la Bibliothèque

Pamukkale, Denizli Province, Southwestern Turkey, the ‘cotton castle’ Natural terraces and hot springs, Türkiye

"The Eyes of God" -Prohodna Cave, Bulgaria (Source, I believe)

This is the full moon from inside a cave. It looks like two eyes staring down at you; beautiful.

Holy fuck

Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

You’ve probably seen pictures like this:

and this:

and thought “omg I have GOT to go there!”

These photos were taken of two famous spots on the island of Santorini, which is actually several islands forming what remains of an ancient volcano. Geologically, it’s one of the coolest places...

The Wave

In the Coyote Buttes ravine in Arizona, huge waves of richly-coloured sandstone undulate across the landscape, looking as though they were painted by a giant hand. 190 million years ago in the Jurassic era, these sandstone waves (dubbed “The Wave”) were actually sand dunes migrating across the desert, but over the years they have calcified both horizontally and vertically, becoming compacted rocks. Their strange ridges and troughs were created by millions of years of wind and rain erosion, whose twists and turns reflect changes to the wind patterns in the Jurassic period. Erosion still affects the Wave today, mostly by wind that is now naturally channelled through it. This formation is a snapshot in geological time, a breathtaking exhibit of the effect of natural forces on their environment. It can only be reached on foot via a five kilometre hike, and since the sandstone is fairly soft, visitors are highly regulated—only twenty people are allowed to walk on the Wave each day. Walking across the weird, topsy-turvy landscape would be a surreal experience in itself, but if you need another reason to visit, the formation also boasts the fossil burrows of ancient arthropods like beetles—as well as the imprints of dinosaur tracks.

(Image Credit: 1, 2)

Someone take me. Please. Anyone. I want to go now!

Casa Batlló, Barcelona

Staircase to Heaven

by Makoto M

The Initiatic Well, entering the path of knowledge. Regaleira Estate, Portugal.

Quinta da Regaleira-Sintra ~ Portugal An underground tunnel with a spiral staircase, supported by carved columns, down to the bottom of the well through nine landings. The nine hole round landings, separated by fifteen steps, evoke references to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and may represent the nine circles of hell, paradise, or purgatory. The well is connected to laberíticas caves that lead to a spooky garden surrounded by a lake. The land that is now Quinta da Regaleira had many owners through time. But in 1892 it belonged to the Barons of Regaleira, a family of rich merchants from Porto, when it was purchased that year by Carvalho Monteiro for 25,000 réis. Monteiro wished to build a bewildering place where he could gather symbols that would reflect his interests and ideologies. With the assistance of the Italian architect Luigi Manini, he designed the 4-hectare estate with its enigmatic buildings, believed to hide symbols related to alchemy, Masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians. The architecture of the estate evokes Roman, Gothic, Renaissance and Manueline architectural styles. The construction of the current estate commenced in 1904 and most of it was concluded by 1910.

Cappadocia, Turkey

The Amazing Underwater Forest of Lake Kaindy

What makes Lake Kaindy truly remarkable is that it contains an underwater forest. Visible on the lakes surface are the tall, dried-out tops of submerged Spruce trees that rise above the water’s surface like the masts of sunken ships. They are the only sign of the amazing frozen forest below the water’s surface.

The water is so cold (even in summer the temperature does not exceed 6 degrees) that the pine needles remain on the trees, even after a hundred years of being submerged. During the winter, the lake freezes and becomes a popular spot for ice diving.

The lake is 400 meters long and is located in Kazakhstan’s portion of the Tian Shan Mountains, about 129 km from the city of Almaty. The lake was created after an earthquake in 1911 triggered a large landslide blocking the gorge and forming a natural dam.

I can’t really explain why, but abandoned places like this have always fascinated me. Maybe it’s the stories they can tell. So much more interesting than the cut and paste type of architecture that has become the norm today….

hnnnnng

I follow a couple of abandoned places blogs and I’ve seen this one come up more than once.  It’s gorgeous in the way that it blends in with nature…nature has taken it’s rightful place among the stone and glass and I want to live there.

This is amazing and so beautiful - I want to know everything about this place! Where is it, Who built it, Who lived in it, What was its purpose, What happened here and How did it come to be as it is now? These pictures of this place make me wish I had the ability to write a story deserving of such a setting - a tale worthy of such inspiration.

30+ of the most beautiful abandoned places and modern ruins i’ve ever seen