“ION Hotel” Where You Can Sleep On the Edge of Two Tectonic Plates

There’re only two places on earth where tectonic plates are visible above sea level “Kenya's Rift Valley”, and in the south west of Iceland. A Hotel on the Edge of North America and Europe collide, which is the only hotel in the world where you can sleep on the edge of two tectonic plates. Iceland's Ion Hotel is magnificently positioned at the foot of Mount Hengill on the edge of Þingvellir National Park where luxury accommodation is set in an area where North American and Eurasian plates drift further apart each year. 

The boiling water bubbles just 25feet underground here, so when it was built on the site of a geothermal power plant, its creators had to use building materials seven times stronger than standard materials used in Reykjavík. The luxury 45-room hotel is an extension and renovation of the old workers' quarters of the Nesjavellir geothermal power station, bought in 2011, with the intention of being the only hotel in this isolated and lovely part of the country. ION makes use of Iceland's exclusive geography in two ways: the bio-thermal energy is harnessed in a remarkable outdoor natural hot spring; and a glass building – “the Northern Lights Bar” - lets guests to admire the frequent aurora borealis displays.

Owner Sigurlaug Sverrisdóttir, who was born in this region, and wanted to see flourish his area, so, he knows very well about extreme weather, and Northern Lights never get old. She says this respect for Mother Nature is in our blood; our parents and grandparents definitely knew not to mess with her. One month before I was born, in January 1973, there was an eruption on the Westman Island, a small island south of Iceland. Overnight almost the entire island was covered in lava. The rescue to move the islanders to the mainland was successful mainly due to the fact that all of the fishing boats were in harbour as these as were too rough for the locals to fish. 

The first boat left with habitants to reach the mainland only 30 minutes after the volcano erupted. Even though I was born here, I’m still spellbound about the lava, moss landscape around ION. I still feel astonished when I see the Northern Lights dancing in the sky on one of my late returns from work. Even though you have experienced it numerous times before it is different when you’re outside of the city, it's much more intense. I also thrive from the energy; I find immense power in the Icelandic nature. Hence the reason we chose ION for the hotel's name.' 

Everything about the hotel screams Iceland. Inside, lava, reclaimed wood and Icelandic wool are used to furnish rooms, bathroom products are made from Icelandic herbs and everything from the bed linen to the restaurant is organic and fair trade, in line with the island's robust emphasis on preserving its natural beauty. To experience the tectonic plates up close, the hotel offers snorkelling and diving trips to Silfra, the world's most easily accessible tectonic fissure, where visibility exceeds 330ft. It is here that you can touch the continents of America and Europe at the same time. 

The restaurant - aiming to be Iceland's first with a Michelin star - serves up such delicacies such as reindeer, onions, spruce and bone marrow, smoked bone marrow ice cream, sea buckthorn and malt molasses and Icelandic langoustine, locally caught Arctic char and skyr often called “homemade yoghurt”. Venturing into the wilderness, visitors are offered a range of different activities from horse riding in mountains around Öflus, fly fishing on Lake Þingvellir, Sólheimajökull glacier tours, rafting and hot spring hikes. As well as excursions to the Golden Circle south Iceland's most famed exploring route, which consist of waterfall Gullfoss and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, containing the Strokkur geyser  which erupts every 5 to 10 minutes, guaranteeing an 'ooh' or an 'ahh' from an ever captive audience. The restaurant - aiming to be Iceland's first with a Michelin star - serves up reindeer, Icelandic langoustine and Arctic char. Source: Charismatic Planet

Airstream Ranch: Roadside Tourist Attractions in Florida

Depending on whom you ask, “Airstream Ranch” might seem like a real trash heap, somewhat than a work of art, but seeing it as thus is missing the point completely. It is constructed in 2008; Frank Bates “the owner of a nearby RV dealership” work of art is an ingenious homage to America's motor past. Though 8 Airstream mobile homes, shoved into the Florida sod as an artistic tribute. It is loved by everyone, super idea for recycling old mobile trailers. The magnificent roadside art installation recognized as the “Airstream Ranch” has caused double-takes along I-4 between Tampa and Orlando since 2008 despite local lawmakers lobbying to have the shiny trailer parade put out to pasture. Thousands of people visit the wonderful attraction each year to marvel at the odd automobiles, but not everyone is so pleased. Frank Bates envisioned “Airstream Ranch” as a tribute to the iconic company's 75th anniversary and inspired by the similar Cadillac Ranch installation in Amarillo, Texas which comprises of a row of the classic cars sticking out of the ground in the same fashion. 

Well, Bates was in trouble, when some of neighbors viewed the installation as an irritation, attracting countless unwanted visitors, and just usually being an eyesore. Therefore after complaining to the county officials, the haters were able to get a recurring fine levied on the Bates' trailers. Though after taking the matter to court it was decided that the “Airstream Ranch” will remains stay and the Bates' will have no longer had to pay any fines. America does not have as several iconic standing stones as much of the rest of the world that is home to such ancient wonders as the heads of Easter Island and Stonehenge, but our collection of standing car formations is becoming a beloved tradition in its own right.

African “Quadripoint” Only Place on the Earth, Where Four Distinct Territories’ are Touched

There’s only one place on the earth where the corners of four countries come together. However you’ve heard about number of instances where the borders of 2 or 3 nations touched, but the distinct territories are very rare confluence of a 4 nations coming together on one spot only exists in Africa where the corners of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia meet. It may not have been used before 1964 when it was perhaps invented by the Office of the Geographer of the United States Department of State. It is a popular tourist spots where states come together which are usually decked out with monuments and bronze medallions, the African quadripoint sits in the middle of a river that cuts between the countries. 

It has been theorized that the point is not a true quadripoint but instead a pair of tri-points separated by thin strips of real estate. Irrespective of the quibbling, the understandable jurisdictional headache of having four countries so close to one another has resulted in some conflict. Moreover at one point the ferry that carried individuals across the river from Namibia to Botswana became a point of contention, with both countries laying claim to the transport. A little amount of fighting broke out but it was rather subdued for an international incident. 

Though numerous maintain that slight changes in the flow of the Zambezi river and the exact geographical borders have eliminated an actual quadripoint, the countries are all so close that the only difference is academic. If you visit the border at any time you will find hundreds of trucks lined up to cross on the ferry. It can take days and even weeks for some truckers to get between the borders because of the backlog. The best way to experience the Kazungula is to cross on foot, in which case you can skip the queue of trucks and jump on the ferry relatively quickly. Well, Kazungula is in general a lovely place where you can go to relish the scenery and at the very least, contemplate the feeling of being surrounded by four different countries (almost).

                                                     Source: Charismatic Planet

“Ales Stones” is called Swedish Stonehenge

Sitting like a crown, atop a flat bluff in Skåne, Sweden are the Ales Stenar, a beautiful ancient formation of standing stones erected in the shape of a boat. However, there’s no one know why the stone design was shaped but according to some legends, this was the resting place of a mythic king. The Ales Stenar (Ales Stones) was placed on their Swedish cliff just 1,400 years ago, though they stand over a burial site that has been dated to 5,500 years old. There’re 59 tall boulders in the formation which is made in the shape of a long-ship, and was perhaps symbolic of a craft that would ferry the dead to their eternal fate. Moreover underneath the boat-stones researchers have revealed the remains of an even more ancient burial chamber, sans human remains, confirming their theories as to the funerary purpose behind the ship formation, yet just who was to be buried there remains a mystery. Source: Charismatic Planet

In 1989, during the first archaeological excavations performed in order to technically investigate and date the monument, archaeologists bring into being a decorated clay pot with burned human bones inside the ship setting. The bones are thought to come from a pyre and to have been placed in the pot at a later date.  In 2006, archaeologists used magnetic sensors and radar to map the area's underground terrain and found a larger circular structure about 541 feet in diameter, with a 65-foot by 25-foot rectangle at its heart.

Legend says The King Ale a figure from Swedish myth, is buried under the Henge, though there does not seem to be a great deal on the site to confirm this. Therefore it is that a lesser-known viking chieftain was buried, or meant to be buried in the spot and the stones were erected to honor his eternal memory. Whoever the Ales Stenar were originally meant to honor, they stand now as an inspiring and attractive site that make it easy to see why someone would want to be buried there.