When most people think of visiting Germany, they envision themselves eating sausage, drinking beer and perhaps visiting a castle or attending an Oktoberfest celebration. In addition to being the birthplace of many cultural and culinary innovations, Germany is also home to some stunning natural spaces. Jasmund National Park—located on the island of Rugen—features majestic chalk…
Avid travelers will happily tell you that the state of Oregon is home to one of the most whimsical stretches of coastline in the world. The Bandon State Natural Area is home to several beaches that are so visually striking that they appear to be enchanted. From a distance, the rock formations that rise from…
In 1938, a newspaper ran a story about an 82-year-old monk named Mihailo Tolotos who supposedly died without ever seeing a woman other than his own mother. Mihailo Tolotos spent his days in a Greek Eastern Orthodox monastic community known as Mount Athos. Since the 9th century, no human woman and most female animals have…
The Karlu Karlu, Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve features one of Australia‘s most striking and sacred landscapes. A collection of red boulders that look as though they were carefully sculpted and intentionally positioned have been the source of endless wonder and speculation since the first humans roamed the Australian Outback over 50,000 years ago. In 1870,…
If you are vacationing in the Bahamas and you see several spotted pigs float by—your eyes are not deceiving you. The island of Big Major Cay has been entirely overtaken by feral pigs who spend their days swimming, surreptitiously boarding passing boats to scavenge for food, and lounging beneath palm trees when the afternoon sun…
Artist and trash hauler Arthur Beal—who was also known as Captain Nitt Witt—lived by the old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Captain Nitt Witt spent decades constructing a home in Cambria, California out of beer cans, bullet casings, and other natural and synthetic materials that he found along his garbage route….
Many admirers and residents of the city of Prague are quite protective of the city’s stately Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo buildings. There was a citywide outcry when architects Vlado Milunic and Frank Gehry designed a thoroughly modern building known as the Dancing House. Since the Dancing House’s completion in 1996, some Prague lovers have warmed…
Most history buffs are unaware that one of America’s most successful early 20th century resort towns thrived in Idlewild, Michigan from 1915 until the late 1960s. During the Jim Crow era when discriminatory laws prohibited Black Americans from frequenting a great many hotels, restaurants, and other establishments, a group of real estate investors decided to…
