Chubwolf's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Arsi, Ethiopia

Tiya Stelae

Ethiopian standing stones featuring remarkably preserved carvings of swords and people.
Ethiopia

Yemrehanna Kristos Church

An ancient Ethiopian cave church is endangered by the simple building of a road.
East Tigray, Ethiopia

Abuna Yemata Guh

Reaching the "Church in the Sky" requires scaling the cliff face of a sandstone pinnacle with a 650-foot drop.
Afar Zone 1, Ethiopia

The Afar Rift

An ocean in the making, in the Ethiopian desert.
Afar Zone 2, Ethiopia

Erta Ale

Ethiopia's "smoking mountain" is in one of the hottest regions on the planet and is home to two lava lakes.
Lalibela, Ethiopia

Bete Giyorgis of Lalibela

An Ethiopian "Jerusalem" featuring a church hewn out of a single rock.
Oakland, California

Bay Bridge Troll

A creepy steel gremlin has protected the Bay Bridge since 1989.
Oakland, California

Mazzariello Labyrinth

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.
Berkeley, California

Thornburg Village

A storybook European village in Berkeley.
Aksum, Ethiopia

Chapel of the Tablet

Supposedly this Ethiopian chapel holds the Ark of the Covenant, guarded by virgins who cannot leave the building.
Aksum, Ethiopia

Obelisk of Axum

Massive stele returned to Ethiopia after 70 years in Rome.
Lalibela, Ethiopia

Ben Abeba

An otherworldly restaurant perched on the edge of a jagged cliff next to a medieval holy city.
Los Angeles, California

Philosophical Research Society

A library of rare occult books in Los Angeles.
Garraf, Spain

Bodegas Güell

This whimsical winery by Antoni Gaudí looks ripped from the pages of a fairytale.
Reykjavik, Iceland

Icelandic Punk Museum

This tiny museum's sizable collection is jammed into a former underground public toilet.
Toronto, Ontario

SkullStore Oddity Shop

A collection of human remains, animal body parts, and other macabre curiosities all legally for sale.
Athens, Greece

Little Metropolis Church

This gem is often wrongly overshadowed by the larger, newer Metropolis church in Athens.
Athens, Greece

Pittaki Street

150 or so scrounged-up lamps, chandeliers, and lanterns light up this alley in central Athens.
Athens, Greece

Antikythera Mechanism

A 2,000-year-old computer demonstrates remarkable engineering and astronomical precision.
Budapest, Hungary

Elektrotechnikai Múzeum

Electrical curiosity museum housed in an old transformer station.
Budapest, Hungary

Columbo Statue

Uh, pardon me, ma'am, but I couldn't help noticing that there's a Columbo statue in the middle of Budapest.
Budapest, Hungary

The Garden of Philosophers

Tucked away near more famous landmarks lies a statue meant to symbolize the confluence and continuing development of human culture.
Budapest, Hungary

Budapest Castle Hill Funicular

Built in 1870 at the bridge that connected Buda and Pest, this spectacular incline railway was almost lost forever during World War II.
Budapest, Hungary

Panoptikum Budapest

A series of caves under Castle Hill that once held the prisoner Vlad Tepes, better known as Count Dracula.