Clearly, this is the Azure Cave of Eternity, carved high into the Mountains of Wisdom by space trolls. Its crystal walls glow an eerie blue, the source of which is a cosmic mystery (unlike neighboring planet Pandora, which owes its blueness to the fact that it is the default setting on Corel Paint). Travelers come from across dimensions to ponder the infinite mysticism of the cave and attempt to reconcile it with their own existence.

The News Burner
And also to master the Level 9 Ice Bolt.

Seriously, though, this is the Crystal Cave of Svinafellsjokull, a 150-foot-long ice cave in Iceland (which, to be fair, is where one would expect ice caves to be found).

The cave is located on the border between a glacier and the Icelandic coast, which accounts for the unusual color of the ice walls -- snow that falls onto the glacier has all of the oxygen forced out of it when the glacier moves, causing the snow to turn an otherworldly dark blue when it freezes into ice. However, like a flaming bald eagle decal plastered over the hood of an impractically fast sports car, the ice cave's beauty masks the fact that it's actually a death trap. The cave's structural integrity is entirely dependent on a moving glacier, which it happily reminds tourists of by emitting massive cracking sounds whenever the glacier shifts a single millimeter.

Still, getting crushed to death by that thing would be an awesome way to die.

This almost looks like the basement of somebody's massive crystal fortress or ice palace, like where Kal-El keeps his spare capes, or where the Wampa stores wayward Jedi he's going to eat later. Either way, when you find yourself in a sprawling cavern surrounded by waterfalls frozen in time, it's hard to imagine you're still on Earth.

"Ten bucks my tongue won't stick to it."

That is the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, located in the Austrian Alps. It's even bigger than those pictures would indicate -- it's over 24 miles long, and the entire first mile is covered with small glaciers. During the summer, the snow on the Alps melts and drips down into the lower realms of the cave.

eisriesenwelt.at
If they ever do a Cliffhanger sequel, Stallone needs to impale someone here.

These lower parts have a cold wind pattern blowing through them, freezing the melted snow right onto the limestone, providing the "Fortress of Solitude's wine cellar" effect. The mere sight of the Eisriesenwelt ice cave is so terrifying that locals used to believe that it was the entrance to hell. Because nothing says "sinful hole to the fiery heart of evil" like a beautiful ice-covered cave in the snowy Alps.

All right, water does not do that. Lakes don't just form themselves into perfectly flat levels that you can freaking climb up like a set of stairs. Either it's man-made, or it formed under completely different laws of physics than what we have here. Are things so different in the far-off alien world of Turkey?

Because that's where you find Pamukkale ("cotton castle"), a series of naturally forming hot springs located on the side of a cliff. The water that fills these mineral baths comes from 17 hot springs located more than 1,000 feet below the surface. There, the water can reach temperatures over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing it to become supersaturated with minerals like calcium. When the water reaches the cooler surface, however, the calcium flies out of it, and over time those calcium deposits solidified into perfectly terraced mineral spas on the cliff. Also, magic is involved somehow.

Thousands of people enjoy the hot springs every year, making Pamukkale the most beautiful and sanitary method of public bathing in Turkey.

kusadasi.biz
OK, second most beautiful.

What they really are is tessellated pavement, a set of stones on the Tasmanian coastline that are each shaped like a near-perfect rectangle. The stones cracked millions of years ago when tectonic plates in Tasmania decided they didn't want to live in Australia's shadow anymore and moved away. This caused the stones to form nearly straight crevices, which are reinforced by the regular low tides that erode the cracks much faster than the rest of the stone. Also, magic.

What we are viewing here is obviously the pockmarked surface of a massive alien brain, mutated by radiation from a solar flare and sent screaming to Earth on the back of a meteor. It is slowly lurching its way toward those mountains in the distance to use its immeasurable psychic energy to construct a mind-rape antenna to enslave every living creature on the planet.

Luckily, that crimson field of fury is just an alkali salt crust lying on the top of Lake Natron, in Tanzania. Countless microorganisms are attracted to the heavy salt concentration, which gives the lake its odd color and texture.

ainostermie.blogspot.com
"Mmmmm, that lake has some great marbling."

Despite alkalinity levels that can reach a pH level of 10 (almost as high as pure ammonia) and temperatures that reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, the lake is one of the only breeding sites for the lesser flamingo, an animal that, ironically, also kind of looks like it's from space.

What you're actually seeing is a completely natural occurrence that happens every so often in the wake of big storms. The storm effectively stirs up sediment and organic deposits from the ocean floor, creating a foamy substance that washes up onto various beaches for several days. The foam itself is primarily made up of broken down dead sea life and seaweed, bathing inexplicably excited beachgoers in foul-smelling dead fish suds. You don't want to eat it, is what we're trying to say.