Category: Travel
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The beauty of Slovenia’s Bled Island
Bred Island is a small tear-shaped island floating in the middle of Lake Bled in northwestern Slovenia. On the island sits Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary, a Baroque church established in 1534. The mountains and forests surrounding the lake add to the picturesque view of the church. During the winter, the frost over […]
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A trip to Portugal’s stunning Benagil Sea Cave
The Benagil Sea Cave, located in a small fishing village 3 hours from Lisbon, is arguably one of the most interesting tourist attractions in the world. Accessible only by boat, the cave contains a peculiar domed ceiling and natural oculus shaped by wave attrition and Miocene limestone built-up over 20 million years ago. Hiding under […]
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The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona
The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument on the Arizona and Utah borders. The swirling stone waves combine water and wind eroded sandstone dunes, calcified vertically and horizontally, and fossilized over 190 million years. The rich red-vermillion rocks get their colors from iron oxide pigments. Only 20 people can […]
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Colombia is home to the tallest palm tree in the world, the palma de cera
The tallest palm tree in the world resides in the Colombian Andes in Los Nevados National Park, amid the Cocora Valley. Colombia’s national tree, the palma de cera or wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense), stands nearly 200 feet tall. But seeing it is no easy trek — hikers have to walk through a cloud forest that […]
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Say hello to the swimming pigs of the Bahamas
The uninhabited island of Big Major Cay in the Bahamas is populated entirely by swimming pigs. Known as the Swimming Pigs of Exuma, the feral pigs swim freely in the shallow, clear-water ocean and play amongst themselves on the beach. How the pigs got on the island is still a mystery. Some believe that they […]
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Daisugi: Ancient Japanese technique for growing trees out of trees
The Japanese forestry technique for harvesting wood, daisugi (meaning “cedar table”), goes as far back as the 14th century to solve a seedline shortage in Kyoto. The 700-year-old technique involves pruning a tree’s branches as if they were giant bonsai trees. In doing so, the mother tree provides a stable platform that supports the birth […]
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The mind-boggling clifftop Meteora Monasteries, Greece
It’s mind-boggling to imagine how the first monks built the monasteries of Meteora in the 14th century, most notably the one in Peneas Valley located northeast of Kalabaka, Greece. This Holy Trinity sits on top of a rocky precipe over 1300 feet, forming one of six surviving monasteries constructed on top of steep natural pillars […]
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Patagonia’s 6000-year-old marble cave, Cuevas de Mármol in southern Chile
On the shores of Lake General Carrera in Patagonia, southern Chile, lies a marble cave known as the Marble Cathedrals. The unexpected natural wonder is sculpted by nature. The cave originated over 6,000 years ago due to waves driven by nearby glaciers, crashing up against calcium carbonate on the peninsular of the remote glacial lake. […]
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Explore the incredible crater of Australia’s Gosses Bluff
Gosses Bluff is an eroded crater remnant in central Australia formed from an asteroid or comet collision during the earliest Cretaceous period, 142 million years ago. The 3-mile wide crater was originally believed to be 12 miles in diameter before natural erosion took its course. The aboriginal Western Arrernte were the first to recognize the […]
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Deadly scorpions invade southern Egypt after freak thunderstorm
If you thought the plagues were over, think again. Thunderstorms in southern Egypt forced hordes of scorpions out of the desert into Aswan, killing 3 and sending more than 500 people to hospitals with stings. Sources say the black scorpions entered everywhere from people’s homes, cars, and buildings to inject them with deadly venom. The […]
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Discover the wonder of Onekotan Island
Onekotan is a deserted volcanic island in the northwest Pacific Ocean near the northern end of Russia’s Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk. The archipelago consists of two stratovolcanos at each end, Krenitsyn and Nemo, connected by a flat strip of land. Crater lakes surround both volcanoes. The 4344-foot Krenitsyn volcano on the […]
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The ‘underwater waterfall’ phenomenon at Mauritius Island
A unique and beautiful ‘underwater waterfall’ illusion lies off the southeast coast of the African continent at Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean. The precise location of the surreal view rests at the Black River Gorges National Park in Le Morne, on the island’s southwest. UNESCO recognizes the area as a World Heritage site. The spectacular […]