Vardzia is a cave monastery site in southern Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the left bank of the Mtkvari River, thirty kilometres from Aspindza. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some five hundred metres and in up to nineteen tiers. The Church of the Dormition, dating to the 1180s during the golden age of Tamar and Rustaveli, has an important series of wall paintings. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. Now part of a state heritage reserve, the extended area of Vardzia-Khertvisi has been submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Tommy Lindsey holds an enormous maple leaf that he found in Mount Vernon, Wash., October 28, 2013. Lindsey was walking with his family when he picked up the leaf that is more than two feet from stem to tip and more than 21 inches wide. (Photo by Frank Varga/The Skagit Valley Herald)

In this photo taken on Saturday, November 16, 2013, Mt. Etna, Europe's most active volcano, spews lava during an eruption as seen from Acireale, near the Sicilian town of Catania, Italy. (Photo by Carmelo Imbesi/AP Photo)

A man from Dinka tribe holds his AK-47 rifle in front of cows in a Dinka cattle herders camp near Rumbek, capital of the Lakes State in central South Sudan December 14, 2013. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Chile's Javier Campillay drives past the burning car of Kazakhstan's Bauyrzhan Issabayev and Gabdulla Ashimov during the Dakar Rally 2014 Stage 2 from San Luis to San Rafael, on January 6, 2014. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/AFP Photo)

Canadian escape artist Dean Gunnarson attempts to work his way out of a straight jacket while hanging from a crane by a rope which is on fire during a Royal Melbourne Show preview at the Melbourne Showgrounds on September 23, 2011 in Melbourne, Australia. The Royal Melbourne Show officially kicks off tomorrow, and continues until October 4. (Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

The first tram is delivered to the Gogar tram depot on October 17, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The tram was delivered on a low loader which had driven from Irun, northern Spain and is the first of 27 trams expected to arrive at the depot over the coming months. Last month the Scottish Government intervened to oversee the troubled Edinburgh trams project assigning project managers from Transport Scotland to work with contractors Bilfinger Berger. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)