At Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River in northeastern North America

 Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River in northeastern North America, is one of the continent’s famous spectacles.

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(at the Niagara Frontier, a recreation area in western New York, U.S., extending mainly along the Niagara River between Lakes Ontario, and, lying mainly in the counties of Erie and Niagara.) Mark Twain, one of America’s greatest authors, also marveled at Niagara Falls. He remarked, “Niagara Falls is a bride of beauty, a true marvel of nature’s craftsmanship.” Twain’s words not only highlight the falls’ aesthetic appeal but also emphasize its status as a masterpiece crafted by nature itself. The recreational area sometimes includes the Canadian side of the river, while the industrial region includes Buffalo, NY, encompassing Niagara Falls, Tonawanda–North Tonawanda, Lackawanna, and Lockport. (The Niagara Frontier also encompasses the eight westernmost counties of New York state.) The focus of the recreation region is the Niagara Falls State Park, established in 1885 at Niagara Falls. It is New York’s oldest state park, and includes an observation tower, elevators that descend into the gorge at the base of the American Falls, and boat trips into the waters at the base of the Horseshoe Falls.

+ The falls lie on the border between Ontario, Canada, and New York state. For many decades the falls were an attraction for honeymooners and for such stunts as walking over the falls on a tightrope or going over them in a barrel. Increasingly, though, the site's appeal has become its uniqueness as a physical phenomenon.

+ Featured here is Fort Niagara State Park, at the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario,; the fort’s main structure, known today as the “Castle,”was built by the French in 1725–26 on the site of the Seneca Indian town Ongniaahra -- whence the name Niagara. A few miles to the east lies the Four Mile Creek State Park Campground. Whirlpool State Park is located at the Lower Rapids 3 miles (5 km) north of the falls; and Devil’s Hole State Park at the Lower Gorge overlooks the end of the Lower Rapids. Buckhorn Island, the State Park, is a wildlife sanctuary at the north end of Grand Island, south of the falls. The Big Sixmile Creek Boat Basin is on the west side of the island, and Beaver Island State Park is a recreational area at its southern tip. Evangola State Park, on the south shore of Lake Erie, has a broad sandy beach. Overlooking the river near Lewiston is the Earl W. Brydges Artpark, dedicated to the performing arts. (The recreation region is largely overseen by the Niagara Frontier State Parks and Recreation Commission, created in 1885 as the State Reservation at Niagara).

+ Robert Moses State Parkway links the Grand Island parks with Niagara Falls, Fort Niagara, and Lake Ontario. The Grand Island West River Parkway forms a scenic route around the island and, provides a connection with the New York State Throughay, Robert Moses State Parkway, Beaver Island, and Buckhorn Island state parks.

In the walled market town of Conwy, on the north coast of Wales

 UNESCO considers Conwy to be one of "the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe," and it  was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.

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(on the north coast of Wales in the spectacular walled town of Conwy)
Previously known as Conway, Conwy is a walled market town, community, and the administrative center of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. It is located on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on the east bank The town is known for its historic walled town located on the north coast of Wales. It is known for its well-preserved medieval walls, impressive castle, and rich cultural heritage. 

+ Most of the county borough’s population is concentrated along its coastal strip, where tourism is the main industry. Colwyn Bay is one of the most popular seaside resorts and the largest town. The town of Abergele, located east of Colwyn Bay, was one of the first places in North Wales where “sea bathing” became popular. It is now a thriving market center with weekly cattle markets. The coastal resorts of Conwy, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan, and Llandudno all have lengthy sand beaches. The stone statue of a rabbit checking its watch, located on the western promenade of Llandudno, commemorates the part the town played in inspiring Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

+ The town's rectangular castle is built from local and imported stone and occupies a coastal ridge, originally overlooking an important crossing point over the River Conwy. Divided into an Inner and an Outer Ward, it is defended by eight large towers and two barbicans (the outer defense of a castle or walled city), allowing the castle to be resupplied from the sea. It retains the earliest surviving stone machicolations in Britain and what historian Jeremy Ashbee has described as the "best preserved suite of medieval private royal chambers in England and Wales."In keeping with other Edwardian castles in North Wales, the architecture of Conwy has close links to that found in the Savoy (a historic and iconic hotel in the heart of London) during the same period.

+ Featured here is Conwy Castle, built on the River Conwy estuary by Edward I of England, was a vital link in a chain of English strongholds in the then newly invaded North Wales. The castle guarded the entrance to the once-navigable River Conwy at the town of Conwy and dominated coastal access to the region of old Caernarvonshire and Anglesey. For more than seven centuries, Conwy Castle has towered over its narrow streets, against the mountainous skyline of Snowdonia. In its heyday it would have been white -- lime render can still be seen on the walls -- but even in its darker state it makes quite the impression, soaring out of a natural rock formation at the mouth of the River Conwy. (Climb its battlements and you will be treated to sweeping views of the mountains, the sea, Conwy itself and the castle’s roofless Great Hall.)

In the city of Pisa, in Tuscany region, Italy

 There's more to Pisa than its Leaning Tower.

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(in Italy's Tuscany region on the plain of the Arno River, some six miles (10 km) from the Ligurian Sea and 50 miles [80 km] west of the city of Florence). Ancient Pisa, had become a Christian bishopric by 313 CE. It survived the collapse of the Roman Empire to remain the principal urban center of Tuscany. The city revived in the 11th century to become a thriving commercial center. Its participation in the Crusades secured positions for Pisan traders in Syria, and thereafter Pisa grew in strength to rival Genoa and Venice. In the 13th century, Pisa benefitted from the support of the German emperors in its conflicts with Genoa at sea and with its Tuscan rivals. (These struggles culminated in Pisa’s defeat by the Genoese fleet at the famous Battle of Meloria in 1284.)

+ Despite that defeat, Pisa became a center of woolen manufacturing late in the 13th century and remained the chief port of Tuscany. Pisan prosperity was reflected in the casatorre, a tall inhabited tower built of brick and stone, Internal struggles helped to bring about the occupation of Pisa by the Florentines in 1406. Merchandise continued to pass through the city until the 15th century. When French armies invaded Italy in 1494, Pisa reasserted its independence; the city sustained a series of wars and sieges until Florence reconquered it in 1509. Pisa grew again after the mid-18th century. In WWII Pisa suffered damage in 1944 when fighting took place on the Germans’ Gothic Line of defenses. The churches damaged at that time were subsequently restored.

+ Pisa is now a university town renowned for its art and architectural treasures. The city also retains much of its circuit of walls. The city is distinguished above all by a group of buildings in the Piazza del Duomo, the " Square of Miracles," at the northwestern end of the medieval walled city. This piazza contains the cathedral, or Duomo; the baptistery; the campanile, or Leaning Tower of Pisa; and the camposanto, or cemetery. The cathedral, begun in 1063, has a nave with double-vaulted aisles and transepts with single-vaulted ones, and a cupola at the intersection of the two axes. On the western front, the range of arches running around the base of the cathedral is repeated in four open arcades. A marvelous bronze door (ca. 1180) by Bonanno Pisano, survives on the southern side. Inside the cathedral is a pulpit carved in white marble by Giovanni Pisano. The circular baptistery, begun in 1152 but completed in the 14th century, is covered by a dome surmounted by a cone. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, begun in 1174 and completed in the 14th century, is also constructed of white marble The uneven settling of the campanile’s foundations during its construction gave the structure an odd inclination that is now about 17 feet (5.2 meters) out of the perpendic With the medieval Duomo as its backdrop, the Old Town square was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

In Ha Long Bay, in Quảng Ninh province, in northeastern Vietnam

 "Hạ Long Bay is a geological wonder, made up of 1,600 islands and islets, most of which are uninhabited...." -– David Shukman

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(in Quảng Ninh province, in northeastern Vietnam) Hạ Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination. (The name Hạ Long means "descending dragon.") Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Long city, Cẩm Phả city, and is a part of Vân Đồn district. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and islets in various shapes and sizes. Hạ Long Bay is a center of a larger zone that includes Bai Tu Long Bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà Island to the southwest. These larger zones share a similar climate, and cultural characters.

+ The core of Hạ Long Bay has an area of 334 km2 (129 sq. mi.) with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem and a seashore biosystem. Hạ Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species. Historical research surveys have shown the presence of prehistoric human beings in this area tens of thousands years ago. The successive ancient cultures are the Soi Nhụ culture around 18,000–7,000 BCE, the Cái Bèo culture 7,000–5,000 BCE and the Hạ Long culture 5,000–3,500 years ago. Hạ Long Bay also marked some important events in Vietnamese history, with many artifacts found in Bài Thơ mountain, Đầu Gỗ cave, and Bãi Cháy.
In 1962, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of North Vietnam listed Hạ Long Bay in the National Relics and Landscapes publication. Before the 19th century, the name Hạ Long Bay had not been recorded in the old books of the country. In the late 19th century, the name Hạ Long Bay appeared on the Maritime Map of France.

+ According to local legend, when Vietnam had just started to develop into a country, they had to fight against invaders. To assist the Vietnamese in defending their country, the gods sent a family of dragons as protectors. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. Under magics, numerous rock mountains abruptly appeared on the sea, ahead of invaders' ships; the forward ships struck the rocks and each other. After winning the battle, the dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth, and then decided to live in this bay. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Hạ Long, the place where the dragon's children attended upon their mother was called Bái Tử Long island (Bái: attend upon, Tử: children, Long: dragon), and the place where the dragon's children wriggled their tails violently was called Bạch Long Vĩ island (Bạch)

At the Doge's Palace, in Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy

 "The Doge's Palace, or Palazzo Ducale, in Venice, Italy, was the seat of power of one of the world's most powerful city-states."

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(in Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy) Doge's Palace was constructed in 1340 and is in the Venetian Gothic architectural style. (Historically, Doge's Palace was the home of the Doge of Venice.) The word doge is synonymous with "chief," a title reserved for the head magistrate of either Venice or Genoa. {Doge's Palace is one of the best landmarks in all of Europe.)

+This structure was the meeting place of the governing councils and ministries of the republic. In its successive rebuildings, the palace incorporated characteristics of Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance architecture. Doge, (Venetian Italian: “duke”), was the highest official of the republic of Venice for more than 1,000 years (from the 8th to the 18th century) and symbol of the sovereignty of the Venetian state. In Venice the office of doge (from Latin dux, “leader”) originated when the city was nominally subject to the Byzantine Empire and became permanent in the mid-8th century. According to tradition, the first doge was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, elected in 697. From the 12th century the aristocracy placed strict limits on the doge. Newly developed constitutional bodies took over many of the functions of government, and the doge on taking office had to swear an oath that restricted his freedom of action. During the same period, the doge was chosen from among the ruling families of Venice and held office for life. The last doge, Ludovico Manin, was deposed when Napoleon conquered northern Italy in 1797.

+ Among the most famous doges were Enrico Dandolo (doge, 1192–1205), who promoted the Fourth Crusade, and Francesco Foscari (doge, 1423–57), under whom Venice first undertook conquests on the Italian mainland. The name doge was also given to the principal civil official of Genoa, the office being modeled on that of Venice and instituted in 1339 to help end disorders among factions in the city. From 1384 to 1515 the popular elements of Genoa controlled the office of doge except for periods of foreign domination. In 1528 the office was reinstituted but restricted to aristocrats who held it for a term of two years. This office, like that of Venice, ended with French control of the peninsula.

+ Renaissance architecture, reflecting the rebirth of Classical culture, that originated in Florence in the early 15th century. Renaissance architects found a harmony between human proportions and buildings. Filippo Brunelleschi is considered the first Renaissance architect. (Leon Battista Alberti’s Ten Books on Architecture, inspired by Vitruvius, became a bible of Renaissance architecture.) From Florence the early Renaissance style spread through Italy. Donato Bramante’s move to Rome ushered in the High Renaissance (ca. 1500–20). Mannerism was characterized by sophistication, complexity, and novelty rather than the harmony, clarity, and repose of the High Renaissance.

In the city of Hamburg, northern Germany

 Hamburg, city and Land (state), on the Elbe River in northern Germany, is the country’s largest port and commercial center.

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(in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany and 6th-largest in the EU. At the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg stands on the branching River Elbe at the head of a 110 km (68 mi.) estuary to the North Sea, at the mouth of the Alster and Bille. 

+ Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin and Bremen, and is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest and Europe's third-largest. Before the 1871 unification of Germany, it was a sovereign city state, and before 1919 formed a civic republic headed by a class of Grand Burghers or Hanseaten.
+ The name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle that the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in 808 CE. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name Hammaburg (burg meaning castle or fort). The origin of the Hamma term is uncertain, but its location is estimated to be at the site of today's Hammaburgplatz (a lowland castle built in the early Carolingian period, from which the name of Hamburg is derived).

+ In 834 CE, Hamburg was designated as the seat of a bishopric. The first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Hamburg was destroyed and occupied several times.
In 1189, by imperial charter, Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of a Free Imperial City and tax-free access (or free-trade zone) up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. On 8 November 1266, a contract between Henry III and Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a hanse in London.

 This was the first time in history that the word hanse was used for the trading guild of the Hanseatic League. In 1270, the solicitor of the senate of Hamburg, Jordan von Boitzenburg, wrote the first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a city in Germany in the German language, the Ordeelbook (Ordeel: sentence). On 10 August 1410, civil unrest forced a compromise (German: Rezeß, literally meaning: withdrawal). This is considered the first constitution of Hamburg. In 1356, the Matthiae-Mahl feast dinner for Hanseatic League cities was celebrated for the first time on 25 February, the first day of spring in medieval times. (It continues today as the world's oldest ceremonial meal.)

+ In 1529, the city embraced Lutheranism, and it received Reformed refugees from the Netherlands and France. When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced another layer to the fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, he extended Hamburg and created a "New Town" (Neustadt) whose street names date from the grid system of roads he introduced.

At the Diocletian's Palace, in the town of Split, Croatia

 Diocletian Palace is One Of The Most Impressive Roman Ruins.

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(In Split, Croatia) Diocletian's Palace is considered one of the most impressive Roman ruins still standing today. The palace was built as the retirement home for Emperor Diocletian -- one of the only Roman Emperors to choose to retire. It is located in the wonderfully beautiful old town of Split in Croatia. Split is famous for being the most beautiful coastal city in Croatia and is one of the best places to visit in the Adriatic. Split and Diocletian's Palace is also a place where ancient Roman history meets Game of Thrones (it was used as a filming location in the fourth season).

+ Diocletian's Palace was perhaps more of a fortress than a palace. Around half of the massive structure was used for Diocletian's personal use, while the rest was used to house the military garrison. (It was built as a heavily fortified compound.) Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site Since 1979, this palace was modeled on the Roman forts of the 3rd century. Taking up a prime harborside position, the extraordinary complex of Diocletian's Palace is also one of the most imposing ancient Roman structures in existence today, and it is where you will likely spend most of your time while in Split. Don’t expect a palace, though, nor a museum -– this is the city's living heart, its labyrinthine streets packed with people, bars, shops, and restaurants. Although it's easy to lose sight of the palace amid the bustle of Split's waterfront promenade, take time to step back and look up. The original arches and columns of the palace wall can be easily discerned above the shops and restaurants. It would have presented a great face to the sea, with the water lapping at the base of the walls. (It's not hard to see why Diocletian built his imperial apartments on this south-facing side of the palace, gazing directly out over the water.) Built as a combined imperial residence, military fortress, and fortified town, the palace has been added to continuously over the millennia, the alterations increasing the allure of this fascinating site. Diocletian -– the first Roman emperor to abdicate voluntarily – commissioned this magnificent palace to be completed in time for his retirement in 305 CE. It was built from lustrous white stone transported from the island of Brač, and construction lasted 10 years. (Diocletian spared no expense, importing marble from Italy and Greece, and columns and 12 sphinxes from Egypt.)

+ Each wall has a gate at its center that's named after a metal: the elaborate northern Between the eastern and western gates there’s a straight road (Krešimirova, also known as Decumanus), which separated the imperial residence on the southern side, with its state rooms and temples, from the northern side, once used by soldiers and servants. (There are 220 buildings within the palace boundaries, home to about 3000 people.) The Bronze Gate once opened from the water into the palace basements.