Bendigo Ghost Town
Location: New Zealand, Otago, Cromwell area
Great reserve based around an extremely successful mining area with ruins of the boom towns, mining relics, and shafts.
Brunner Mine Site
Location: New Zealand, West Coast, Greymouth area
Historic area built around the site of the Brunner Mine Disaster of 1865.
Hagia Sophia ♦
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Iconic Byzantine-era cathedral turned mosque and now a museum; characterized by spectacular architecture and decorative elements including numerous mosaics
Topkapi Palace
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
15th century Ottoman royal palace with extensive grounds and courtyards, a harem, treasury, arms collection, and more.
Great Palace Mosaic Museum
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Museum housing the excavated remains of spectacular mosaics from the 4th century imperial palace
Oropesa Bread Making
Location: Peru, Cusco Region
Historic community famous for its delicious artisan bread
Eagle and High Peak Gold Mine
Location: California, San Diego area, Julian
Historic gold mine restored to its 1870’s appearance with old mining equipment and memorabilia
The Huntington
Location: California, Los Angeles area, Pasadena
Historic large estate with numerous excellent gardens, an art collection, and library housing rare books and manuscripts
Mt. Lowe Railway
Location: California, Los Angeles area, San Gabriels
Hike the route of the historic Mt. Lowe railway, exploring the ruins of the two major stops along the route
La Brea Tar Pits
Location: California, Los Angeles
Famous ice age fossil site with ongoing excavations and a museum
Mission San Antonia de Padua
Location: California, East of Big Sur
Mission founded in 1771 with a mission church, garden, museum, and extant ruins of equipment intended to support a community around the mission which never materialized
Stöng
Location: Iceland, Southern, Thjórsárdalur
Excavated remains of a 12th century longhouse
Biltmore
Location: North Carolina, Asheville
Late 19th century country estate of the Vanderbilts, offering various options to tour the house and grounds, all of which are very nice
Ringling Museum
Location: Florida, Tampa Bay Area, Sarasota
The state art museum of Florida, the Ringing contains a museum of art, a circus museum, the estate home of John and Mable Ringling, and nice gardens
Chihuly Collection
Location: Florida, Tampa Bay Area, St. Petersburg
Permanent display of artist Dale Chihuly’s amazing glass work; studio next door provides glass blowing demos
Sarasota Honey Company
Location: Florida, Tampa Bay Area, Sarasota
Benefit the community and the environment while playing with bees and enjoying bee/honey related products
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium
Location: Florida, Tampa Bay Area, Sarasota
Public outreach arm of a not-for-profit marine research organization
Shipwreck Treasures Museum
Location: Florida, Key West
Museum highlighting the wreck salvage business that flourished in the 1800’s due to the large number of shipwrecks occurring in the area
Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp ♦
Location: Myanmar, Western Shan State
Elephant conservation camp where you can wash elephants in the river and participate in reforestation efforts by planting trees
Cu Chi Tunnels ♦
Location: Vietnam, Southern
War memorial park at the home base of the Viet Cong Tet Offensive, where you can tour the tunnels and buildings used by the fighters
DMZ
Location: Vietnam, Central
Various military sites can be visited in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) including the Hien Lung Bridge and Vinh Moc Tunnels
Ho Chi Minh City
Location: Vietnam, Southern
Vietnam’s capital city and home to two war memorial museums (from the war with the US), historic French colonial architecture, and lots of phở