La Bahia (The Beautiful) is an 8000-sq-metre, floor-to-ceiling extravagance of intricate marquetry, plasterwork and zouak (painted wood), and certainly one of Marrakesh’s most eye-popping sights.
Continue readingBahia Palace
High Place of Sacrifice
The most accessible of Petra’s High Places, this well-preserved site was built atop Jebel Madbah with drains to channel the blood of sacrificial animals.
Continue readingRoyal Tombs
Downhill from the Theatre, the wadi widens to create a larger thoroughfare. To the right, the great massif of Jebel Al Khubtha looms over the valley.
Continue readingDana Biosphere Reserve
The Dana Biosphere Reserve is the largest in Jordan and includes a variety of terrain, from sandstone cliffs more than 1700m high near Dana to a low point of 50m below sea level in Wadi Araba. Sheltered within the red-rock escarpments are protected valleys that are home to a surprisingly diverse ecosystem. About 600 species of plant (ranging from citrus trees and junipers to desert acacias and date palms) thrive in the reserve, together with 180 species of bird.
Continue readingRijksmuseum
The Netherlands’ top treasure house, the Rijksmuseum (pronounced ‘rikes’), is among the world’s finest art museums. With over 1.5km of galleries, it packs in around 8000 artworks with paintings by homegrown heroes Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh, as well as plenty of other masterpieces.
Continue readingVerzetsmuseum
The museum of the Dutch Resistance brings the horror of German occupation in WWII vividly alive, using personal stories, letters, artefacts, films and photographs to illuminate local resistance to (but also collaboration with) the Nazis.
Continue readingPlaya Negra
At the northwestern end of Cahuita, Playa Negra is a long, black-sand beach flying the bandera azul ecológica, a flag that indicates that the beach is kept to the highest ecological standard.
Continue readingPunta Uva
Off a dirt road marked by Punta Uva Dive Center is a quiet, idyllic cove that could double for a scene in the film The Beach. When the water is calm, it makes an excellent spot for swimming. There is a cluster of fantastic restaurants nearby when you’ve worked up an appetite splashing around in the Caribbean Sea.
Continue readingKu-ring-gai Chase National Park
A spectacular mix of sandstone, Australian bushland and tranquil water vistas, this 14,928-hectare park forms Sydney’s northern boundary. It’s located 20 to 30km from the city centre and accessible by public transport, making a spectacular day trip from the city. It is a popular place to visit for its wilderness, its Aboriginal heritage, as well as activities such as walking, cycling, and kayaking. In winter add whale-watching to the reasons to visit.
Continue readingWatsons Bay
Lovely Watsons Bay, east of the city centre and north of Bondi, was once a small fishing village, as evidenced by the heritage cottages that pepper the suburb’s narrow streets (but which now cost a tiny fortune).
For the Sydney visitor, it’s a lovely day trip by ferry. If time allows explore South Head by foot, take a dip at Camp Cove or enjoy a leisurely lunch at one of its popular restaurants. On the ocean side, The Gap is a dramatic clifftop lookout worth a visit.
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