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Showing posts from September, 2017

Rabbit Island

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Bunnies … who doesn’t like these little cute, fluffy and cuddly animals? Be prepared to the incredible: there is even an entire island where rabbits rule undisturbed… and I’m not talking about Alice in Wonderland and the white rabbit! Welcome to Japan’s Rabbit Island , Okunoshima, an island with a dark history, which is now home to hundreds of wild adorable rabbits. The Japanese army, during World War II, secretly produced over 6,000 tons of lethal gas on Okunoshima, which was even removed from maps as the mission was top-secret and they brought a colony of rabbits to the island in order to test the effects of the poison. It is believed that those rabbits were all, unfortunately, killed when the island was abandoned at the end of the war and that the rabbits that are now on the island are the descendant of just eight rabbits, brought to the island by schoolchildren in 1971, which multiplied until they reached their present population of seve

Size isn’t everything…

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Welcome to the Republic of San Marino: the fifth smallest country in the world and sole survivor of Italy's once powerful city-state network. According to tradition, it was founded by a Christian stonemason named Marinus in 301 and it's the world's oldest republic.   The site "San Marino: Historic Center and Mount Titano" has become part of the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. All lovers of history, and those who love picturesque panoramas, must visit this tiny nation.  Three fortresses - Guaita, Cesta, and Montale - crown the long ridge of Mount Titano; they are linked by a paved path and each of them has a tower from which there are splendid views of the Apennines, the coastal plain, Rimini and the sea. The capital, San Marino city, is set high on the western side of Mount Titano, beneath the fortress, and is encircled by triple walls. Borgo Maggiore, further down, was for centuries San Marino's commercial centre, and Serravalle, beneath its