Author: Ms. R.

There is a saying, “Glasgow made the Clyde and the Clyde made Glasgow.” Scotland’s largest city owes its prosperity and affluence to this body of water which is the third longest in the country and ninth longest in the United Kingdom. It runs an impressive length of 106 miles (170 kilometers), and there are 16 bridges that span this watery serpent that divides this sprawling metropolis. One in particular, the Caledonian Railway Bridge, contains some unusual features. As the……

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Along the isolated coastline of the Namib Desert stands Ilha dos Tigres. Once home to a prosperous fishing village, housing a school, hospital, airstrip, and chapel, the island is now nothing but skeletal ruins jutting out of the sand. It was established in the 1860s by fishermen from Portugal. The settlement lasted for almost a century, with its final inhabitants relocating in the 1970s. Ilha dos Tigres sits upon is a strange piece of land. Over the years its……

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In 17th-century West Africa, an elite all-female army fought fiercely for the Kingdom of Dahomey. In 19th-century France, female foodies made sure women had a place at the restaurant table. In 20th-century Ecuador, Dolores Cacuango organized the country’s first Indigenous peoples march. Records of the past often overlook the contributions of women, but this year, Atlas Obscura traveled around the world to uncover some of their stories. In March 2022, we highlighted many of these pioneers and mavericks in……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we discover how Tarpon Springs, Florida, became known as the Sponge Capital of the World. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV. To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZShrVCpUK0. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site,……

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Tall tale hero of steelworkers since the 1930s, Joe Magarac was said to have been born in an ore mountain, and his body itself was made of steel. Standing seven feet tall with enough strength to bend a steel beam with his bare hands, he’s a legendary figure the likes of Paul Bunyan. At the old US Steelworks in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a large statue depicts the brawny folk hero bending a steel beam, his shirt open to show his……

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In the middle of Brooklyn’s Amersfort Park you can find a replica of a 200,000-year-old glacial boulder known as the Rock of Amersfort. According to the story, in 1661, a young squire named Everhard Meyster came across a massive boulder outside the Dutch town of Amersfoort. Though the rock weighed more than 15,000 pounds, Meyser bet some friends that he could convince the townspeople to undertake the absurd feat of hauling the boulder into the city. With an offer of beer and……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE DECEMBER 10, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. One of the things I love most about cooking is that it lets you tangibly experience far-off places and long-ago eras, without leaving your kitchen. This year, the recipes we’ve published on Gastro Obscura have allowed readers to transform flowers into jelly like a French forager, indulge in a surprisingly decadent cake from Depression-era America, and savor the……

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