There are places we never visit because of what we suspect we will find there. We hear accounts from friends, read stories in the media, or see a movie set in the locale, and close our minds to a destination. Sometimes it pays to confront your biases, or as Hunter S. Thompson once put it, “Buy [...]
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Travellers motoring along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Revelstoke, B.C., are often astonished to see a large complex of red-roofed buildings suddenly appear like a scene from the Mediterranean. The 200-room hotel, called Three Valley Lake Chateau, is the creation of Gordon Bell, a hard-driving visionary, who made an indelible impression on every one he encountered. [...]
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At 3:30 a.m., I am rudely jolted from my sleep by a door-thumping wake-up call. Through the walls of my room I can hear the whinnying of horses–the Tenggerese guides have arrived. After donning several layers of clothing, I step out into the Javanese night. Although we are only 800 kilometres south of the equator, the [...]
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We are sitting in a room, getting a dolphin anatomy lesson from a bronze-skinned Antonio Banderas lookalike in electric-blue swimming trunks. He points to a picture of the animal’s blowhole. “Don’t stick anything in the dolphin’s blowhole,” he says. “And don’t touch their eyes. They are very sensitive.” He then points to the creature’s underside. [...]
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Only two North American cities can truly boast rock and roll museums that are major tourist attractions: Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Seattle’s Experience Music Project (EMP). The latter, which opened in 2000, has become a city landmark due in large part to its unique and controversial architecture, which is meant to [...]
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Cue the creepy electronic music. We now continue our survey of the world’s strangest festivals, starting with the Amazing Roswell UFO Festival. Located in a barren corner of southeastern New Mexico, Roswell’s claim to fame is based upon one puzzling 61-year-old event. Early in July 1947, a mysterious object crashed on a ranch north of town. The Roswell Army [...]
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The world is a very weird place. If you doubt this, then come along with me in this first instalment of earth’s strangest festivals, where you will be introduced to such oddball activities as headless-chicken worship, tongue-piercing, cheese rolling, testicle-eating and viking ship arson. Our journey begins in the Spanish town of Bunol, where on the [...]
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Stonehenge is probably the most famous ancient stone monument in Europe. It is certainly the best known in the British Isles, drawing thousands of tourists annually to the Salisbury Plain in southwest England. However, despite its fame, Stonehenge is not the largest, oldest or even the most interesting prehistoric site in England. That distinction belongs [...]
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We are standing outside a cemetery on the outskirts of Guanajuato, a colonial city located 370 kilometres northwest of Mexico City, preparing to enter Museo de las Momias (the Museum of Mummies). Our guide warns us that we may not like what we are about to see. She says that a number of tourists that she [...]
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Where do you suppose this photo was taken? Miami? Los Angeles? Sydney? Not even close. Try Africa. You are looking at the Cinema Impero in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Never heard of Eritrea or Asmara? Join the club; few North Americans have. I admit that I knew nothing about Asmara until very recently when [...]
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