bystrov's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Oía, Greece

Atlantis Books

A quirky bookstore hidden beneath a sea of whitewashed Greek villas.
Athens, Greece

Hadrian's Reservoir

This ancient hydrological marvel is now the base of a modern outdoor cinema.
Athens, Greece

Antikythera Mechanism

A 2,000-year-old computer demonstrates remarkable engineering and astronomical precision.
Athens, Greece

The Athenian Agora

This ancient Greek place of assembly and marketplace is being revealed layer by layer below the modern Athens cityscape.
Greece

The Oracle of Delphi

The hallucinogenic center of the ancient world.
Kalabaka, Greece

Meteora

Monasteries on rock pillars, once accessible only by frayed ropes.
Faro, Portugal

Capela de Ossos Bone Chapel

This small chapel is built of human bones and decorated with a golden skeleton.
Évora, Portugal

Portugal's Chapel of Bones

A 16th century chapel decorated with bones, skulls, and entire bodies hanging from the wall.
Lisbon, Portugal

Carmo Convent Ruins

Legacy of the earthquake that nearly wiped Lisbon off the face of the Earth.
Moreira do Rei, Portugal

Stone House

A small Portuguese cottage formed between boulders in the countryside.
Condeixa-a-Velha, Portugal

Conimbriga Ruins and Museum

One of the largest Roman settlements in Portugal.
Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

Saint Maria Adelaide

An honorary saint of the people, Maria Adelaide became an incorrupt corpse, the clothes intact, exhaling “a strong scent of roses.”
Lisbon, Portugal

Bordallo Pinheiro Garden

A garden in Lisbon filled with giant porcelain creatures.
Porto, Portugal

Livraria Lello

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

National Coach Museum

An exquisite collection of fairytale conveyances that puts most car museums to shame.
Sintra, Portugal

Pena National Palace

This unreal Portuguese palace looks as though it's made from a pile of different castles.
Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal

Montemor-o-Novo Castle

This crumbling Portuguese ruin overlooks the populace it once ruled.
Elvas, Portugal

Fort of Graça

This star-shaped military outpost is now simply trying to protect itself from neglect.
Évora, Portugal

Almendres Cromlech

"Portugal's Stonehenge" is made up of nut-like stones aligned with the heavens.
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.
Lisbon, Portugal

Jerónimos Monastery

Elaborately carved to showcase the glorious wealth that the age of exploration brought to the Portuguese empire.
Tomar, Portugal

Convento de Cristo

The medieval castle built as headquarters for the Pope's secretive Knights Templar.
Portugal

Mina de São Domingos (Sao Domingos Mines)

An abandoned mine now resembles a post-apocalyptic landscape of derelict buildings and blood-red pools of water.
Vila Franca Do Campo, Portugal

Islet of Vila Franca do Campo

A perfectly circular lake is formed by the crater of an ancient underwater volcano.