If you identify as an extreme introvert, then boy, is this the spot for you!
There’s a house on Elliðaey island (no we don’t know how to pronounce that, either) which is an island seemingly in the middle of nowhere – the most northeastern island in an archipelago near Iceland. It looks completely vulnerable to the elements and if it’s near Iceland, we’re assuming it’s pretty cold as well.
You can visit there but it’s a treacherous trip…as YouTuber Ryan Trahan recently found out.
Check out the 48 hours Trahan spent in the World’s Loneliest House above.
Sitting above a typically rocky, typically stunning section of Cycladic coast, classic Greek island architecture meets chic furnishings and bohemian atmosphere at Soho Roc House.
You need to be a member of the Soho House Group to enjoy this slice of paradise.
In return, you receive access to one of the islands’ hottest spots. There is an outdoor gym, a pool and veranda, bespoke lounge areas, a restaurant that serves organic, home-style Mediterranean food, and as much as anything else, a place to connect with like-minded members.
Next door is Scorpios, a creative space that ‘transcends genres, borders, and stereotypes’ where you can expect a mixture of live music performances, including DJ sets, as well as mind and body rituals and performance.
Svalbard, the archipelago between Norway and the North Pole, is the world’s northernmost a-lot-of-things. The world’s northernmost food and drink festival, Taste Svalbard, is one of these.
That description goes only some way to describing the uniqueness of this festival, held in Longyearbyen every year. With its location, Svalbard was always going to do their own thing when it came to cuisine.
Fresh and sustainably sourced fish, arctic cheese and beers from local breweries are all on the menu, and there’s also traditional local meals like reindeer soup and moose burger, both of which this writer will be reserving judgement on for now. There’s workshops, stalls, lectures and tastings as well.
While the food from this part of the world has a reputation for being delicious, there surely isn’t a food or drink festival set in more extraordinary surrounds. And as it’s held in October each year, on the cusp of winter, you can expect the Northern Lights to be doing their thing.
Spanning 1.5 kilometres, the longest treetop walk in the world has opened in Switzerland. Connecting the two alpine villages of Laax Murschetg and Laax Dorf, the Senda dil Dragun weaves through lush forest, immersing you in the epic mountain scenery.
Viewing platforms allow you to stop and take in the sights, while information boards share facts about the local flora and fauna. At its highest point the elevated boardwalk is 28 metres above the ground (that’s roughly the height of four double decker buses), and it’s made entirely from regionally sourced wood so that it blends seamlessly in with the surrounding landscape.
But the coolest part would have to be the 73-metre long slide, which offers an alternative route back down to the ground. It’s great fun for the kids, or any adults who don’t want to take the stairs or lift.
There are pubs, and then there are London pubs. They number in their thousands in this historical city, and the euphoria one gets from an afternoon of sipping a brown ale on a cobblestoned corner is unmatched.
And there is no pub more iconic than The Churchill Arms, where a love of the great wartime prime minister is as colourful as the flowers dripping from its eye-catching facade. Originally built in 1750, and located just a few streets from Kensington Palace, its walls are covered in Churchill memorabilia – and although Sir Winston never made his wartime broadcasts from the pub (as the legend goes), his grandparents did drink here regularly in the 1800s, which is cool enough for us.
The Churchill Arms was also the very first pub in London to serve Thai food, and the annual flower bill is believed to be more than AU$45,000.
The Stag’s Head is a Dublin landmark with a mood to suit every personality. The main bar is a tribute to tradition: polished mahogany, walnut and ebony, leather chairs, stained glass windows, chandeliers, and dark oak whiskey casks sunk into the walls – from where the eponymous stuffed beast keeps watch.
Barristers, journalists and brokers lunch in the old smoking lounge. While upstairs, students and assorted blow-ins turn it bookish, rowdy and random. This bolthole was the first pub in Ireland with electricity and featured in Educating Rita.
James Joyce, Michael Collins and Quentin Tarantino have all frequented. The latter was turned away for trying to score a sneaky after-hours tipple, but did return the next day for soup.
The iconic Parisian nightclub and bar, Silencio has just this month opened a chic, impressive and very inviting waterfront beach house in Europe’s party capital of Ibiza.
Its new partner club, El Silencio is nestled in a serene and dreamy cove in the east of the island, set against the backdrop of the famous Cala Moli.
Featuring four main spaces including a main restaurant by the company ToShare (managed by Pharrell Williams and Jean Imbert) is set to be the hottest new day club this year as the Spanish party island starts to welcome back visitors after a dismal 2020.
Complete with movie screenings, music festivals and private parties, El Silencio will no doubt follow in the footsteps of it’s much sought-after and popular Parisian cousin.
Now please pass us an icy cocktail, all this European party talk is making us thirsty.
We’re not sure there hasn’t been a week since the COVID-19 pandemic began, when we haven’t thought about a holiday in a private villa, etched into a Santorini cliff face.
Mystique is a set of secret villas in the ancient Cycladic town of Oia, all overlooking the turquoise Aegean waters surrounding the famous Greek island.
These private luxury suites are an exclusive, barefoot luxury hideaway all complete with generous indoor living spaces, private pools and spas.
Santorini has evolved over the years into an Instagram paradise, but there are still some hidden secrets here like Mystique’s villas which remind us why it became so popular in the first place. And why we love a private villa on the Greek Islands.
Need another reason to get here quickly? The villas also have unfettered access to a 150-year-old secret wine cave, where guests are treated to unique wine-tasting experiences and private dinners deep in the Caldera Cliffs of Oia in Santorini.
When the only neighbouring attraction is a service station littered with truckies and fast food restaurants it doesn’t take much to stand out. Yet the Autobahn Church Siegerland goes above and beyond to demand the attention of every passing motorist, with a curious modern design best described as a large, white replica of Batman’s headpiece. Its interior is equally bewitching, with a timber honeycomb dome and simple, box-like chairs. Situated on the busy A45 in Wilnsdorf, an hour’s drive west of Cologne, this chapel offers travellers space to reflect and worship or just relax beside the frantic pace of the motorway. Although this religious edifice is not the only one of its kind (there are some 40 other autobahn churches in Germany), Siegerland is arguably one of the country’s most original. Ducking across the highway for a quick roadside coffee post-sermon will have you revived and ready to hit the open road once again.
Distant benediction King George Island, Antarctica
A crowdfunded Russian Orthodox Church perched at the top of a craggy hill, on an island at the end of the world. No your eyes do not deceive you – this tiny clapboard structure, shackled to the coast, can weather polar winters, and has done so since its consecration in 2004. Situated on one of the most isolated and barren stretches of land on the planet, Trinity Church is manned year-round by two priests who hail from the Trinity Lavra of St Sergius, which is said to be the most important monastery in all of Russia. Aside from delivering mass to the resident population (which fluctuates between 100 denizens in winter and 500 in summer) the clergymen stationed here are also responsible for the occasional baptism and even wedding. The surreal surrounds of this lone sub-zero church might just offer churchgoers a spiritual awakening.
When life gives you human remains, make art. That appears to be the principle woodcarver František Rint followed when he revamped the Sedlec Ossuary in the 1870s. His interior design arsenal? Tens of thousands of bones. And the result? A spellbindingly macabre interior festooned with skulls, femurs and tibias. Even the imposing candelabras, coat of arms, chalices and bunting are fashioned out of skeletons from the plague of 1318. Located in the suburbs of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Kutná Hora, about an hour’s drive east of Prague, this small Roman Catholic chapel was originally built in 1400. For anyone touring Europe and suffering from a serious case of church fatigue, this kooky house of worship will no doubt offer some respite.
Almost abandoned due to lack of funds, the glorious 15-metre tall Thorncrown Chapel is a feat of both persistence and faith. Back in the 70s, retired schoolteacher Jim Reed noticed tourists frequently roamed through his property to scope out the beauty of the Ozark Mountains. Rather than fence them out, he teamed up with renowned architect E. Fay Jones to develop Thorncrown, a place of worship immersed in a forest of oaks, pines and maples. As soon as it opened in 1980 the structure began raking in accolades, including the Design of the Year Award bestowed by the American Institute of Architects in 1981. Constructed with 425 windows holding 152 metres of glass and a roof soaring to the heavens, the building blends in with its surroundings so well that you’ll forget you’re inside a church. Settle into a pew atop the stone floor and worship at the altar of Mother Nature.
Who would’ve thought that Berlin warehouse rave-style lighting and religious symbology could intertwine so harmoniously? Colombian Catholics appear to have stumbled upon this exact enlightened conclusion 25 years ago, while transforming an abandoned salt mine into an illuminating site of supplication. The glowing lights add more than a dash of the 90s to the cavernous space that featured a (rather more modest) holy site even in the 30s, when miners would pray before a day of hard labour. Now you no longer need to don a hard hat – or fear for your life – to journey to its depths, 180 metres underground. Instead you can simply marvel at its 14 small chapels and carved salt sculptures, such as a five-metre tall cross, all dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, the patron saint of miners. Should you ignore basic hygiene and sneak a quick lick of the cathedral’s walls, you’ll taste 250-million-year-old salt. And if all that sodium’s left you thirsty there’s even Colombian coffee on offer in an adjoining subterranean cafe.
The 17 rooms at Hotel du Petit Moulin are a lesson in combining colour, texture and a touch of history. Fashion guru Christian Lacroix has given each its own flamboyant style, with panoramic wallpapers, patterned soft furnishings and rich hues.
The building was constructed in the seventeenth century as a boulangerie – it’s said Victor Hugo used to buy his bread from here – but there’s no restaurant on site.
Thankfully, it’s also located in one of Paris’s best neighbourhoods, so a short stroll takes you to fine diners, charming cafes and a host of other attractions. These boutique digs have a nearby sister hotel, Pavillion de la Reine, where guests can use the spa and fitness room, and borrow bicycles for pedalling around town.
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