17 real places that look like portals to magical worlds

While huge amounts of money are spent on space exploration programs, we don't really know anything about Earth. What is hidden from our eyes in the depths of the ocean or under the Antarctic ice? And you never know how many more mysteries our home planet keeps. For example, there are many locations that look like portals to magical worlds. 

Below are photos of places, the sight of which will surely make you want to rush headlong into an exciting fabulous journey. You don't even have to step into the fireplace, climb into the wardrobe or flush yourself down the toilet.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany. It's damn beautiful, there's a beautiful view around, well, what's not a portal to a parallel world? Of course, it would be nice if there were beer, sausages and Oktoberfest there too.

The Palace of alien Emperors? The Ministry of Magic? Kazan Cathedral from the future in the new version of SimCity? No, this is the Parisian residential complex "Abraxas Spaces", designed by the French architect Ricardo Bofil. And if the architectural project is also named after a mythological deity, then, in principle, everything is clear.

You can find this staircase in Copenhagen, but it definitely leads to a fabulous bar. However, after a couple of glasses of cream beer, it will be very difficult to go down it.

No, this is not an advertisement for washing powder for colored underwear and not even the hair of the giant mermaid Ariel fluttering in the wind. It's just Antelope Canyon (Arizona, USA). However, with the help of this magical phantasmagoria of color, you will definitely be able to go to the fabulous fantasy world of Hans Christian Andersen. Just don't go too far, otherwise you'll turn into sea foam by dawn.

These steps on Mount Montserrat, created by the Spanish sculptor Josep Subirax, lead directly to heaven, but only a person who sincerely believes in a fairy tale can walk along them. Although, as an exception, Led Zeppelin fans are allowed there, but only on Thursdays on June 31.

In the abandoned Buchanan Castle (Stirlingshire, Scotland), dragons tired of everything from time to time arrange a lounge halt for themselves, who, with the help of their remarkable mind, test lost travelers: they will guess the riddle - they will go home, they will not guess — well, in that case, welcome to the liberation army of Daenerys Stormborn. Well, there's nothing to climb over the ruins, otherwise you still need to conquer Westeros, and human resources are not infinite.

Museum K21 (Art Collection of North Rhine—Westphalia, Stendehaus, Germany). This modern interpretation of the dilemma of choosing the right path leaves no alternatives: regardless of whether you go left, right or straight, the end point of the route is one - an unusually beautiful world of modern art, where you will easily be mistaken for another curious exhibit. Even if you just stand quietly on the sidelines and pretend that you are not in this strange room and have never been.

Organ rocks at Fingal Head Cape (New South Wales, Australia). Strange, but wasn't one of the episodes of the Harry Potter films filmed here? It's a great place to hide a horcrux. Well, or to collect a couple of billion likes on Instagram and make colleagues sitting in the office hate you — although this is already a particularly sophisticated kind of black magic.

Forget about black holes, they are still somewhere far away and in general it's all not true. But the Big Blue hole, nestled in the middle of the atoll as part of the Belize Barrier Reef in Central America, is quite real. Rumor has it that it is the mysterious entrance to the legendary Fiddlers Green - a fictional place where the lost sailors find their last refuge. However, in the event that you, dear sea wolves, have no desire to end your way ingloriously in the clutches of Davy Jones, you should still be careful with diving.

Oh, these Ukrainian railways, how much unearthly magic and magic there is in them! That's how you get on the train, you flop in a reserved carriage on the side of the toilet, someone's legs hang from the top shelf, someone drinks beer with fish and eats boiled eggs, and the child yells a good obscenity over his ear. In general, the situation is worse than in hell. But then suddenly the kind guide Larisa Stepanovna will bring delicious tea, and you look out the window, and there is a Tunnel of love. My heart warmed up, didn't it? And there was definitely no magic of travel here, we assure you.

These gates are located on the island of Bali (Indonesia) and look like they don't even need to explain anything.

The Stuttgart City Library is notable for the fact that if at midnight on Friday the 13th you sit on the floor in front of a bookcase, hold a hair from the head of a red-haired virgin in the fist of your left hand and manage to list all the films with Marlene Dietrich loudly in a minute, you can get into a mysterious and magical place - the Stuttgart madhouse. Only there is one condition: if you get to Bilbo Baggins' room, don't say anything about the ring, Uncle is quite a vulnerable person.

This is an old railway tunnel in Helensburgh (New South Wales, Australia). It leads straight to an unknown future, however, if you decide to make a trip at night, we would still strongly recommend that you take some garlic and something silver with you.

The only magic escalator in the world is installed at the Stockholm metro station called "Rodhuset": everyone who puts his foot on one of its steps immediately falls into the world of groundless snobbery permeated with the magic of causeless sarcasm. "Hey losers, I have so much free time that I'm aimlessly riding the Stockholm subway!" - it is with this signature that 14 new selfies taken by you are automatically sent to Instagram while you are going upstairs with a smart look.

The Palace of Italian Civilization was built in Rome by order of Benito Mussolini. There are rumors that the Vatican monks have taken this beautiful portal into their hands, but they were too lazy to properly adjust the operation of key mechanisms, so that you can only get through it to Sanremo, and even then only during the festival. However, if you love the songs of Adriano Celentano, it's a sin for you to dream of more magic.

The ferry terminal in Hong Kong is not a portal in itself, but it allows you to participate in the most unusual lottery in the world: you will only have to guess what magical place you will get to, having bought a ticket for a ship departing from here with great difficulty.

The glacial lagoon of Jekulsaurloon (Iceland). Unfortunately, due to global warming, this beauty may soon disappear, and there will be one less place in the world where it is impossible to get from the bar by taxi.