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Travel

Reindeer races at the Sami Easter Festival.

In Northern Norway, Reindeer Racing and a “Joik” Singing Showdown Welcome in Spring

The Sami Easter Festival blends old and new traditions in Lappland’s northern reaches

America's musical highway is located on Route 66 near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

If You Drive The Right Speed, This Musical Highway Will Play You a Song

This stretch of Route 66 sings—literally

TEFAF 2016 - Robbig

Where Museums Go to Shop for Rare Works of Art

In the south of Holland, a Dutch city plays host to the art world’s biggest collectors

Caja De Memoria Viva II: Constancia Clemente-Colon by Adrian "Viajero" Roman

Every Three Years, Artists Compete to Be On View at the National Portrait Gallery. Here Are the Winners

The 2016 show conveys an intensity, as if the artists and their subjects are demanding a conversation on the complex issues of our times

A Jodhpur court artist painted “Three Aspects of the Absolute,” illustrating the universe’s creation according to the Nath sect. Completed in 1823, the 3.5-by-5-foot painting accompanies the manuscript Nath Charit, a part of the Mehrangarh Museum’s Jodhpur Royal Collection.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

Hatha Yoga Inspired Abstract Art a Century Before Rothko

Paintings recently discovered in Jodhpur’s royal palace depict Nath yogis’ understanding of the cosmos

In 1968, the Beatles ventured to the foothills of the Himalaya for a spiritual retreat.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: India

How the Indian City of Rishikesh Influenced the Beatles’ White Album

A meditation retreat in 1968 offered the British rock group heightened awareness and peace of mind

The steep walls of the Uncompahgre Gorge dwarf a climber after a long day on the cliffs.

How Do You Create the World’s Biggest Ice Climbing Park?

With nearly 200 different routes and 17,000 vertical feet of terrain, Ouray Ice Park is a haven for ice climbers and the “ice farmers” who bring it to life

The museum has generated controversy over gentrification of Rio de Janeiro ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Age of Humans

Imagining an Alarming Future at Brazil’s Museum of Tomorrow

The ambitious museum looks at where humankind is headed—and asks how they’ll live in a post-climate-change world

The highly regular spacing of fairy circles in Australia becomes visible in dense vegetation. The grasses in the foreground of the image are patchy as they rebounding from fire.

New Research

Mysterious Fairy Circles Have Been Found in Western Australia

Once thought to exist only in Namibia, circles spotted 6,200 miles away are helping sort out how these odd features form

"Hurlyburly" is artist Orly Genger's latest site-specific art installation using woven lobster rope.

This Massive Installation in an Austin Park Is Made of Over a Million Feet of Recycled Lobster Rope

“Hurlyburly” is artist Orly Genger’s latest woven creation

Journey to the Center of Earth

What Are You Flying Over? This App Will Tell You

Flyover Country uses maps and geology databases to identify features of the landscape as a plane flies over them, no Wifi necessary

A sauna on the lakefront for Sauna Day.

Europe

Explore Helsinki’s Private Saunas

Finland celebrates its first festival devoted to a steamy tradition

Belize's Lighthouse Reef Atoll surrounds the Blue Hole, a sunken cave system that is a haven for marine life and scuba divers.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Visit a Vertical Underwater Cave in Belize

The Great Blue Hole is the world’s largest natural formation of its kind

The Matterhorn is perhaps the most recognizable of the peaks that make up the Alps, and has a height of 14,692 feet.

Switzerland

Seven Surprising Facts About the Matterhorn

The towering peak that straddles Switzerland and Italy is full of secrets

Eric Oborski's passports. The thickest one, which he used from 1997 to 2007, contains 331 pages.

This Could Be the World’s Largest Passport

Meet the man who has filled over 1,400 pages of passport during a life of travel

Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

Italy to Limit Tourists to Cinque Terre

It’s about to get harder to visit Cinque Terre—but that might be a good thing

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Even 500 Years After His Death, Hieronymus Bosch Hasn’t Lost His Appeal

A trip to the painter’s hometown reminds us how his paintings remain frightfully timely

Bison sculpture by Emily White, Big Timber Lodge

How to Maintain Your Garden Zen at the Philadelphia Flower Show

A Smithsonian gardener with a long history of touring the show gives tips

Ellis Emmett, diving between two continents in Silfra.

Europe

Dive Between Two Continents in This Frigid Fissure in Iceland

Filled with pure glacier water, Silfra is the only place on Earth where divers can touch two continental plates at once

Coober Pedy's Serbian Orthodox Church—owned by the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand—is just one of the city's otherworldly underground buildings.

Half of the Inhabitants of This Australian Opal Capital Live Underground

Unearth Coober Pedy, the Outback’s hidden city

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