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Iceland awaits the Yule Lads
Iceland awaits the Yule Lads
If you’re spending the holidays here in Reykjavik, be sure to keep an eye out for Sausage-Swiper, Window-Peeper, and Door-Slammer. They’re three of the Yule Lads, a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who—according to local folklore—visit homes one by one to leave rewards or punishments for children on each of the 13 days leading up to Christmas. Tonight, the Gully Gawk is scheduled for a visitation, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the cowshed and steal milk. Modern versions of the lads sometimes portray them in a benevolent light, even dressed like Santa Claus, but other stories are dark. The lads are said to be the sons of Gryla, a mountain troll with an appetite for mischievous children. Let’s hope we’re on the nice list this year.Desktop Version
Seasonal lights dazzle in Japan
Seasonal lights dazzle in Japan
This is just a glimpse of the elaborate light display at Nabana-no-Sato, a flower park located in the garden of Nagashima Spa Land in Kuwana, Japan. Millions of LED light bulbs are used here to illuminate the grounds and create shimmering pathways, tunnels, and patterns. Winter illuminations like this have grown in popularity at Japan’s parks, and they often stay up long after the holidays, providing a bright distraction from winter’s long nights.Desktop Version
An oceanic valentine
An oceanic valentine
Just off the coast of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia, the surf crashes over this cluster of rocks, sending an oceanic Valentine"s Day card to a lucky bird—or photographer—flying overhead. We"ll take nature"s love letters wherever and whenever we can find them. But what makes February 14 the day we celebrate love? Some claim Valentine"s Day has its roots in an ancient Roman fertility festival called Lupercalia that included goat sacrifices and a lottery that paired off eligible men and women. Others argue that the holiday began with early Christians celebrating a martyr named Valentine. Chaucer romanticized the day with a poem about two birds mating for life. No matter its pagan or Christian origins, in the modern world, Valentine"s Day is celebrated most everywhere as a day devoted to love.Desktop Version
Overlooking the Douro
Overlooking the Douro
Welcome to Porto, the second city of Portugal. Known on some English-language maps as Oporto (the Portuguese call it "o Porto" in conversation, meaning simply "the Port"), this attractive, ancient city is most famous today not for the port itself but for what"s shipped out of it.Desktop Version
How lovely are your branches
How lovely are your branches
While we are certainly fans of pretty lights and ornaments during the holidays, nothing could be lovelier than these evergreens in their natural setting, with just a dusting of snow. This wintry scene is from Two Jack Lake in the eastern part of Banff National Park, in Alberta, Canada. Banff, Canada’s oldest national park, is surrounded by other provincial and national parks, and together they make up a vast area of spectacular wilderness. Wintertime in this neck of the woods means plenty of skiing, snowshoeing, and if you’re lucky, glimpsing the northern lights.Desktop Version
A visit to Limerick on Limerick Day
A visit to Limerick on Limerick Day
Today is Limerick Day, and what better place to celebrate this unofficial holiday than in Limerick, Ireland. The connection between the historic city and the humorous, five-line verse is unclear. Several theories have been purported, none of them definitive. But the city of Limerick has embraced its namesake poetry style and in recent years the Limerick Writers" Centre has hosted an annual competition called Bring Your Limericks to Limerick.Desktop Version
In search of roadside attractions on ‘America’s Highway’
In search of roadside attractions on ‘America’s Highway’
The lure of Route 66 isn’t extinct here in Holbrook, Arizona, where you can still spy giant concrete dinosaurs, kitschy truck stops, and teepee-shaped motel rooms that were constructed during the road’s heyday. Route 66 was established in the 1920s and within the next few decades, as millions of Americans acquired their first automobiles, it became a destination unto itself, even inspiring a hit song, ‘(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,’ by Bobby Troup. In 1985 the highway was decommissioned--it had been replaced by the new Interstate Highway System. But for the adventurous road-tripper, there’s still plenty of the old highway to explore.Desktop Version
A midsummer twilight s dream
A midsummer twilight s dream
The Russian language classifies light and dark shades of blue as separate colors—which comes in especially handy if you venture north to Saint Petersburg in midsummer. The seaport metropolis sits less than 500 miles outside the Arctic Circle, so at the height of summer, the twilit "blue hour" coveted by photographers lasts virtually all night long as the sun hovers just below the horizon. It"s a phenomenon also dubbed the "White Nights" and it usually lasts for around 80 days, starting in May and lasting until July.Desktop Version
Santorini through the clouds
Santorini through the clouds
With its romantic sunsets, dazzling ocean views, and whitewashed buildings clinging to rocky clifftops, the Greek island of Santorini (aka Thera or Thira) is the very picture of an idyll in the Aegean. But this tranquil scene belies the island"s explosive geologic history, for this is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. The Minoan eruption, about 3,600 years ago, caused the center of the Thera volcano to collapse into the ocean, leaving Santorini a jagged, crescent-shaped moon atop the sea.Desktop Version
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park turns 103
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park turns 103
Let"s light some candles today—103 of them—for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawaii. On this day in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill to establish the park in what was then the US Territory of Hawaii. (Hawaii wouldn"t become a state until 1959.) The park contains a rich array of biodiversity, important historic sites of Native Hawaiians, and the glowing stars of the show—two of the world"s most active volcanos, Mauna Loa and Kīlauea.Desktop Version
It’s showtime for a precious crop
It’s showtime for a precious crop
Nestled in California"s verdant Central Valley, this almond orchard is in full bloom. If we zoomed in closer, we might see billions of honey bees hard at work moving pollen from one blossom to another, doing their vital work to pollinate the trees so they can produce their valuable crop. Almond orchards are a thriving $6 billion business here in the valley. California produces around 80% of the world"s almonds and booming demand means production has more than doubled in the past few years, despite threats from drought and wildfires.Desktop Version
The village of Castelluccio above the Piano Grande, Umbria, Italy
The village of Castelluccio above the Piano Grande, Umbria, Italy
Welcome to wildflower season on the magnificent Piano Grande (Great Plain) in Central Italy. For some geographic perspective, we’re in the calf region of Italy’s boot, nestled in the Apennine Mountains. Perched on the hillside is the little village of Castelluccio, where you can purchase the crop that made this region famous: lentils. The tiny, thin-skinned lentils cultivated here are considered delicacies.Desktop Version
A wonderland in winter
A wonderland in winter
There’s no shortage of activities in New York’s Central Park, even when winter covers the park in snow. Here in the uh, central part of Central Park is the Bethesda Terrace, and in the center of that, the Bethesda Fountain. A fresh coat of snow highlights details on the fountain’s Angel of the Waters sculpture—the only statue that was part of the park’s original design. Beyond the terrace is the Ramble and Lake—a great stretch of park to have a snowball fight in if you ask us. Do you have a favorite park for winter activities?Desktop Version
By the light of the fireflies
By the light of the fireflies
Every year between late May and mid-June, synchronous fireflies gather into a sparkling, rhythmic light show in the forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As part of their two-week mating display, the female lightning bugs synchronize their flashes with nearby males so that every few seconds waves of light ripple through the woods. Of at least 19 species of fireflies that live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Photinus carolinus is the only species with synchronous light displays, but they can also be found in Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania and Congaree National Park in South Carolina. Other species of synchronous fireflies are particularly prevalent in Southeast Asia.Desktop Version
Meandering through Patagonia
Meandering through Patagonia
Squiggling east from the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, the mighty Santa Cruz River in Argentina"s Patagonia region flows over some of South America"s sparsest terrain. Over the centuries, some of history"s most notable explorers have been drawn to the winding waterway: Ferdinand Magellan"s 1520 expedition discovered its coastal delta, and Charles Darwin (on the same voyage that took him to the Galápagos Islands) studied the area"s ecosystem during a grueling 1834 side trip up the river. Even now, very few settlements exist along the 240-mile course of the Santa Cruz, considered the last major free-flowing river in Patagonia.Desktop Version
Earth seen from the International Space Station
Earth seen from the International Space Station
On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin astounded the world by becoming the first person to travel to outer space. In less than two hours, Gagarin completed a full orbit of the Earth in the Vostok 3KA spacecraft. Less than a month later, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space. The spectacle of looking back at Earth from space has not lost its charm, as you can see in today"s picture taken from the International Space Station. Also known as the "World Space Party," Yuri"s Night is a global celebration of astronomy and a reflection on how space exploration can unite people in a divided world.Desktop Version
Porcupine
Porcupine
Psycho quiller? Nope, this is no homicidal rodent. Act friendly and keep a tail"s length of distance, and you should be safe from a spiny fate. (That thing about porcupines launching their quills at you like darts? Yeah, total myth.)Desktop Version
Rock of ages
Rock of ages
We"re here at Sigiriya, or Lion Rock, in Sri Lanka, for the South Asian nation"s Independence Day, celebrated annually on February 4. Sigiriya towers 600 feet off the ground, jutting dramatically out of the heart of this island country and serving as a formidable monument to the past. The king of Sri Lanka himself, King Kashyapa, who ruled from 473 to 495 CE, once made this the site of his new capital. He ordered that his palace be constructed atop the rock and about halfway up, he had a large gateway carved into the side of the outcropping in the shape of a lion (hence the name). His fortress was abandoned when he died, and the site later served as a monastery. These days it"s a tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage site.Desktop Version
White dunes, blue lagoons
White dunes, blue lagoons
From the air, the mesmerizing tapestry of sandy dunes and lagoons you see here gives Lençóis Maranhenses National Park an otherworldly, desert-like appearance. Located in the sparsely populated northeast corner of Brazil, this park gets far too much annual rainfall—nearly 50 inches—to be considered a desert. In fact, heavy rain is part of what makes this place unique: Nearly 70% of its annual rainfall comes between January and May, filling the park"s nearly 40,000 lagoons to the brim with fresh rainwater. Why doesn"t the water sink into the sand? A layer of impermeable bedrock beneath the dunes prevents that from happening.Desktop Version
New Zealand s loneliest mountain
New Zealand s loneliest mountain
According to the legends of New Zealand"s Indigenous Māori people, the lonely Mount Taranaki wasn"t always lonely. Taranaki, the story goes, once lived among other mountains in the North Island"s center. But Taranaki feuded with the powerful volcano Tongariro over the love of the pretty peak Pīhanga. In their epic battle, the now flat-topped Tongariro lost his head but emerged victorious. The vanquished Taranaki wandered west, cutting trenches as he trudged to the shore and filling them with lovesick tears to create the region"s rivers.Desktop Version
Have fun storming the castle
Have fun storming the castle
Our headline quote comes from "The Princess Bride" film, of course, but our homepage castle is found in Lithuania, the largest of the three Baltic states (the others are Latvia and Estonia). Construction on this fortress was begun in the 14th century by the Grand Duke of Lithuania and completed years later by his son. It served as a strategic and bustling center of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a European state that lasted until 1795. Like much architecture from so long ago, the castle was damaged and fell into disrepair, only to be reconstructed and reopened as a museum. These days it"s known as one of the most charming medieval castles in Europe.Desktop Version
Westerheversand Lighthouse
Westerheversand Lighthouse
Even in the places most altered by humans, nature seems to slip through, like the Milky Way shown here peeking between light beams from Germany"s Westerheversand Lighthouse. This beacon lies along the Wadden Sea, which forms the world"s largest tidal flat along the Dutch, German, and Danish coasts.Desktop Version
A wassailing we go
A wassailing we go
Somewhere under that dense fog, the people of Somerset county in southwest England may be marching from house to house, singing songs and dancing, and asking for a drink or snack in return. If that sounds like Christmas caroling, you’re right. But it’s the English tradition of wassailing—a practice that usually takes place on Twelfth Night, which marks the coming of the Epiphany and takes place on January 5th or 6th. So why do the people living in this farmland moor wassail on January 17? Because in Somerset, the locals observe the pre-Gregorian calendar Twelfth Night, which falls on January 17. They may even stage an ‘apple wassail’ with a trip to a local cider orchard, to sing and make noise for a good harvest in the new year.Desktop Version
All hail the king of shrubs
All hail the king of shrubs
Often called the "king of shrubs," rhododendrons are prized by gardeners for their glossy green leaves and brightly colored flowers. Depending on the variety, the blooms can emerge anytime from late winter into summer. Either evergreen or deciduous, rhododendrons make up a large and diverse genus of woody plants in the heath family, with over 1,000 wild species and scores of cultivated options. Rhododendrons are native to temperate areas of Asia, North America, and Europe, as well as some tropical parts of Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Our image today captures "rhodies" in full bloom in March along a path at Semper Forest Park of Rügen, Germany.Desktop Version
Roman theater of Cartagena, Spain
Roman theater of Cartagena, Spain
A surprising discovery was made here in the city of Cartagena in 1988 during the construction of a new shopping center. The remains of this ancient Roman theater were found buried underground, where they’d been hidden for centuries, partially covered by the city’s old cathedral. The theater has since been painstakingly restored. Archaeologists say it was constructed sometime between 5 and 1 BCE and at one time could hold up to 6,000 spectators.Desktop Version