Solothurn – The Swiss Town Obsessed with the Number 11
Solothurn is a picturesque town in the north-west of Switzerland known primarily for its special affinity for the number 11. It seems like everything in this place was designed around this magical number, from the fact that there are precisely 11 churches and chapels, as well as eleven historical fountains, eleven museums and eleven towers in Solothurn, […]
Montenegro’s Water Tree – A Rare Natural Phenomenon
The small village of Dinoša, in Montenegro, is home to an old mulberry tree that turns into a water fountain every time it rains heavily. As we all know, water doesn’t normally gush out of living trees, but at least in this case the phenomenon has a perfectly reasonable explanation. You see, the meadow that […]
Conch Island – A Man-Made Island Built Out of Millions of Conch Shells
Conch “Island” isn’t technically an island, but a mountain of conch shells discarded by fishermen in the same place over hundreds of years. Located just east of Anegada, the second largest of the British Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean, Conch Island is both a stunning tourist attraction and a testimony to the popularity of conch […]
Would You Pay to Sleep in a House Surrounded by 77 Lions?
The Lion House is a unique rentable property in South Africa that allows tourists to spend their vacation in the middle of a nature reserve, surrounded by 77 adult lions. Imagine going to sleep to the sound of lion roars, knowing that the only thing standing between you and dozens of predators is an electrified […]
The Levitating Stone of Shivapur, a Controversial “Miracle”
Every day, hundreds of tourists and devotees visit a shrine in Shivapur, a small village about 180 km east of Mumbai, in India, to witness a controversial “miracle” known as the Levitating Stone of Shivapur. The Shrine of Qamar Ali Darvesh, a Muslim Sufi Saint who lived about 700 years ago, features an ancient stone […]
Popcorn Beach – A Unique Tourist Attraction That Looks Good Enough to Eat
Fuerteventura, the second largest of Spain’s Canary Islands is mostly known for its white sandy beaches, but few people know that this island also hosts one of the world’s most stunning attractions, a beach that has popcorn for sand. There are plenty of tourist spots named after things they resemble, even if just vaguely, but […]
Please Don’t Step on the Fish! Vietnam’s Unique Flooded Cafe
Animal cafes where you can enjoy a hot cup of coffee and pet cute animals like cats, dogs or even sheep have been springing up all over the world, but Amix Coffee is the only cafe in the world where you can relax as dozens of decorative fish swim at your feet. Located in Vietnam’s […]
South Korean Cafe Makes You Feel Like You’re in an A-Ha Music Video
Cafe Yeonnam-dong 239-20 is a uniquely-designed cafe in Seoul’s Yeonnam-dong district that makes visitors feel like they’ve miraculously steeped into a cartoon or a comic. Remember the song “Take on Me” by Norwegian band A-ha? It’s one of the catchiest tunes of all time, but I remember being fascinated with its music video, as a child. […]
This Chilean Community Requires Residents to Have Their Appendix Removed
Can you imagine needing to have your appendix removed just to be able to live in your city? That’s exactly what the residents of Villa Las Estrellas, a small Chilean settlement in Antarctica, are required to do in order to live there long-term. To be able to comprehend such a bizarre requirement, you first need to […]
The Indian Village Where People Play with Live Scorpions
Most people wouldn’t dare touch a scorpion for all the money in the world, but in one small Indian village, people actually seek out the poisonous arachnids and put them on their faces, or eve in their mouths, as part of a worshiping ritual. Every year, on Naga Panchami, when most of India worships the […]
India’s Great Banyan Tree Is Its Own Forest
If you were to see the Great Banyan Tree in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden from a distance, you could be forgiven for mistaking it for a forest. Spanning more than 14,493 square meters, the tree is the widest in the world—so large that it covers more ground than the average Wal-Mart. […]
The Oakland Buddha – How One Buddha Statue Brought Neighbourhood Crime Down by 82%
A non-religious man in Oakland managed to virtually eliminate neighborhood crime with nothing more than a statue of Buddha bought from a local hardware store. The neighborhood of 11th Avenue and East 19th Street was formerly a rough part of Oakland, riddled with a variety of illegal activities ranging from littering and vandalization to drug […]
The Swiss Man Who Built a UFO Landing Port in Argentina Because Aliens Told Him to
This is the story of Werner Jaisli, a Swiss man who in 2008 started building a giant, star-shaped ‘ovniport’ – a UFO landing spot – in an Argentinian desert, because aliens telepathically ordered him to. It’s not clear exactly when Werner Jaisli arrived in Cachi, a small town in the Argentinian province of Salta, but […]
Venice Cafe Charges Tourist $50 for Two Coffees and Two Small Bottles of Water
A cafe in Venice, Italy has been slammed as a tourist trap after recently charging a man €43 ($50) for two espressos and two small bottles of water. Venice’s St. Marks Square is known for its notoriously pricey cafes and restaurants, but one such establishment has been getting a lot of negative attention online after a […]
Vietnamese House Has a Fence Made Entirely Out of Old TV Sets
Photos of a small house on the Vietnamese island of Hon Thom have getting a lot of attention on social media for its unique fence made exclusively out of discarded old television sets. The unusual house is reportedly located on the road to Hon Thom cable car and is very popular with tourists, for obvious […]