R13's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Loading map...
Hamburg, Germany

Rote Flora

This contentious squat has stood through fire, violence, and government intervention as a hotbed of leftist protest.
Hamburg, Germany

Herbertstraße

Hamburg's first legal sex work is relegated to a gated street that still does not allow pedestrian women.
Hamburg, Germany

St. Pauli Elbtunnel

Hamburgers are intensely proud of their tunnel beneath the river.
Hamburg, Germany

Impaled Skull of Klaus Stortebeker

Executed in 1401, Exhumed in 1878, Stolen in 2010.
Hamburg, Germany

St. Nicholas' Church

Once the tallest building in the world, this abandoned church is now a monument to the destruction of WWII.
Hamburg, Germany

Museum of Medical History Hamburg

Wax models of disease and deformity are on display at this German medical museum.
Berlin, Germany

Arthouse Tacheles

An old department store turned Nazi prison turned artist commune.
Oranienburg, Germany

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

The site of a concentration camp where inmates were made to take part in one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history is now hauntingly empty.
La Teste-de-Buch, France

La Dune du Pilat

Bordered by forest on three sides and the ocean on the other, the Great Dune of Pilat is the highest sand dune in Europe.
Seville, Spain

Metropol Parasol

The world's largest wooden structure.
Porto do Son, Spain

Castros de Baroña

Seaside ruins of a settlement that date back to the first century B.C.
Braga, Portugal

Bom Jesus do Monte

A stunning 18th-century site where pilgrims ascend by a series of punishing stairs only to return via funicular.
Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Shadow Pilgrim

An accidental trick of light casts the perfect shadow of a pilgrim of the Camino de Santiago against the cathedral wall.
Mont Saint-Michel, France

Mont Saint-Michel

This 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.
Segovia, Spain

Segovia Aqueduct

One of the few remaining ancient aqueducts described by Frontinus as 'the most solemn testimony of the Empire.'
Porto, Portugal

Sao Bento Station

Elaborate tile work in this railway station tells the story of Portugal.
Bilbao, Spain

Jeff Koons' Puppy

Giant topiary dog once played a role in a terrorist bomb plot.
Porto, Portugal

Livraria Lello

One of the most beautiful bookstores in the world hides a neo-Gothic interior behind an art nouveau facade.
Ribadeo, Spain

Playa de las Catedrales

Natural stone arches form a walkable "cathedral" at low tide, then disappear entirely when the water returns.
Berlin, Germany

Pergamon Museum

The most visited, and possibly most controversial, museum in Germany.
Zugarramurdi, Spain

Cave of Zugarramurdi

This Navarrese cave's history of witchcraft and pagan ritual is not just embraced, but recreated each year.
Fábrica de Orbaitzeta, Spain

Munitions Factory of Orbaitzeta

Abandoned 18th century weapons factory in the Aezkoa Valley.
Yeres, Spain

Las Médulas

Devastated landscape used for hundreds of years by the Romans as their primary mining site.
Cuenca, Spain

Ciudad Encantada

Geological storytelling.