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Coimbra, Portugal
Joanina Library, University of Coimbra
Students once jailed beneath for sleeping in class- now bats patrol above, protecting the book stacks.
From the CommunityAll Places
Istanbul, Turkey
Egyptian Bazaar
Turkish wordplay turned this 1664 spice market into the 'Corn Bazaar'.
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Paris, France
Piscine de la Butte-aux-Cailles
A geothermal spring 580 meters below Paris feeds a year-round outdoor pool heated to 28°C.
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London, United Kingdom
Chelsea Embankment
How a river too putrid for Queen Victoria became one of London's most pristine waterfronts.
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Oamaru, New Zealand
Oamaru Opera House
The architect designed it in 1907, then sailed to Australia in 1911 and never returned to see it age.
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Alnwick, United Kingdom
Alnwick Gardens
Behind skull-marked gates, gardeners in hazmat suits tend belladonna and hemlock. Oh, and 20 to 30 visitors faint from the fumes every year.
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Rapallo, Italy
Excelsior Palace Hotel
Italy's first casino hotel secretly hosted three world-altering treaties between champagne service and celebrity sightings.
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Shiraz, Iran
Nasir al-Mulk Mosque
This mosque's expensive gamble turns morning prayers into a daily light show.
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Tabriz, Iran
Sound & Music Museum
Forty years of collecting led to Iran's first sound museum, where fruit-core instruments share space with oil-powered radios.
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Tynemouth, United Kingdom
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigrade Museum
The world's first volunteer coastal rescue squad was born from tragedy and still answers emergency calls today.
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Guadalajara, Mexico
Biblioteca Iberoamericana Octavio Paz
A 16th-century Jesuit college turned an identity crisis into a storybook future.
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Chicago, Illinois, United States
The Bean
Critics called it "The Electric Kidney Bean." Chicago said no, just "Bean," and a $23 million nickname was born.
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Brussels, Belgium
De Brouckere Metro Station
Belgium's first underground route opened in 1969- as a tramway, not a metro.
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Barcelona, Spain
Barceloneta Beach
A man made beach built from imported sand for the 1992 Olympics.
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Struer, Denmark
Grisetå Odde Fyr
This Danish lighthouse guides ships through treacherous straits and graces cheese packages in German grocery stores.
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Ljubljana, Slovenia
Slovenian School Museum
Slovenia's oldest specialist museum once lived in a bar and a castle before finding its permanent home in 1938.
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Tabriz, Iran
Imam Khomeini Mosalla
Tabriz's forever-unfinished prayer hall has been accused of undermining its ancient neighbor.
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Belgrade, Serbia
Zeleni Venac Market
Belgrade built Zeleni Venac in 1926 to banish illegal ox-wagon vendors and accidentally created the "Queen of the markets."
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Matakana, New Zealand
Matakana Post Centre
A post centre for 570 people, dressed in herringbone tiles as if expecting royalty—or at least a second glance.
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Nancy, France
Grand Nancy Métropole Meurthe-et-Moselle
Built in 1908 by refugees from German-annexed Alsace, Nancy's Chamber of Commerce married art with industry as cultural resistance.
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Nancy, France
Musée de l’École de Nancy
Nancy's Art Nouveau movement was born from displacement—refugees fleeing German annexation created 'art for all.'
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Skopje, North Macedonia
Matka Exhibition Center
Handle 80-year-old dials in a control room frozen in time when the new plant opened next door.
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Budapest, Hungary
St. Stephens Hall
Destroyed in WWII, Budapest's St. Stephen's Hall lay dormant for 76 years before its 600-piece Zsolnay fireplace rose again.
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Freeport, Maine, United States
Desert of Maine
A dinner-plate-sized patch of sand grew to swallow forty acres, buildings, and all.
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Plains, Montana, United States
Old Camas Prairie School Gymnasium
A tiny Prairie-style gymnasium lit by Delco generators until 1951, now a pink relic along Highway 28.
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Kerry, Ireland
Dan Foley’s Pub
The most-photographed pub in Kerry was run by a member of the Magic Circle- and yes, "it's an illusion."
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Paris, France
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
Sacré-Cœur's travertine stone self-cleans with every rainstorm, releasing calcite that recoats the basilica white.
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Newquay, United Kingdom
SeaSpace
Newquay's newest hotel sits between Britain's surf heritage and its humpback whale comeback- swim, spot whales, repeat.
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Kathmandu, Nepal
Durbar Square
Three rival Malla kings turned sibling rivalry into an architectural competition that lasted 300 years and produced 150+ temples.
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Leknes, Norway
Haukland Beach Cafe
A beachside café in the Arctic Circle where the first 20 minutes of parking are free- just enough time to test the 9°C water.
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Buenos Aires, Argentina
Playa Grande
When Argentine aristocrats tired of crowds, they founded their own beach in 1912. With better waves.
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Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Bizzell Memorial Library
Library stacks holding books but also important history.
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Paris, France
Eiffel Tower
The con man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice... because the first buyer was too embarrassed to call the cops.
Karkala, India
St. Lawrence Minor Basilica
A basilica in Karnataka that looks like a Disney castle, built on the spot where a wooden statue of St. Lawrence refused to be carried further.
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