You’ve heard of the Grand Canyon, the Galapagos Islands, and Venezuela’s Angel Falls; you’ve probably even heard of more obscure natural wonders, like the needle-like rock forests at Tsingy de Bemaraha. But no matter how much of the Earth we cover, there’s always something breathtaking just around the bend.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Photos Of Incredibly Surreal Places on Earth

10Kirkjufell

Kirkjufell Mountain is best known for the stunning pictures brought back by tourists. Located on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Iceland, there isn’t anything impressively significant about the mountain itself. It’s not the biggest mountain in Iceland, or the deadliest, and it can’t even claim to be one of the many volcanoes that have given Iceland the reputation of producing a third of all the basaltic lava in the history of the world.

But if there’s one thing that makes Kirkjufell stand out from the pack, it’s how all the elements of the scenery fall together. This is a photogenic mountain. From the Middle-earth landscape to the trio of waterfalls feeding a crystal clear stream at the mountain’s foot, it all creates a perfect portrait of idyllic Iceland. Even the weather pitches in. And, as the picture above shows, Kirkjufell is smack dab in the center of one of the best places to view the stunning Northern Lights.

9Cano Cristales

Known to the locals as the “River of Five Colors,” Cano Cristales is truly a hidden paradise. Tucked away in the mountains of Colombia, there are only two ways to reach the river, and both of them are by plane. The colors of the river come from a combination of algae, the natural hue of the river rocks, and the blue of the water itself. In particular, the red comes from an aquatic plant called Macarenia clavigera.

Because the coloration comes from living creatures, the effect shifts constantly, like a living watercolor painted by God’s own hand. The most spectacular time to see Cano Cristales is in the summer, when the heat brings out the most vibrant shades of red. In addition to the striking colors and the incredible biodiversity of the region, Cano Cristales also flows over some of the oldest rocks in the world—the Guiana Shield, which formed about 1.2 billion years ago.

8Taylor Glacier Blood Falls

Antarctica isn’t usually the first place that comes to mind when you picture a paradise, but as harsh and unforgiving as the weather may be, the landscape can be equally beautiful. We’ve only begun to really explore this frozen continent, but we’re finding more and more wonders hidden beneath the ice.

One striking example of Antarctica’s uniqueness can be found at the Taylor Glacier, which vomits a continuous stream of iron-rich hypersaline water onto the surrounding snow. The glacier was discovered in 1911 by an explorer named Thomas Griffith Taylor, who surmised that the reddish tint was caused by an unknown form of bacteria. It wasn’t until much later that we found the real reason for the spring of blood-colored water—an ancient underground pool of saltwater about 400 meters (1,300 ft) below the surface of the ice.

During the Miocene period, about five million years ago, water levels around Antarctica rose enough to leave a lake of saltwater on the previously dry land. When the ocean receded, it stranded the lake, which was then slowly covered by a string of glaciers until it was completely cut off from the surface. With no oxygen, the lake was left in almost the exact same state as when it was covered—it became a five-million-year-old time capsule. There are microbes down there that have remained unchanged since the Miocene period, and they’re responsible for breaking down iron deposits in the salty water. Once that iron-rich water squeezes its way up through a fissure to the surface and comes in contact with oxygen for the first time, the iron hydroxide reacts instantly, giving us a waterfall of rust—the Blood Falls.

7Beppu Hot Springs

Beppu, Japan is one of the world’s hot spring hot spots; there are more than 2,500 springs in the area—the second largest such cluster in the world. The springs are colloquially known as the “Eight Hells,” since there are eight main areas, each producing a unique type of spring. Blood Pond Hell, pictured above, is saturated with iron, giving both the water and the steam a dark reddish tint.

Some of the other Hells include Demon Mountain Hell, which houses about 80 crocodiles; White Pond Hell, which contains boric acid that gives the water a milky consistency; and Oniishi Shaven Head Hell, which is a mass of bubbling mud that—supposedly—resembles the shaven heads of monks rising to the surface. Entire commerce systems have arisen around the springs, letting you buy vegetables cooked in the Hells’ steam or eggs boiled right in the multicolored water. There are also smaller springs that are cool enough for a foot bath, although the main springs are peppered with “Do not swim” signs—the water in some of the Hells can reach a blistering 150 degrees Celsius (300 °F).

6Spotted Lake

The Okanagan Valley lies at the extreme southern border of British Columbia. For thousands of years, aboriginal tribes have lived and battled in the valley, and their legends remain to this day. One of their most prominent legends told of a battle that occurred in the hills around Spotted Lake—then known as Khiluk to the First Nations of the region. During the battle, both sides called a truce and allowed their men to bathe together in the mineral-rich waters of Spotted Lake.

The alleged healing properties of the lake are still advertised today. There are high concentrations of 11 different minerals, including calcium and magnesium sulfate, and some trace amounts of titanium and silver. In the summer, when the lake partially evaporates, the minerals precipitate into rounded “holes.” Each hole takes on a different color, depending on which minerals are more concentrated in that particular spot.

5Panjin Red Beach

This gorgeous crimson landscape is located in China, near the city of Panjin. It’s situated in the middle of an immense, sprawling wetland area in the Liaohe River Delta, but it’s the only part of the wetland that takes on this vibrant coloration. Rather than sand, the beach is covered with a highly alkaline soil, which is too basic for most plants to live on. That leaves little competition for the Suaeda salsa, a species of seaweed that has completely taken over the 1.4 million acres that make up Red Beach.

In the summer, the seaweed is a dark green color—pretty but not exactly breathtaking. But in autumn, the mature plants take on a fiery red color that turns the beach into a one-of-a-kind spectacle. Most of the beach is closed to visitors in an effort to protect the delicate ecosystem, but there’s a small section that’s open to tourists.

4Pamukkale’s Travertine Pools

One of the most unique sights in the world is, without a doubt, the cliffside travertine pools in Pamukkale, Turkey. Travertine is a type of limestone that’s found in a lot of the world’s hot springs. When the spring reaches the surface, the travertine solidifies into stepped structures that hold the spring water. The fairy-tale result usually looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book—layers of crystal clear pools stacked on top of each other. No matter where they form, they’re usually beautiful.

Pamukkale was the ancient site of the Greek city of Hierapolis, and the name itself means “cotton castle.” From a distance, that’s absolutely what it looks like. The pools are initially formed from soft calcium carbonate that later solidifies into travertine. Because of the high calcium content, the end result is a hillside that’s white as snow.

3Zhangye Danxia

The Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park is located in southwest China and contains more than a few unusual features. Probably the most startling are the multicolored mountains known as Danxia landforms. The surreal coloration comes from red sandstone and natural mineral deposits that have formed over the course of 24 million years. Each “stripe” constitutes a different mineral, and over the ages, they’ve formed layer upon layer, resulting in a rainbow pattern. Erosion from wind and rain has further polished the surfaces of the mountains.

China is the only place in the world with this type of mineral formation, and a few of the landforms have become UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The town of Zhangye has capitalized on the international interest in the Danxia landforms, and there are dozens of separate tour companies leading groups into the rainbow mountains.

2Lake Retba

There are a handful of names that have been given to this lake, some by locals and some by visitors, but they all essentially mean the same thing: “The Pink Lake.” And while that may not be the most creative moniker, it’s definitely the most accurate. Lake Retba is located in Senegal, and it’s only separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a thin strip of sand dunes. Because of that slight geographic separation, a species of algae called Dunaliella salina has been able to proliferate in the lake’s warm waters.

Found only in a few places in the world, Dunaliella algae are salt lovers—which is good, because Lake Retba is as salty as the Dead Sea. In order to survive such salty conditions, Dunaliella produce a red pigment that allows them to absorb more sunlight and produce beta carotene, which acts as a buffer against the salt. The saltier the lake gets (particularly in the dry season), the deeper the red gets. During particularly dry seasons, the lake will take on a hue that can only be described as “bloody.”

1Lencois Maranhenses

An oasis in the middle of the desert makes a pretty picture, but they’re few and far between in most of the world’s arid regions. Lencois Maranhenses National Park, on the other hand, is absolutely peppered with them. Located in northeastern Brazil, this sand-covered, 155,000-acre park isn’t actually a desert, even though it looks like one. It’s located right outside the Amazon jungle and receives the same amount of rainfall you’d expect to see in a tropical rainforest. When the rainwater collects between the dunes, it forms thousands upon thousands of separate lagoons that stretch as far as the eye can see.

Each lagoon functions as a completely unique ecosystem. Despite the lack of inlets or outlets, many of the standalone lagoons are filled with fish that were carried to the pools as eggs by seabirds. But since the sandy ground is largely devoid of nutrients, very little vegetation grows in Maranhenses, turning it into sort of a combination of two worlds, like oil and water stirred into the same bowl.

Nearly every city on Earth has them—derelict ruins, the cracked shells of concrete titans long vanquished and forgotten but for their towering silhouettes outlined against the setting Sun. Decades-old factories, abandoned train stations reclaimed by nature, even whole islands that once vibrated with the lives and dreams of generations, all cast by the wayside and left to rot.

But sometimes, the entropy of decay gives way to something breathtaking. Whether at the hand of man or by the slow creep of nature’s tenacious grip, some ruins end up in a surreal twilight between ash and phoenix, poised for something greater than anyone could have imagined.

10Kolmanskop

The story of Kolmanskop begins, as so many African tragedies do, with a diamond. In 1908, German settlers were trying to build a railway across the Namib Desert to connect the coast with the Namibian town of Keetmanshoop. One of the workers, Zacharius Lewala, stumbled across a rough diamond in the desert sands, and he brought it to his supervisor. News of the find spread like wildfire across the German colonies, and miners were soon pouring into the desert by the hundreds.

Diamonds on the surface are rare, but legend has it that in Kolmanskop you could walk the desert at night and pick the glittering stones off the sand by moonlight. A makeshift city was built right on the windswept dunes, and at the height of its boom, there were over 1,200 people living in Kolmanskop. Times change, however, and with the combination of dropping diamond prices following World War I and the discovery of more diamonds farther south, Kolmanskop’s popularity dwindled. Miners and their families packed their bags, abandoned their homes, and left the desert.

Less than 50 years after Zacharius Lewala found his diamond, Kolmanskop was a ghost town. But wooden homes in the desert don’t rot. Within a few years, sand had begun to drift into the open windows and doorways of the buildings as the Namib sought to reclaim its own. The entire complex is now a popular tourist destination, with half a century’s worth of dunes piled up inside the residences, ballrooms, theaters, and hospitals.

9Teufelsberg Listening Post

An artificial dome atop an artificial hill from a time of artificial fears, this abandoned Cold War–era radar post outside Berlin, Germany, rises from the forests like a phallic beacon shining its turgid light upon the pages of a confused history. Built in 1963, the listening post was used by the US National Security Agency to allegedly intercept military and diplomatic communications during the Cold War. Records are vague as to the exact nature of the work performed there, and with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991, the place was gutted, and the station was abandoned to the elements.

Perhaps even more interesting than the station itself is the history of the Teufelsberg hill on which it stands. The hill—the highest point in Berlin—is actually a massive heap of the city’s rubble from World War II, all dumped over a Nazi military college that’s still intact somewhere beneath all those tons of debris.

Since the listening station powered down in 1991, the facility has changed hands frequently. Each new buyer begins with an ambitious goal to convert the bulbous radomes into a hotel or resort or museum or what have you, but so far, every plan has fallen through, leaving the odd structures to serve merely as gravestones for the corpse of a past Berlin. The facility is currently off-limits, but trespassers say the view of the city from the top is incredible.

8Boston’s Long Island

Boston’s Long Island doesn’t want to be inhabited. Not to be confused with the similarly named island in New York, this 2.8-kilometer (1.75 mi) stretch of land in the Boston Harbor has been the site of numerous failed projects since its original colonization in the 17th century. Its rocky shores and overgrown hills host a derelict military fort, vacant hospitals, mysterious graves, and a laundry list of alleged government secrets.

The region’s violent history began in 1675, when English settlers shipped hundreds of Native Americans to the islands in the harbor and left them to fend for themselves on the barren rocks over the harsh winter of 1675–1676. Most of them died of starvation. In World War II, Nazi scientists were smuggled onto Long Island by the federal government as part of Operation Paperclip. In fact, the island is believed to be the inspiration for the novel Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

Most recently, the island housed a shelter for Boston’s homeless, but that was hurriedly closed down in 2014, leaving rows of empty bunks inside the old tuberculosis ward. Citing safety concerns as the reason for the island’s evacuation, Boston’s Mayor Martin J. Walsh closed down the Long Island Bridge and transported every inhabitant to the mainland, turning the island once again into a ghost town.

7Paris’s Hidden Railroad

In 1841, Paris was just wrapping its head around the idea of rail transport. It had recently finished a massive fortification project that ran around the perimeter of the city, and the military was looking for ways to get troops and supplies from the center of the city out to the strongholds. Strapped for cash, they turned to private companies to foot the bill for the railways, which soon radiated from Paris’s center to the outskirts in a star-shaped pattern.

The result was a mess. Each line was operated by a different company, and nary did any two lines connect. Passengers from the perimeter had to travel into the heart of Paris just to catch a different train at a different station that would take them back out to a different point in the perimeter—sometimes just a short distance from their original departure point.

So Paris decided to create the Petite Ceinture, or “little belt.” This line would form a circle just inside the city’s fortified perimeter and connect the other railways. It was a smashing success, and for nearly 100 years, it served as one of the main transport methods in Paris. Then, in the early 20th century, its rails and stations began to see less and less traffic, until it was practically abandoned by 1934.

In the intervening years, the line has remained nearly untouched. It’s now grown over with moss and ivy, and few Parisians even know it exists. Via tunnels, bridges, and man-made gorges, the Petite Ceinture winds and twists through nearly 32 kilometers (20 mi) of modern-day Paris, a hidden natural belt in the midst of urban sprawl.

6Holland Island

Nearly 400 people once called Holland Island home. Mostly fishermen and their families, the island’s occupants carved a living straight from waters of the Chesapeake Bay for centuries. But eventually, the sea stopped giving and started taking.

What was once an 8-kilometer-long (5 mi) island began to recede as erosion ate into the shoreline. Like many of the islands in the Chesapeake Bay, Holland Island is made mostly of silt and clay rather than rock, making it easy prey for the ceaseless force of wind and waves. The last inhabitants fled in 1922, leaving their homes and churches as bleak monuments to the people who once walked the island. Even those slowly fell into the sea.

All but one, that is.

The last house on Holland Island outlived its brethren by years, tenaciously holding its own on a wispy strip of land that goes completely underwater every high tide. It had help—for 15 years, a retired minister dedicated his life to preserving the two-story Victorian by surrounding it with timber, stones, and sandbags in a futile attempt to hold back the sea. Despite his best efforts, though, this strange landmark finally gave up the ghost and collapsed in 2010.

5Russia’s Tesla Towers

Reliable sources of information about these bizarre structures are few and far between. Located in the middle of a Russian forest, they’ve been dubbed “Russian Tesla towers” by most websites on which they’re featured. The towers are actually Marx generators, built to convert a low-voltage direct current into a high-voltage pulse. Systems similar to these Russian behemoths—although on a much smaller scale—are commonly used today to simulate lightning on industrial equipment.

The Russian generator complex was built by the Soviet Union in the ’70s to test insulation for aircraft. When the Iron Curtain lifted in the early ’90s, the rest of the world got their first glimpse of the hidden testing facility, and it’s been in and out of the public eye ever since. Technically, it’s not abandoned, since periodically over the years it’s been put back into temporary use by private research companies.

4California’s Glass Beach

Near Fort Bragg, California, is a secluded beach awash in the bright colors of emeralds, rubies, turquoise, and diamonds. But these aren’t gemstones littering the sand—they’re bits of polished glass from 100 years of dumping in the area. Starting around 1906, the community of Fort Bragg—along with other cities along the coast—took to dumping their garbage straight into the Pacific. While the paper was churned to mush, and the plastic presumably floated to climes distant and unknown, the glass remained.

It wasn’t until 1967 that Fort Bragg put the pinch on ocean dumping, but the seeds of transformation were already sown. Worked for a century by rolling waves and abrasive sand, the razor shards of glass eventually took on rounded edges and washed back up to shore as iridescent glass pebbles. Although glass isn’t a rarity, there are bona fide historic relics strewn along the beach: After World War II, auto companies switched from glass to plastic for the manufacture of taillights, which makes the odd ruby-colored glass pebble something of a collector’s item. However, Glass Beach is now a part of MacKerricher State Park, so it’s illegal to pocket any of the sea glass.

3Angola’s Ghost City

On an isolated swath of countryside a few miles outside of the capital city of Angola is a modern high-rise ghost town. Nova Cidade de Kilamba—usually shortened to just “Kilamba”—contains 2,800 apartments split between 750 high-rise buildings. It was built to house close to half a million people and comes complete with its own schools and retail section.

And it’s almost completely empty.

The miniature city was financed by a Chinese construction company and went from scrub land to completed project in less than three years. But rather than the influx of residents they probably expected, the only life to be seen in the entire 12,000-acre complex are a few Chinese workers (who live off-site) and a scattering of disoriented animals. According to the BBC, the problem is that Angola’s class structure consists of “the very poor and the very rich,” so there’s nobody in the market for a $200,000 apartment.

2The Maunsell Forts

Like metal beasts risen from the murky depths, the Maunsell Forts stand guard at the mouth of the Thames to this day. Although they aren’t quite as useful as they used to be, they serve as silent reminders of our turbulent past.

As the threat of German air raids over Britain in World War II abruptly became reality, the Ministry of Defence commissioned several sea forts to protect the country’s airspace. In addition to four naval forts, the army also built six forts for anti-aircraft defense. Three of these were dropped in the Mersey River, and three were put in the mouth of the Thames estuary. Of the three Thames forts, only two are still around—Red Sands Fort (pictured above) and Shivering Sands Fort.

The forts were decommissioned after the war and abandoned after their guns were removed. Most of them are now derelicts, leftover curiosities from a time of war, although one of the naval forts was later invaded by a lone Englishman, who declared it the newly minted Principality of Sealand.

1The SS Ayrfield

If you swim out past the mangroves of Homebush Bay in Sydney, Australia, and look to the northwest, you’ll see something incredible: the rusted hull of a 100-year-old steamer bursting with its own isolated forest sprouting from its decks like a post-apocalyptic chia pet.

The SS Ayrfield was built in 1911 and put to use as a collier, transporting coal from the mainland to coal-fired ships stationed out at sea. During World War II, the Commonwealth requisitioned the Ayrfield as a cargo ship to get supplies out to Allied troops in the Pacific theater. After the war, it returned to its domestic duties under the care of the Miller Steamship Company until it was retired in 1972 and sent to its grave in Homebush Bay.

For years, Homebush Bay has been the place where ships go to die. In fact, it’s where everything goes to die. From DDT to heavy metals to dioxin, the body of water has served as a chemical dumping ground for decades, choking out the native mangroves and turning a once thriving fishing ground into an industrial mistake.

It’s since been cleaned up to a degree, and now only a few rusted ships are visible above the waterline. The SS Ayrfield is one of the remaining relics of the bay’s turgid past, a poetic reminder that not everything that dies has to stay dead.

Eli Nixon is the author of Son of Tesla, a sci-fi novel about love, friendship, and Nikola Tesla’s army of cyberclones. He also has a Twitter.

When we think of the US, we picture towering skyscrapers and apartments in the cities, copycat suburb houses with white picket fences, and little lonesome red farmhouses in the fields and prairies. Everything is a standardized design of steel, glass, and bricks. However, the US is also the home of world-famous artists, architects, and rich people who have the money to make their crazy dreams a reality. Many of these unique individuals have created works of architectural wonder and amazement, while others . . . at least created something unique. Here for your enjoyment are 10 of the most bizarre and unique buildings in the United States of America.

10 Summum Pyramid

Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the nearly 9-meter-tall (30 ft) and 12-meter-long (40 ft) Summum Pyramid is the primary center for the Summum religion. Founded by Claude “Corky” Nowell in 1975, the Summum religion shares many similarities with Christianity, except for two things: They believe their teachings came from extraterrestrial beings and that they are one of the only practitioners of modern-day mummification.

The Summums believe that a person’s soul doesn’t really die. It only transfers to a different state of consciousness upon death, and a preserved body is needed for that transition. Hence, they spent 1977–79 building a sacred place to house these mummified remains. Though it sounds strange, thousands of people have paid the Summums to mummify their loved ones—both human and non-human—with prices ranging from $20,000 for mummifying a pet to around $70,000 for a human mummification and ceremony. That’s not bad for a religion whose leader legally changed his name to Summum Bonum Amen Ra.

9 The Longaberger Company building

How many companies do you know that have employees who work in the product that they sell? In Newark, Ohio, the employees of the Longaberger Basket Company work in a seven-story version of their product. The giant basket is 59 meters (192 ft) long by 38 meters (126 ft) wide at the base and 63 meters (208 ft) long by 43 meters (142 ft) wide at the top. Its handles weigh approximately 150 tons. Unsurprisingly, the seven-story Longaberger Basket Company headquarters holds the record for being the world’s largest basket.

The building was the dream child of Dave Longaberger, the company’s founder. Starting the company in 1976, Longaberger spent $30 million to build the office in 1996, and it took over two years to complete the structure. Originally, Longaberger planned to franchise the design, turning all of his company buildings across the US into versions of the company headquarters. Sadly, the dream passed away along with Longaberger. Right after the construction of the basket headquarters, Dave Longaberger died at 64 years old in 1999 from kidney cancer. However, his legacy lives on in both his company’s baskets and in one of the most bizarre company headquarters in the world.

8 Dick Clark’s Flintstones Home

When you visit Malibu, California, you expect to see mansions and beach houses belonging to the rich and famous, not a home straight from prehistory. Created by late TV host and media personality Dick Clark, the home is carved entirely from stone. Wanting to build on the property but being blocked by the Malibu Park Conservancy Group, Dick Clark revealed in an interview that he was allowed to build on the property if he shaped his home to look like a natural rock formation.

The rock home sits on 23 acres of land and has one bedroom, two baths, a living room, and a kitchen. Furnished with some period-matching furniture, the home is a surprising replica of the Flinstone home from the popular 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones. After the death of Dick Clark in 2012 from a heart attack, his widow put his home up for sale. An undisclosed buyer bought the home in 2014 for $1,777,777, which sounds expensive until you take into account that the original asking price was $3.5 million.

7 The Mansion On O Street

When visiting Washington, DC, it’s easy to miss the Mansion on O Street, mainly because many people assume it’s one of the larger hotels in the area. Instead, they pass over the three large, three-story homes that house the hotel. Designed by US Capitol architect Edward Clark in 1892 for his family and relatives, the three homes were built with connecting basements and main floors but with separate sleeping quarters. In the 1930s, the homes were separated into individual houses as lodging for FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and his men. But on February 14, 1980, H.H. Leonards purchased the homes and renovated them back into a single unit as a bed-and-breakfast and later purchased another row of townhouses, bringing the total of the homes to five buildings.

Now totaling 2,800 square meters (30,000 ft²), the hotel has over 100 unique and stylized rooms that come in themes from the Victorian age to 1970s disco style. Also, the building contains multiple hidden rooms, which can only be accessed by secret passageways that guests enter by way of secret doors. These secret doors include the cliche of moving a book on a bookshelf, concealed doors in wallpaper, and even doors hidden behind mirrors and spice racks. The hotel also has a strict privacy policy, which has made it a haven for the rich and famous, including presidents, ambassadors from around the globe, musicians, artists, and civil rights leaders. The hotel also contains many memorabilia and gifts, given to the hotel by guests, to the point where it also functions as a museum. So, when you need to disappear for a while or face a potential scandal, look no further than the Mansion on O Street as a great place to hide.

6 The Mushroom House

Far out in Perinton, New York, lies a home straight out of a science fiction novel. Called the Mushroom House or Pod House, the home was created by architect James H. Johnson in 1970. Designing it after the underbelly of the Queen Anne’s Lace flower, it became known as the Mushroom House for its brown coloring, which resembles a mushroom. Spanning 387 square meters (4,168 ft²), the home is composed of four interconnecting pods lifted off the ground by reinforced concrete “stems.”

In 1989, it became a Perinton Town Landmark. Then, after its original owners moved, it went on the market. In 2012, Michael Gaginer and Theresa Sherrod bought the whimsical home for $799,900, down from the asking price of $1.1 million. The lesson we can learn from this is that while people are willing to pay millions to live in a sculpted slab of stone, people won’t do the same for a home that resembles something you’d cut up and put on pizza and burgers.

5 The Moroccan-Style Palace

Our next building looks like something straight out of a Middle Eastern storybook. It’s a large Moroccan palace, complete with mosaic ceilings, colorful tile, and decadent furniture. There’s just one thing that makes it so bizarre: It’s in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Built in 2005, the home is a work of Arabesque architecture, a style of Islamic art and architecture where simple designs or motifs are seamlessly interwoven and repeated as many times as the creator desires. (Famous examples of this style include the architecture of the Brunei Royal Palace.)

Measuring 1,858 square meters (20,000 ft²), the home has eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, multiple living and dining rooms, and a court with three tiled fountains. It’s beautifully decorated with intricate tiled floors, the previously mentioned mosaic-style ceilings and walls, and handcrafted furniture. In addition, the home sits on 3.8 acres of land that includes two separate two-story guesthouses, a cabana, a pool, and an empty petting zoo. Although this desert oasis went on the market in 2011, it has since been leased for rent, making it one of the most unique rented houses in Texas—and also the most expensive. How expensive is it? The rent for this diamond in the sands is $26,000 per month. Instead of living in Aladdin’s palace, you might as well simply go see his humble abode in Disneyland for half that much money.

4 The Gehry Residence

When Frank Gehry and his wife moved into their Santa Monica, California, home in 1977, the neighbors had no idea that the budding architect would transform it into a work of art. Gehry is now one of the world’s most famous deconstructivist (the distortion and dislocation of the basic elements of a building, forming a wild, usually chaotic structure) architects and has designed spectacular and bizarre buildings all over the globe. His earliest work was the transformation of his own home.

Wildly transforming the two-story, pink bungalow from the 1920s, Gehry wrapped corrugated aluminum (typically used in airplane hangars) around the structure, then added extending skylights, and finally used chain-link fencing to connect the new exterior to the second story. In 1991, in response to a growing family, Gehry expanded the building and molded the skylights and outside barrier. In 2012, the American Institute of Architects awarded Gehry the AIA Twenty-five Year Award; his home still remains to this day. What was the cost of undertaking such a project? Gehry said in an interview with Barbara Isenberg that buying and then remodeling his home only cost him $260,000.

3 Hole ‘n The Rock

Another bizarre building, this time in southern Moab, Utah, the home of Albert and Gladys Christensen is unique in that it is carved entirely from a sandstone cliff. Taking over 12 years to drill and carving more than 1,400 cubic meters (50,000 ft³) worth of sandstone, the project was the brainchild of Albert Christensen. It was initially just a small play area for his sons to sleep in at night back in the 1940s. By 1952, when Albert and Gladys moved in, the small place had been transformed into a 464-square-meter (5,000 ft²) home, which the couple furnished together.

The house has a 20-meter (65 ft) chimney, a bathtub built right into the rock, and 14 spacious rooms, made for the Christensen’s children and grandchildren to sleep in. Alongside the furniture and appliances, Albert hung many of his religious paintings on the walls, and, on the other end of the coziness spectrum, he kept many of his homemade taxidermy projects in the house, as well as his wife’s doll collection. (This wasn’t nightmare fuel at all.) Sadly, Albert died of a heart attack in 1957, but Gladys lived on, keeping up the home, giving tours, and running a gift shop until her death in 1974. The home, however, is now a memorial and tourist attraction with daily tours and a running gift shop.

2 The Walt Disney Concert Hall

Since its founding on October 16, 1923, The Walt Disney Company has become synonymous with its unique, bold creations. This subject brings us to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, one of the most famous concert halls in the world. Another work of Frank Gehry, the hall was originally designed and built in 1987, when Lillian Disney donated $50 million to create a concert hall in the name of her deceased husband. The project, however, was shut down in 1994 but was revived two years later by a successful fundraising campaign and media attention.

Completed in 2003, the 19,000-square-meter (200,000 ft²) building has an exterior featuring a series of undulating, curved, and angled forms that symbolize not only the motion of the city of Los Angeles but musical movement itself. The surface also uses reflective, stainless steel that focuses and directs light into the building during the day. On the inside, the hall is designed as a single entity, having the orchestra and audience in the same space instead of the typical boxes and balconies of other concert halls. While this space is an impressive visual, it did come with one kink: In 2005, many panels had to be replaced, because the glare from some of the panels was not only blinding but actually reflected enough heat to cause the air on the opposite sidewalk to skyrocket over 60 degrees Celsius (140 °F). Talk about hot art.

1 The Parisian Palace

Although castles are commonly believed to be strictly a European attraction, many architects and settlers—either from Europe or inspired by European architecture— have built castles in the US. Some are stunning monoliths that have a picturesque and awe-inspiring air to them. Others, including the Parisian Palace, don’t. Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, this 638-square-meter (6,872 ft²) palace was designed and built by Nico Santucci in 2004.

The castle has a rather over-the-top European style. Guests enter the palace through long front gardens with statues of Roman and Greek deities standing watch over the house. Inside the house, there are 12 imported, 272-kilogram (600 lb) crystal chandeliers, hand-painted murals by Thomas Bisesti on nearly every ceiling and wall, and a full marble bathtub, all of which might sound nice.

Then, things get bizarre with the addition of windowless rooms featuring only red carpet and disco balls, staircase walls covered in 10,000 red roses or gold crocodile wall coverings, rooms decked out in gold and gold-colored furniture, and a motorcycle right by a grand staircase. The Parisian Palace was put on sale in 2013 for $5.25 million, but while the current owners wait for someone to buy this . . . eclectic mansion, they’re using the place as a hotel, party rental, and wedding venue. Because nothing says “romantic getaway” like being in a room that looks like King Midas went to town.

J.T. Charles has a certified degree in wumbology and Disnerdology from the D23 University. When not emotionally traumatized by television episodes, he can be found writing on Wattpad.com as “JTCharles” and on Tumblr at foreverdisneynerd.tumblr.com.

The natural world is full of reminders of how inferior we are as a species. Not only do we lack (or rely on technology for) superpowers like night-vision, flight, or any meaningful level of strength, we also fail miserably at the most basic of tasks—like feeding ourselves, raising our young, and disposing of waste. 

Most of us can’t even house ourselves. And those who build “for us” are incapable of doing so cleanly. So hang your economy-enslaved, ecocide-enabling head in shame as we run through ten of the most stunning feats of architectural engineering from elsewhere in the animal kingdom.

10. Bagworm log cabins

Unlike most butterflies and moths, which spin their cocoons out of silk, bagworm moth larvae make use of the resources around them—plant matter, mostly. There are bagworm species all over the world, and many more styles of “bag”, the cocoon for which they are named. Some are more interesting than others, like the feathery nests made of stork’s bill seeds. But for the most part, they all hang like bags.

More interesting are the miniature log (or twig) cabins that gracefully spiral to a tip. A study of 42 such structures in India, built by the bagworm Clania crameri, showed the design was anything but random. The larvae have a style in mind and look for the right sticks to build it—the various lengths required to assemble their spiraling tower. 

It takes them pretty much their whole lives to finish the job, but it’s worth it. The males emerge as fuzzy black moths with transparent wings, while the females “decay into a pile of eggs” to spawn the next generation.

9. Caddisfly submarines

Caddisflies, or sedge flies, are widely distributed around the world. They look like moths with hairy wings, but as larvae they live underwater. It’s at this stage of life that caddisflies are at their most artful, spinning together their submarine cases with silk from the glands around their mouths, along with sand, stones, and plant matter. 

Depending on the species, these homes may be stationary or mobile. Styles are so characteristic of the species that builds them that while adult caddisflies are hard to tell apart, larvae can be identified by their cases. Some are smooth, some are lumpy, and so on.

Only one larvae lives on land, in the leaf litter of the English West Midlands: Enoicyla pusilla, the ‘land caddis’. All others inhabit submarines.

8. Ovenbird adobe abodes

Native to North America, the ovenbird gets its name from the resemblance of its adobe mud nest to a Dutch oven… at least if you squint really hard. Construction takes roughly two weeks, building the walls out from a bowl shape, up, then back in at the top while carefully avoiding collapse. By the end, the ovenbird will have worked 2,000 pellets—ten pounds of mud—into the sphere of its home. They also use plant matter and dung for the structure and line it with grass for comfort.

A circular side opening allows the family in and out while cleverly repelling attackers. Not only is the entrance offset from the branch, but it also has a curving wall inside, three-quarters of the way to the roof, posing a “severe obstacle for predators” (in addition to the concrete-like adobe itself).  

There are actually three types of ovenbird nest, the other two being cavities and domes; but they’re all enclosed, like little houses—unlike the vast majority of other bird homes. Cavity nests are typically established in woodpecker holes, natural cavities, or burrows up to one meter deep (which they may dig themselves, we’re not sure). And dome nests are built with sticks, grass, feathers, and bone, with protection from thorns and barbed wire. Notably, they also use snakeskin.

7. Bowerbird theme parks

Native to Australia and New Guinea, bowerbirds have the surprising distinction of being second only to humans in the adornment of their structures. In fact, their bowers (walls of sticks bent inwards to form arched shelters with cleared ground in front) have even drawn comparisons to Disney World. Just as the upper bricks of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and the buildings of Main Street are smaller than at ground level to make everything look taller, male bowerbirds use forced perspective to make their bowers look smaller (and themselves bigger, according to one theory) to prospective female mates in the air. 

The similarity to Disneyworld doesn’t end there. To attract mates, bowerbirds also fill their yards with plastic tat and mass-produced garbage: marbles, ring pulls, duct tape, bra straps, ribbons, pegs, glass, wrappers, and even syringes (always with the largest items toward the back). One bower was found to have bottle caps arranged in an arc around a plastic doll splayed in the center, “eyes wide and mouth open in a plastic scream.”

They also include plenty of natural materials—feathers, stones, shells, leaves, flowers, beetles’ body parts, and so on. But, interestingly, bowerbirds living close to humans show a preference for our trash because they know its color lasts longer. This is important. The objects selected for display are meticulously color-coordinated. Blue is the favorite of the satin bowerbird, while the great bowerbird likes purple, red, and green. 

6. Sociable weaver apartments

Few birds are so descriptively named as the sociable weaver. These sparrow-sized birds, native to the Kalahari, weave sprawling communal nests “like avian apartment complexes” for a hundred or so families to live in. Each block resembles a haystack in the tree and follows a typical blueprint. Large twigs are used for the roof, while grasses are woven into the four-to-six-inch chambers, or “apartments”, which are then lined with soft furnishings like fluff, cotton, and fur. Entrance tunnels can be as long as 10 inches and lined with spikes of straw to keep predators at bay. Further protection from tree snakes and honey badgers comes from the choice of tree; smooth, tall trunks or even telephone poles are best. But cheetahs, vultures, owls, and eagles often find their way up to the roof of the complex just to enjoy the view. Giraffes and antelopes love them too; the birds’ droppings enrich the soil, resulting in more leaves—for food and shade—on the trees.

The sociable weavers’ sociability even extends to other birds. Building more chambers than they’ll ever use themselves, they welcome other species to the block. The South African pygmy falcon, for example, depends on their hospitality. Other visitors include the pied barbet, ashy tit, familiar chat, red-headed finch, and rosy-faced lovebird. This benefits the colony as a whole; not only do the weavers learn new sources of food from these other birds, but they also get more look-outs for danger.

When the extra rooms are empty, sociable weavers move between them. In the summer, they’ll favor the cooler outer rooms, and in the winter they’ll migrate to the center. Fledglings—reared and nourished by the whole family, including older siblings—often stay in the nest, relocating to different chambers when it’s time to leave their parents. Some weaver nests have been occupied for more than a century. Of course, the building and upkeep of such a complex requires constant coordination, and the birds’ chatter can be heard all around. If it gets too heavy (several tons sometimes), it can break its supporting tree.

5. Agglutinated foraminifera tests

If you’ve heard of agglutinated foraminifera before, give yourself a pat on the back. These single-celled microorganisms live more than six miles (10 kilometers) under the sea. Specifically, they inhabit the Mariana Trench, on what’s known as the Challenger Deep—which, though it sounds like the name of a submarine, is the deepest surveyed part of the seabed. In fact, it lies in the hadal zone (named for the Greek underworld), far beyond the previously thought deepest part of the ocean, the abyssal zone. You get the point, it’s a deeply inhospitable environment. And there’s not a whole lot to build with. Everything down there breaks down into clay, the smallest soil particle—which isn’t much use underwater, let alone 12,400 tons per square meter of it. It’s no good whatsoever for agglutinated foraminifera, which build their shells out of minerals like calcite, silica, and quartz.

In 2010, however, researchers were surprised to find specimens from the Challenger Deep with beautifully formed shells—or tests, as they’re called—of various minerals, including quartz and calcite. These tests are presumed to be formed (or agglutinated) from the sunken, decomposed remains of coccoliths (calcium carbonate-plated algae) and phytoplankton from the sea’s sunny surface. In other words, they build their homes from what’s called ‘marine snow’, the matter that sinks down from above, “rather like manna from heaven.”

As for the shells themselves, they come in different designs. Some are spirals, like tiny snails, while others are tubular with chambers in a row.

4. Prairie dog gigacities

Prairie dogs are squirrels that live on the ground. Instead of burying nuts, they bury themselves. Black-tailed prairie dogs in particular live in sprawling burrows that humans call towns because of their town-like organization and population (many hundreds or more). They also tend to expand into cities, megacities (tens of millions of residents), and even gigacities (hundreds of millions). The largest recorded town, which covered 25,000 square miles (65,000 square kilometers), roughly one-tenth of Texas, had an estimated 400 million residents. Not only is that millions more than the 20 biggest (human) cities combined, but it’s not far short of the same total area. That’s the population (and actual 1:1 area) of Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, Mumbai, Beijing, New York, and upwards of fourteen other world cities living under Texas as prairie dogs. 

Once upon a time, anyway. In the 20th century, humans exterminated 98 percent of all prairie dogs as pests. They’ve recovered slightly since, and their towns are still impressive organizationally. Each has clearly defined entrances (with earth markers), listening posts, toilets, sleeping quarters, and nurseries (located deepest within). Families live together and greet each other with a nuzzle, while young pups play together near their burrows. Like the ideal human city, prairie dog towns are even “multicultural”, with snake, owl, and ferret “immigrants” settling down in surplus tunnels.

3. Termite mega-skyscrapers

In Australia’s Northwest Territory, much of the dry plain landscape is dominated by the mounds of two termites. One is the compass termite, whose nests can reach heights of more than 10 feet and are built narrower along the north-south axis to avoid too much exposure to the sun.

The other is the cathedral termite, whose nests tower above the ground (and any passing mammals) at heights of 15 feet or more. These are the biggest skyscrapers in the world. By far. If the millions of termites inhabiting them were our size, the mounds themselves, scaled up proportionally, would be taller than three Burj Khalifas—and in some cases more than five! 

Both the compass and cathedral termites’ mounds can last for a century, which, remarkably, could also be the lifespan of their queens. Again, scaling up for humans, this means that both queen and tower might last seven millennia—despite being formed from just saliva, sand, and dung.

Inside, everyone has a purpose. Deep inside are the reproductives, the so-called queen and her successors, as well as the king that fertilizes them. Then there are the soldiers, the defenders of the mound. In the case of cathedral termites, these are ‘nasute soldiers’, meaning they have a long nose-tube specially adapted for squirting sticky saliva at invaders. After them, and most numerous of all, are the workers—whose job is to build and maintain the nest, as well as to feed and tend the young and reproductives. They rarely leave the darkness of the city.

2. Ant empires

Sadly, the only way for humans to view the beauty of an ants’ nest is to fill it with plaster, hot wax, or molten metal, killing every last one of its occupants. The resulting cast, though it’ll cost you your soul, can be excavated and studied in detail. In this way, scientists have found a remarkable degree of planning and consistency in ant nest construction—which is all the more remarkable given they build in the dark without a leader or plan, and ants working on one side have no means of communicating with ants on the other (no means obvious to us relatively unevolved apes, that is). 

Really, ants work much like cells in an organism—and these organisms, the colonies, can get pretty big. Nests belonging to the same species in any given area tend to merge together in “vast territorial systems” sometimes numbering hundreds of interacting colonies.

Nest features typically include food storage chambers, brood chambers (for eggs and the young), the queen’s chamber (at the heart), and waste disposal chambers (on the outer edge) for the deposit of dead ants and exoskeletons. These are joined by angled, vertical, or even spiraling shafts, which also provide ventilation. The variable depths and sizes of chambers provide the range of microclimates ant colonies need, particularly specialist species like those that farm fungi. They navigate their nests by chemical “signage”, similar to how they get around outside.

1. Bee 3D printing

Honeybees are more efficient than we could ever be. Like termites and ants, every bee in the hive has a purpose. But it’s for their building work, not their social organization, that they get a place on this list (although the two are related).

Darwin thought it the “most wonderful of all known instincts”, the way bees build their honeycombs with wax from their abdomens. Each consists of geometrically flawless hexagonal cells that fit perfectly into the grid—even while they vary in size to suit either drones or workers. What makes this even more remarkable is that honeycomb is built from different directions simultaneously; bees starting from different sides of the grid-in-progress somehow join up with mathematical precision.

This isn’t robotic behavior, though. Studies have shown a high degree of adaptability during construction, with each bee cleverly adjusting its work to attain that geometrical perfection. They might, for example, use heptagons and pentagons where necessary, or alter the orientation of cells. “A simple robot does not have such a level of adaptability and rate of error recovery,” said entomologist Raghavendra Gadagkar. It is, according to the authors of one landmark study, “a true architectural skill.”

The Middle East was once thought of as a beautiful and exotic far-away land. But unfortunately for those of us alive in modern times, the term now conjures up images of war, terrorism, subjugation, and suffering. The vivid images of the Islamic Golden Age are now gone, and the exciting fantasies in “One Thousand And One Nights” are but a fading memory.

But those far-away lands still contain much of their original beauty and, in many cases, are building upon it to create some of the most awe-inspiring modern architecture. This list takes a tour around the Middle East focussing entirely on the beauty to be found there. Let’s take the journey together and forget—even if for but a moment—the horrible news reports confronting us daily.

15 Bahrain

Bahrain is the smallest of the Arabian states and was the first to discover petroleum in the 1930s. It is thought by some to be the site of the Garden of Eden. In 2002 women received the right to vote in Bahrain and today its constitution guarantees religious freedom. Homosexuality was legalized in 1976 (for people over 21). The incredible twin-peaked building is the Bahrain World Trade Center.

14 Egypt

Home to the ancient culture so loved by the west, Egypt is now a modern democracy (founded in the 1950s). As evidenced above, there is more to Egypt’s beauty than pyramids! Modern Egyptians are largely descended from post-islamic settlers (mid 600s AD) while the Ancient Egyptian people “[were] most closely related to Neolithic and Bronze Age samples in the Levant, as well as to Neolithic Anatolian and European populations”.^[1]

13 Iran

Iran (Persia in days gone by) means “the land of Aryans” in the Persian (Farsi) language. Iranians have managed (despite frequent invasion from outside) to maintain their identity. Even the Islamization of the country has not managed to eradicate all aspects of its ancient past.

12 Iraq

For many of us, Iraq stands out mostly due to the Gulf Wars. Enormous amounts of damage were sustained by the nation during those wars, but a strong recovery is now underway, though the area is still relatively unstable. Iraq has been a republic since the dissolution of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958.

11 Israel

The very existence of Israel is a great bone of contention for the Islamic population of the Middle East. Despite the might of the surrounding nations, Israel continues to focus on expanding the amount of land it controls. The recent move of the nation’s capital to Jerusalem has not gone down particularly well with many people and there is no telling whether the conflicts in the region will ever be truly resolved.

10 Jordan

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy and the current King is Abdullah II. Home to some incredibly historic sites, Jordan holds the distinction of having discovered the oldest known statues of humans, the Ayn Ghazal statues. Pictured are Petra, the Roman city of Jerash, Jordan Valley Dead Sea, and Wadi Rum, the red desert.

9 Kuwait

Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy governed by an Emir. Until 1961 when it gained independence, Kuwait was a British protectorate. It was the invasion of this small nation in 1990 by Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi military that led to the gulf war.

8 Lebanon

Lebanon is the oldest country name in the world at 4,000 years of age. It has a unique political system called confessionalism in which the parliament is shared by all religions operating in the country. More peculiarly, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of Parliament a Shiite Muslim. Lebanon has a 40% Christian population—the largest of any Middle Eastern country.

7 Oman

Oman has natural beauty, from the dry Wahiba Sands to the verdant city of Salalah, and historic beauty in the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, and the Nizwa Fort. Oman is one of the oldest inhabited places on earth having been peopled for over 100,000 years. Mountain Dew is the most popular drink in the nation, so much so that Coca Cola products are virtually nowhere to be found. It is also virtually crime-free. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide. Unlike some Islamic nations, alcohol is allowed but you must be licensed to buy it and can spend no more than 10% of your monthly income on it.

6 Qatar

Qatar, like Kuwait, was a British protectorate. Independence was declared in 1971, and from 1995 women were allowed to vote. Qatari men traditionally wear a long white shirt (called a thoub) over white trousers or shorts and women wear a black cloak. The National Museum of Qatar (top image) opening was attended by David and Victoria Beckham and KAWS and Johnny Depp. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and punishable by death.

5 Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia contains virtually no rivers or lakes but has many wadis which are valleys that fill with water during certain times of the year. Pictured above (third image) is the Kingdom Center which is the third tallest building with a hole in the world. Work is underway to build the Kingdom Tower which will be one kilometer tall (0.62 miles) and the tallest building in the world.

4 Syria

Pictured are the Umayyad Mosque, Citadel in Aleppo, and City of Palmyra before its destruction by ISIS in 2015. There are currently troops from over thirty countries fighting in Syria due to its civil war against ISIS. It is the Syrian war that has led to the migration crisis in Europe.

3 Turkey

Turkey is home to some of the most beautiful places in the world. Troy (of the Trojan wars) is located in Western Turkey and many ancient monuments are to be found there due to its important position in Western history. Its capital (Istanbul) was once Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire from 330–395 AD and then the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) to 1453. Pictured above are Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Safranbolu,and Hagia Sophia.

2 United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates is a collection of emirates: seven provinces governed by constitutional monarchs called Emirs. The seven emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. Abu Dhabi is the capital city and the federation as a whole is governed by a President who is also the ruler of Abu Dhabi. Additionally, the ruler of Dubai is also the Prime Minister of the Emirates. Confused? Me too.

Seen here are Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the amazing Yas Waterworld and the Al Ain Oasis (the first UNESCO world heritage site in United Arab Emirates).

1 Yemen

Pictured here are Socotra, the old town of Sana’a (the capital city), Aden, and Ibb. Socotra is an island with a great variety of alien looking plants and wildlife (as you can see from the picture). It evolved into this bizarre landscape due to being isolated from the African continent six or seven million years ago. It is a UNESCO natural heritage site.

It is very easy for us in the west to ignore life in remote places. We are, particularly these days, so focussed on our social media driven adrenaline shots (and sometimes our jobs I guess) that we simply have no time to pause. It seems the more technology frees up our time, the less of that time we seem to be able to find.

See Also: 60 Stunning Images of The Middle East That Will Make You Forget Its Violent Past

In September I compiled a list of stunning images of the Middle East (linked right above this paragraph) and a reader (“Aman” to be exact) asked for a list on South Asia. Unlike the Middle East which is dominated by Islam, South Asia is a real hodge podge of religions, peoples, and environments. Nevertheless, it still manages to sometimes attract something of a bad name for itself due to unrest in the region (I’m looking at you Pakistan and India!)

But that aside, it is also a magical region of the Asian continent filled with some of the greatest wonders known to man—both natural and manmade. This list looks at a bunch of them, whilst giving a little background on each country. There are actually only eight nations in South Asia, so I have split the two biggest into two items each to give us a total of ten. They are ordered by size: smallest to largest.

10 Maldives

Pictured: Male City, Maldives Resort, Huvafen Fushi, Raffles Maldives, Radisson Blue, Hurawalhi Resort Restaurant

Maldives is the smallest Muslim country in the world. It was part of the British commonwealth from 1982 to 2016 when it withdrew because of criticisms about its bad record with human rights and political corruption. It has a small population of only 390,000 people (Maldivians) descended from the earliest settlers most likely from India and Sri Lanka. The name of the country means Necklace Island.

9 Bhutan

Pictured: Paro Taktsang, Punakha Dzong, Dochula Pass, Thimphu Chorten, Phobjikha Valley x2

First off, if you want to visit the beautiful sights above, you can’t without lots of money. Bhutan is virtually shut to tourists except through expensive state-run tours costing upwards of $250 a day. The name Bhutan means thunder dragon and the same appears on their national flag. Bhutan has a king (Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck) and an elected parliament. The dominant religion is Buddhism with Hinduism a distant second. The country has banned all public use (including sale) of tobacco products and Internet and TV was made legal in 1999. Homosexuality is illegal. Perhaps unique in the world, Bhutan has an official dress code for its citizens which allows easy recognition of social class.

8 Sri Lanka

Pictured: Yala National Park, Dambulla Cave Temple, Sigiriya Fortress, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala Buddha, Polonnaruwa

Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon until it became a republic in 1972. Its recent history has been rather dominated by a 26 year civil war which ended in 2009 when the government forces won against the Tamil Tigers. 70 percent of Sri Lankans are Buddhist with Hinduism second and Roman Catholicism comprising around 7% of the population of roughly 21 million people. Sri Lanka is the oldest continuously Buddhist nation in the world. The government is a semi-presidential republic.

7 Nepal

Pictured: Pokhara, Langtang Valley x2, Nar Phu Valley Trek, Durbar Square, Kathmandu x2

Nepal, the only country with a non-quadrilateral shaped flag, is mostly Hindu with a population of 28 million. It is home to eight of the tallest mountains in the world (including Mount Everest, the highest spot on Earth). The country is, by election, Communist in that its current president (Bidhya Devi Bhandari) was the leader of the Communist party up to her election in 2015.

6 Bangladesh

Pictured: Ratargul Swamp, Paharpur Vihara, Gaur, Barisal Floating Market, Shiva Temple Puthia, Rajbari Palace

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries on earth with a population of 161 million people in an area of 147,570 square kilometres (56,980 square miles). It is the world’s fourth largest Muslim majority nation. Bangladesh is plagued with many problems: genocide, child slavery, terrorism, corruption, and severe pollution due to it being exempt from all international requirements for climate change due to being so impoverished.

5 Afghanistan

Pictured: Mazar-I-Sharif Mosque, Band-I-Amir, Wakhan Corridor, Bamyan, Minaret of Jam, Kabul

Afghanistan is 99.7% Muslim and ranks as one of the worst for terrorism, child labor, and general human misery. Homosexuality is punishable by death and nearly half of journalist deaths (which is common there) were perpetrated by the government. There are a few Western anchors who might want to consider that next time they clutch pearls over being criticized by politicians and independent media in the US. Up to 16% of the nation’s wealth comes from the Opium industry. Fortunately many of the citizens who fled war are beginning to return and they are bringing much needed business development to the country. Perhaps its future will be less bleak as a consequence. Afghanistan’s national sport is Buzkashi in which men on horseback have to score a goal with a goat’s carcass.

4 Pakistan—Nature

Pictured: Hunza Valley, Neelum Valley, Swat, Concordia, Fairy Meadows, Shimshal Lake

Like its neighbor, India, Pakistan is a nuclear power. Conflict between the two nations is ongoing due to religious and cultural differences, with Pakistan being largely Muslim and India Hindu. It is a nation bereft with problems of illiteracy, poverty, terrorism, and corruption. Nevertheless, it is also home (unbeknownst to many) to some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the world. Pakistan has a population of 200 million people and has a constitutional republican form of government.

3 Pakistan—Man

Pictured: Pakistan Monument, Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque, Faisal Mosque, Noor Mahal, Katas Raj Temple

2 India—Nature

Pictured: Loktak Lake, Valley of Flowers, Jaisalmer Sand Dunes, Great Rann of Kutch, Lonar Crater Lake, Borra Caves

India must be considered one of the richest in the world in terms of cultural color and diversity. Its pagan religion is filled with golden icons, exotic animals, epic tales, and mystical wonders. India is home to both the wettest place on earth (Mawsynram) due to the highest rainfall, and the 17th largest desert, the Thar desert. India’s food is as diverse as its landscape with offerings of highly spiced curries to wonderfully subtle sweets. Entire lists could be dedicated to the beautiful locations in this wonderfully mysterious far away land.

1 India—Man

Pictured: Khajuraho Monuments, Jaisalmer City, Akshardham Temple, Taj Mahal, Golden Temple, Meenakshi Amman Temple

Ancient structures and design will always be admired and it will remain huge tourist attractions, but there is also something to be said for modern architecture. Architects and builders around the world have in recent years come up with striking ideas that translated into mind-blowingly stunning buildings. On this list are just a few of these types of modern buildings that inspire Pinterest boards and Instagram stories worldwide.

Top 10 Repurposed Nazi-Era Buildings

10 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

In 2019, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened in Hollywood, Florida in the form of an enormous guitar-shaped building. It took close to a decade to complete the design and construction and the building also features a light show when night falls. Guests who stay at this 638-room hotel enjoy breath-taking views all round of the Hollywood beachfront and the venue includes a massive performance venue as well as pool resort area. The project was part of a $1.5 billion expansion and is 34 stories high.

9 Markthal Rotterdam

A series of apartments forming a huge arch and allowing for a covered square featuring a market hall during the day and a food court of popular restaurants at night, is what the hybrid Markthal building in Rotterdam is all about.

The daily market includes 96 stalls that sells fresh food and other items and it is overseen by an 11,000 square meter mural that covers the vaulted interior. The mural includes images of food, flowers and insects. To highlight the colorful interior, the external façade is covered in grey stone.

The ends of the arch provide protection during bad weather with the help of single-glazed cable net façade which is the largest of its kind in Europe.

8 Bosjes Chapel

Creating a striking image in front of a range of majestic mountains, is the beautiful Bosjes Chapel in Wellington in the Western Cape Winelands of South Africa. The building includes dramatic lifts and dips in its roof, almost touching the surface of the large pool that surrounds it and features cross-shaped frames and a golden pulpit.

The wing-like appearance of the chapel was inspired by the seventh verse of Psalm 36 which says: “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

From a distance, the chapel almost seems to hover or float above the surface of the water and as one draws near to it, its serene atmosphere envelops the senses.

7 Santiago Bahá’í Temple

The Santiago Bahá’í Temple opened its doors in 2016 and is accessible to people from all faiths. It took six years to complete construction and this house of worship is ringed by nine entrances, comprises of nine pathways and nine fountains and takes on the shape of a ‘flower’ with nine petals or arching ‘sails’. Inspiration for it’s unique look was taken from Sufi whirling dancers, Japanese bamboo baskets and shattered glass. Its interior is covered in translucent marble and its cast-glass paneled exterior absorbs and reflects the beautiful colours of sunrise and sunset.

The stunning temple is 30 metres in height and within three years of its opening had received more than 1.4 million visitors.

6 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, also known as Sahar International Airport is the second busiest in India and won the award for Best Airport in India in 2016. It is named after the 17-century Maratha Emperor, Chhatrapati Shivaji and is considered to be one of the best places in the world for shopping, (apart from flying, that is.)

The long-span roof of the terminal building is one of the largest on Earth and is supported by 30 steel columns. The terminal also holds the longest and biggest cable wall system in the world. Furthermore, the coffered panel design was inspired by the shape of a peacock’s eye, which is the national bird of India. Each of the coffered panels contain a round aperture with a laminated lens that is able to produce two colors when light falls on it. Therefore, when the light strikes these panels just right, the entire airport resembles a palace constructed with colored glass.

5 Jiunvfeng Study

The Jiunvfeng Study is an eye-catching visitor centre located on the side of Mount Tai, which is considered to be the most famous sacred mountain in China.

The idea behind the design of the centre was to create a “floating cloud hovering in the mountains.’ The elongated building provides panoramic views over both the mountain as well as Shenlong Grand Canyon and includes a coffee shop for those who want to sit a while and take in the scenery.

The cloud-inspiration is taken even further at night when LED lighting strips built into the double-layer membrane of the canopy, lights up and makes the entire building look a cloud with a halo.

Its entire form was built to correspond to the topography of Mount Tai, blurring the lines between architecture and the natural surroundings.

4 City of Arts and Sciences

Valencia is home to the modern scientific and cultural complex, City of Arts and Sciences, which is the largest complex of its kind in Europe. It includes the massive Oceanografic building inside of which you will find the biggest aquarium in Europe. The aquarium contains 500 species of ocean life including sharks, dolphins, penguins and sea lions.

The complex also holds the Prince Felipe Museum of Sciences building and the “eye of the city” which is an audio-visual building that comprises of a planetarium as well as an IMAX cinema. Visitors to the City of Arts and Sciences can also enjoy theatre, opera and dance shows at the onsite opera venue, Palau de les Arts.

The most recent additions to the sprawling structure are a blue building called the Agora and the Umbracle which is an open-air space.

3 The Lotus Temple

The Lotus Temple in Delhi is the oldest building on this list, having been dedicated in 1986. Much the same as the Santiago Bahá’í Temple, the Lotus Temple allows all faiths inside its walls and the lotus design is meant to embody the message of tolerance that Bahá’í teaches.

It has been called the Taj Mahal of the 20th century and is a huge tourist attraction. The architect of this gorgeous building, Fariborz Sahba, won several awards for the design of the Lotus Temple and before Covid-19 was visited by around 10,000 people every day.

The temple comprises of nine sides formed by 27 marble petals. The marble was imported from the Penteli Mountain in Greece. There are several domes which allows for the white walls to be illuminated as natural light shines through, creating a serene ambiance.

2 One Central Park

Once Central Park in Sydney perfectly encapsulates the look and meaning of a living walls. This very unique and massive landmark consists of two towers, a sky garden, pool, several restaurants, 623 apartments, shops and a whole lot more. The 18-story tower is called Once Central Park west and the 34-story tower is known as Once Central Park East.

On the sides of the buildings, vegetation flourishes with at least 35,000 plants decorating the exterior, and the sky garden is a big selling feature for the penthouses at the top. Below the sky garden is a unique, cantilevered heliostat system that reflects light onto the vertical walls shaded by the shadow of the bigger tower. The heliostat system also doubles as a lighting installation that resembles silent fireworks.

1 The Wave

In 2019, the collective efforts of architect and builder brought to the life The Wave, a residential project on the Vejle Fjord in Denmark.

As the name suggests, the building was constructed to look like five waves running along the waterfront and it makes for a magnificent landmark. The structure holds 100 apartments topped with double-height penthouses at the top of each tower.

The wave-shaped structure is reflected in the ocean water during the day and at night it is illuminated to look like mountains. The building was designed with the idea that it would ‘change’ along with the time of day.

Years before the project was completed, it was awarded the Residential Building of the Year award in 2009 and it is hoped that this amazing building will bring more tourists to the waterfront.

10 Amazing Ancient Buildings Still In Use Today

Being a teacher is, for many, a calling. Helping educate children is a tremendous responsibility. It’s not a job just anyone can do or, at least, it’s not a job just anyone should do. But sometimes beggars can’t be choosers and school boards hire whoever shows up with a diploma. That has led to several outrageous stories of teachers who went well beyond their job descriptions and ended up getting fired as a result.

Lest we forget, there’s also a flip side to this coin. Because of the influence of politics, parents, red tape and all around bad ideas, sometimes a good teacher will get fired for just an unbelievable reason. Let’s take a look.

10. A Teacher Was Fired for Writing a Blog on Homophones

What’s your opinion on homophones? Tim Torkildson was working as a social media strategist for the Nomen Global Language Center, an ESL school, in Utah. Part of his job was making blog posts about topics relevant to ESL students. That included explaining parts of the English language, like homophones. 

As anyone aware of homophones might expect, the blog post dealt with words that sounded similar but had different meanings. However, Torkildson’s boss may have neglected to read the blog or look up the meaning of the word. Torkildson was fired for posting something people might think supported “the gay agenda.”

According to Torkildson, the owner of the company called him into his office after he posted the blog and fired him. The owner refuted this later saying it was just because his blogs went off on tangents. That said, they still removed the blog post, and the owner said the concept was too complex for their students, anyway. 

9. A Substitute Teacher Was Fired for Getting Dating Advice

It’s important for teachers to separate their work life from their personal life. This can be hard because they may spend more hours per week with their students than with their own families. You can build a genuine closeness there and that leads to some teachers openly talking about their own lives. Not always a good idea, though.

A substitute teacher in New York, who clearly didn’t have that history of familiarity with her students to fall back on as an excuse, was fired for soliciting dating advice from fourth graders. According to reports, the 45-year-old woman had the children help her act out dating scenarios, where a student would play the potential male partner on a date and she would play herself. 

For what it’s worth, it wasn’t suggested she did anything unseemly with the students that involved anything sexual. But she was having them offer advice on who she should date between two men and which qualities in men were ones she should look for as she was dealing with a man she described as a jerk.

When the school board learned of what she’d done, she was let go.

8. A Florida teacher Was Fired for Having Students Write Obituaries Before an Active Shooter Drill

It’s hard to relate to the school experience kids have these days if you’re an adult. Most adults never had to deal with things like active shooter drills which are commonplace all across America now. Kids shouldn’t have to practice for how to avoid dying at school, but they do. One Florida teacher made it worse, though.

Students at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando were scheduled to have an active shooter drill. Psychology teacher Jeffrey Keene gave them an assignment to write their own obituaries ahead of time. His reasoning was that, in light of the drill, it would give the students a chance to reflect on what was important in their lives. Before the end of the day, he was fired.

The school said he was letting go for giving an inappropriate assignment about school violence. Keene said he didn’t regret giving the assignment because he felt it’s important to “talk real” to kids in that environment, and it’s something they were already talking about, anyway.

7. Ann Stewart Was Fired for Being a Witch 

History has not been kind to people accused of being witches. Whether they were hung or crucified or put on scales opposite a duck, they’re often presumed guilty until proven innocent. Even up through the 1970s they were being subjected to some harsh treatment even if that didn’t include murder.

Ann Stewart was fired from her position as a teacher in Tucson, Arizona in 1971 which led to an event that even has its own Wikipedia page called the Flowing Wells Witch Trial. Stewart was fired for teaching students about witchcraft and being a witch, being insubordinate, a poor influence on students,causing mental stress to other teachers and teaching outside of curriculum.

Stewart said she told no one she was a witch, just that she had the characteristics of one and the students ran with it. It was the principal of the school who made an ethics complaint about her and she was later dismissed indefinitely because of it.

On the bright side, Stewart was a tenured teacher, and the school did not follow proper procedure for dismissing her. That allowed Stewart to sue, and the courts forced the school to give her job back though it’s not clear how things progressed from there.

6. Oklahoma Teacher Was Fired After Taking Students on a Walmart Run

It’s no secret that teachers often buy a lot of supplies out of their own pocket for their classrooms. They also do a lot of extra work on their own time like prepping, planning and grading. But they’re still expected to make the most of class time with students. This was not something Oklahoma teacher Heather Cagle was good at.

In 2014, Cagle was fired after she took her students on a run to Walmart to get snacks. That already seems like a poorly thought out plan since getting snacks isn’t really part of any school day. But it gets worse!

Cagle only had a Honda Accord to get her and 11 students to the Walmart. Feel free to Google the interior of a Honda Accord if you want to guess how many people it holds. It’s not 11 plus a driver, so Cagle stuffed two of her students in the trunk and clown-carred the other nine into the Accord.

When the school board found out, they voted four to one to have her fired. 

5. A Norwegian Teacher Had Students Play with Her Blood

What’s the grossest thing you can imagine a teacher doing with their students that isn’t obviously, overtly criminal? If it involves tasting blood you’ve come to the right place.

A Norwegian teacher brought in a vial of her own blood for students, aged three to six, to taste, and taste it they did. Word is that as many as a dozen students had a sample after the teacher poured it onto a plate and started a Dracula buffet for them. 

The students were invited to touch the blood, which they did, and when one asked how to clean it off their finger the teacher just demonstrated licking it off her own finger, so the kids did the same.

The teacher was fired fairly soon after and tested for diseases like AIDS and hepatitis. By the time the story was published the results of the tests hadn’t come in but authorities tried to offer some reassurance by pointing out the chance for disease transmission was low.

4. A Teacher Was Fired For Letting Students Use a Classroom Closet for Sex

Every school has a “cool” teacher, the one who relates to students better than anyone else. Maybe they’re just young and more in touch, or maybe they’re really easy or let you watch movies in class. Or maybe they were like math and science teacher Quinton Wright who let kids have sex with each other in a classroom closet which is less cool and more horrible.

Wright, who also coached basketball, was letting students schedule times when they could go to the class and make use of the closet when no one else was there. It was sort of like an in-class Airbnb for, you know, high school sex. He even provided condoms. 

The teacher was caught when the mother of one of his 14-year-old students saw text messages between her son and the teacher. Her son was arranging timing for closet access. He was fired when the news came to light.

He also went on to face child molestation charges and ended up being released on a technicality since the detective who signed the warrant to arrest him let a different officer sign the paperwork.

3. A Teacher Was Fired for Giving Zeros to Students Who Didn’t Do Their Work 

Have you ever heard of a no zero policy? Some school boards adopted this as a way to separate behavior from academic accomplishment. The idea was that a late assignment or not handing in an assignment at all was behavior so it shouldn’t count against academic grades and that zeroes were counterproductive and destructive to a child’s academic growth. Some policies say any work handed in, no matter how bad, shows a “good faith” attempt and should automatically get a 50%. 

Canadian teacher Lynden Dorval was fired in 2014 for not complying with the school board’s no-zero policy. He wasn’t grading students unfairly; he was just giving zeros to students who hadn’t given him any work to grade. Despite how logical that may sound, because of the no-zero policy he was suspended and then fired for it.

Dorval appealed and won in court. He was given all the way he would have received during the time he was out of work and a boost to a pension for the same time, though he didn’t go back to teaching.

2. A Teacher Was Fired For Making OnlyFans Videos in Her Classroom

Sometimes what happens in a classroom can get a teacher fired even if it happens after hours and no students are involved. That’s what happened with Amanda Peer, a teacher from Thunderbolt Middle School in Arizona, when people discovered she was moonlighting on OnlyFans and filming porn in her classroom after hours.

Despite posting content under a fake name and blocking access to the entire state, someone still found the videos and reported her. While she technically wasn’t fired for what she’d done, she said she was forced to resign. In one statement she said she was given the option to resign so that nothing would be made public, but obviously that didn’t happen. That said, her husband was fired from his job as a substitute after appearing in several videos with her.

1. A Florida Teacher Was Fired For Arranging a Gang Beating

You never want to hear that a teacher has put hands on your child when you’re a parent. School violence already comes in far too many forms, the last thing the world needs is for teachers to be a part of the problem. Unfortunately, it happens and, in at least this one case, it went above and beyond what any normal person could imagine.

In 2014, Dru Dehart, a woman who had been teaching for years, went out of her way to set up a 7th grader to be bullied and physically beaten by a gang of other students. In non middle school terms, she put a hit on the kid.

The events were caught on camera and show Dehart wrangling six 8th graders and encouraging them to go after a 7th grade student who backtalked her. The boy apparently said he wished he could curse at a teacher earlier in the day. Dehart then instructed the half dozen older boys to “teach him a lesson.” After they held him down, punching and kicking him, the teacher allegedly told him he wasn’t “so tough now.”

Dehart later tried to claim that the boy threatened her, but the other students backed up their classmate’s account that all he did was lament not being able to curse her out. The school conducted an investigation after which they immediately fired her.

Earlier this year an article made the rounds that listed the most visited locations in the world. The Blue Lagoon in Iceland opened the list at number nine and the number one spot was taken by the Niagara Falls that is located in the US and Canada. The falls are estimated to host at least 30 million tourists every year (barring 2020 of course).

However, sometimes you might just not be in the mood for crowds or sights that have been splashed all over magazine double page spreads several times. Instead, you might just be in the mood to travel to a place where thousands of people don’t gather at one time. A place most people might never even have heard of.

If you want to travel to a destination with a difference for your next vacation break, why not consider one of the hidden gems on this list? The below photographs may just convince you.

10 Photographs With Haunting Backstories

10 Hamilton Pool Preserve, Texas

Referred to as a Texas cenote, Hamilton Pool Preserve is an emerald green natural swimming hole that was created when an underground river collapsed thousands of years ago. A waterfall flows into the pool and it is surrounded by massive slabs of limestone. The pool is part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve and has been a protected nature preserve since 1990. While it has been a popular swimming hole for Texas residents and visitors for quite a long time, it remains a hidden gem location in the US, as most tourists seem to prefer the larger and busier destinations.^[1]

9 The Sunken Garden, Australia

Around 40 million years ago the southeast corner of South Australia was submerged under water. Limestone layers were formed on the seabed and it eventually ‘erupted’ from the sea. Over the millennia that passed, water erosion led to the formation of subterranean caves in the now exposed limestone which opened up when their ceilings collapsed. These sinkholes numbered more than 50 in the region.

In 1886, a farmer by the name of James Umpherston bought a piece of land that included one of the sinkholes. He decided to ‘green it up’ by planting it out and called the hole “The Caves.” These days the sinkhole is known as the Umpherston Sinkhole or The Sunken Garden and is a lush green space with a round view to the blue sky above. Those who have visited the garden call it ‘a magical place’ and ‘like something out of a fairy tale.’^[2]

8 Alberto de Agostini National Park, Chile

The Alberto de Agostini National Park in the third largest national park in the whole of Chile. It is only accessible by boat and one of the most remote and unspoiled parts of Patagonia. The park also marks the end of the Andes Mountains as they dip into the ocean surrounding it. Here you will find massive glaciers, the subpolar Magellanic forest, elephant seal colonies, Chilean dolphins and even Andean condors.^[3]

7 Hell’s Gate National Park, Kenya

Don’t let the name put you off: Hell’s Gate National Park is a fantastic holiday destination that includes a spectacular landmark called Fischer’s Tower. The tower is a volcanic plug named after the German explorer Gustav Fischer. Local folklore has it that the tower is in fact a young Masai girl who was instantly turned to stone after turning around to look at the home she was leaving behind, while on her way to the man she was to marry.

Other than the tower, the park is also home to Hell’s Gate Gorge, lions, cheetahs, leopards, vultures, zebra, antelope and more. Fitting, given that the setting for the 1994 film, The Lion King, was based on the look of the park.^[4]

6 Lake Morskie Oko, Poland

Poland is a popular tourist destination amongst history and art lovers because of its medieval architecture and WWII history. Those who travel to this beautiful country can visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Camps in Oswiecim, the Warsaw Old Market Place, and the stunning Crooked Forest in Gryfino.

If you are looking for something a little more off-the-beaten-track however, Poland is also the location where you will find Morskie Oko or “Eye of the Sea.” Morskie Oko is a lake deep within the Tatra National Park which changes color throughout the year, transforming from a deep blue shade to a light, turquoise color. Surrounding the lake are mountains and Swiss pines, which makes for a picture-perfect holiday setting.^[5]

10 Stories Behind Incredible Pulitzer Prize–Winning Photographs

5 Split Apple Rock, New Zealand

If you’re looking for both quirky and stunning holiday destinations, New Zealand has it all and more. Here you will find the mysterious Moeraki boulders, Teapotland, Stonehenge Aotearoa and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

In Tasman Bay, off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand, you will find Tokangawh? or Split Apple Rock. Legend has it that millions of years ago, the gods were fighting over a golden apple. In the struggle to grab hold of the fruit, it slipped from their hands, fell from heaven to earth and split open when it landed. It then turned to stone. Another legend has that the gods were fighting over a boulder and their tugging from either end, caused the rock to split.

The rock, which truly does resemble a split apple, in fact split because water that seeped through its cracks froze and then expanded. It squats around 50m into the ocean off the coast of the Tasman sea and is accessible by wading into the water during low tide.^[6]

4 Yakushima Island, Japan

Yakushima is a subtropical island that forms part of the Kagoshima Prefecture. Here you will find some of Japan’s oldest living trees inside a massive cedar forest, some of which are older than 7000 years. Some of the areas on the island have been declared National World Heritage Sites in 1993. The Shiratani Unsui-kyo Ravine is a big draw for the adventurous as it is a beautiful place to hike. Some of the trails can be completed in a single hour while other trails inside the ravine can take up to six hours to complete. It rains almost every day, but that doesn’t take away from the exceptional beauty of the island where you will also find rare plants and animals, including the Yaku monkey.^[7]

3 Floating Church, India

Ruins are always intriguing no matter where you find yourself in the world. In the village of Shettihalli in the Hassan district of Karnataka in India, lie the ruins of the Gothic-style Rosary Church that was built during the 1860s. Each year during the monsoons, between July and October, the church is half-submerged making it look like the structure is floating. The area in which the church stands is very remote so you will have to bring your own food if you want to have a picnic nearby.^[8]

2 Fort St. John the Baptist, Portugal

The Berlengas archipelago is made up of Berlenga Grande, which is the largest island, and two groups of smaller islets; the Estelas Inlets and the Farilhões-Forcados Islets. Only a small number of tourists are allowed here as it has been declared a reservation area for the protection of local fauna.

On Berlenga Grande stands the imposing Fort of the Berlengas, also known as Fort St. John the Baptist. The fort was constructed out of what remained of an old, abandoned monastery and built in the 17th century. In the 1950s it was used as a Pousada (government-owned hotel) and was eventually deserted after the 1974 revolution. Today it makes for an awesome tourist attraction and stunning snapshots.^[9]

1 Naeroyfjord, Norway

Speaking of stunning photographs, if you’re looking for the ultimate ‘Instagramable’ holiday destination, you will not be disappointed with the Naeroyfjord in Norway. The fjord is surrounded by colossal mountains on either side, as well as waterfalls and snowfields. The Naeroyfjord is around twenty kilometres in length and its shallowest point is 12 meters deep. It is an extension of the Sognefjord and is one of the narrowest fjords in Europe: 250 meters wide at its narrowest point.

There is a passenger boat for visitors all year round, as well as charter boats and cruiseships during certain times of the year. The fjord is a Unesco World Heritage site and has unsurprisingly been used as the inspiration for the fictional town of Arendelle in the hugely popular animated film: Frozen.^[10]

10 Calm Photographs With Awful Backstories

Dark, dreary, and abandoned places almost automatically gain reputations for being haunted and scary. But somehow, the threat of unseen entities becomes even scarier when they’re associated with beautiful buildings and sunny locations. On this list are some of the most stunning places you can visit, all with scary ghost stories surrounding them.

Related: 10 Haunting Images Of The Chernobyl Disaster And Their Backstories

10 Tao Dan Park

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Tao Dan Park is one of the most alluring green spaces in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The locals love getting their daily exercise here, and the park includes a pool, tennis courts, and a sculpture garden. The park is situated behind the Reunification Palace and is home to historic structures, including an ancient temple and a Lam tomb.

However, when night falls over the city, residents ensure they are far away from Tao Dan Park. This is because the soul of a murdered man allegedly wanders here, looking for his lost love. The story goes that the man was killed and his girlfriend attacked while they were taking a walk through the park in 2007. Park officials have categorically denied that such a murder ever took place, but this has not stopped the urban legend from spreading.^[1]

9 Dakeng Scenic Area

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Dakeng Scenic Area boasts a range of mountains as well as ten incredible hiking trails. It is located on the outskirts of Taichung City, Taiwan. It offers residents the opportunity to experience the tranquillity of nature in a lush green setting. Those who get to the trails early are sometimes lucky enough to spot monkeys hanging about.

The Dakeng Scenic Area is also the birthplace of a terrifying urban legend about a family that went hiking in 1998. They carried a camcorder with them as they wanted to capture the beauty of the trails. The footage showed them having a great time, but it also showed that they were unaware of a little girl in a red dress following them. Soon after the family arrived back home, one of the sons featured in the video died. The video was aired by the local news channel and became the main inspiration behind the horror film, The Tag-Along.^[2]

8 Waardenburg Castle

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

The original Waardenburg Castle, located in the Dutch province of Gelderland, was built in 1265 but destroyed completely in 1574. It was then rebuilt in 1627 and restored in 1895. Unfortunately, this medieval castle was damaged again during the Second World War and had to be restored yet again. Only about half of the building remains today.

Local urban legend has it that the infamous Doctor Johann Faust owned the castle at one point. He, apparently inevitably, found himself at a crossroads one night and made a pact with the devil: he would willingly give up his soul to Satan in exchange for unlimited knowledge and a wealth of worldly pleasures.

Faust got his wish, but the devil wasn’t about to forget their deal. As soon as the seven years were over, the devil snuck up on Faust and dragged him all the way to hell. Legend has it that the bloodstains from Faust being dragged across the ground can still be seen outside the castle tower. No matter how much anyone tries, the stains cannot be removed…

It is also alleged that bodies have been found buried in the castle cellar and that phantoms roam the large hallways.^[3]

7 San Fernando De Omoa Fortress

The imposing 4,400-square-meter (47,361-square-foot) San Fernando de Omoa fortress stands on a small bay in the city of Omoa, Honduras. It was built between 1756 and 1775 for protection against pirates. However, by the time the Spanish fortress was complete, the pirates had moved on to different waters. Another enemy, in the form of British forces, arrived on October 16, 1779. They caught the Spanish guards off-guard, and 150 British soldiers and sailors captured the fort. However, they withdrew the following month, fearing a Spanish revenge attack.

In the years that followed, the fort was used as a prison before being abandoned. It was restored in 1959 and converted into a tourist site. Those who live close to the fortress have reported hearing cannon fire and gunshots echoing from within its walls at night. There have also been reports of screams and shadow figures roaming around the outside of the structure before mysteriously vanishing.^[4]

6 Aguas Buenas

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

At the base of the Sierra de Cayey section of the Cordillera Central Mountains in Puerto Rico lies the town of Aguas Buenas. It is also known as the town of “Clear Waters” because of the number of freshwater springs that can be found here. Tourists to the area can visit great sites, including the historic fire station, Parque de Bombas Maximiliano Merced, and the Aguas Buenas Caves. The caves are one kilometer (0.62 miles) in length with over 50 species of wildlife as well as ancient Taino paintings that can be observed there.

The town has had its fair share of ghost sightings, with people reportedly witnessing the ghost of a Civil War soldier marching along a road as well as the spirit of an old woman holding a shotgun. There have also been reports of a phantom hunter dragging the body of a dead wolf in a local park and the apparition of a young woman floating over the peak of Altos de San Luis.

A real-life tragedy hangs over the town, however. In 1978, a school bus plunged into a 500-foot ravine, killing 11 students and injuring 30 more. It was believed at the time that the brakes of the bus had failed. Rumor has it that if anyone visits the site of the accident, they will hear children laughing and playing and perhaps even feel a hand nudging them to get their attention…^[5]

5 Chislehurst Caves

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Covering around 35.4 kilometers (22 miles) in Chislehurst, southeast London, are the Chislehurst Caves. These “caves” are man-made tunnels created between the mid-13th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. After the tunnels were dug, the caves were used as chalk and flint mines. During the First World War, they served as storage space for ammunition, and during the Second World War, it was used as an air-raid shelter. The cave system was swiftly converted into an underground city, complete with electricity, toilet facilities, a hospital, and even a chapel. The shelter was closed shortly after V-E Day.

During the 1950s, the owners of the Chislehurst Caves announced that they would pay £5 to anyone brave enough to spend a night alone in the caves. Tony Bayfield was the only one who succeeded. However, he said afterward that nothing would convince him to do it again as he could feel an entity behind him…breathing loudly.

Legend also has it that a White Lady wanders the caves, eternally restless and searching for her husband who murdered her. ^[6]

4 Belcourt of Newport

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Construction on what was to be a “summer cottage” began in 1891 and was completed in 1894. The result was the stunning Belcourt Castle located in Newport, Rhode Island. The structure featured French Renaissance and Gothic Décor and was further inspired by Italian, English, and German design.

The castle had quite a few owners over the years before it was opened to the public as the Belcourt of Newport. Today it is a museum of antiquities, with at least 12 out of the 60 rooms viewable.

Belcourt has the reputation of being one of the most haunted buildings in Rhode Island. Some believe that the antiques, armor, and art on display have spirits attached to them that refuse to leave. There are two Gothic-styled chairs in the grand ballroom that have been roped off after a tourist tried to sit in one of them and was flung into the center of the room.

A suit of armor, positioned between two splendid windows, sometimes allegedly moves its right arm before letting out a terrifying scream. Furthermore, a monk preparing for mass has been spotted along the staircase, and visitors have reported hearing disembodied voices echoing through the halls.^[7]

3 Heidelberg Castle

The Heidelberg Castle ruin is an important landmark in the university town of Heidelberg in Germany. The castle was partially rebuilt after being devastated by the French during the 17th century and then struck by lightning in the 18th century. It attracts around 1 million visitors each year. The ruin is seen as the embodiment of German Romanticism, with the best-preserved building being the Friedrich Wing, which holds the Electors’ ancestral portrait gallery. On the ground floor is the castle church, and the entire structure is surrounded by a magnificent garden.

The gate tower still sports a heavy wooden door with a small “gate” cut into it for pedestrians. There is a large iron ring over the door that serves as a knocker. The story goes that when the castle was inhabited, a contest was announced: Whoever could bite through the iron ring would “win” the castle and everything inside it. A witch tried her luck, but even her magic couldn’t prevent her from breaking her teeth on the iron ring. She left a mark, though, which can still be seen on the ring today.

Visitors to the castle have reported hearing wails coming from within the walls and seeing hooded figures floating around. There is also a legend that says the castle was built close to an area of Celtic religious importance and that angry spirits caused the lightning that destroyed it in the 18th century.^[8]

2 Old Upper Thomson Road

A stretch of the beautiful Old Upper Thomson Road in Singapore was used for the Singapore Grand Prix between 1961 and 1973. The road is lined with magnificent trees, and there is a stretch of grass between the lanes. Unfortunately, during its stint as a Grand Prix circuit, seven drivers navigating the “Devil’s Bend” and “Murder Mile” lost their lives in accidents that occurred during the races. As a result, the Singapore Grand Prix was canceled in 1974 and only resumed in 2008. There have been other accidents on this road, including a crash around ten years ago in which two students lost their lives.

And then there is the notorious ghost story that makes some drivers avoid the Old Upper Thomson Road altogether. It is said that a taxi driver was traveling along the road when he saw a woman dressed in white flagging him down. He checked the clock on his dashboard as he stopped next to her. It was midnight. As the woman got into his car, she said two words: “Mandai cemetery.”

The taxi driver felt uneasy but drove the 10 minutes it took to get to the cemetery, conversing with the woman while doing so. When he dropped her off, she paid him and told him to keep the change. He checked the amount, thanked her, and drove home.

When he got home however, he took the money the woman gave him out of his pocket only to realize they had turned into hell notes.^[9]

1 Larnach Castle

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Larnach Castle is perched on the ridge of the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is, in fact, a mock castle built by a politician, William Larnach, in the late 19th century. It was privately owned by the Barker family before being opened as a tourist attraction. The garden surrounding the building has been rated a “Garden of International Significance” and is one of only five gardens in the country to receive this rating.

Margaret and Barry Barker were newlyweds when they bought the massive house. However, they soon found that all was not as it seemed. While the home was obviously stunning, Margaret soon began to feel like she was being watched. Some of their guests started reporting that they had seen apparitions inside the house.

In 1994, a play titled Castle of Lies, which centered around the Larnach family, premiered inside the grand ballroom. Guests had hardly found their seats when a strong wind caused the smoke from the fireplaces to send soot up in the air. Shortly afterward, hail crashed down on the roof, and the drapes went flying. The play continued, and just as Larnach killed himself, a flash of lightning lit up the room.^[10]