England’s Bolton Strid: the most dangerous stretch of water in the world
The Bolton Strid, a narrow segment of the River Wharf in North England, is a picturesque stretch of river that looks like the type of place one might find fairies […]
Pozzo del Diavolo: was this cave created by Hercules’s wrath, the devil, or volcanic activity?
We are in Italy, in Lazio region, above Vico Lake in the beautiful beech forest of Monte Venere, part of the UNESCO’s Primeval Beech Forests of Europe transnational network of […]
Dinosaur footprints at the Isle of Skye – Scotland
We are in the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Here there are lot of icons of the past, as ruined castles that are hundreds of years old stand atop an unusual […]
Chichen Itza Chirp: clapping at base of an ancient pyramid echoes the call of a sacred bird
Chichen Itza, a pre-Colombian archaeological site built by the Mayans in northern Yucatan, Mexico, is home to many architectural and cultural wonders, and one of this has baffled acoustics experts […]
Anundshög – the Sweden’s largest burial mound, allegedly belonging to a mythical king
We are in Sweden, near Västerås in Västmanland. Scandinavia is full of burial mounds, runestones, and any sort of ancient graves. Similar to the Egyptian pyramids, great rulers were honored […]
Hyder: the easternmost town in Alaska that can only be accessed from Canada.
The town of Hyder, Alaska, is both the geographically easternmost town in Alaska, as well as the southernmost town in Alaska that can be reached by car. However, one cannot […]
Yangzhou Zhongshuge: this Chinese library’s interior is designed to look like an infinite tunnel of books
We are in Yangzhou. The Chinese city is known for its graceful arched bridges, proximity to the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Architects kept these local features in […]
Air Sinai: the ghost airline that has linked Cairo and Tel Aviv for decades
A flght from Cairo to Tel Aviv is a 50-minute flight on a clear day. But if you’ll book your ticket, when you’ll arrive to the airport, probably you’ll not […]
Bangkok’s “David Beckham Temple”: one of the world’s weirdest religious buildings
Bangkok’s temples are truly a wonder to visit, but after a few days of battling the crowds, the appeal of gilded Buddha statues may start to lose interest. Thus, when […]
Whitby Abbey: the gloomy ruins that inspired Bram Stoker to bring Dracula to life.
From Mina Harker’s diary, Chapter 6, Dracula by Bram Stoker: “Right over the town is the ruin od Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the […]
Crater Lake: the deepest lake in the United States, and once the site of epic destruction that lives on in myth.
Crater Lake, Oregon, has been known different names. It was first known, to non-Native Americans anyway, as “Deep Blue Lake,” as named in 1853 by its discoverer, John Wesley Hillman, […]
The strange story of why human urine was transported to quarries in North East Yorkshire
Since the days of the Roman empire, alum was used as a mordant or fixative that allowed textiles to be colored using vegetable dyes. Initially imported from Italy where there […]
Vicars’ Close: the oldest residential street in Europe that also features an optical illusion.
Vicars’ Close, in Wells, Somerset, England, is claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with original buildings still intact in Europe. The first houses on this attractive street, close […]
The Aqueduct of Segovia, a glorious Roman heritage in Spain
If we speak about architecture, the Romans are among the greatest builders of the world’s history. Some of the surviving Roman buildings and monuments are magnificient still today, many centuries […]
Buford, Wyoming: Population 1 (and now zero)
Despite its tiny size, the little town of Bufort, Wyoming, has become somewhat of a roadside attraction. It has two claims to fame: the iconic road sign reading “Population 1” […]
Torre Argentina – the Roman Cat Sanctuary
As you probably know cats in Rome are very popular and they have always found shelter amongst the ancient city ruins. They are also protagonists of numerous postcards depicting them […]
Pidhirtsi Castle: one of the most valuable palace-garden complexes in the Ukrainian’s eastern borderlands—and one of the most haunted!
We are in Pidhirtsi, Ukraine. For believers, the country itself is filled with legends and mysticism, and Pidhirsti castle (Ukrainian: Підгорецький замок; Polish: zamek w Podhorcach) is also known as […]
Kościół w Kartuzach: the coffin-shaped church in Poland where monks once slept in coffins
Despite It’s hard to tell from the ground, if you take to the skies you’ll see that this 14th-century Gothic church is shaped like a coffin. Yes, really a coffin. […]
Fingal’s Cave, the “Cave of Melody” in Scotland
Usually you not hear, in the same sentence, names like Queen Victoria, Matthew Barney, Jules Verne, and Pink Floyd but, strangely enough, there is a place that they all share. […]
Francesco Petrarca’s house: a modest museum in the final home of Italian poet
“In the Euganean Hills, I had a small house built, decorous and noble; here, I live out the last years of my life peacefully, recalling and embracing with constant memory […]
Holy Well of St. Madron – Cornwall
Cornish culture is legendary and mystery awaits around every corner in its land. Despite holy wells are water sources with specifically Christian associations, identified from as early as the 6th […]
The unsolved mystery of Ding Wuling, China’s mosquito-free village
Surrounded by lush vegetation and dotted with ponds and pools of water, the Chinese village of Ding Wuling should be a paradise for mosquitoes, especially during the summertime. However, the […]
The 199 steps (with benches for coffins) of Whitby, England
Thousand of people regularly climb up the 199 steps leading to St. Mary’s Church. Fortunately for them, visitors, locals, tourists or simply curious, some benches dot the stairway, providing perfect […]
Sinhagad: the lion’s fort in Pune – India
We are in Thoptewadi, India. Here stands a fort that for centuries was called Kondhana, named after the monk Kaundinya. The nearby temple and cave carvings indicate that the building […]
Kaizō-ji temple and its legends – Japan
Kamakura was the capital and religious center of Japan from the 12th-14th centuries. The city is scattered with medieval Shinto shrines and numerous Buddhist temples, including temple Kaizō-ji, which dates […]
Grand Midway Hotel – Pennsylvania: the haunted Hotel with the world’s largest Ouija board on the roof.
This hotel, which still houses a few invite-only guests, is no longer in full operation and has a lot of history hidden within it. It was bought by its current […]
Sarmizegetusa Regia: the legendary capital of the Dacians
We are in Romania. Hidden in the dense forests of the Carpathians, Sarmizegetusa Regia is one of the oldest, most surprising and mysterious historical attractions in the country. From the […]
“Old Man of the Lake”: the tree log that has been floating vertically for 120 years and no one knows why.
“Old Man of the Lake” is not a legend or a myth, but a real 450-year-old hemlock that’s been floating vertically in the Oregon’s Crater Lake for at least 120 […]
Maglič fortress: a mysterious 13th century piece of serbian history
Maglič is a 13th century medieval castle about 15 km southwest of the town of Kraljevo, in central Serbia, located on a hilltop surrounded by the curvy Ibar river. It […]