Login
login / signup
Cape Town, South Africa
Muizenberg Beach Huts
Muizenberg's bathing boxes started as Victorian modesty machines on wheels, then lost their wheels when mixed bathing became legal in 1901.
From the CommunityBlue
Blue has been an important color since ancient times. Often associated with peace and harmony, explore our collection for calm vibes.
Marbella, Spain
Marbella
A breakdown in a 900-person fishing village: how Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe's faulty Rolls-Royce accidentally created Marbella.
From the Community
Nice, France
Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas de Nice
Built for Russian aristocrats fleeing winter, this cathedral's patron—Tsar Nicholas II—never saw the revolution coming.
From the Community
New York, New York, United States
Wise Clock
After a century-long journey from Boston to Brooklyn, a brief retreat to Pennsylvania, and finally to a beach in Queens, this elegant sentinel still keeps time for the passing tide.
From the Community
Historical Centre, Brazil
Praça Marechal Deodoro (Praça da Matriz)
Porto Alegre's main square started as a graveyard in 1753, later imported 20 Portuguese olive trees, and became a skateboard park.
From the Community
London, United Kingdom
Elaine’s London
London's Elaine's channels the spirit of NYC's legendary writers' hangout, closed since 2011 after 48 years of celebrity chaos.
From the Community
Goczałkowice-Zdrój, Poland
Chapel of Our Lady, Healer of the Sick
A mother built this chapel in 1866 to thank Mary for healing her son, then painted him directly into the altarpiece as proof.
From the Community
Kutaisi, Georgia
Great Synagogue
A Soviet auto plant reporter translated Georgia's national epic into Hebrew: now a monument honors him outside this 1886 synagogue.
From the Community
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duncan Mclaren Locksmiths
Founded in 1851—the year a locksmith picked Britain's 'unpickable' lock at the Great Exhibition—this shop still cuts keys.
From the Community
Ericeira, Portugal
Ericeira
One of two European surfing reserve draws wave-chasers, but vintage Land Rover devotees come for Portugal's dirt roads.
From the Community
Istanbul, Turkey
Fenerbahçe Chobani Stadium
Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II leased Turkey's first football pitch for 30 gold pounds in 1908. Rivals once shared the field.
From the Community
Kythira, Greece
Kythira
Kythira, mythical birthplace of Aphrodite, now has more descendants in Australia than residents on the island itself.
From the Community
Sign up for our Newsletter
The AWA Bulletin: A quick & curated bi-weekly break
Kashan, Iran
Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse
This 16th-century bathhouse has winding corridors designed to protect bathers from dangerous temperature shocks between rooms.
From the Community
Marseille, France
Cathédrale de la Major
France's only 19th-century cathedral took 40 years to build and matches St. Peter's Basilica in scale: all to impress sailors.
From the Community
Binz, Germany
Trauort Badekarren am Strand
A Victorian bathing machine that once hid swimmers now hosts weddings in 4.25 square meters on a German beach.
From the Community
60 Landskrona, Sweden
Lill-Olas Badstrand
This Swedish beach has an elevator into the sea and a separate shoreline reserved entirely for dogs.
From the Community
Buffalo, New York, United States
Richardson Hotel
Originally an insane asylum, with grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, this historic building is now a hotel and urban center.
AWA visted here
Presented with
Seoul, South Korea
Banpo Hangang Park
Where instant noodles taste better, according to an entire city.
From the Community
Co. Cork, Ireland
Dursey Island Cable Car
Europe's only cable car crossing open sea once transported livestock: cows and sheep dangled above the Atlantic until 2012.
From the Community
Kyiv, Ukraine
Mariinsky Palace
Built for an empress who never visited, destroyed twice by fire and bombs—yet nothing of the original 1752 palace remains.
From the Community
Granard, Ireland
Granard Farmers Mart
This farmer-owned mart has weathered every crisis since 1970, selling over 25,000 cattle yearly on the same Monday-Wednesday schedule.
From the Community
Ogland, Kazakhstan
Beket Ata Underground Mosque
This 18th-century underground mosque carved into desert rock may have doubled as an astronomical observatory.
From the Community
Hjørring, Denmark
Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse
A museum about sand drift, defeated by sand drift.
From the Community
Tabriz, Iran
Qajar Museum
This diplomat's mansion nearly became a school parking lot before a 13-year rescue transformed it into Tabriz's Qajar Museum.
From the Community
Dublin, Ireland
Polaris Building, Dublin City University
DCU's Polaris Building corralled 3,000 students from four scattered buildings into one €80 million facility during a pandemic.
From the Community
Tehran, Iran
National Garden Gate
Tehran's pre-Azadi icon: a gate to a garden that barely existed, where a bugler once announced dawn and dusk to the city.
From the Community
Kashan, Iran
Mahinestan Raheb Hotel
A Qajar mansion with three courtyards (one for family, one for guests, one for servants) now welcomes everyone equally.
From the Community
Wanaka, New Zealand
Wānaka Lavender Farm
A freestanding purple door in a lavender field frames nothing but mountains and has become irresistibly photogenic.
From the Community
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Haji Yaqub Mosque
Built for a mystic who mastered the art of disappearing.
From the Community
West Coast Region, New Zealand
Brewster Hut
At 1,460 metres in New Zealand's Southern Alps, this hut has no heating and a water tank that runs dry when you need it most.
From the Community
Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Cabo Pulmo EcoAdventures
This fishing village gave up fishing in 1995. Now it has the largest fish biomass recovery ever recorded in a marine reserve.
From the Community
Superior, Arizona, United States
Superior Climbing Shack
A former copper mining town reinvents itself one climbing route at a time, with 1,000 sport climbs replacing underground shafts.
From the Community
Shiraz, Iran
Nasir al-Mulk Mosque
This mosque's expensive gamble turns morning prayers into a daily light show.
From the Community
Brussels, Belgium
De Brouckere Metro Station
Belgium's first underground route opened in 1969- as a tramway, not a metro.
From the Community
Barcelona, Spain
Barceloneta Beach
A man made beach built from imported sand for the 1992 Olympics.
From the Community