Greece
Karystos
Dragon houses of unknown origin crouch on windswept ridges above Greece's second-largest island.
The dragon houses sit on the windswept ridge of Mount Ochi — megalithic slabs weighing several tonnes, fitted together without mortar, built by someone nobody can identify. Below, the harbour town of Karystos looks across to the mainland, and the hillsides above are scarred with abandoned Roman marble quarries where green-veined cipollino was cut for emperors.
The drakospita (dragon houses) are megalithic stone structures on the ridges of Mount Ochi, built from slabs weighing several tonnes. Their origin and purpose remain unexplained — archaeologists have variously attributed them to Carians, Macedonians, or unknown builders. The largest, on the summit of Mount Ochi at 1,398 metres, has a roof formed from single stone slabs. Karystos was the source of cipollino marble (columnar marble with distinctive green veining) used throughout the Roman Empire; abandoned quarries are visible in the hillsides above the town. Southern Evia is connected to the mainland by a road bridge at Chalkida, where the Euripus Strait reverses current direction approximately every six hours — a phenomenon studied since Aristotle. The Dimosari Gorge runs from the mountain to the coast near Karystos, offering a full-day hike through plane trees and waterfalls.
Solo
Hike to the dragon houses on Mount Ochi and try to explain what you are looking at — the mystery is genuine and the ridge is empty.
Couple
Ancient mystery on the mountain, Roman quarries in the hillsides, and harbour-front lobster in Karystos — a day that moves from strange to beautiful.
Friends
The Dimosari Gorge hike from mountain to coast, the dragon house mystery on the summit, and fresh formaella cheese at the harbour afterward.
- The drakospita (dragon houses) are megalithic stone structures on the ridges of Mount Ochi — built from slabs weighing several tonnes, their origin and purpose remain unexplained.
- The largest dragon house on the summit of Mount Ochi (1,398m) has a roof formed from single stone slabs — archaeologists have variously attributed them to Carians, Macedonians, or unknown builders.
- Karystos was the source of cipollino marble (columnar marble with green veining) used throughout the Roman Empire — abandoned quarries are visible in the hillsides above the town.
- Southern Evia is connected to the mainland by a road bridge at Chalkida, where the Euripus Strait reverses current direction approximately every six hours — a phenomenon studied since Aristotle.
Formaella cheese from mountain goats, smoked and sliced thin with wild oregano honey.
Grilled lobster at the Karystos harbour, the fishing boats still bobbing from the morning run.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Poás Volcano
Costa Rica
An acid lake steams and shifts colour inside one of Earth's widest active craters.
Chapada do Araripe
Brazil
Cretaceous pterodactyl fossils embedded in plateau rock at the Americas' first UNESCO Global Geopark.
Olmoti Crater
Tanzania
Maasai guides lead you to a hidden waterfall inside a volcanic crater that feeds Ngorongoro below.
Lesbos
Greece
A petrified forest of 20-million-year-old trees stands upright on volcanic hillsides above olive groves.
Agiofarango Gorge
Greece
A gorge of hermit caves where thousand-year-old frescoes gaze over the Libyan Sea.
Rhodes Old Town
Greece
Medieval stone streets sealed inside fortress walls where Knights of St John once marshalled for crusade.
Ioannina
Greece
Ali Pasha's lake fortress — silversmith workshops and Ottoman mosques on an island reached by rowboat.