If you’re strolling through a grassy meadow, surely one of the last last things you expect to see is a big sandy beach, right? Well, not if the beach you stumble across is Playa de Gulpiyuri in Spain!
Located near the small town of Llanes, Playa de Gulpiyuri is actually a flooded sinkhole which is surrounded on one side by a 130-foot inland beach!
Despite being around 320 feet away from the sea, Playa de Gulpiyuri is fully tidal thanks to a series of underground tunnels – carved by salt water – which lead to the Bay of Biscay.
One drawback of this underground supply is that the water in Playa de Gulpiyuri tends to be rather cold, as it spends quite a while in the tunnels before it reaches the beach. This doesn’t stop Playa de Gulpiyuri from being swamped with tourists from around the world, however!
This interactive panorama gives a good impression of the strangeness of a pretty little beach smack in the middle of a meadow:
Photo credits: guillenperez (CC BY-ND 2.0)