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西班牙的藏红花 Saffron flowers in Spain (© Juan-Carlos Munoz/Minden Pictures)

Saffron in bloom

It's harvest time for saffron, the precious seasoning that's mostly grown in Iran, but used in cuisines around the world. Saffron is derived from the saffron crocus, an autumn-flowering plant with purple petals as richly hued as the vivid crimson stigmas (called 'threads') in the center of the bloom. These threads are carefully extracted by hand with tweezers and dried before they're used for cooking. Each flower comes with just three threads, and it takes a lot of them—roughly 75,000 crocuses will yield just one pound of saffron. The entire harvest can last only about a week or two, because that's the short life of the saffron crocus bloom.

This time of year, the small Spanish town of Consuegra celebrates the end of the harvest season. This is home to some of Spain's best-preserved windmills, which traditionally milled the wheat grown in the region. During Consuegra's Festival de la Rosa del Azafrán (Festival of the Rose of Saffron) locals dress in traditional clothing and ceremonially grind some wheat from one of the old windmills. But feasting on regional cuisine is the highlight of the festival, and saffron is at the center of activities, complete with saffron extracting competition. The contest honors the difficulty of picking the threads from the flower.

软木橡树林 Cork tree forest (© Andrés M. Domínguez/Minden)

The largest cork reserve on the Iberian Peninsula

Los Alcornocales is one of the largest natural parks in Spain. It is located between the provinces of Cadiz and Malaga, occupies an area of almost 168,000 hectares and offers a variety of landscapes with which few places can compete; from the steep, narrow ravines where dozens of streams are born, to the thick mist-covered forests that we can see in our photograph today. Here you will find the largest population of corkscrews in the Iberian Peninsula, an indigenous tree that begins to be usable when it turns 35 or 40 years old.

This place also has an exciting history. Traces from several archeological sites tell us that it served as a refuge for the Neandertal man. And you can visit close to 50 caves dating back to the Bronze Age, such as the Tagus of The Figures, considered the Sistine chapel of rock art. In addition, there are several megalithic monuments and remnants of later civilizations, ranging from Iberian peoples to Arabs, Phoenicians and Romans.

喜马拉雅山脉的钱德拉塔尔湖，印度 (© f9photos/Getty Images Plus)

Workers cleaning the clock face of Big Ben in London, England, for the end of Daylight Saving Time (© Reuters)

It's time to fall back

While today's image may look like a scene from the Doctor Who TV show, its actually an image of workers maintaining Big Ben's clock face. But like The Doctor, the show's main character, today we're all time travelers. This morning we fell back (or will fall back for night owls and insomniacs reading this before 2 AM) in time an hour for the end of Daylight Saving Time. And like changes to Doctor Who, this change isn't without controversy. Since the 1970s, many different studies have tried to quantify the advantages or disadvantages that come with falling back and springing forward, as yet there's no definitive answer on if the scheme is better or worse for us. Have an opinion on if Daylight Saving Time should be kept or scraped? To participate in our completely unscientific poll, scroll down, or go to the homepage and then scroll down until you see the poll.

代阿布洛峰州立公园，加利福尼亚 Mount Diablo State Park, California (© Yuval Helfman/Getty Images)

Welcome to California

These are the peaks of Mount Diablo, part of the Diablo mountain range in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Sierras from here. In fact, this is one of the best viewsheds in the Bay Area, which is a feat, since the peaks are comparatively low for the region. While Mount Diablo may tempt you to take in the scenery or hike in the surrounding state park, the area offers compelling stories from American history as well.

November 4, 1841, marks the day when a group of about 70 people, led by 22-year-old John Bidwell, finally reached the West Coast after setting out from Missouri. This was the first time a wagon train used part of the newly established California Trail to emigrate to California. The trip was grueling, covering more than 2,000 miles. The wagons traveled at a pace of just 15 miles per day, pulled by oxen, horses, or mules. The journey required traversing part of the Oregon Trail and crossing such daunting obstacles as the desert areas around the Great Salt Lake and the steep slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. After five months, the wagon train arrived at the ranch of John Marsh near Mount Diablo. The successful journey helped pave the way for expansion to the American West and marked the route for future wagon trains during the California Gold Rush.

万圣节快乐！科尔温城堡，罗马尼亚 Corvin Castle, Romania (© Audio: Chris Haigh/Shutterstock | Video: DCPmedia/Shutterstock)

Protect your neck

Happy Halloween boos and ghouls! We hope our vampire wasn't too scary on this day designed for spooky delights. The fortress in our image is Corvin Castle in Romania—not far from Transylvania, a real historical region in Romania. In Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula' the ghoulish count lives in a remote Transylvanian castle, cementing the place in popular imagination as the home of Count Dracula. Be careful out there tonight as you go haunting for treats, and keep reminding yourself: There's no such thing as vampires…

伏尔塔瓦河上的查理大桥，布拉格 Charles Bridge over the Vltava River in Prague (© Martin Moxter/Offset)

Cross this bridge if you dare

Superstition abounds on the Charles Bridge, dating back to its construction in 1357. Builders laid the original bridge stone on July 9 at exactly 5:31 AM, coinciding with a precise set of numbers—the palindrome 135797531—which was believed to bring additional strength to the structure. But the superstition didn't stop there. The bridge was also constructed in perfect alignment with the tomb of St. Vitus and the setting sun on the equinox. A more recent superstition involves the statue of the revered Saint John of Nepomuk that stands on the bridge—according to folklore, rubbing the plaque at the base of the statue will grant you a wish. Throughout history, the legendary bridge has undergone a multitude of catastrophes, from fighting to flooding. These days, however, it's one of Prague's most visited sites. Whether that's because of its superstitious strength or not—that's up to you to decide.

Fort Rock Valley Historical Homestead博物馆，俄勒冈 Fort Rock Valley Historical Homestead Museum, Oregon (© Prisma by Dukas Presseagentur GmbH/Alamy)

A night on the (ghost) town

The spooky scene here might look like someplace you'd want to avoid, but it's not likely to scare you—not too much anyway. It's the Fort Rock Valley Historical Homestead Museum in central Oregon—a collection of abandoned homestead-era buildings from the area. In the late 19th and early 20th century, people acquired federal lands around here for farms and ranches via the Homestead Acts. But most left within a few years due to the hot, dry summers and extremely cold winters. Today, the buildings are assembled as a ghost town and contain items from that period, including furniture, dishes, and tools. There's also a nearby cemetery which, according to local lore, is haunted by the ghost of rancher and author Reub Long riding his horse.

You can find ghost towns scattered around the country, the dilapidated remains of towns whose populations grew quickly and then dwindled. Many of them, like Rhyolite, Nevada, and Bodie, California, were gold (or silver or coal) mining towns that declined once the profits dried up. Others, like Cahawba, Alabama, died due to floods or other natural disasters. They may not all be haunted, but they sure can give off a spooky vibe.

Devotees light oil lamps on the banks of the Sarayu River in Ayodhya, India (© Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A festival of lights in India

In observance of the Hindu holiday called Diwali, people gathered on the banks of the Sarayu River in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya in autumn of 2018 to light candles and oil lamps called 'diyas.' Attendees that night set a Guinness World Record by keeping 300,000 diyas lit for five minutes. The lights are symbolic of the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness—central themes of Diwali. Ayodhya is a significant location in the Hindu faith, long thought to be the birthplace of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, who represents virtue. And as Diwali, a four- or five-day celebration that reaches its peak today (the third day), the Hindus of Ayodhya will be back to light up the riverbank. Will they set another record?

欧罗巴山国家公园中的Naranjo de Bulnes峰，西班牙阿斯图里亚斯  (© Anton Petrus/Getty Images)