Travel with me #70 : The Dig at the lost city of Atlantis !

Dear Steemit Friends:

A few days ago, I set forth on a journey to Bahamas, a place I've always wanted to visit since I was very young.

My first few nights would be spent at the popular holiday resort named Atlantis, supposedly a lost civilization that fell out of favor with the gods and became submerged under the sea.

Throughout the resort, there are recurring themes of Mayan and Aztec ruins which were believed to be remnants of the lost city of Atlantis.

Let's delve a little deeper into this Paradise Island and see whether we can uncover some mysteries surrounding the lost civilization of Atlantis, and also see what more this resort has to offer!

The Royal Towers are frequently used as the representative image of Atlantis because of its grand and imposing design. Aside from that it is also surrounded by the Aquacenter water park and a large number of aquariums home to many exotic species of aquatic life.

Many parts of the Royal Towers are built on water. It's quite amazing to see how integrated the buildings are to the water pools and lagoons, a definite resonance with the theme of "city engulfed in water".

This is the front entrance to the Royal Towers, from the side you can see that it is actually built on top of a lagoon. The design is pretty cool with sea horses and sea shells acting as supports for the over hanging platforms on this part of the building.

The front entrance has some really interesting designs. It looks like some ancient mythical Beatles and some sea horses with wing like flippers.

Certainly an impressive welcoming.

Below, we have one of the shallow ponds in front of the Royal Towers (beach side) which has some rather large sting rays flying around in the water.

When I first saw them, I couldn't believe how big they were. Their whole body seems to be like one massive wing. They even flap like birds as they glide through the water.

The hotel is connected to its various attractions and facilities through these beautiful paths, littered with lush vegetation and palm trees.

You could stop pretty much anywhere and still take beautiful photos. Quite impressive considering large foot traffic every single day.

They even have these pretty water streams which are actually there to help cycle the water throughout the park and keep it fresh.

The exclusive spa is hidden well behind these orderly palm trees. I decided to skip the spa treatment but I hear it is actually very good.

For me, the Royal Towers are like a palace and all the pools and ponds with aquatic life around it are like the civilians who live and work to serve the Royal palace.

I could imagine in the ancient times, a city arrangement might actually be quite similar to this. Although the palace may not be quite so big and tall.

Below are pictures of the Royal Towers which I took from different parts of the resort.

The Towers serve as the central highlight of the resort so can be seen from all around paradise island. Since the aqua water park is one of the main attractions, most of the people staying in any of the other hotels at Atlantis will still spend a lot of time in the Royal Tower facilities.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the Towers from the edge of the island near one of its beaches.

Closer up to the tower, it has intricate paths and landscapes giving visitors an excellent opportunity to walk around below the Towers and enjoy the marine life in the ponds or views of the Towers from various angles.

This is a view of the bridge suite from right underneath it. It is reportedly $25,000 per night and is one of the most expensive suites in the world.

This is a view of the Towers from the first sting ray pond.

Another picture from another beach. There are beaches in almost every corner of paradise island. But because of the aqua water park, the beaches are actually quite empty!

This is one of the entrances to the river rapids. Whilst sitting on a floating tube, you are whisked around a scenic and wet ride around the park.

This is the central main swimming pool. As it is in the center of the park, it's also the most popular so it can get quite packed with people during peak times.

This is the Mayan temple slide. Actually it has a total of 5 slides each varying in intensity and one even going through an aquarium with live sharks and fish.

Since the aquaventure water park is included for people staying at Atlantis, I think it is quite a good value proposition for those who enjoy a good splash at water parks.

The tickets would otherwise be about $140 per day for entry to the water park.

The Dig

The Dig and the collective aquatic exhibits of the Atlantis resort form the largest marine life exhibit in the world.

The dig begins at the basement level of the main lobby of the Royal Towers and runs through tunnels all the way to the end of the casino.

According to their website, The Dig is home to over 100 Venomous Lionfish, 500 Piranhas, moray eels and jellyfish. They also have separate environments for Giant groupers and other tropical fish.

As we go further into the exhibit, we're brought into he lost world of Atlantis.

Exhibits take us through very detailed streets and tunnels underground, with plethora of marine life now occupying most of the lost treasures.

Some rooms are still very much "intact" and give a sense of what the lost city might have actually been like.

Many of the artifacts are now strewn on both sides of the glass.

There are certain displays like this piece of stone which hint at the prosperity of the lost continent.

The design borrows much from the Mayan and Aztec civilizations.

In fact most of the ruins we see in the water tanks seem to be from Mayan culture.

Curiously, there are some strange contraptions that also hint at how technologically advanced the lost civilization of Atlantis might have been.

This is the Jewel Tank Exhibit. The ancient icon is home to Cuban hog fish, queen angel fish as well as rock beauty.

Below, is the diving bell room which shows how the ancient Atlantian go about diving into the depths of the ocean.

It's ever so detailed that I could believe these artifacts were really uncovered from "the dig".

The Lionfish Exhibit

The Jellyfish Exhibit

Someone actually came up to me and said they recognized Steemit. It's so cool meeting people who by chance have the same interest as you despite being complete strangers.

I think I'll have to wear my Steemit clothes much more !

Thanks for joining me on our exploration of the lost city of Atlantis and journeying through The Dig and seeing the beautiful sea life telling their stories as they silently drift by.

If you liked my post then please upvote to show support, Follow me if you like what I do and want to see more, and leave a comment to let me know what you think! Appreciate it all very much!

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亲爱的steemit朋友，今天我想继续我们在巴哈马首都拿骚的旅程。第二天一早，我兴奋的跑出房间，终于能把这个亚特兰蒂斯度假村看个明白了。整个度假村的建筑风格弥漫着亚特兰蒂斯沉默的文化气氛。

来到这个酒店之前，我就对这里的文化有所了解，亚特兰蒂斯是一个传说中的文明古国，但在一夜之间却沉没在了大西洋的海底，并且消失得无影无踪。最早提到的这个古国的是古希腊哲学家柏拉图，之后也有无数著名学者在他们的文章中讨论国这个突然间埋葬海底的古国。但千百年来，关于亚特兰蒂斯是否真的存在，历史学家们还是对这个问题争论不休，考古工作者也在努力寻找它的踪迹，但都没有找到。大多学者仍然坚信他的存在，只是暂时没有浮现踪影。自然亚特兰蒂斯这个传说中的“失落帝国”成就了西方历史上永远的千古之谜。

酒店内外的每一处细节，无论是装饰，雕塑还是壁画，都深深埋着亚特兰蒂斯神话的影子。我很喜欢外墙粉色的建筑，这大概是希腊神话最爱用的颜色了。主楼的建筑非常特别，在两栋楼间有个天桥，据说这个天桥里有着世界上最贵的酒店套房，迈克尔杰克逊曾在这里入住。这个是酒店里的玻璃墙水族馆，站在玻璃边一群群的鱼从你身边游过，像在跟你打招呼。接下来我想带大家去传说中世界最大的水族馆，为了充分表现亚特兰蒂斯神话的主题，巨型的海洋馆里放了建筑的废墟，沉船和铁锚，还有一些带文字符号的古代雕饰。

刚走入水族馆的我，还以为来错了走进了什么奇怪的洞穴。里面光线比较暗，周围都是古代留下的遗迹，恍惚间我也好像来到了那个神秘的远古时代。鱼儿成群结队的从我身边游过，在废墟堆里穿插着。漂亮的珊瑚配上美丽的热带鱼，好看极了。接着我走进了一个神奇的空间，里面的水还冒着水蒸气，边上摆了一圈作战的盔甲,整个空间看起来像是科幻电影里的实验室，着实让我吓了一跳。希望大家喜欢今天的海洋馆旅程，我们明天见吧！