Wikivoyage:Discover/2012

December 2012

• The bluffs (pictured) of Scotts Bluff National Monument make a dramatic impression, as they rise several hundred feet over the surrounding flat countryside.
• With a history traced back to more than 8000 years, Plovdiv is the oldest continually inhabited city in Europe.
• Zamboanga on the Philippines is called Asia's Latin City because of its Spanish heritage.

• With a charming Old Town (pictured) a vibrant musical scene and popular Carnival celebrations, Salvador is considered one of the birthplaces of Brazilian culture.
• The city of Tequila is famous for being the birthplace of the drink with the same name.
• Nairobi is surrounded by 113 km² (70 mi²) of plains, cliffs and forest that makes up the city’s Nairobi National Park.

• Each December Lyon celebrates the "Festival of Lights" with light shows by professional artists from all over the world (pictured).
• Tahiti is composed of two volcanic mountain ranges, and its shape reminds of a turtle.
• The Zoological Garden in Berlin is the largest zoo in the world, both in terms of number of species (1500) and animal population (14,000).

November 2012

• In Canada, beaver tails are not necessarily made out of the animal. It is also a name for a fried dough topped with icing sugar (pictured).
• In Tbilisi you can climb up to the ruins of the once-great Narikala Fortress for a panoramic view of the city below.
• With -82°F (-62°C), Prospect Creek in Alaska measured the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States.

• Victoria Memorial (pictured) in Kolkata was built by the British as a second Taj Mahal - dedicated to Queen Victoria.
• The Caribbean island of Saba is known as "The Unspoiled Queen" due to the protection of its unique ecosystem.
• Antwerp is renowned for being the diamond capital of the world.

• Urumqi (pictured) is quite famous for its claim that it is the most inland major city in the world, that being the farthest from any ocean.

October 2012

• In Trapani you can learn about the history of salt manufacturing by visiting the Museum of Salt.
• When visiting the Faroe Islands you are never more than 5 km (3 miles) away from the ocean.

• Iolani Palace (pictured) in Honolulu, Hawaii, is the only royal palace used by a monarch in the United States.
• Road signs around Canberra that direct you to the "Town centre" do not necessarily direct you to the centre of Canberra itself but rather to the "town centre" of the district you are in.
• Taipei 101, currently the world's second highest skyscraper, was designed to resemble bamboo rising from the earth.

• Built in 1482, the oldest European structure in Africa, Elmina Castle (pictured) was a notorious slave fort used for moving slaves onto ships bound for other parts of the world.
• Flagstaff is stretched out along historic Route 66, which runs roughly east-west.
• Sometimes referred to as the Tibet of the Americas, Bolivia is one of the most "remote" countries in the Western hemisphere.

September 2012

• The volcano Mount Aso has the largest caldera (pictured) in the world.
• Murmansk is the starting point for ice breaker cruises to the Arctic Sea and the North Pole.
• Comics lovers can learn more about the early beginning of comics as well as their development at the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels.

August 2012

• In Louisville you can visit the Louisville slugger (the official bat used in the American baseball league) museum and look at the world's largest baseball bat outside (pictured).
• Belize is the only country in Central America without a coastline on the Pacific Ocean.
• Abidjan is sometimes referred to as the "Paris of West-Africa".

• A different way to see Christchurch is "punting the Avon" (pictured) – gliding down the Avon river in Cambridge University style with an uniformed boatsman.
• It takes about 5 million steps to walk the whole 2100 miles/ 3500 km long Appalachian Trail.
• Maritiman in Gothenburg calls itself "the world's biggest floating museum of ships" and consists of 19 boats of all sizes.

• Buddha Park (pictured) outside Vientiane is a bizarre outdoor collection of huge concrete sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu deities and real and imaginary beasts.

July 2012

• The old town hall in Leipzig was built in 1556 in Renaissance style and remains one of Germany's largest. The position of the tower follows the ancient ideal of "golden mean".
• In Bundaberg rum distillery you can take an interactive tour and learn about the history of rum making.

• Kujukuri-hama (九十九里浜) beach (pictured) in Chiba is, for many travelers (coming in from east), their first glimpse of Japan: it's the long coastline you see from the plane coming in over the Pacific into Narita.
• Galway is nicknamed "The City of the Tribes".
• The day trip by train from Salta up in the mountains and back is aptly named tren a las nubes – the train to the clouds.

• According to a legend, Church of St. Mary of Zion (pictured) in Aksum, Ethiopia is the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.
• The yearly Calgary Stampede fills the city with Western-themed events, the most popular being the rodeo and chuckwagon races.
• A local joke has it that New Orleans really does have four seasons: Summer, Hurricane, Christmas, and Mardi Gras.

• The Zytglogge clock tower (pictured) in Berne plays an animatronic show each full hour and the locals are proud to tell you it's "the longest running act in show business".
• Chongqing is claimed to be the place of origin of the Chinese dish hot pot, and the locals are said to be the only ones who are able to stand a real (spicy) one.

June 2012

• There are so many bars along Rue Saint Michel in Rennes that locals call the street Rue de la Soif, ie. "thirst street".

• Harissa (pictured) is a very hot spicy chili paste (sometimes tempered with carrots or yogurt), served with bread as a starter at almost any meal in Tunisia.
• A supernatural creature called "Mothman" was reportedly sighted on several occasions in the 1960's around Point Pleasant in West Virginia. Today there is a Mothman themed museum, research center, statue and festival in the city.
• In South Luangwa National Park in Zambia you can take a night safari.

• Mural de la Prehistoria (pictured) in Viñales is perhaps the most bizarre sight on Cuba. It is a cliff painted with snails, dinosaurs, and a family of cavepersons, in garish colors.
• Museu des coches in Belém near Lisbon hosts the world's largest collection of coaches and royal vehicles.
• Haridwar in northern India is a center of Hindu religion and the name of the city means "Gateway to God".

• The Caves under Pechersk Lavra monastery (pictured) in Kiev that were dug out by priests who once lived there as hermits are today popular both among pilgrims and tourists.
• Santa Fe is the highest and oldest state capital in the United States.
• Due to the great diversity of climates, temperatures and forest types in Costa Rica, there is a wonderful variety of birds, with over 800 species.

• Macau is best known as Asia's largest destination for gambling (pictured) taking in even more revenue than Las Vegas.

May 2012

• The town of 1770 in Australia is named in honour of Captain Cook's landing there that year.
• Lesotho has the highest lowest point of any country in the world (1400m) and is the only country to be entirely above 1000m.

• Helsinki's Metro (pictured) is the northernmost subway system in the world.
• The city of Tagaytay is built on the rim of the crater lake of the active Taal volcano.
• In operation since 1786, White's Ferry in Leesburg, Virginia, is the last working ferry on the Potomac River.

• In the Netherlands there are official hitch-hiking spots (pictured) along the highways.
• PERMM in Perm is the first and only contemporary art museum in Russia
• The highest hill on Aruba is called Hooiberg, which translates to "the Haystack".

• Klang is the original home of bak kut teh ("pork rib tea"), the Hokkien-style dish of pork ribs cooked in a strong, dark herbal stock, served with tea on the side (pictured).
• The Hungarian capital Budapest is a famous spa city. The public baths are popular among both locals and travelers.
• Always wanted to take a tree climbing class? At Tree Climbers International in Decatur, GA you can do just that.

• The Kelburn cable car (pictured) is a Wellington icon – the street where the city terminal is located is named Cable Car Lane.

April 2012

• Brunei is a dry country but many restaurants supply illicit booze under euphemisms like "special tea".
• Due to its cool mountain weather, Baguio is considered the summer capital of the Philippines.

• Parliament Palace (pictured) in Bucharest spans 12 stories, 3100 rooms and covers over 330,000 sq m and is the second largest building in the world after Pentagon.
• Quebec City's Old Town is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only city in North America outside Mexico with its original city walls.
• At the animation museum in Chuncheon visitors can learn about the history of Korean animation and enjoy screenings of animated Korean short films.

• The pedestrian arcade Old Arcade (pictured) is so impressive that it was the first building in Cleveland to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• In Kampala, a "Rolex" is not just a clock brand but also a name of a filled pancake.
• Tarifa is located on the southernmost point of the European continent and known as a Mecca for Windsurfing.

• The literally most remarkable sight in Queenstown, New Zealand is a saw-toothed range of mountains (pictured) on the opposite side of the lake from the town, named "The Remarkables".
• In the Indian cities of Rishikesh and Haridwar non-vegetarian food is illegal.
• The official book depository of the United Kingdom, the British Library in Camden holds a copy of every book ever printed in the UK, and a wide variety of periodicals.
• Indiana's motto is "The Crossroads of America" (pictured).

March 2012

• Huangshan is a granite massif consisting of 36 separate peaks, rising above 1,800 m. Famous throughout Chinese artistic history, Huangshan represents the typical mountain in Chinese paintings.
• Wurstkuchl in Regensburg is thought to be the oldest fast food restaurant in the world.

• Table mountain (pictured) in Cape Town is the home of a small animal, the rock rabbit (known locally as the 'Dassie') whose closest relative, DNA-wise, is the elephant.
• Gloucester is America's oldest seaport. Established in 1623, the city's roots are tied to the sea.
• Aberdeen has got many nicknames – among others "the Granite City", "the Rainbow city", "Silver City" and "Oil Capital of Europe".

• Perth (pictured) is the most isolated capital city of over 1,000,000 people in the world.
• In the Earthquake Awareness and Preparation Center in Yokosuka visitors can experience a strong earthquake in controlled surroundings, learn how to avoid injury, put out fires, and escape a smoky building.
• A running joke among Moscow's taxi drivers is to take an unwary tourist from one of the three railway stations around the huge "Three stations square" to another.

• Because the Earth is not a perfect sphere but a little bit "thicker" near the Equator, the peak of Chimborazo (pictured) in Ecuador is the point farthest away from the Earth's center.
• The three largest artificial islands in the world are the Palm Islands located just off the coast of Dubai.
• The Palais Royal du Roi Toffa in Porto-Novo, Benin, is a museum in a former royal residence and a gives the visitor a nice look into how African royalty really lived.

• Königsallee, the main shopping street in Düsseldorf, is divided by a canal (pictured) and sometimes referred to as the German Champs-Élysées.

February 2012

• Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center is the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western hemisphere.
• A sandwich filled with ice cream is a popular afternoon snack in Thailand.

• The touristy way to see Taketomi is from cart pulled by a water buffalo (pictured) (水牛車 suigyūsha), complete with guide telling folk stories (in Japanese) and twanging on a sanshin while at it.
• The Brazilian national flag flown in the Square of the Three Powers in Brasilia is the largest flag regularly hoisted in the world.
• Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has the busiest Burger King in the world with 1.3 million visitors a year. It has never closed since its opening in 1993.

• The Police Boat 813 (pictured) in Khao Lak was swept 2 kilometers inland in the 2004 tsunami, and it has been left where it was as a memorial and historical landmark.
• Istanbul is situated on two continents – the western part in Europe and the eastern in Asia.
• Founded by Christopher Columbus's brother Bartolome Colombus in 1496, Santo Domingo is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas.

• A popular day trip from La Paz goes to Coroico along the scenic "Death Road" (pictured), regarded as the most dangerous road in the world.
• Invented in Damascus, Syria over 2000 years ago, the only place where the traditional making of Damascene can be found today is far from its origins, in Kyoto, Japan
• At a Howler's Inn in Bozeman two rooms overlook wolf enclosures, so guests can enjoy a wolf serenade by moonlight.

• Fishermen used to have their boats blessed in Marseille's cathedral, Notre Dame de la Garde (pictured), and you can still see many boat models hanging around in the church.

January 2012

• At 105 hectares Abuko Nature Reserve is one of the smallest (if not the smallest) protected areas in Africa, but it still offers a good introduction to the Gambian wildlife.
• Khan Shatyry in Astana is a shopping and entertainment center hosted in a giant transparent tent big enough to hold 10,000 people.

• La Antigua Guatemala (pictured) was the colonial Spanish capital of Central America. It is a World Heritage Site, and is arguably the most popular tourist destination in Guatemala.
• Luxembourg is the only Grand Duchy in the world.
• It is said that you can "see seven states" from the Lover's Leap in Rock city near Chattanooga.

• Tiananmen Square (pictured) in Beijing is the largest square in the world.
• Belgium is home to more than 800 different kinds of beer.
• Kakadu National Park is the largest national park in Australia and contains one of the highest concentrated areas of aboriginal rock art sites in the world.

• Armenia (pictured) has the shape of a long-haired young woman looking westwards.
• The capital Reykjavik is actually one of the best places in Iceland for whale watching.
• Sorrel, a specialty of Dominica, is nicknamed the Christmas drink because of its red color and because the flowers it is made of bloom only around Christmas.