Recently, the obsession with beauty and colour palettes have given the rise to colour filters – from Instagram to Facebook to Snapchat, all of our social media platforms are consistently working on providing the perfect shade or colour.
In a world where filter-less pictures cease to exist, here are the 11 most colourful and beautiful places in the world where nature has painted the world, and no expertise in Photoshop can even come close.
1. Tulip fields, Holland
Tulip Fields, Holland. Photo: Cycletours Holidays/ Flickr
The tulip fields of Holland aren’t known for just one flower, they are also famous for their daffodils and hyacinths. But the tulips are the creme de la creme of these fields. The colours along the water and the Dutch countryside remind you of an innocent colouring book with splashes of colourful crayons. These fields are best explored on bicycles.
2. Cinque Terre, Italy
Coast of Cinque Terre. Photo: katiedee47/ Creative Commons
The words ‘Cinque Terre’ literally mean five villages. These villages on cliffs overlooking the sea, and are made up of the most complicated narrow paths that are able to connect with each other through the territory. It’s famous for its “Game of Thrones” ensemble of centuries-old castles and churches.
As you can see, cars don’t exist in Cinque Terre, you will have to be on foot to explore this beauty.
3. Antigua, Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala / Volcán de Agua_Pedro Szekely-Flickr creative commons
Antigua is essentially known for its ancient volcanoes. Its colours, however, show its originality. The vintage looking area of Guatemala is a sight for sore eyes, and UNESCO considers it a World Heritage Site, claiming that every building is painted with careful 12 colours – yellows, pinks, blues, reds and named a variety of names echoing the tradition of Domingo or Amarillo. However, it’s most breathtaking when it rains, the mountains become a lush green, with the Antigua garden shining below.
4. Kulsuk, Greenland
Kulsuk, Greenland. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons
This remote area in Greenland has less than 500 residents and is on one edge of the country. It sits on the icebergs off the mainland of the country, in the deep blues of the North Atlantic. The blues compliment the fire-engine reds, the sunflower yellows and the oranges and blues that the town paints. The dots of colour on the map assure the world that there are people who live on this heavenly Greenland site.
5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Praça Cantão in Rio’s Santa Maria favela. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons
The rainbow coloured Praça Cantão in Santa Maria favela has striped architecture, with all the colours in horizontal, vertical and diagonal stripes. The paint and the colour in itself bought the entire residents of the town together and changed the way in which the city and country then saw itself. Santa Maria is now a part of the international tourist circuit. The project is led by two Dutch artists, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn (L and R) and has spread around the world, with cleverly designed murals transforming rough neighbourhoods.
6. Moscow, Russia
PHOTO: Oleg Drokin/Creative Commons
Moscow’s St Basil Cathedral, on Red Square’s southern edge, is the perfect representation and symbol of all that is the great Russia. While its role in the movies may not be as perfect, it is often shown covered in snow and with a sense of death and gloom around it, the cathedral is nothing short of a revelation for the visitors. The dizzying colours and patterns were added 200 years after its initial construction.
7. Palacio de Pena, Portugal
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Pena Palace was originally a monastery rebuilt by King consort Ferdinand II (married to the ruling Queen Mary II) that bought the place in 1838. The plan was to make it into the summer residence of the royal family. Pena Palace was originally a monastery rebuilt by King consort Ferdinand II (married to ruling Queen Mary II) that bought the place in 1838. The palace became a national monument after the 1910 revolution that toppled the mast Monarch, Manuel II. Queen Amelia, the wife of King Charles’ father (King Charles I), spent her last night before her exile from Portugal at the palace. The best colours of the palace are red, yellow and golden.
8. Muizenberg, Cape Town
License to use Creative Commons Zero – CC0
These bathing houses are built Victorian style, painted in bold colours of reds, blues, greens, yellows and oranges like out of the colour box of our childhood. It is said that these bathing houses were placed for women who came to the beach clothed in casuals and needed a safe place to change. These boxes now house occasional surfboards, clothes, children’s sandcastle toys among other things.
9. Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Canoes filled with pink dragon fruits, rosy red apples, rich yellow bananas among other fruits are available and start business early morning. These canoes have attracted large numbers of tourists for their picturesque beauty and for this colour palette. The canoes and the clothes of the sellers only compliment the luscious colours of the fruits being sold,
This article originally appeared on CNN.
