there were a more romantic place on earth than the canals of Venice, surely we’d see that destination replicated in every casino the world over. But since there are arguably more faux canals and Roman statues in global casinos than anything else, it’s safe to say that the real Venice is the romantic winner. And why wouldn’t it be? Who doesn’t want to transport themselves into a gondola for a lazy ride around the “floating city” past its famed Gothic and Byzantine palazzos, bohemian shops and alluring cafes? This city is an engineering marvel, a marble masterpiece, and a sight that won’t be around forever.

#14 Mount Fuji (Japan)

Japan’s tallest mountain -- which, although dormant since 1707, remains classified as an active volcano -- finally joined UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List in 2013 after decades mysteriously absent. Home to five major lakes, Shiraito Falls and eight Shinto shrines, adoration of this towering icon appears in the some of Japan’s earliest recorded literature when Fuji-san, as it is known locally, was said to puff clouds of smoke across Honshu. Today, it is one of Japan’s most visited attractions, with hundreds of thousands of tourists enduring the grueling climb to the top each year for a moment of peace and quiet as they look back out over Japan’s most populous island.

#13 Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)
 

Charles Darwin once called the Galapagos Islands “a little world within itself.” The famed naturalist would develop his theory of evolution by natural selection not long after his visit to these quixotic isles in 1835, and nearly two centuries later, it’s still possible to catch a glimpse of the very oddball creatures that amazed him so. The Galapagos is a melting pot of marine life thanks to its location at the confluence of three ocean currents. Above the crystalline waters, this 19-island archipelago is home to a cornucopia of colorful species, many endemic, including the pink iguana, blue-footed booby and giant green tortoise, which can live more than 170 years. That means that some of the giant tortoises wandering around the islands today may have been born around the time of Darwin’s visit.

#12 Stonehenge (UK)

Stonehenge represents one of the most striking prehistoric megalithic monuments in the world on account of the sheer size of its megaliths and the sophistication of its concentric plan. Built sometime between 3,000 B.C. and 2,000 B.C., this ancient complex is today a spiritual site of pilgrimage in Neo-Druidry, as well as one of England’s most iconic attractions. Just what exactly prehistoric Britons built it for, however, remains one of archeology’s great mysteries. Was it a celestial timepiece? A sacrificial burial ground? The answer could be discovered any day now.

 #11 Taj Mahal (India)

If ever there was a more beautiful monument to love than India’s Taj Mahal, it has long since faded to dust. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan commissioned this immense marble-white mausoleum in memory of his beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in 1632. The resulting structure, designed by Afghan Ustad-Ahmad Lahori, has been called the jewel of Muslim art in India, an architectural masterpiece and one of the most romantic buildings in the world.

#10 The Eiffel Tower (France)

When Gustave Eiffel announced that he would build the tallest tower in the world for the 1889 World’s Fair, he expected a euphoric response. What he got instead was skepticism, virulent criticism and even protests “on artistic grounds.”  History, however, would prove his critics to be a pack of fools. The Eiffel Tower is now not only the world’s most-visited paid monument, but also its most valuable at $561.9 billion, according to a 2012 report, making it a crucial cog in the French economy and one of the most beloved sites in Europe.