Houses and villages built on rocky faces and cliff edges provide truly striking landscapes where nature and man made structures meet.
Villages were traditionally built on this type of land near to the sea as it provides an ideal natural defence thanks to the surrounding sea. Other cities and dwellings built inland were built as they have a distinct advantage of being higher up – the monk temples at the top of the rocks in Meteora, Greece, are a great example of this. Here are 18 incredible cliff-side dwellings from around the world.
1. Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
photo via zettravel.com
2. Cuenca, Spain
photo via famouswonders.com
3. Castellfollit De La Roca, Spain
photo via Flickr
4. Bonifacio, France
photo by Sebastiaan Verschuren
5. Rocamadour, France
photo via Flickr
6. Santorini, Greece
photo via yachtgulet.com
7. Pitigliano, Grosseto, Italy
photo by Petr Kosyh
8. Riomaggiore, Italy
photo by Janos Gaspar
9. Manarola, La Spezia, Italy
photo by Fabian84
photo by Tianna Harris
10. Meteora, Greece
photo via hotelalexiou.com
11. Guanajuato, Mexico
photo via fineartamerica.com
12. Piodao, Historical Village Of Portugal
photo by Nuno Trindade
13. Azenhas Do Mar, Sintra, Portugal
photo by Joe Daniel Price
14. Positano, Italy
photo via Flickr
15. Ronda, Spain
photo via Flickr
16. Vernazza, Italy
photo by Lorenzo Estremo Pecunia
photo by Pieter Arnolli
17. Wadi Dawan, Yemen
photo via Flickr
18. Oia, Santorini, Greece
photo via Hubert Janiszewski
h/t boredpanda
