After a long 12-year wait, Cinque Terre’s beloved walkway, Via dell’Amore, has reopened.
Just think about it, when the iconic footpath was first roped off in 2012 after a landslide, middle-aged mums were going crazy over 50 Shades of Grey and South Korean singer PSY was Gangnam Style-ing all over the place.
Thankfully those days are behind us and mushy romantics can once again get their steps in along the ‘Path of Love’ after a 23-million-euro upgrade restored the trail.
But (there’s always a but), don’t expect the trail to be exactly the same as it was. Before its closure, visitors to the Ligurian coastline were able to scribble ‘John + Jenny 4 life’ on the rock walls and attach locks to bits of railing in a misguided effort to secure everlasting love. You can’t do that anymore.
What you can do though is buy tickets the second you’ve factored the walk into your itinerary (visitor numbers are now capped). You’ll also be prompted to reserve a specific time slot, so no sleeping in.
While this might be a little more admin than was previously needed, this 2,950-foot stretch of the best damn views you’ve ever seen, is worth it.
Have you ever had a dream and thought, ‘What the fuck was that’, but when telling your friends about it later, you can’t seem to remember any of the details?
The guys over at Rocco Forte Hotels in Rome have come up with a creative solution with their new, ‘Dream Portraits,’ experience. So, not only will you be able to remember your dreams, you’ll be able to see them – kinda scary, definitely cool.
This futuristic project uses cutting-edge technology to record your dreams, interpret what happens in them and then create a physical 3D sculpture you can display on your coffee table at home.
To participate, you have to wear a comfortable headset with EEG sensors on it that’ll monitor your brain activity while you sleep. High tech software then translates the data from your brain into audio signals, which are then turned into sound waves and so on.
It sounds technical but if you can get past the fact that it’s very similar to the synopsis of a twisted, James Wan-style horror film, this project has the ability to give you an unusual glimpse into exactly what your subconscious mind was thinking during your stay in Rome.
Was it, ‘I shouldn’t have had that second scoop of gelato’? Or, ‘I wonder how many people get arrested for taking coins out of the Trevi Fountain each year’? Maybe it was, ‘I’ve eaten so much pasta, I’m turning into a giant piece of spaghetti’.
Whatever it may be, it only costs an eye-watering AUD$24,788 to see it come to life.
The Stigull Stairway, consisting of a 40-metre-long ladder suspended above the Norwegian Fjords, sits a staggering 790 metres above the ground. Yep, 7-9-0. That’s the height of almost two and a half Eiffel Towers (sorry, it’s taken us longer than expected to get the Olympics out of our brains).
The ladder’s made up of 120 teeny tiny steps and sits at a slope of 45 degrees, which is enough to make even the steadiest of climbers a little shaky. Luckily, the attraction has a very low difficulty rating and experience level, so as long as you’re not deathly afraid of heights, you should be okay.
And when you make it to the end, hopefully with your lunch still firmly in your stomach, you’ve got the epic views from the top of Mount Hoven waiting for you. There’s also a restaurant, a gift shop (we’re sensing an ‘I survived’ t-shirt purchase in your near future) and the fjord’s famous Leon Skylift cable car to keep your adventure going.
But the stairway isn’t the only adrenaline-inducing attraction the Norwegian village of Leon has going for it. It’s also home to the Via Ferrata, one of the most spectacular climbing routes in the world, as well as a death-defying zipline and an only slightly less terrifying suspension bridge.
Roses are red, violets are blue, to have a drink at this pub, you’ll need to give up a shoe.
That’s right. Dulle Griet, located in Ghent’s famous Vrijdagmarkt square, demands beer-seekers take off one of their shoes in exchange for a 1.2-litre glass of their house beer, the Max.
To stop you from doin’ a runner with the glass, they hold your shoe hostage, place it in a basket and hoist it to the ceiling. They only give it back to you once you’ve drained every last drop of the flavourful frothy stuff.
Don’t get too carried away though. If you break the glass, it’ll set you back 90 euros (AU$146). That’s one expensive beer. And they only take cash.
We’re used to putting our best foot forward, but this isn’t the place to debut the new shoes you just spent your hard-earned pocket money on. Or to care about the germs and general stickiness that usually grace the floor of any decent drinking establishment.
It’s still worth a visit though. More than 500 different types of beer line the pub’s dusty shelves, from traditional blonde abbey ales and full-bodied quadrupels to dark Trappist beers you’ll definitely feel in the morning.
Not a huge beer drinker? Go for the vibes.
The pub’s delightful décor features wooden beams, beer barrels, church decorations, old alcohol ads, dolls, cart wheels and pig bladders (not weird at all). They even have outdoor seating for those brew-tiful sunny Belgium days. See what we did there?
Living up to every inch of its fantastical name, Copenhagen restaurant Alchemist promises an unforgettable culinary experience – probably unlike any other restaurant you’ve been to.
Born from the imaginative and boundary-pushing mind of head chef Rasmus Munk, and considering the restaurant’s three stories and mid-meal interactive performances, it’s little wonder it placed so highly on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list.
Eating here is actually a minor part of the experience.
Art. Theatre. Science. Technology. No, we’re not listing all your most hated high school subjects. Alchemist draws on these elements to redefine dining and transcend physical surroundings.
You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s more art exhibition than restaurant. With fascinating projections lighting up the dining room’s domed ceiling (think floating jellyfish and the northern lights) and a seemingly endless parade of tasty treats to try (50 to be exact), a night here will put your IKEA dining table and homemade spag bol to shame.
A reservation isn’t for the faint of heart though.
Not only do you have to ‘buy tickets’ three months in advance, but each sitting lasts between 4-6 hours, so it’s not quite the scene for that awkward first date you have coming up or the important business dinner you’ve been putting off. It’ll also set you back a minimum of AU$1,173. And that’s without the wine pairing option.
Our advice? Bring an open mind, a stacked wallet and a healthy appetite.
This is the order of the Order of St Clare, who have responded to rising costs that were affecting their pastry business by renting out rooms as AirBnBs in their 16th century convent.
In the description, “peace… light and calm” are all offered from a stay at Convent of Saint Mary of Jesus Airbnb.
We don’t expect this one to be a raucous party accommodation, and we’d advise getting your sins out before you stay, which means no profanities and certainly no orgies.
The convent is still the same one the nuns sleep and work in from day-to-day, although the apartments are based in a different block.
These is hardly the humble abode of those devoted to a life of religion; a large private patio allows you to take in the blue Seville sky, and there’s a coffee maker, orange juicer, water heater for infusions, big T.V and even an outdoor shower, which is kind of niche and unexpected.
The convent is based in the ridiculously attractive city of Seville, in the southern part of Spain, which is a huge plus.
Excuse us if we sound cliche, but Inhabit— on Southwick Street in London’s Paddington neighbourhood—is less of a hotel and more of a home. Think cosy. Think velvet. Think your dream London home, if only you could actually afford to buy a home in Paddington.
There’s also a real focus on mindful living here. The six-storey Georgian townhouse has a library, an atrium for yoga, a meditation pod and an infrared sauna.
If your days of London raves are over, or you’re just looking for a peaceful place to rest and recuperate from aforementioned rave scene, Inhabit is it.
Pronounced: FLOKE-HIT-NAH. Yep, the entire Norwegian language is just an outrageous tangle of consonants and vowels to an outsider.
Hello to these small cabins situated in Sveio, at the edge of Norway’s mighty west coast, just south of Bergen. Flokehyttene translates to ‘The Tangle Huts’, but these are hardly a tangle.
This part of the world is blessed with extraordinary beauty and these incredible installations (built in typical northern minimalism) let the location do all the talking.
Panoramic windows offer glorious views to the outside world—wild winds whipping the sea into a frenzy. And you’re watching it all from the comfort of your little cabin, coffee in hand.
When you think of Greece, it’s usually the white of Santorini and the blue of the ocean. You think of destroying gyros after gyros, day after day. You think of paying five euro to sit in a beach lounge on Ios because your hangover cannot deal with the blazing Greek sun.
But the home of the Olympics is actually quite a mountainous place too; 80% of it in fact, is considered mountainous, with the famed Mount Olympus, in the country’s far north. Down the other end is Manna, nestled above the village of Arcadia.
This is a hotel which was once a sanatorium for people with chronic illness. It’s now a luxury mountain sanctuary, but it’s easy to see why this was considered a good place to heal what ails ya. Really, really old trees surround you at all times, whether you’re chowing down gourmet gyros or taking a bath. Maybe you’re doing both at the same time. There’s no room to be bored: hike, ski, cycle, hunt for mushrooms in the forest, hunt for gyros in the forest, or just chill with a gyros.
Ještěd Tower is probably the most impressive TV antenna in the world.
It’s a 94-metre behemoth perched on top of Mount Ještěd, which is already at an altitude of about 1,000 metres. When lit up at night this colossal bit of construction gives the impression of a UFO perching precariously on the mountain top.
And if you’re an alien popping in from another galaxy (which apparently is commonplace nowadays), we can absolutely see why you’d land here—the vantage point offers extraordinary views of Bohemia. Both Poland and Germany are visible from Hotel Ještěd, which is in the cone-shaped building beneath the tower itself. Open since 1973, the once-futuristic and now retro-feeling aesthetic is unique: we’re calling it E.T. chic.
It’s affordable too: staying in a UFO with some of the best views in Europe for less than 50 Aussie bucks a night sounds pretty good to us.
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