Author: Ms. R.

More than a museum, more than a cultural center, Thaba Bosiu would be best described as the pride of Lesotho.  Featuring a full-scale recreation of a traditional village as well as a fascinating museum, this flagship tourist attraction is a must-visit on your first trip to the Mountain Kingdom. A blanket-clad guide is available on request, and their tour will change the way you view this fascinating enclave country. Thaba Bosiu is a sandstone plateau located between the Orange and……

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The Seattle Chinese Garden is a hidden gem located in South Seattle. It was built to commemorate the sister-city relationship established in 1983 between Seattle and the municipality of Chongqing in southwest-central China. This five-acre Sichuanese-style garden offers a number of unique features such as the Song Mei Pavilion, Knowing-the-Spring Courtyard, Chan Education Center, Luoyang Peony Garden, and a bamboo grove. The garden was first conceived in the late 1980s, but construction was put on hold after Chinese troops forcibly……

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Restaurants don’t stick around for nearly 150 years without picking up a few quirks along the way. Between flaming coffee cocktails of mysterious origins, century-old architectural features, and a truly inordinate amount of turkey options, Portland’s oldest restaurant is no exception.  The establishment known today as Huber’s Cafe opened in 1879 as the Bureau Saloon. It became Huber’s by name in 1891 upon purchase by Frank Huber and relocated about 20 years later to its current home in the……

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The “Pillar of Shame” is a project by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt, consisting of a series of sculptures, all representing human faces and extremities contorted in states of agony and fused into 8-meter tall pillars. They’re installed in places that have borne witness to actual massacres or tragedies, and are meant to symbolize humanity’s shame at these events. So far, four have been installed: one in Rome, addressing the deadliness of global food insecurity ahead of 1996’s U.N. Food……

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It’s nearly Christmas in the foggy Nahuelbuta Range of south-central Chile and berries the size and color of ping-pong balls are ripening in small gardens that tumble down steep forested slopes. The dwindling number of aging farmers who still cultivate these frutillas blancas have just five weeks to comb these gardens and harvest their goods. Five weeks to make a year’s worth of profit. In that brief time, these white strawberries—which turn a pale pink when ripe—will have two……

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As part of a special series for 2022, we’re doing a deep visual dive into fascinating Carnival traditions around the world. Guinea-Bissau is a small country on the coast of West Africa, tucked between Senegal and Guinea. Though it has fewer than two million citizens, and is among the world’s least-developed nations, it is rich in culture, language, and religion. There may be no better place to begin to understand that mix and the country’s history than at its……

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In an English harbor sits this replica of the Matthew, a ship that sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland in 1497 under Venetian explorer Giovanni Caboto, better known by the Anglicized name John Cabot. Though it is a recreation of the original, this replica is seaworthy and has shown itself to be capable of crossing the Atlantic. Christopher Columbus has reached the Bahamas in 1492, but Cabot was the first modern European explorer to reach the North American mainland. (Vikings are……

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One of the largest Newari pagoda-style wooden temples in Nepal, the triple-tiered Indreshwar Temple dates back to 1294. It took nearly 90 years to complete, has been renovated several times over the centuries, and has survived numerous earthquakes including the devastating 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Its architectural strength derives—perhaps in part—from its northeastern cornerstone, which is said to be the cursed disembodiment of the divine Ahalya. Although Ahalya’s story varies widely from text to text, she is generally described as……

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Located in Tucson on the Tohono O’Odham San Xavier Indian Reservation, is this small, but stunning white mission church. It was completed in 1797 and is still an active place of worship today. Inside, the church is decorated with a combination of Spanish and Native American motifs. The ornate altar, painted walls, and wooden benches are vibrant and beautiful. There is a small outer building containing an altar that is covered with religious and personal items left by the……

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It’s no secret that history often overlooks the women who have shaped our present. But make no mistake, women were there—battering down the doors and fighting for change. As part of our effort to write a new history of women, Atlas Obscura went hunting through our own archives to bring you the stories of female activists whose names you should know, from 1910s Japan to 2011 on a lush hillside of Cherán, Mexico. The Cartel-Fighting Women of Cherán, Mexico……

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