ransackedsoul's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Venice, Italy

Libreria Acqua Alta

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.
Venice, Italy

The Mad Colored Houses of Burano

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.
Venice, Italy

The Flooded Crypt of San Zaccaria

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.
Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio)

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.
Venice, Italy

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.
Venice, Italy

Tomb of Antonio Canova

A sinister pyramid in the Frari contains the heart of the famous neoclassical sculptor.
Venice, Italy

Palazzo Dario

Those who own or stay at this 500-year-old, allegedly cursed house often meet terrible fates.
Venice, Italy

Piraeus Lion

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.
Venice, Italy

Scuola Grande di San Marco

The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.
Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Lost Third Column

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.
Venice, Italy

Squero di San Trovaso

Where Venice's gondolas go for a tune-up.
Venice, Italy

Ponte delle Tette

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.
Cologny, Switzerland

Villa Diodati

Where Mary Shelley’s 'Frankenstein' and John William Polidori's 'The Vampyre' were born.
Schattenhalb, Switzerland

The Reichenbach Falls

The alpine falls where Sherlock Holmes apparently met his demise can actually be visited.
Lucerne, Switzerland

Lion of Lucerne

This memorial commemorating fallen Swiss Guards of the French Revolution has been called the saddest stone in the world.
Dietikon, Switzerland

Bruno Weber's Weinrebenpark

A mythically themed self-built sculpture park.
Tolochenaz, Switzerland

Audrey Hepburn’s Grave

The immortal Hollywood star rests in peace in an unassuming Swiss village cemetery.
Seegräben, Switzerland

Sauriermuseum Aathal

Europe's largest dinosaur museum was founded by a passionate autodidact.
Feldbach, Switzerland

Synergy Village

A communal oasis on Lake Zurich.
Jenins, Switzerland

Greisinger Museum

Middle-earth in the middle of Switzerland.
Hirzel, Switzerland

Johanna Spyri Museum

Its collection commemorates the author of the iconic children's book "Heidi."
Kilchberg, Switzerland

The World's Largest Chocolate Fountain

A 30-foot-high stream of chocolate flows continuously at the Lindt Home of Chocolate.