Montmartre Cemetery: Paris’s Historic Cemetery Beneath a Bridge

In Paris, a busy metal bridge passes above a cemetery filled with old tombs, leafy paths and monuments to some of France’s best-known artists and writers. This unusual place is Montmartre Cemetery, also called Cimetière de Montmartre or the Cemetery of the North. Opened in 1825, it occupies the site of former gypsum quarries in the city’s 18th arrondissement.

The Caulaincourt Bridge passes directly over Montmartre Cemetery, creating an unusual contrast between the busy city streets and the historic burial ground below.

Le Mur des Je t’aime: Paris’s Wall of Love

In a small garden square in Montmartre, Paris, a wall carries a message that needs no grand speech or elaborate explanation. The words Je t’aime—French for “I love you”—appear across a blue tiled surface in hundreds of written forms. Known as Le Mur des Je t’aime, or the Wall of Love in Paris, this unusual artwork brings languages and cultures together through one of the simplest expressions of human affection.

Le Mur des Je t’aime brings declarations of love together on a blue-tiled wall in Montmartre.

IJsseloog: The Artificial Island That Stores Contaminated Silt

A circular island in the middle of a Dutch lake might look like an unusual piece of land reclamation. But IJsseloog has a far more specific purpose: it was built to contain contaminated sediment removed from the lakebed. The project brings together water management, environmental engineering and an attempt to deal with pollution left behind by decades of industrial activity.

IJsseloog is an artificial island in the Ketelmeer, Netherlands, designed to contain contaminated dredged sediment. 

16th Avenue Tiled Steps: San Francisco’s Mosaic Staircase

In a quiet residential neighbourhood of San Francisco, California, an ordinary flight of outdoor steps has become an extraordinary work of public art. Known as the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, this colourful staircase carries visitors through a mosaic world of sea creatures, animals, birds and celestial designs. From a distance, it looks like a giant painting spread across a hillside. When viewed up close, thousands of individual pieces come together to tell a much bigger story.

The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, also known as the Moraga Steps, feature a colourful sea-to-sky mosaic created by artists and local residents in San Francisco.

Wenceslas on an Upside-Down Horse: Prague’s Bizarre Statue

Inside a passage in central Prague, a familiar figure from Czech history appears in a rather unfamiliar position. Saint Wenceslas, the traditional patron saint of Bohemia, sits calmly on the belly of a dead horse suspended upside down from the ceiling. The horse hangs by its legs, its head pointing towards the floor.

David Černý’s unusual sculpture depicts Saint Wenceslas sitting on the belly of an inverted, lifeless horse. Created in 1999, the artwork hangs inside Lucerna Palace in Prague, Czech Republic.

Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station: The Mountain-Top Power Plant

The Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station in Missouri has an unusual way of storing energy. Instead of keeping fuel on site, it uses two reservoirs at different elevations. When electricity demand is low, pumps move water uphill to a reservoir on Proffit Mountain. Later, the water flows back down through turbines to generate electricity.

The Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station in Missouri uses pumped-storage technology to store energy by moving water to an elevated reservoir for later electricity generation.

Laguna Colorada: Bolivia’s Extraordinary Red Lake

At first glance, Laguna Colorada looks as though someone has spilt red paint across a remote corner of the Andes. Against the pale mineral islands and rugged mountains of southwestern Bolivia, the shallow lake glows in shades of brick red, rust and pink. Flocks of flamingos wade through its waters, feeding in a landscape that feels almost unreal.

Laguna Colorada is a striking high-altitude lake in southwestern Bolivia, known for its reddish water and remarkable natural landscape.

Coral Castle: Florida’s Mysterious Stone Castle

In Homestead, Florida, a collection of massive stone walls, carved furniture and bizarre sculptures serve as testimony to the extraordinary ambition of one man. Known as Coral Castle, the site was created by Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant who spent decades shaping and arranging heavy blocks of local limestone. He worked largely by himself, using tools and mechanical devices rather than modern construction machinery.

Coral Castle is a remarkable stone sculpture garden created by Edward Leedskalnin.

Ilha da Queimada Grande: Brazil’s Infamous Snake Island

About 35 kilometres off the southern coast of São Paulo, Brazil, a small, forested island rises from the Atlantic Ocean. From a distance, Ilha da Queimada Grande looks like an ordinary patch of green surrounded by blue water. Its steep, rocky shoreline and thick vegetation, however, conceal something unusual: a venomous snake found naturally nowhere else on Earth.

Ilha da Queimada Grande rises from the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil's southeastern coast.

Pando: The Trembling Giant of Utah’s Aspen Forest

In Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, a grove of quaking aspens hides a surprising secret. Thousands of white-barked trunks rise from the ground, spreading across the mountainside. In autumn, their leaves turn a rich golden yellow; when the wind picks up, the canopy seems to ripple.

Pando is an enormous, quaking aspen clone in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, known for its interconnected root system.