Discover

The Discover page is an archive of about strange but true trivia about destinations around the world, previously featured in the Discover section on the main page. You can contribute and add or edit future facts to the list here. Previously displayed facts from this year are below. You can find older facts from previous years using the links at the bottom of the page.

July 2024

 * The unfinished Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (pictured) in Turkestan is a pilgrimage destination and has come to epitomize the Kazakh national identity.
 * Ghent features a graffiti alley where the local graffiti artists are allowed to do their work.
 * Khajuraho's art is a manifestation of the essence of the philosophy of Indian aesthetics.
 * In Aventino, Rome you can see three countries through a keyhole (pictured).
 * Howth harbour features an imprint of the footsteps of King George IV, who landed here on a visit to Ireland in 1821.
 * A Communist hideout during the Vietnam War, the caves below Vieng Xai were known as a "hidden city", and are now the biggest attraction of the town.
 * The prominent Overseas Telecoms Centre (pictured) in Carnarvon that tracked the Gemini and Apollo space missions has been turned to a museum that really recaptures the 1960s/70s space era.
 * Akron is called the City of Invention but used to be known as the Rubber Capital of the World, and before that, as the original home of Quaker Oats, and before that, as a pottery works.
 * Na'in is known for extremely fine carpets.
 * The Gate of Dawn (pictured) in Vilnius is straddled by a chapel with a large icon of the Virgin Mary, painted in the 1620s, which has become a pilgrimage destination.
 * The easiest natural underground works to access are tourist show caves.
 * The same Gull Force Memorial can be found in both Dongfang and Darwin to memorialize Australian POWs killed in Hainan during WWII.
 * Saint John's Episcople Church in Franklin has one of only 3 full sets of Tiffany windows (one window pictured) in the world.
 * Mammoth tusks are popular souvenirs in Magadan, a city where many mammoth fossils have been excavated.
 * The town of Omu-Aran was founded by a prince at the behest of an oracle.
 * The oldest known record of Japan's Top 3 Gardens comes from a 1891 postcard from Okayama's Korakuen Garden (pictured) reading "Korakuen Garden, Number 1 of the Top 3 Gardens".
 * "In Bavaria the clocks run differently" is inscripted on clocks from Oberammergau, because Bavarian clocks run counterclockwise.
 * The Festival of Lanterns in Ahuachapan held every year on September 7 is a celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary.
 * Adam's Brige (pictured) in Mannar is the single remaining evidence that Sri Lanka was once connected to India

June 2024

 * The Fälschermuseum in Vienna is not a replica museum, but a museum of famous forgeries
 * Every night at the City Pillar Shrine in Khon Kaen, movies are shown for free on large projectors outside.
 * A British pyramid (pictured) near Robertsbridge dating to 1811 entombs a local named John 'Mad Jack' Fuller
 * The largest Quran in the world can be found at Bayt Al-Qur'an Al-Akbar in Palembang.
 * After merely looking at a mirror image of the beautiful Padmini in her palace, Alauddin decided to attack her city of Chittorgarh in an attempt to make her his own.
 * The MAAM Museum in Salta has exhibits dedicated to the discovery of the three Inca "Llullaillaco Children" found frozen like mummies (pictured) at the peak of Mount Llullaillaco.
 * Esztergom Basilica in Esztergom holds the relics of Saint Marko Krizin who was beheaded for refusing to denounce his Catholic faith.
 * Unlike most US states, Oregon has no sales tax.
 * São Sebastião is famous for the Maresias beach (pictured), part of the international surf circuit and regarded as "the Ipanema of São Paulo".
 * With many colonial houses and embassies, Avenue Charles de Gaulle in N'Djamena is a reminder of the French colonial days.
 * Travel has always been integral to golf.
 * The many casas colgadas - "hanging houses" (pictured) - built right up to the cliff edge, make Cuenca one of the most striking towns in Spain.
 * During the War of 1812, Leesburg was used as a temporary capital of the United States when the British occupied Washington.
 * Rüdesheimer Kaffee is a coffee drink with Asbach Uralt brandy, served flambéed.
 * Saint-Barthélemy has long been considered a playground of the rich and famous and is known for its beautiful pristine beaches (St Jean beach pictured), gourmet dining in chic restaurants and high-end designer shopping.
 * There are two official variations of written Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk.
 * The Yalu River Broken Bridge in Dandong reaches only halfway across the river, bordering North Korea.
 * You can take the Pikes Peak Cog Railroad (train pictured) to the summit at just over 14,000 feet (4302 m).
 * Benin is the birthplace of voodoo and voodoo temples, roadside fetishes, and fetish markets are found throughout the country.
 * Home to several bonsai nurseries, Saitama is considered to be the bonsai capital of the world.
 * Gorilla tracking (mountain gorilla pictured) is the main activity in the world heritage-listed Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
 * The striated caracara (johnny rook) is a rare bird of prey found only on the Falkland Islands and some islands off Cape Horn.
 * About 300 km (190 mi) east of Svalbard and 400 km (250 mi) north of Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land is one of the remotest parts of the world.
 * Porta Reale (pictured) is an entrance to Noto and its main street, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
 * Kentucky is home to famous food (Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hot Brown, and Burgoo), drink (bourbon whiskey) and music (bluegrass) traditions.
 * The world-class Calgary Zoo is home to over 1,000 animals from all over the world, as well as to the Botanical Garden and a Prehistoric Park for dinosaur lovers.
 * Shitthaung Pagoda (interior pictured) in Mrauk U translates to 80,000 Buddhas, but actually contains more than 84,000 displays of Buddha.
 * The Musée National du Costume in Grand-Bassam has an excellent collection of traditional Ivorian costumes, masks, ornaments and ethnographic photographs.
 * The Deutschland-Ticket allows for unlimited travel on all regional and local public transport in Germany.
 * At 4,200 m (13,800 ft) above sea level, El Tatio (pictured) is one of the highest geyser sites in the world.

May 2024

 * Visitors are not allowed to drive around the Vatican without permission from the authorities, only granted for important reasons.
 * The Empty Quarter is the largest continuous body of sand in the world.
 * University of Mary Washington (Monroe Hall pictured) near Downtown Fredericksburg has been voted, in the past, as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.
 * The Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh was built in the 1960s for the Asian Games that never happened.
 * Kiribati consists of 33 atolls widely dispersed through 3.5 million square kilometres of sea territory.
 * Each July, Nijmegen hosts the International Four Days Marches Nijmegen (participants pictured), the largest multi-day walking event in the world.
 * In basketball, traveling takes just four steps - and you lose the ball.
 * Taal Volcano is sometimes described as the world's smallest volcano, or as "a lake within a volcano within a lake".
 * The massive 1.5-mile-wide Mendenhall Glacier (pictured) is calving into its own lake about 13 miles north of downtown Juneau, Alaska's state capital.
 * Rugby football is named after the school in the English town of Rugby.
 * The numerous varieties of wildflowers and flowering bushes, many endemic to the Altai Mountains, attract tourists from around the world to the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park.
 * Composer Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a cantor in St. Thomas church in Leipzig until his death, and he is buried under a bronze epitaph near the altar (pictured).
 * The open desert terrain that surrounds much of Reno, especially to the Northwest, offers some fantastic mountain biking.
 * Tapiola is a showcase of Finnish architecture from the 1950s and 60s and many of the buildings look quite innovative and unusual even today.
 * The world's main deposits of meerschaum is around Eskişehir, and the town has a museum displaying objects made of this mineral (tobacco pipe pictured).
 * Axum was for nearly 800 years the administrative centre of one of the great empires of the old world.
 * The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto showcases Napoleon Bonaparte's socks and footwear from cultures all over the world.
 * Visiting Santa Cruz, Bolivia but don't have time to explore the country's large national parks? Head to the city's Yvaga Guazu Park (pictured) with similar vegetation.
 * Granite architecture is the defining feature of Aberdeen, though much is showing its age.
 * As wine is usually regarded as the most sophisticated of alcoholic beverages, wine tourism or enotourism is highly developed in many regions around the world.
 * When buying Okiagari Koboshi dolls (pictured) in Aizu-Wakamatsu, buy 1 for every family member plus 1 for the blessing of a new baby.
 * The church bell in Iglesia de San Francisco in Comayagua, cast in Spain in 1460, is the oldest bell in the Americas
 * The Lake of Sorrows in Da Lat is so-named because of a tale of two lovers, one who committed suicide after the other was called up to serve in the army.
 * The Dead Vlei (pictured) in Sossusvlei is so dry that normal decomposition cannot occur, so dead trees remain standing unchanged for centuries.
 * You can see wild Livingston bats, the largest bats in the world, in Nioumachoua.
 * Alabama residents had to fight for Sipsey Wilderness to become the first designated wilderness area east of the Mississippi River due to poor wording in the original Wilderness Act that excluded the East.
 * Solar cookers (pictured) require no fuel, which makes them particularly useful for long trips without reliable re-supply opportunities.
 * The city of Khujand is known as "Lenin's Favorite City".
 * One of the biggest attractions at Water Country USA is the "Big Daddy Falls" water slide.
 * Lincoln Cathedral (pictured) is one of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe, at the heart of the medieval city.
 * The ruins of Sitifis' U-shaped Roman circus have now mostly been built over; only the southern curved end remains visible.

April 2024

 * The Moravian Museum in Brno is the second largest and oldest museum in the Czech Republic.
 * Captured by the Chilean navy in the late 19th century, the Huascar (pictured) anchored outside Talcahuano is the oldest floating historical relic in the world.
 * The main temple on top of Jade Emperor Hill offers a wonderful view of Hangzhou and the lake below.
 * Catania sits under Mount Etna, the most major active volcano in Europe, and has been destroyed many times in the past.
 * Now a visitor attraction, the Underground Hospital (interior pictured) in Mount Isa was built underground in case of Japanese air raids during WWII.
 * In Kailua-Kona there are diving excursions to see giant manta rays at night, and its reportedly the best and most reliable place in the world to see them.
 * There are many infectious diseases that can pose a hazard to travellers who may not be familiar with them and their risks.
 * Porto's (pictured) geography is hard on the feet, but pleasant to the eye.
 * In Wyndham you can see graves from around the 1890s of Afghan camel drivers who were the backbone of transport between cattle stations and towns in the days before road trains.
 * The Golden Mile in Durban is well known for its excellent surfing, occasional shark attack and wide sandy beaches.
 * Oklahoma's state capitol building (pictured) in Oklahoma City is the only capitol in the world with an oil well under it.
 * Saint Nicholas Collegiate Church in Galway is the largest medieval church still in everyday use in Ireland.
 * The Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina features a half-size robotic T-Rex called "Megamunch".
 * "Tubing" down the Nam Song River (pictured) is the activity that dominates Vang Vieng.
 * In the course of history, Cēsis has been rebuilt almost the same three times – the street patterns date back to the Middle Ages, but the oldest buildings to the 18th century.
 * One Korean tea specialty is insam cha, made from the roots of the ginseng plant.
 * The Northern alun-alun square in Yogyakarta can be explored by pedal cars decorated with lights (pictured) on weekend and holiday nights.
 * Zaragoza was founded by the Roman Emperor Augustus, and named after him as Caesaraugusta.
 * Bergen's outdoor fish market has a long history, being the historical centre for fish trade.
 * Due to the need to acclimatize to the altitude for a few days, trekking the Inca Trail (view pictured) must be part of a longer trip.
 * Cross country skiing is the original form of skiing and was developed as a common mode of transport in Northern Europe.
 * In the 18th century Ayutthaya was the trading capital of Asia or even the world, and the most populous city in the world.
 * San Francisco International Airport has an Aviation Museum & Library (pictured) set up in what the airport looked like in the 1930s.
 * Nybro is the gateway to the world famous Swedish glass manufacturing district Glasriket which can be translated to The Kingdom of Glass.
 * The Nigerian dialect of English can be surprisingly different from other forms of English.
 * The 19th century St. Hubert Royal Galleries (pictured) in Central Brussels is one of the world's oldest shopping malls.
 * At the Hook & Line Museum in Port aux Basques you can experience activities such as the baiting of hooks and splitting of fish.
 * Bringing visitors up to the Mittelallalin ski resort outside Saas-Fee, the Metro-Alpin train is considered the highest subway in the world.
 * Once reputed as a "hell on earth", many highly recognisable ruins remain of the 19th-century penal settlement Port Arthur (pictured).
 * In Dutch the letter combination "ij" may both be treated as one or two letters.

March 2024

 * Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival is the biggest chamber music festival in Finland.
 * The railway station (pictured) of Maputo is sometimes mistaken to be the work by Gustave Eiffel.
 * Gokarna means cow's ear in Sanskrit.
 * Cheyenne is infamous for seemingly having different types of weather over a few miles.
 * There's a Japanese saying that "A fool never climbs Fuji (pictured); a bigger fool climbs it twice".
 * While Australian banknotes are used, Kiribati issues its own coins.
 * St. Augustine lays claim to being the oldest city in the United States.
 * The Roman Stadium (viewed from the seats) is literally under the city streets of Plovdiv.
 * Some Christian organizations have hidden Bibles in the area around Petra in anticipation of the arrival of end-times saints.
 * The oldest working mechanical clock is in Salisbury Cathedral and has been ticking apparently over 4 billion times since 1386.
 * Elevated 40 m above the sea and with its curve sweeping close to sheer cliffs, the largest lake in the Faroe Islands, Sørvágsvatn (pictured) may look like an optical illusion.
 * Some time zones seem to defy logic and were mostly drawn by national or regional governments to make commerce and administration easier.
 * The Rialto Square Theater in Joliet is a stunning reflection of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine architecture and has been called one of the ten most beautiful theaters in the U.S.
 * Salinas is one of the most popular holiday destinations on the Ecuadorian coast because of the fine beaches (Punta Carnero beach pictured) and steady weather all year round.
 * The Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim has interesting displays of many vintage and historic cars, motorcycles, other machinery, and aircraft.
 * Like countless other "founded 1784" towns, Prescott, Ontario was established by United Empire Loyalists soon after the American Revolution to house the King's loyal subjects.
 * The Sengan-zakura at Oharano Shrine (pictured) in Southern Kyoto is known as the phantom cherry blossom, because it blooms for just 2-3 days.
 * The medieval Lemböte Seafarers' Chapel in Lemland is now a ruin, but the chapel site is used for occasional services during the summertime.
 * Tel Aviv's markets are the best show in town, and they're bustling all day long.
 * Wat Sorasak (pictured) in Sukhothai is surrounded by 24 elephant statues and it seems that the elephants are carrying the structure on their back.
 * As a former British colony, the official language of Belize is standard British English, which makes Belize stand out from its Spanish-speaking neighbours.
 * A local speciality of La Alpujarra is Vino Costa, a pinky brown wine with a strong taste and stronger kick.
 * Diamond Harbour (sunset pictured) makes a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of nearby Kolkata.
 * The residents of the Isle of Portland have a superstitious belief that rabbits are a source of bad luck.
 * Iguala is known as the "city of tamarinds" for its tamarind trees surrounding the downtown cathedral.
 * Over the centuries, Sofia (pictured) has had several names: Serdika, Sredets and the remains of the old cities can still be viewed today.
 * The snobby feel of Manhattan may not always make it to Queens, which is one of its great appeals for those who live there.
 * Many popular surfing destinations have surf schools and surf camps that offer lessons.
 * Maybe the most interesting thing to see in Kuwait, the fish market (interior pictured) of Kuwait City is a giant, bustling building filled with rows of counters stocked high with fish.
 * Sipadan island is known above all for some of the best scuba diving anywhere in the world.
 * Lake Turkana is the world's largest desert lake.

February 2024

 * Serranía de Hornocal (pictured) outside Humahuaca is a colorful rock formation, and is known as the "mountain of 14 colors".
 * After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the E11 hiking trail became one of many means to stimulate the integration of Western and formerly Eastern, now Central Europe.
 * Bogota's Zona Rosa is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in all of Latin America and the world.
 * Bečići beach (pictured) won the "Grand Prix" in Paris in 1935 as the most beautiful beach in Europe.
 * Often considered by residents as the most liberal city in Montana, Missoula is an interesting mix of ranchers, cowboys, hippies, yuppies, students, artists, athletes and recreationalists.
 * There is something very unsettling about being unwell overseas so it's good to be prepared.
 * Everywhere in Saijo, fresh water gushes out from ground, even from a shallow hole (fountain pictured).
 * The history of Sandefjord has been formed by the Viking Age, the shipping industry and whaling in Arctic and Antarctic areas.
 * Paseo Xolotlan features replicas of old Managua before the 1972 earthquake, including Augusto C Sandino's and Ruben Darío's house, as well as a Boeing airplane.
 * Built around the birthplace of future US bank magnate Thomas Mellon, the Ulster American Folk Park (exhibits pictured) in Omagh showcases the story of emigration from Ulster to North America from the 18th to 20th centuries.
 * The best thing to do on Lake Malawi and in Monkey Bay is kayaking to the surrounding rocky outcrops and small islands and snorkelling to see the amazing fish.
 * Taupō's natural scenery with its lake, forests and volcanic backdrop make for an excellent skydive location.
 * In the Pioneer Saloon (pictured) in Goodsprings, you can see historical bullet holes in the wall resulting from a poker game gone awry.
 * Cochem is rated as one of the prettiest villages along the Mosel.
 * Most Indians know of Udupi not as a place, but as a category of restaurants.
 * An enormous statue of Chairman Mao (pictured) overlooks the Tianfu Square in Chengdu.
 * Punta Uva means "Grape Point", and is named after a sea grape tree in town.
 * Phitsanulok is not well-known to foreign tourists and thus has retained the charm of a typical, larger Thai city.
 * The most famous landmark of Chichen Itza, the Pyramid of Kukulcan (pictured) was a temple-pyramid dedicated to the Feathered Serpent God.
 * The Pacific Rim Whale Festival in Ucluelet in mid-March celebrates the annual migration of the grey whales.
 * Manadonese food is famous throughout Indonesia for two things: the Minahasa eat absolutely anything, and the flavour of choice is very spicy.
 * The Hafnarfjörður Museum (pictured) is a collection of old houses in the centre of town, some containing exhibits and others just renovated to demonstrate their original use.
 * From South Lake Tahoe you can take the Heavenly Gondola to see a beautiful view of Lake Tahoe.
 * The Benedictine Abbey Santa Maria de Montserrat also has a publishing house with the oldest press in the world, still running, with the first book published in 1499.
 * Probably the prettiest street in Khartoum, and with the Blue Nile on one side, Nile street (pictured) is lined with pretty, albeit decaying-looking, colonial buildings.
 * French spelling is not very phonetic.
 * The extensive gardens of Powis Castle in Welshpool look much as intended when they were laid out in the 1770s are an attraction in their own right.
 * Chuncheon (pictured) was featured in the popular Korean drama Winter Sonata, and so it is now a popular destination for tourists from around East Asia.
 * Port-Gentil is Gabon's workhorse with offshore oil rigs and port activities humming around the city.

January 2024

 * A thing to try in Kolhapur is misal, a famous Maharashtrian snack made from spicy sprouted moth beans.
 * The hill Cerro San Luis (pictured) has given name to the adjacent city of San Luis Obispo.
 * The Memorial Ossuary of Kumanovo is a monument to the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
 * A favorite of all kids visiting Ogden, the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park has over 100 realistic full-sized dinosaur sculptures.
 * The beautiful European-style Carlton Gardens in Melbourne features a number of towering plane trees and majestic fountains (pictured), some of which date from the Victorian era, and is a World Heritage Site along with the Royal Exhibition Building there.
 * Cagayan de Oro is known as the "City of Golden Friendship."
 * Musee Basque et de l'Histoire de Bayonne offers an excellent introduction to traditional Basque culture and the town of Bayonne.
 * The Petronas Twin Towers (pictured) in the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur is the tallest twin tower building in the world.
 * Near the southern end of Noordhoek beach is the wreck of the steamship Kakapo, that ran aground in 1900, when the captain mistook Chapmans' Peak for the Cape of Good Hope and put the helm over to port.
 * The Natyanjali annual festival of classical Indian dance in Chidambaram takes place at the end of February is the city's biggest attraction that brings thousands of people from all over the world.
 * Known as "the baroque village", Holašovice is famous for strongly decorated and colorful village houses from 19th century (pictured).
 * Now a museum, Einstein's early 20th-century home in Berne was where his special and general theories of relativity were born.
 * Completed in 1932 in an Art Deco style, the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln is the state's third capitol building.
 * The Nymphaeum (pictured) in Jerash is the ruins of an ornate public fountain that was decorated with lions heads and dedicated to the nymphs.
 * Prohibition in the United States allowed Liverpool to become a rum running centre in the 1920s.
 * Winnemucca's Old West Chinatown has disappeared, but the town's Basque heritage remains strong.
 * The observation deck of the Ping An Finance Centre in Central Shenzhen has little glass-floor nooks where you can see the city far down beneath your feet (pictured).
 * On the thirty-four Boston Harbor Islands, pets are not allowed.
 * Riding a felucca along the Nile River is a great way to relax and enjoy a night under the stars in Cairo.
 * Once a month, at high tide when the moon is full, seawater rises to wash the streets of the historic center (pictured) of Paraty.
 * Along with the poetry of its setting, Hull has a formidable connection with some of the most influential poets in English literature.
 * Almost all well known European cheeses are protected by the protected designation of origin guidelines specifying where and how it can be produced to be use its name.
 * Many of the Wildwood's motels were built in the "Doo-Wop" era of 1950s and 1960s (Caribbean Motel pictured, listed on the National Register of Historic Places).
 * The Port of Rotterdam is the largest harbour in all of Europe.
 * The Oregon Caves are unusual due to the fact that the rock is marble, although the caves were formed from the common process of slightly acidic water seeping through cracks.
 * Morske orgulje (Sea Organ, pictured) in Zadar is a man-made organ working with the motion of the waves and 35 pipes to create a musical soundscape.
 * Modern Tanzania combines two areas that formerly were governed separately: Tanganyika on the coast of the African mainland and the island of Zanzibar nearby.
 * There are long and short vowel sounds in Latvian.
 * The Maxwell Food Centre (interior pictured) is described as one of Singapore's best food hawker centres.
 * It might help nervous flyers to understand what happens before and during a typical flight.
 * The Wentworth Pioneer Museum showcases life on the Murray during the era of agriculture.

Old discoveries

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