If you dig offbeat locales and are intrigued by wacky sights, including a 'Garage Mahal' in Texas, check out www.atlasobscura.com

Created by Gino De Dominicis, the Calamita Cosmica is a 28-metre-long sculpture that was first displayed in Milan's Palazzo Reale in 2007. This sculpture weighed about eight tons, or 16,000 pounds and was completed before the artist's death. Texas' Webb Gallery specialises in collecting oddities and antiquities about secret societies. Mount Hareb in Saudi Arabia might be where Moses received the Ten Commandments.


In all of the 29 years when the Alcatraz Island Prison was in
operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully...or so they
claim. PIC/AFP

If these locations have caught your fancy, you have Atlas Obscura to thank. This isn't just another travel websiteu00a0-- after all, their tagline reads: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities and Esoterica. The core team has sourced and compiled a jaw-dropping selection of bizarre, and wacky locations on the planet. We mean it. One look at the site and we were sold. From the macabre to the grotesque, the amusing to the amazing, you might be spoilt for choice while planning your looney vacation.

While America and Europe threw up some pretty unbelievable stuff (at least for the average curious Indian), we were disappointed that India managed only 27 sites; some of the mentions, like Karnataka's Gomateshwara statue and Andaman Islands' Sentinalese tribe were stereotypical, almost disappointing. Clearly, these guys missed the bus with the wow factor in a diverse land like ours.u00a0

The site is easily navigable, makes for an entertaining browse; you can even add your discoveries. There are maps and timings for every sight, which helps the itinerary-planner. Biggies including The New York Times and The New Yorker have given this site a thumbs up. We nearly have.

Log on tou00a0www.atlasobscura.com