The Anti-Pirate Houses of Ikaria Island
The Greek Island of Ikaria in the Aegean Sea is home to numerous camouflaged houses built under giant rocks to make them harder to spot by pirates. Nowadays, Ikaria is a popular tourist destination famous for its sandy beaches, picturesque villages and pristine natural landscape. But it wasn’t always the slice of paradise it is […]
Pheasant Island – A Small Patch of Land That Changes Country Every Six Months
Pheasant Island is a tiny island on the border between Spain and France that alternates ownership status between the two countries every six months. Located on the Bidasoa River, the natural border between Spain and France, Pheasant Island is a deserted patch of land with a rather fascinating history and political status. It might not […]
Lerik – Azerbaijan’s Land of Longevity
Lerik, a mountainous region in southern Azerbaijan, is famous for being home to an unusually high concentration of centenarians. Regions where people tend to live longer than average are known as “blue zones”, and we’ve actually covered a couple of them in the past – Japan’s Okinawa island and Ikaria, Greece’s island of longevity. However, […]
The World’s Smallest Town Has Only Two Streets and Three Rows of Houses
Hum is a picturesque hilltop settlement in Croatia’s Istria region whose main call to fame is being the smallest town in the world. Located in central Istria, approximately a 2.5 hours drive from Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb, the medieval hilltop town of Hum is home to between 20 and 30 people (21 according to […]
The World’s Highest ATM Sits Atop a 4,693-Meter-Tall Mountaintop
The highest-altitude cash machine in the world is located at the Khunjerab Pass border between China and Pakistan, at an elevation of 4,693 meters. Over the past few decades, the ATM has become one of the world’s most ubiquitous pieces of technology, but you wouldn’t expect to see one while trekking through the snow-covered mountains […]
This Man-Made Mound in Rome Consists of Millions of Ancient Amphorae
Monte Testaccio, an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of broken pottery, might be the largest trash heap in the ancient world. At first glance, Monte Testaccio looks like an ordinary greenery-covered mound, the likes of which can be found all over the world. But underneath all that shrubbery and the thin layer of […]
The Highest Tides in Europe Are Quite a Sight to Behold
Saint Malo, a historic French port on the English Channel coast, is famous for having the highest tides in Europe, with breakwater defenses barely keeping giant waves from slamming into residential buildings. Seeing Saint Malo at low tide and then again at high tide is like looking at two completely different towns. The buildings and […]
Khunzakh – Literally Living on the Edge in Dagestan
The ancient village of Khunzakh, in Dagestan, is literally perched on the edge of a deep canyon, making it one of the most awe-inspiring human settlements in the world. Before Khabib Nurmagomedov took the MMA world by storm and became the undisputed champion of the UFC Lightweight Division, most people hadn’t even heard of Dagestan. […]
Mysterious Geyser in Japan Has Been Gushing Out Water for Two Weeks
A mysterious geyser that erupted in the middle of a forest on the Japanese island of Hokkaido has been shooting up columns of water up to 40-meters-high for the past couple of weeks. Every year, on August 9, the small Japanese town of Oshamambe holds an annual summer festival complete with a traditional procession at […]
This European Football Stadium Has an Active Railway Track Passing Right Through It
Slovakian amateur football club TJ Tatran Cierny Balog prides itself on having one of the most unique stadiums in the world, complete with a railway track and a steam engine running straight through it. Cierny Balog, a small Slovakian town of about 5,100 people, has become somewhat of a tourist spot in the last seven […]
Europe’s Longest Ice Road Has a Weird Speed Limit And Wearing a Seatbelt Is Forbidden
Estonia is home to the longest official ice road in Europe, a 25-km-long stretch of frozen ice along the country’s coast, where it’s illegal to wear a seatbelt and drive at medium speed. It might seem a bit bizarre to be covering a topic like ice roads in the middle of a particularly hot month […]
Chichibugahama – Japan’s Instafamous Mirror Beach
Chichibugahama Beach is a popular tourist destination in Mitoyo City, Japan which rose to fame thanks to photo-sharing social media platforms like Instagram. If you ever find ourself doubting the power of social media, just remember the story of Chichibugahama Beach. A once obscure seaside destination in Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture, this place turned into a […]
Tekesi County – China’s Unique Bagua-Shaped City
Built according to the “Bagua”, or the Eight Trigrams used in Taoist cosmology, Tekesi County has a unique and eye-catching layout that allegedly renders traffic lights obsolete. Bagua represents the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. It is a complex concept of Taoist cosmology which also has correspondences in […]
Ancient Wonder – The 1,600-Year-Old Iron Pillar That Refuses to Rust
The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque complex in New Delhi is home to an ancient wonder of metal work – a 1,600-year-old iron pillar that is exceptionally resistant to rust. The Iron Pillar of Qutub Minar, as this ancient monument is sometimes referred to, measures 7.21-meters-tall, has a diameter of 41 centimeters and weighs about 6 tons. It’s […]
Mexican Mountain Road Requires Drivers to Drive on the Wrong Side of the Road
Tackling tight curves on winding mountain roads is complicated enough as it is, but having to randomly drive on the opposite side of the road makes it confusing as well. Mexico’s Cumbres de Acultzingo or Acultzingo Heights is a mountainous area in the country’s Veracruz State traversed by a winding road that truck drivers found […]