Ceahlău, Romania
© johny007pan/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Lofty legends
The Carpathian Mountains cover about a quarter of Romania's land area, cutting a huge horseshoe through the country's center. Though our panoramic perch isn't the range's highest summit (that'd be the 8,350-foot Moldoveanu Peak), this massif known as Ceahlău might be the stuff of more legends, from tales of gods and devils to hyped-up histories of Roman conquest. Maybe the most famous involves a rock called Panagia—said to have been a beautiful peasant girl who climbed Ceahlău to court the sun itself, eventually turning to stone while waiting for her lover to emerge from the clouds.
Three wooly sheep, mossy ground, foggy cliffs, Iceland
Traditional Asian Pavilion, Foggy Fall Mountains
Osprey flying over foggy coniferous forest with sun rays
Green Algae Volcanic Rock Formations, Laomei Green Reef, Taiwan
Burg Eltz castle, forested hill, morning mist, Wierschem, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Powerful turquoise ocean wave, dark rocky cliff
Dolomite mountain peaks, valley fog, sunset, Dolomites, Italy
