An audio guide to the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Co-founder Dylan Thuras and a neighborhood of Atlas Obscura reporters explore a new wonder every day, Monday through Thursday. In under 15 minutes, they’ll take you to an incredible place, and along the way, you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Our theme and end credit music is composed by Sam Tyndall.
Ottoman Bird Palaces
Dylan Thuras 0:04
Turkeys for the birds. I mean, every year, millions of birds migrate from Europe to Africa, by way of Turkey. There are Red Hawks, there are Imperial Eagles there are storks, and so many more.
Unknown Speaker 0:20
And some of these birds like storks passing through the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and also the Jerusalem and people considering this verse it kind of like pilgrims.
Underwater Places
Hey everybody, Dylan here. So I do not know how to scuba dive I've I've never taken the lessons. But a few months ago, I got to go to Tarpon Springs, Florida and get to sort of play at being a professional sponge diver for a day, I didn't have to do a real scuba I was on a kind of oxygen line, so that I could go underwater and walk around on the ocean floor, but not have to be fully certified. Anyway, it was a crazy experience I got to put on this original copper 150 pound dive suit was kind of like this astronaut Frankenstein being and slow and heavy walking on the, you know, bottom of the ocean, I was only 12 feet underwater. But anyway, it was just this incredible experience. And being there deep under the water was like stepping into another universe. It was filled with life and mysterious creatures and things growing and it was just completely and totally magical. And it got me thinking about all of the strange, incredible wonders that are found underneath the oceans at the bottom of lakes. And so today, we're joined by the Atlas Obscura places editors Jonathan Kerry and Michelle Cassidy, who are choosing two stories to tell us that both take place deep underwater. First is Jonathan Kerry, who's going to take us to the sunken crosses of Malbec gay, get ready and dive down deep with us under the blue sea of the palm of Spain.
Concrete Animals of Mexico
Abby Perrault 0:04
Under Solana row has an eye are gazing into the face of a concrete crocodile.
Unknown Speaker 0:09
It has seen better days, that poor thing. Now it's green, rain, bluish. It used to be more green. Or actually
Abby Perrault 0:17
we're looking at where part of his face should be but has fallen off.
Classic: Milo Bitters
Abby Perrault 0:04
Under Solana row has an eye are gazing into the face of a concrete crocodile.
Unknown Speaker 0:09
It has seen better days, that poor thing. Now it's green, rain, bluish. It used to be more green. Or actually
Abby Perrault 0:17
we're looking at where part of his face should be but has fallen off.
Plain of Jars
Dylan Thuras 0:02
The first time he visited the Plain of Jars, so yeah, it was it was a university student. He'd been hearing about these giant ancient jars carved from rock since he was an elementary school. Why did your family decide to go see the Plain of Jars?
Unknown Speaker 0:18
Oh, because everyone wants to visit this for once term of their life.
Unknown Speaker 0:23
Like a bucket list?