You’re looking at one of the most powerful women in the early 20th century, Marie of Romania. The future queen was born into the British royal family, and it was she who convinced her husband Ferdinand to declare war on Germany at the beginning of World War One. As the war came to a close, it was also Marie who took her cause for the international recognition of an enlarged Romania to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. An international diplomat and socialite, Marie was loved both at home and abroad, and spent the remainder of her life–after her husband had died–in the countryside.

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It’s hard to tell what this video makes you fall in love with more: the place or the camera.

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If you creep toward the Arctic Pole just long enough, chances are you’ll pass through Lofoten, Norway. And if you’re even luckier, you’ll encounter the Senja Swirl, featured above. We’d recommend going in the summer, when the sun never actually sets.

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Erected in 1961, the Berlin Wall is just one of many examples of the physical lengths to which people will go to promote or expel an idea. Here, a young woman accompanied by her boyfriend leans over the wall to talk to her mother on the East Berlin side. The wall remained in place for nearly 30 more years, separating many families all the while.

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Ever look at those bizarre photos of people posing next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and wonder what they might be thinking? With the help of this video, you now know.

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Source: CTV News

As a satirical publication that’s poked fun at everyone from Muhammad and Jewish people to Jesus and Michael Jackson, Charlie Hebdo is no stranger to threats and controversy. Yet nobody could have predicted that three gunmen would burst into the newspaper’s weekly editorial meeting and start shooting this past Wednesday. Now, with 12 people dead and more injured, people are beginning to question the price of free speech.

Source: The Guardian

It all started back in 2006 when Charlie Hebdo ran a series of 12 pictures that depicted Muhammad as a caricature—including one picture that showed Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a burning fuse. Outrage came swiftly, and the issue’s editor was promptly sued by two Muslim organizations (though he was eventually acquitted).

Source: Le Plus

In November 2011, Charlie Hebdo was firebombed after running another caricature of Muhammad on its cover as the issue’s “guest editor” (seen above). Despite receiving death threats in the wake of the publication, the newspaper responded to the controversy the following week by printing a cover that depicted a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist lip-locked with a bearded Muslim man. The cartoon read “Love is Stronger Than Hate.”

“Love is Stronger Than Hate.” Source: The Globe and Mail

Debris in the aftermath of the 2011 firebombing of Charlie Hebdo. Source: Wikipedia

In September 2012, Charlie Hebdo released yet another series of comics, this time depicting the Prophet naked as a satirical jab at the film Innocence of Muslims. Once again, outrage and threats flowed in immediately, prompting the French government to close French embassies, cultural centers and schools in 20 countries. While France’s Prime Minister defended the magazine’s right to publish the comics at the time, he questioned the necessity of the publication.

Source: Huffington Post

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When Americans dream of a European vacation, they typically envision Parisian cafes and Roman ruins. But the truth is that Europe has a world of attractions beyond the artifacts of human culture. Though 700 million members of our species populate the continent, Europe has vast open spaces, towering heights, and brilliant wide skies that will astound even the most snobbish urbanite. The 18 natural wonders below are among the most spectacular Europe has to offer.

1. Cliffs of Moher – Ireland

Inconceivable! The Cliffs of Moher may have been the inspiration for the Cliffs of Insanity in the Princess Bride. Source: Flickr

The western edge of Ireland falls into the Atlantic Ocean like a heavy curtain. These are the Cliffs of Moher. Named after an 18th century fortress that stood on the bluffs, the 300 million-year-old cliffs rise between 120 and 200 meters above the waters below. One of many legends about the Cliffs of Moher tells of the golden city of Kilstiffen that sank below the waves after its leader lost the key to the city’s spectacular castle.

2. Cairngorms National Park in Scotland – United Kingdom

A collage of diverse landforms, Cairngorms offers stunning views for hikers. Source: Flickr

Want to stride across the Scottish highlands like the Celts and Picts of old? Head to Cairngorms National Park, Britain’s most expansive natural park and home to five out of the six tallest mountains in Scotland. The park contains a grand total of 52 mountain summits, one for every week of the year.

3. The Verdon Gorge – France

Verdon Gorge carves its way through the Triassic limestone of southern France. Source: Flickr

The turquoise waters of the Verdon Gorge wind through the region of Provence in southern France like a daydream lost on its way from Paris to the beaches of the Riviera. The Grand Canyon of France, this 25 kilometer-long ravine runs between limestone walls that rise up 700 meters high in some places. Its gorgeous vistas make it a popular setting for hikers, rock climbers, and kayakers as well as the less sporty visitors who enjoy the views from scenic drives along the rim.

4. Chamonix – France

The glass viewpoint at Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix, France, is called “Step into the Void.”
Source: The Atlantic

North from the gorge and near the border with Switzerland and Italy, the villages of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc sit among the awesome summits of the French Alps. A cable car takes visitors to the rocky outcropping of the Aiguille du Midi that rises out of the glacial landscape like a defiant fist. At the peak, travelers can stare straight down the bleak rock face that falls for a 1,000 meters before reuniting with the glacial landscape below.

5. Matterhorn – The Swiss-Italian Border

According to the local Swiss tourism office, Matterhorn is the “most photographed mountain in the world.”
Source: The Atlantic

Matterhorn juts into the sky like a 15,000 foot-tall pyramid. The “Mountain of Mountains,” as some call it, straddles the Swiss-Italian border, though its highest summit stands in Switzerland. It is one of the highest mountains in the Alps and among the deadliest mountains in the world. Around 500 climbers have perished trying to conquer it.

6. The Dolomites – Italy

The Dolomites have some of the most beautiful scenery in Italy.
Source: The Atlantic

The Dolomite mountain range crests the north of Italy like a crown of stone. Eighteen of its peaks rise above 3,000 meters. The landscape is both quaint and awe-inspiring, and this juxtaposition is what gives the Dolomites their powerful charm.

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As Catedrais, Spain Source: Martin Zalba

Yes, gothic cathedrals, royal palaces, and fine art make a trip to Europe worth the airfare. But Europe has much more to offer than that. If you suffer from museum fatigue or have just seen one-too-many altarpieces, it may be time to get away from all the cities, architecture, and culture. It may be time to go back to nature.

All That Is Interesting recently brought you 18 European Natural Wonders to Reignite Your Wanderlust, and below we want to share 15 more incredible locations across the continent. If you’re looking for a break from the noise of modern life or for things to see beyond historical artifacts, any one of these amazing places could be your next perfect trip.

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List of Images

Thoughts of a warm coastal climate can be the push some of us need to claw our way out of seasonal affective disorder. Jamaica, the California or Florida coasts or the Virgin Islands quickly come to mind when thinking of the tropical climates we long for as winter dries out our skin and demeanor. Less obvious but equally worthy are the crystal blue waters of the Adriatic Coast.

From historical city fronts to picturesque marinas, luxurious beaches to luscious vineyards, the Slovenian and Croatian getaways along the Adriatic Coast are a travel agent’s dream. For the rest of us, a gem awaiting discovery.

Still not convinced? Check out this video of Soča Valley, Slovenia and the Adriatic Coast in autumn:

The post Skip Florida For Spring Break–The Adriatic Coast Is Calling appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

This former dairy farm looks to have been pulled directly out of a scene from a post-apocalyptic film. The ominous sign on the gate reads “No Entry!”
Source: Bored Panda

As the Soviet Union began to collapse in 1989, Bulgaria entered a new, challenging phase of its development. While the Bulgarian state eventually abandoned communist ideologies for more market-oriented practices, their memory remains in the form of abandoned infrastructure.

These spectral structures stoke the imagination of many, one such person being Bulgarian photographer Hristo Uzunov. From his home base in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, Uzunov has spent two years drawing out what he calls “The Abandoned Bulgaria” through photos, traveling to more than twenty of these deserted locations to capture their existence, perhaps to remind the nation of its past as knowledge of it recedes from memory.

If you enjoyed these beautiful abandoned photographs, check out our posts on abandoned Detroit and the most popular All That Is Interesting pictures!

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Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

Dark Cities series photographer Daniele Cametti Aspri describes his most recent project–capturing cities at night–this way:

“When we go into a dark place from a bright one we live a kind of disorientation, our eyes struggle for the first minutes to get used to the dark.

With every passing minute, slowly, thanks to the residual light that filters under a door, or maybe from a street lamp far away, reality begins to take a different shape. The dim light rests on the surrounding structures by drawing a game of achromatic surfaces, painting more or less intense shades of dark gray that almost reach the black.”

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

The Rome-born photographer kicked off his project in Paris, with the goal of capturing the “silence and loneliness of a man immersed far away in the dark” through a photo. Aspri cites his son’s birth as the beginning of his own interest in the medium, and one that has since become a coping mechanism following a divorce that has limited Aspri’s ability to regularly see his child.

Said Aspri, “He is my life, and photography was the only way to survive the loneliness. It was the only way I had to stay with him. Photography saved my life. Every picture I take, it’s a memory of my heart. My heart is my best camera.”

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

This solemn relationship between artist and machine can be felt in Aspri’s choice of subject and the photo’s somber composition. The city has fallen asleep, human movement has ceased and we are left only with familiar facades made foreign thanks to the cloak of darkness. Said Aspri, “Light and darkness are the two opposite sides of my narrative project on urban landscapes. Opposite and complementary, indispensable to each other as black to white, night to day.”

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

Though urban landmarks are a major feature of the Dark Cities project, they are not the only subjects involved. From lesser known buildings to open park areas, city streets, and even individual trees, as long as the dark of night presents the subject in a way that captures the artist’s eye, it is fair game.

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

Roman art studio The Mill displayed Dark Cities: Paris this past March, adding to the series’ drama by illuminating it via candlelight. Event organizer Roberta Fuorvia explained this perhaps counterintuitive decision (after all, art exhibits usually go best when the art can be easily seen) as follows:

“The viewers had to be an integral part of Daniele’s work themselves…the idea of approaching them and moving around in the space creates a personal and emotional relationship with the images. This attention and awareness awaken and stimulate interest in the artist’s work. Besides, this installation perfectly showcases the images that make up ‘Dark Cities.’ Is it a gamble? Perhaps. Is it an evocative exhibit? Definitely.”

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

Source: Daniele Cametti Aspri

The post Paris At Night: Daniele Cametti Aspri Highlights Your Favorite Cities In Twilight appeared first on All That Is Interesting.

Bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France, Navarre is not to be missed. Most live in the autonomous region’s capital, Pamplona, or its surrounding metropolitan areas, which means that wide swaths of land are left totally uninhabited. All the better, anyway: Navarre’s natural features assume a much more salient role.

In spite of its relatively small size, Navarre offers much in the way of geography: the Pyrenees roll throughout the region, and plains stretch about the Ebro river valley in the south.

Curious about other regions of Spain? Check out this video on Barcelona, the Canary Islands at night and one of the weirdest (and coolest) festivals ever, the castells (human towers) in Tarragona!

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As the United States continues to cling to the 40-hour work week, German and French work weeks offer an apt example of how less really can be more. While Germany called for austerity for most of the Euro zone, it continued to offer unparalleled worker protections and shorter working hours than most of their counterparts.

During the global economic crisis, Germany pushed for employers to reduce hours instead of laying off workers. The policy, known as Kurzarbeit, also stipulated that the German government would partially reimburse workers for wages lost. In Germany, for example, employees work an average of 35 hours per week, with an average of 24 paid vacation days.

France adopted the 35-hour working week in 2000, with hopes of reducing unemployment and yielding a better division of labor (by reducing the hours one is able to work, employers have to hire more people to make up for those hours lost, thus theoretically reducing unemployment)–and, of course, to enhance quality of life.

As of 2013, Germany barely trailed behind the United States in terms of exports, and has an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent. The unemployment rate in France hovers markedly higher at 10.6 percent. However, according to the OECD’s 2014 Better Life Index, the French report a better work-life balance than Americans surveyed.

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The splendid Pena National Palace overlooking the town of Sintra, Portgual. Source: Flickr

Sintra is a three-dimensional anthology of architectural pleasure. Located on the Atlantic coast and only a half-hour’s drive from the capital city of Lisbon, the Portuguese city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. Sintra’s abundant architectural and historical attractions include a municipal building completed in 1154, the royal palace whose conical kitchen chimneys rise into the sky like twin birthday hats, and the Quinta da Regaleira with its enigmatic sculpture and mossy, fairy-tale well.

Anywhere else these would be showstoppers, but in Sintra, they are just the opening acts. Arguably, the three most impressive sites are the Pena National Palace, the Islamic castle, and the Monserrate estate.

Pena National Palace

This spectacular building rises out of the foggy hills just beyond Sintra city limits, and with the color-scheme of a Lego set. Formerly a refuge of monastic silence, the site received a royal makeover in the mid-1800s when King Ferdinand and Queen Maria II decided it would make a lovely summer retreat.

The result would be an architectural mash-up of Islamic, Gothic, and neo-Renaissance styles with domes, parapets and vaulted arches arranged in dazzling juxtaposition. The royal family, though, only enjoyed it for a few decades before the Portuguese state bought the palace in 1889. It is still used for occasional high-level government meetings, but the most frequent visitors are tourists.

The Islamic Castle And Fortress Walls

The 1,300-year-old fortified walls of Sintra’s Islamic castle. Source: Flickr

Often called the Moorish castle, this incredible fortress was constructed around 1,300 years ago, possibly on the site of an older stronghold built by the Visigoths. For a couple hundred years, the castle passed back-and-forth between Iberia’s Islamic and Christian rulers as the faiths battled for control of the peninsula.

The impressive fortress walls wind up and down the hillsides, and on less foggy days offer spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. They also, in certain angles, look a bit like Great Wall of China.

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If you were in Norway and decided that you wanted to take a boat to the halfway point between Norway and Iceland, chances are you’d run into the Faroe Islands. If you decided to shore your boat and explore the individual islands within this frigid archipelago, you’d eventually discover Leitisvatn (featured above), the islands’ largest lake. The lake’s surface rests some 98 feet above sea level, and is enclosed by a higher cliff which prevents the lake’s waters from emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

Today, the Faroe Islands are sort of like the Scotland of the Nordic countries, operating as a self-governing country within the Danish realm. The 50,000 Faroese have representation in the Nordic Council, but as members of the Danish delegation. As you might imagine, a number of Faroese have made motions for full sovereignty outside of Denmark, which is hundreds of miles away both in terms of culture and physical proximity.

Want more natural wonders? Be sure to check out our posts on European natural wonders and the world’s most surreal places.

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Source: Flickr

Take a four-hour drive north of Athens to the region of Thessaly, and you’ll see dozens of massive outcroppings of rock rise into the clouds. For nearly a thousand years, spiritual seekers and monastics have sought to link their lives to the divine by climbing atop these 400-meter-high platforms of stone.

This is Meteora. In Greek, the word means, roughly, midair. It is an etymological second cousin twice-removed of the English word, meteor. And Meteora does seem to hang in the sky. Clouds often fill the valley of the Pineios River below, and the tips of the mountains seem to float on top of the fog like ships in a harbor.

Source: Flickr

Sometime between the 9th and 11th centuries, Christian ascetics and clergy began to gather here. They lived in the caves on the sides of the rock towers. In the 12th century, a group built a church at the base of one of the formations. It is still standing, though the structures that won Meteora recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 are those in the heights.

There are six still-active mountaintop monasteries at Meteora. One of them, the Great Meteoron, also known as the Church of the Transfiguration, has achieved a sort of triple crown among its peers: it is oldest, the largest, and the highest of the holy sites in this foggy dreamscape. The marvels of Meteora also include the rich collections of Byzantine treasures, ornate wooden crosses, and religious icons in such monasteries as Varlaam, Roussanou, and Agios Nikolaos Anapafsas.

Source: Flickr

To build these monasteries in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, the monks employed a system of ropes, nets, baskets and pulleys. They hoisted up supplies—and each other—manually. There’s an old joke about what monks would tell inquisitive visitors worried about riding up in a basket:

“How often do you replace the ropes?” asks the visitor.

“Whenever they break,” answers the monk.

The process that created the Meteora outcroppings is not perfectly understood, but scientists date these strange formations to 60 million years ago. Humans moved in around maybe 50,000 years ago. Tens of millennia later, spiritual peregrines returned to this mysterious place to seek the face of God. Today, the tourists come to get a glimpse of that cloudy past.

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B. Monginoux / Landscape-Photo.net under creative commons license. Source: landscape-photo

It’s always been said that love lifts us up, but maybe that’s just because the Pont des Arts Bridge in Paris is holding all of our weight. Measured this way, love weighs approximately 45 tons, all of which comes from the famous “love locks” that tourists have attached to the Parisian bridge. Lovers have been affixing padlocks onto the grates of this structure (and many other European bridges and landmarks) since Italian author Federico Moccia’s novel, Ho Voglia di Te (I Want You) popularized the trend in the late 2000s.

Source: Stephane Lemouton/Associated Press

Source: Chesnot/Getty Images

Fast forward just a few years, and Paris’s “bridge of love” is crumbling under the insane amount of locks that it has accrued. City officials are now taking down the bridge’s inserts–locks and all–and temporarily replacing them with street-art panels. Later, these will be replaced again with custom plexiglass panels, so that the Seine River can once again be seen from the bridge.

Source: Stephane Lemouton/Associated Press

Source: Remy de la Mauviniere/Associated Press

The grates and locks will all be relocated to storage, until the city decides what to do with the massive amount of metal. It is speculated that much of the metal will be melted down, but some sections may be donated to charities as works of art.

Source: Stephane Lemouton/Associated Press

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© Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/REX Source: MSN

Decades have passed since Anne Frank’s death, and the world could still take a page from her diary. 15-year-old Frank’s life ended at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, just a few weeks shy of the camp’s liberation. Frank’s remarkable spirit would be remembered by and shared with millions through her diary, which was returned to her father by his colleagues Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl and published soon after the end of World War II.

June 12th marked what would have been Anne Frank’s 86th birthday. With that in mind, we look back at her short, yet remarkable life through pictures and excerpts of the famed diary.

Two events this month pay tribute to Frank’s life. On June 19th, the Anne Frank flagship exhibit opened at Birmingham, England’s Millennium Point Museum. This marks the tenth year that the exhibition has taken place, and it lasts until July 15th. On June 21st, a documentary film titled Anne Frank’s Holocaust premieres on the National Geographic Channel. Anne Frank’s Holocaust tells the story of Frank’s concentration camp days through interviews, rare photos and newly uncovered information. Last week the documentary was screened to a special audience, which included some Holocaust survivors.

A teaser for the documentary can be seen below:

For more on Jewish life and the Holocaust, check out our post on Stanislawa Leszczynska, the woman who delivered over three thousand babies at Auschwitz, and Roman Vishniac’s photo collections of Jewish life before the Holocaust.

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Source: Rex Features

On the morning of June 7th, 2015, 40 hot air balloons ascended into the sleepy skies of London, England as part of the Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta. The regatta was organized by the city of London and marketing agency Exclusive Ballooning, and marked the first time in more than 20 years that a mass of hot air balloons floated above the great city.

In an event lasting just over an hour, the 100-feet tall balloons left from Shoreditch Park in Hackney and moved across the Thames between Tower Bridge, the Shard and Canary Wharf before concluding in Gravesend. The event–as part of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal–raised $120,146 (£78,884) for two disabilities-oriented charities, Mencap and Scope.

Said Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow, who chose the two charities, “I am honored to be The Lord Mayor of the City of London. Amongst a raft of business and civic duties, my wife Gilly and I are committed to my Lord Mayor’s Appeal, which is supporting Mencap and Scope, as well as three UK Arts organizations. The cause is a personal one. We know, from experience, the importance of support for families and careers of people with a learning disability or physical impairment. Mencap and Scope make an immense contribution to family wellbeing, which is critical to the development of a disabled child. These charities have been so important to us, and we want to help others to access the same help and opportunities.”

The Regatta took off at 5:15 am, and filled the sky with vibrant color to the wonderment of those below. Many in London took photos of the event and posted them on Twitter and other social media sites. All through the morning, #HotAirBalloons and #BalloonRegatta were trending on Twitter. If you missed the event, check out footage below:

Want more hot air balloons? See what they look like while hovering over Cappadocia, Turkey.

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World War II ravaged Cologne, Germany, destroying infrastructure, dozens of landmarks and–perhaps the hardest to rebuild–a sense of cultural substance.

After the war, sights like the one above–a woman walking a high-wire–were not uncommon, and were meant to offer those living within Cologne a brief reprieve from their quite literally ruined reality.

Architect and urban planner Rudolf Schwarz described a post-war Cologne as the “world’s greatest heap of debris,” and then quickly got to work on its reconstruction master plan. This reconstruction lasted until the 1990s, when the Romanesque church St. Kunibert was completed.

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