Salinas de Janubio is the largest salt flat in the Canary Islands, located on the southwest coast of Lanzarote. This extraordinary site dates back to the 19th century. The salt pans, varying in hues from white to pink to deep red, create a mesmerizing patchwork that contrasts sta … | Continue reading
Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). Crafts made of capim dourado, whose name is Portuguese for “golden grass,” shine like they’re spun out of a fairy t … | Continue reading
In the sea of cumin-sprinkled lamb skewers, juicy pork dumplings, and steaming fish ball soups that is Flushing, Queens, Bodhi Village provides safe haven for herbivores. It’s not the only restaurant in Flushing that completely eschews animal products—the Hindu temple of Ganesh w … | Continue reading
In 1948, Bill Rosenberg set up a small shop called Open Kettle selling sandwiches, pastries, and coffee in Quincy, Massachusetts. Up until then, Rosenberg, a German-Jewish immigrant, had worked in a steel mill. After a few years of making a few extra bucks selling coffee and doug … | Continue reading
Alright, alright, alright! Nothing says welcome to a town better than a giant, smiling cutout of its favorite son. Uvalde, a town unfortunately beleaguered by recent tragedy, is also the birthplace of Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. The larger-than-life cutout is … | Continue reading
In the summer of 1984, the SSC Napoli shockingly signed one of the greatest soccer players in the world during the time, the Argentine Diego Maradona, for a record-breaking sum. After finishing in the lower half in of the league the season before he joined, Maradona took Napoli t … | Continue reading
Known as the "squirrel cage jail," this structure is one of only three of its kind left in the country. Built in 1889 and made entirely out of steel, its rotating design demonstrates what was considered an innovative method for incarceration while at the same time harkening back … | Continue reading
Most summer camp souvenirs wear out and fall apart over time, from that camp shirt that no longer fits you to a macaroni necklace slowly decaying in a box in the attic. But the cool rock you picked up along a trail as you hiked will be around forever. It’s one thing to have it on … | Continue reading
Hattori Hanzō is a recurring historical figure in popular culture, often depicted as an accomplished ninja. From children’s cartoons to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (in which Sonny Chiba reprised his earlier role from the 1980 TV series Shadow Warriors, the name is universally r … | Continue reading
The set of reliefs got their name from the central figure, a seated girl with a harp. The set also includes five monumental heads and a cave with sphinx heads on the portal. All these sandstone sculptures were carved by a single person, Václav Levý, a former chef from the castle … | Continue reading
For centuries, Lindores Abbey stood in ruins without receiving much attention. For most of the 20th century, the farm was owned by Drew Mackenzie Smith. Mr. Smith remembers how one day, in 2001, an "shambolic chap in a linen suit" came and asked his father to look around the ruin … | Continue reading
A volcanic subsidence crater (also called a pit crater or collapse crater) is formed when subsurface magma, supporting the rock overhead, drains away for whatever reason. The unsupported rock "ceiling" over the void left by the draining magma then collapses. (Much the same mechan … | Continue reading
There is a Norwegian saying that can be translated to "A dear child has many names." The same applies to this 1937 urinal, referred to not only as "the Carousel of Love" (or Kjærlighetskarusellen in Norwegian) but also as "the Wheel of Fortune," "the Round Barrel," "the Mushroom, … | Continue reading
Learning how to tie knots is one of the OG summer camp arts and crafts activities, and was likely part of the very first American summer camp experience. We asked Atlas Obscura Course Instructor John Bucher, a mythologist and storyteller, to share two easy-to-learn knots that are … | Continue reading
When the summer heat became unbearable for the delegates writing Indiana's first state constitution, they would continue their work in the shade of a large elm tree. Corydon, Indiana, was the capital of the new state upon inception from the Indiana Territory in 1816. Delegates fr … | Continue reading
The Buddhist hell is a fiery, horrifying underworld where the souls of the deceased are assessed by the 10 (or 13) judges of hell over the course of seven trials. Leading the jury is the Rhadamanthine overlord En’ma Daiō, a familiar figure in Japanese culture. While the popularit … | Continue reading
St. Paul's Pillar is located in Panagia Chrysopolitissa archaeological site, less than a 10-minute walk from the harbor. The pillar itself is an unassuming, stump of marble standing out in the open among the ruins of the early Christian basilica. Legend states the Roman Governor, … | Continue reading
The mountains are calling—but not for the reasons you might expect. While Colorado has long been a dreamland for wandering souls and intrepid explorers, it’s now gaining renown as a magnet for adventurous palates. Over the last decade or so, an influx of new visitors, unique tast … | Continue reading
Many tourists who visit Florida head for Orange County, home of the state’s most famous theme parks. But just 85 miles west of here lies a lesser-known county, with a similar name and its own wild character. If you’re looking to explore Florida’s natural beauty, or if you’re into … | Continue reading
Colorado’s land and soil—the same things that make the state a treasure trove of natural wonder—also conspire to forge another kind of magic: incredible local food. Fields here gleam golden with corn, orchards teem with juicy stone fruit, and sheep roam verdant, stream-fed pastur … | Continue reading
It would be easy for a place like Los Coches Adobe, an 8,794-acre land grant in Monterey County, to be forgotten. One of the few remaining buildings on the land is veiled by rows of tall locust trees, giving it a hint of mystery. But the land, the house, and even the trees hold o … | Continue reading
Chef Travis Milton has spent more than a decade working to restore Appalachia’s historic foodways—longtime traditions he learned from his grandparents’ generation, like canning, raising heritage cattle, and breeding heirloom fruits and vegetables, but that disappeared as coal too … | Continue reading
As a relatively small island nation, Malta may not necessarily seem like the type of place to find an automobile museum, yet one has been established in the resort town of Buġibba. This museum was the brainchild of car enthusiast Carol Galea, who first started customizing and bui … | Continue reading
Devonport is a quaint community at the southernmost point of Auckland's north shore. As you step off the ferry, among the shops, cafes, and restaurants, you'll find the Devonport Library. If you were fortunate enough to visit Auckland pre-2017, and you happened to enter the libra … | Continue reading
In Zuoying District, Kaohsiung, just south of the district's most popular tourist site, the Lotus Lake Taoist Complex, the remains of an ancient wall surround an idyllic park. Only three of the four gates and portions of the eastern and northern walls remain, thick crenelated str … | Continue reading
Nestled in Hindhead Commons and Devil's Punchbowl is a Grade-1 listed gravestone. Few know of the "Unknown Sailor," an anonymous mariner, who met his demise in September 1786 at Hindhead in Surrey. His assailants met justice when they were publicly executed on Gibbet Hill the fol … | Continue reading
Referred to as the "castle in the clouds," 430 Hawkins Hill Road sits on a hill, isolated in the bush, overlooking Wellington. The site was originally a decommissioned Airways Corporation radar bunker until Brian Willman purchased the property in 1998 with the intention of buildi … | Continue reading
Just an hour southeast of Page, Arizona, a hidden gem stands over a canyon in the Navajo Nation. Eggshell Arch is a natural sandstone arch formed over thousands of years by erosion. The arch is not well known (yet) so it is likely you won't see other visitors in the area. The arc … | Continue reading
A short distance north of Shanivar Wada, along the Mutha river, sits an elaborate but crumbling temple complex, complete with an underground shrine. In 1633, the land the Amruteshwar Siddheshwar Temple Complex sits on was awarded to the Chitrao family, who had worked for the roya … | Continue reading
On the gateposts of the Royal Palace of Naples stands a pair of grooms tending to their horses. These often overlooked bronze sculptures are no work of the Renaissance, let alone Ancient Rome, but of Imperial Russia. The original pieces were created in 1851 and stand on the Anich … | Continue reading
In 1777, Stockingfield Junction was opened to allow traffic from the Forth and Clyde Canal to reach the center of Glasgow. It closed in 1962, and its restoration was completed in 2022. The restoration and building of a bridge connect the communities of Maryhill, Gilsochhill, and … | Continue reading
This colossal mural claims to be the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world, measuring 120 feet long and five stories high. Artist Ellen Griesedieck created the massive piece of three-dimensional art as a tribute to the history of work in America. More than 15,000 kids … | Continue reading
Unlike most large-scale public aquariums, the Zaragoza Aquarium's collection is restricted to freshwater species, mostly from rivers. Though there are no sharks or any of the usual impressive giants, the tank's inhabitants still wow spectators with impressively large freshwater f … | Continue reading
Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, in April 1860, William Keith Kellogg would become the visionary founder of the Kellogg Company, a global leader in breakfast cereals, including Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes. In December 1878, Kellogg got his humble start in business by selling br … | Continue reading
Salt Lake City's Temple Square is home to some of the most storied buildings in Mormon history, including the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Salt Lake Temple. Less well-known is a monument dedicated to a creature without whom none of that history might have happened: the California … | Continue reading
Located off the southern coast of the Miura Peninsula, Jogashima Island is the largest natural island in Kanagawa Prefecture. Famed for its scenery since the Middle Ages, its popularity grew further in the Meiji era (1868-1912) when it became a romantic resort, made easily access … | Continue reading
By the waterfront in Copenhagen sits a bronze cast of Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s 1921 statue, Havfrue ("Mermaid"), unveiled here in 2009. Despite being in a central spot, the sea maid remains relatively obscure compared to her internationally renowned counterpart, The Little Merma … | Continue reading
This story was originally published on The Conversation. It appears here under a Creative Commons license. On August 24, in the year 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, shooting over 3 cubic miles of debris up to 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) in the air. As the ash and rock fell to Earth, i … | Continue reading
The walls underneath Lindenhof hold evidence of Zurich's past. These walls include remnants from the Gallo-Roman, and Carolingian periods, each contributing to the rich tapestry of the city's history. During the Roman occupation, the area known as Turicum was fortified with a cas … | Continue reading
Founded in 1945, this non-profit sanctuary honors the memory of Sanderson Sloane, as well as all the fallen men and women who served in World War II. It is situated on the 236-acre property, on a hilltop with breathtaking views of Monadnock Mountain. This non-denominational worsh … | Continue reading
Lake Clifton, nestled within the Yalgorup National Park in Western Australia, is a captivating site renowned for its unique thrombolites. Thrombolites are microbial formations shaped by the intricate interplay of cyanobacteria, contributing to the trapping and cementation of sedi … | Continue reading
Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). In most places, midges don’t command much respect, inspiring annoyance and vague shooing motions and disappearing b … | Continue reading
Visitors to Murcia might be surprised to see a big fish showing its head and tail in the shallow waters of the Segura River near the Puente Viejo (Old Bridge). This sculpture is actually a tribute to a deeply rooted tradition in Murcia. The Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the S … | Continue reading
As Malta is an island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it is a natural place for people to make salt from seawater. In fact, people have been manufacturing salt in Malta since the Phoenicians arrived on the islands. The most notable place in Maltese Archipelago wher … | Continue reading
Square de l'Île-de-France, a small public park at the very end of Île de la Cité, might seem to be a peaceful green plot of land now, but it hides a much darker and morbid history. The site was home to one of the first Paris morgues, which not only served as the place to keep uni … | Continue reading
Several waves of German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first wave, invited by William Penn himself, consisted largely of Anabaptists, including Amish, Mennonites, and Dunkers. These groups were seeking religious freedom after the chaos of t … | Continue reading
Deep in the woods below Mount Saint Helens, a short boardwalk traverses a natural mosaic of green and black. As beautiful as it is, it might be hard at first glance to see both forests mentioned in the site’s name. The two forests of this trail are not separated by biome type or … | Continue reading
The clouds seemed to be conspiring against Jimo Pereira last summer. The university student from Buenos Aires spent much of her time curled up in a sleeping bag on the grounds of Eichsfelder Hütte, a hostel deep in Germany’s rugged Harz Mountains. Night after chilly night she’d b … | Continue reading