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Saturday, February 16: Ailsa’s Travel Theme for this week is Mountains: She writes: It’s hard to beat the soaring majesty of mountains. It’s also apparently hard to define exactly what a mountain is. Countries around the globe use factors such as height, elevation, relief and volume in a vain attempt to define them. The Oxford English Dictionary settles for something suitably vague: “a natural elevation of the earth surface rising more or less abruptly from the surrounding level and attaining an altitude which, relatively to the adjacent elevation, is impressive or notable.” Merriam-Webster doesn’t do any better: “a landmass that projects conspicuously above its surroundings and is higher than a hill.” Look up ‘hill’ in the same dictionary and you will find that it is described, helpfully, as “lower than a mountain.”
Some of the world’s tallest mountains are the Himalayas in Nepal. Here is a view of the Annapurna Range taken from Pokhara.
the Annapurna Range seen from Pokhara, Nepal
Machhapuchhre, or “Fish-Tailed” at sunrise
Here are mountains, with monasteries built on top, in Meteora, Greece.
Meteora, Greece
And finally, in Oman, where I have never seen snow-cover, are the mountains of Jebel Akhdar.
the view of Al Ayn and the gorge on top of Jebel Akhdar
For more takes on the theme, see Where’s My Backpack? Travel theme: Mountains.
To see more of my trip to Nepal: catbird in south asia
To see more of my trip to Greece: greek wanderings
Ah … those mountains! And look at the snow spinning off like smoke into the thin air. How I wish I’d been there
Thank you, Meredith! I loved that too, the snow swirling at the top of the mountains. You should go someday. It’s not that far from you. They say October is the best time of year in Nepal.
Those mountains call to me so often – but always, it seems at a bad time, especially now I’ve become such a wuss about the cold! One day …
Great pictures Cathy – oh my god the monastery on top of the mountains in Greece took my breath away – I had to call Mr F to come see the photo. How on earth did they get the materials to the top of those rocks to build the monasteries?
You could win a prize with the photo “Machhapuchhre, or “Fish-Tailed” at sunrise”
Thank you so much, Rosie. I loved Greece all around and would have loved to have spent more time in Meteora. I loved those monasteries. It’s crazy that they built them there!! Thanks so much for the compliment about my Machhapuchhre photo. I imagine many people have that same photo as people flock to that very lookout every sunrise to see that mountain.
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Fabulous photos, Cath. I can tell that there are going to be some amazing entries for this.
While I’m here, good time to tell you that I’ve nominated you for the Shine On award in my post today. It’s a nice one! http://restlessjo.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/six-word-saturday-54/
Thank you so much, Jo. And thanks for the nomination. I’ll look into it and try to do it soon!!
Mountains, I’d rather see then than climb them! And I much prefer yours without snow
Thanks Gilly. I like looking at the snow-covered ones (I’d be too afraid of avalanches or freezing to death to climb them), but I like climbing the ones here in Oman.
Mountains especially put me in awe of our world – great shots
Me too, Suzanne. I’ve decided I’m a mountain girl for sure.
Oh my word, Beautiful.
Thank you mrscarmichael.
These mountains are so grand and majestic. Beautiful.
Thanks so much, Colline! I adore mountains everywhere!
Me too – gives a lot more character to the landscape.
All pretty spectacular but Greece was my special favourite
Did you go to Meteora too, Dallas? Did you love it?? I love how they built those monasteries up there and monks and nuns still live and work there today!
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Stunning images!
Thank you, Francine!
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to place a building on top of a mountain – Meteora – always was very attractive for me; maybe because we can experience more LIGHT than living in a valley (like me) …
Yes, I love it too! Those monasteries are fabulous!!
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Amazing!
Thank you!
The Annapurna shots are marvelous Cathy! We have to get there soon, before we get too old to handle the elevation and cold. Did you have altitude issues?
Madhu, the Annapurna range pics were taken from Pokhara, which is nearly at sea level. Even at the highest point to observe, I think it’s only 1,000 meters, or maybe 1800 meters at Sarangkot. The Annapurna range is only 25-30 km north of Pokhara, so it’s the best place to view the mountains without actually going into them! If you want to trek though, which I think is what most people do when they go to Nepal, you will have to deal with much greater altitudes than that. I’d like to go back one day and do just that, before I get too old, but in the one week I had there, it wasn’t enough time!