The Incredible Flower and Sand Carpets of La Otorava
In the Spanish town of La Otorava, Tenerife, the festival of Corpus Christi Festival is celebrated by lining the streets with beautiful themed carpets made from flower petals and colored volcanic sand. Featuring some of the most fragrant art displays in the world, the feast of Corpus Christi attracts thousands of visitors from all around […]
The Haro Wine Battle – A Water Fight for Grown-Ups
Every year, the small town of Haro, one of the biggest wine producers in Spain, hosts the traditional “Batalla del Vino”, the Wine Battle, where participants throw tons of red wine at each other. Part of the Haro Wine Festival, the annual Wine Battle takes place on June 29, the day of the patron saint […]
Entrepreneur Turns Atomic Reactor into Popular Amusement Park
Wunderland Kalkar is a unique amusement park built on the site of a never-used power plant, complete with a fast breeder reactor, in Kalkar, Germany. Construction of the Kalkar nuclear plant began in 1972, but was constantly delayed due to technical difficulties and protests from those concerned about the safety of nuclear power. When it […]
Entire Village Painted Blue for Smurfs Movie Launch
The small village of Juzcar, in Spain’s Malaga region, has recently been painted blue as part of a global promotion for the Sony Pictures film “The Smurfs 3D”. Juzcar is a peaceful, traditional “pueblo blanco” village, located in the Genel Valley region of Andalucia. It boasts a population of just 250, and yet Sony has […]
China Inaugurates Park Made Entirely Out of Clay
A unique cultural park made entirely out of clay has recently been open to the public, in Tangshan City, China. Featuring rows of houses, busy streets filled with vendors and their carts, high ranking officials and horse-pulled carriages, the park is a reproduction of Zhang Zerui famous scroll painting Riverside Scene during the Qingming Festival. […]
Thai Temple Offers the Ultimate Chance at Rebirth
Wat Prommanee, a Buddhist temple, 66 miles northeast of Bangkok, offers believers the chance to lay in a coffin for a few moments, then rise up and feel reborn… I for one find coffins to be really creepy and I wouldn’t dream of lying down in one if someone paid me all the money in […]
Thai Temple Interior Inspired by Modern Sci-Fi Movies
You’d probably expect temple murals to depict religious themes and Buddha, but the Wat Rong Khun temple in Chiang Rai isn’t your ordinary holy place, as you can easily tell by the murals. According to Wikipedia, in 1997, Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat volunteered to carry out the work for Wat Rong Khun’s ubosol (the temple’s […]
Chefchaouen – The Blue City of Morocco
One of Morocco’s most popular tourist destinations, Chefchaouen is most known for its blue-rinsed buildings and alleys, an old tradition leftover from the city’s Jewish population. Chefchaouen was founded by Moorish exiles from Spain, in 1471, as a small fortress to fend off the attacks of invading Portuguese forcess in northern Morocco. After the Spanish […]
Azerbaijan Clinic Uses Crude Oil Baths as Therapeutic Treatments
A clinic in the town of Naftalan, 160 miles noth-west of Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku, has found a therapeutic use for its abundant quantities of crude oil. Azerbaijan is one of the world’s leading oil exporters, and in the country’s western plains “black gold” has been seeping out of the ground for centuries. In fact, […]
The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats
The Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats is regarded as a sacred cat haven in Cyprus, as it’s name has been linked to felines for almost 2,000 years. The original monastery was built in 327 AD, by Kalokeros, the first Byzantine governor of Cyprus, and patronised by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the […]
Valle de la Prehistoria – Cuba’s Jurassic Park
Valle de la Prehistoria, near the city of Santiago de Cuba, is a prehistoric-themed tourist attraction that features life-size models of over 200 dinosaurs and cavemen. Located inside the Bocanao National park, Valle de la Prehistoria spreads over 11 hectares of land and is as close as it can get to a real-life Jurassic Park. […]
The Hill of Crosses – A Man-Made Christian Miracle
Covered with over 100,000 crosses of different sizes, Lithuania’s Hill of Crosses is both a symbol of the country’s nationalism and an international pilgrimage site. Located 12 kilometers north of the small industrial city of Šiauliai, the Hill of Crosses is believed to date back to the 14th century, during the occupation of the Teutonic […]
The Unique Burial Customs of Tana Toraja
The Toraja Tribe of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is known for the cheerful way of treating death, and its unique burial grounds carved in sheer rock. One of the most beautiful tourist destinations of Indonesia, the green hills of South Sulawesi are home to the Toraja, a tribe that still honors the old Austronesian lifestyle, similar […]
Meet Dalton Stevens – The Button King
Dalton Stevens, from Bishopville, South Carolina, has earned the title of Button King after he spent 15 years stitching and gluing thousands of buttons on all sorts of objects. The Button King’s story began one night in 1983, when his insomnia prevented him from falling asleep. Back then, television went off at two in the […]
Galleta Meadows – A Metal Menagerie of Incredible Creatures
Galleta Meadows is a unique sculpture park of the Anza Borrego Desert, filled with dozens of metal creatures that supposedly inhabited the area millions of years ago. The Anza Borrego Desert isn’t the most hospitable place on the North American continent, and it’s definitely not where you’d expect to find an outdoor art exhibit like […]