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The Tree of Knowledge

In the small southern Iraqi city of Qurna, an unusual shrine stands on the shore of the Tigris: a small, dead tree, protected by low brick walls and surrounded by a concrete plaza. This tree is, according to local legend, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the one that Eve ate from in the Garden of Eden.

Qurna (also spelled Qurnah, and pronounced “gurna”) has been noted in travelers’ accounts for centuries as the place point where the great Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet and join together for a few miles before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris and Euphrates are two of the four “rivers of paradise” that flowed out of the Garden of Eden, as named in Genesis 2:10-14. Elements from the early stories of Genesis have been traced to the cuneiform tablets written by the Sumerians and Babylonians, who lived in this part of the world.

It is clearly a deciduous tree, not a palm, but no one can say for sure which species it once was, or how long it has been there. British soldiers reportedly climbed and broke the Tree in post-World War I occupation; it was repaired with concrete. In the 1950s, a small park of local plants was built around the Tree as a gesture of goodwill after World War II. Under the early reign of Saddam Hussein, the shrine was preserved in a small concrete plaza, which has reportedly deteriorated in the wake of the 2003 American invasion. By then there were actually several Trees of Knowledge.

Although the shrine is associated with the Garden of Eden story, which is shared among Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, it also retains aspects of much older, pre-monotheistic traditions of tree worship in the Middle East. When one sacred tree dies, you must plant another to preserve the sacredness, so often several trees are standing in different stages of decay. People travel from other parts of the country to pray at the Tree, sometimes tying small green pieces of cloth around its branches as a token.

Propeller Island City Lodge

Berlin is a city known for the pervasiveness of art and for its tendency toward outlandish character. Propeller Island City Lodge does not disappoint that legacy.

Propeller Island is the pseudonym used by the German artist Lars Stroschen whose usual oeuvre consists of audio-visual creations. This particular construct of his takes D.I.Y to the extreme. This hotel is hand-made down to the last detail; original, uncopied and unique.

Each room has a different character, whether it is the “Padded Room” where everything is upholstered with green leather or “Two Lions” where guests get to choose between sleeping in elevated cages or a twin bed down below.
Perhaps those are more of an acquired taste? Rest assured there is space for those who would like a gentler introduction to such as their “Blue Room” where you will be surrounded by mirrored sails and remains one of the most popular City Lodge rooms.

Consider yourself part of the performance and rest easy inside of this permanent art installation hotel.

Rio Tinto (Red River)

Originating in the Sierra de Huelva mountains of Andalusia, in the town of Nerva, Spain's "red river" runs through the southwestern region of the country. For approximately five thousand years, copper, gold, silver and other minerals have been mined along the river, with dissolving iron giving it a strange reddish hue.

The Red River is often considered the birthplace of both the Copper Age and Bronze Age. The Iberians and Tartessians in the area began mining the river in 3000 BCE, followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors. For hundreds of years, the river's mines were abandoned until rediscovered and operated by the Spanish government in 1724.

After large-scale excavations by companies from the United Kingdom in the 19th century made the river extremely dangerous for people because of the high acidity level, the multinational Rio Tinto Company was formed to operate the mines. Rio Tinto no longer manages the river, but by the end of the 20th century it had become one of the world's largest mining companies.

The high acidity keeps people away from the waters, but draws scientists in. Extremophile aerobic bacteria in the water provide conditions similar to those found in other areas in the solar system. Jupiter's moon Europa, for example, is thought to contain an acidic ocean underneath its surface. Life in the Rio Tinto - the bacteria feed on iron and sulfide minerals in the river's subsurface rocks - make the likelihood of life on Europa all the more possible.

Big Rock Erratic

An erratic is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Large, hulking chunks of rock, jutting out of an otherwise flat and sparse landscape, catching the eye and mystifying any comprehension of its origin.

Properly called “glacial erratics,” these rock formations are actually relatively common. Formed by dislodged rocks that traveled on top of a glacier thousands of years ago, their decidedly out-of-place appearance comes from the result of that glacier-based piggyback ride, as the melting ice deposited the far-flung rocks where they didn’t belong.

In Alberta, Canada, there is a particularly large and far-reaching trail thousands of erratics known as the Foothills Erratics Train. The Big Rock erratic is its crown jewel.

Comprised of 16,500 tons of quartzite, the Big Rock, or Okotoks, erratic is the largest known glacial erratic on the planet. Located just over four miles from Okotoks, Alberta, from which it derives its name, the massive rock formation is an unmistakable monolith in an otherwise monotonous landscape.

Despite the interesting but simple origins of this slow-forming landmark, it has long attracted legends and myths. These date back thousands of years to the Blackfoot tribe, whose legends explained the rock’s peculiar location by detailing an argument between the rock and a young warrior that eventually gave way to a frantic chase and the eventual splitting of the rock down its center.

Today, mysticism-minded travelers still find themselves drawn to the Big Rock, usually avoiding the scientific explanation for the unusual formation, instead preferring to make up their own stories as time goes on.