Trash to Tree Can a Christmas tree be made out of anything other than an actual tree? The Australian town of Lismore says yes. In 2015, a member of the town’s council staff came up with the idea of a recycled Christmas tree, to be situated on an otherwise unadorned roundabout, and that year the first tree made from materials sourced from the local junkyard—built under the cover of night out of a pile of bicycles—was born. In the years following, it became a new tradition, with the tree being built out of used tires, old road signs, broken umbrellas, and potted plants combined with solar-powered lighting.  READ MORE →

SPONSORED BY GRADUATE HOTELS The Goo Goo Shop Find a sugar high with a stop at the factory store for Goo Goo Clusters, nostalgic sweets created in a copper kettle in 1912. Formed in Nashville during 1901, The Standard Candy Co. claims the Goo Goo Cluster as the world's first “combination candy bar” with caramel, marshmallow nougat, roasted peanuts and milk chocolate. Read about this and more in our Study Guide to Nashville. READ MORE →

GASTRO OBSCURA Meet Wisconsin’s Raw Meat Sandwich Also known as tiger meat or wildcat, cannibal sandwiches—pictured here by the team at Elevated Wild—are a longtime Wisconsin tradition. Although the name implies something much more sinister, the sandwich typically consists of raw beef, spices, and a hefty helping of raw onions served open-face on rye bread or crackers. No one knows exactly where the sandwich came from, but regardless, cannibal sandwiches have been a beloved holiday treat in German, Polish, and other European communities in Wisconsin since the 1800s, though health department authorities have stepped up their warnings about them in recent years.  READ MORE →

ROME, ITALY Bunker Soratte The lonely limestone mountain of Mount Soratte (ancient Soracte) looms on the horizon north of Rome and although its height is modest (just under 700 meters), its peculiar isolation and history enhance its mysterious aura. The mountain is more than just a scenic spot, though. Hidden within this iconic mountain are a set of World War II bunkers once used by German forces. READ MORE →

ATLAS OBSCURA EXPERIENCES Cooking With Cephalopods Since the Middle Ages, Spain has looked to the sea for culinary inspiration—and the sea has answered with a boundless variety of edible treasures, including squid, octopus, cuttlefish, and nautilus, which all feature prominently in dishes served at fiestas and religious festivities. In this workshop, Barcelona-based chef Enrique will share the secrets of preparing some of Spain’s signature seafood dishes. He’ll demonstrate fishing tricks as well as the proper methods to clean and prepare seafood like octopus, cuttlefish, and calamari. Spots are limited, so reserve your spot early! GET TICKETS →

FROM THE ARCHIVES The True Story of a Professional Farter Roland, court minstrel to 12th century English king Henry II, probably had many talents, though history has recorded only one. Referred to as Rowland le Sarcere or Roland the Farter, Roland really had a single job in the court: Every Christmas, during the court’s riotous pageant, he performed a dance that ended with “one jump, one whistle, and one fart”, executed simultaneously. Whatever happened to Roland and the professional flatulists that came after him? READ MORE →

PEACH SPRINGS, ARIZONA Caverns Grotto To get to this restaurant, you’ll need to take an elevator. You’ll be taking it down—21 stories down—into a 345-million-year-old cave network that stretches 60 miles to the Grand Canyon. Known as the Caverns Grotto, the four-table eatery offers simple American comfort food that makes a not-so simple voyage to your table. READ MORE →

FROM THE ARCHIVES ‘Forest Cat’ On the island of Madagascar, evolution has worked overtime assembling a menagerie like no other on Earth. That makes any interloper’s history all the more germane. Take the resident non-native “forest cat,” for example—an animal whose origins have been the subject of much debate. Many scientists have long thought the feline’s ancestors were small wildcats that somehow reached Madagascar from mainland Africa, but new evidence now suggests that the oversize, tiger-striped, lemur-eating feline came to the island by way of Arab trading ships up to 1,000 years ago. READ MORE →

FROM THE ARCHIVES Rowing Kākāpōs to Safety In 1893 in Auckland, New Zealand, 48-year-old Richard Henry was going through a peculiar midlife crisis over the decline of the flightless, moss-colored parrots called kākāpōs. So when he became the caretaker of Resolution Island, an 80-square-mile, uninhabited hunk of rock off southern New Zealand, he began work to turn it into a predator-free sanctuary for kākāpōs and other native birds. For the next 14 years, he rowed hundreds of native birds from the mainland, across choppy waters, to keep them safe from the snapping jaws of furry little predators. READ MORE →