Many of us like to travel or try to save money for travelling. However, when you think about travelling, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Travel is associated with hotels and beaches, for someone, with nightclubs, and someone with the sights of countries. In many countries, entertainment has been created for tourists that you did not even think of, but many of them are worth spending on. Let us look at what features the following countries have distinguished themselves.
Remember to mark a bull run in your calendar when going to Spain. On the streets of Pamplona, you can see running bulls on a narrow street — there is little pleasure, but Spaniards think differently. Running bulls before a bullfight and running away from them is a long—standing Spanish fun and tradition called “encierro.” The most famous encierro is held in Pamplona on the feast of St. Fermin — from the sixth to the fourteenth of July. Anyone over the age of eighteen can participate in the race. For such spectacles, it is better to find a balcony on Relay Street in advance to look at the angry animals from a safe height.
Almost everyone has watched the Lion King movie, but have you ever seen a hyena live? In the city of Harare, Ethiopia, you have an excellent opportunity to share dinner with hyenas. Residents of the Ethiopian city of Harare are friends with hyenas. Predators work as urban scavengers: they eat up the cores in landfills and hunt animals, so rats do not displace people from the city. Moreover, for the predators to behave well, they are fed by passers-by. When it gets dark, catch a taxi that will take you to the feeding place. First, watch how the Ethiopian fishes meat out of the basket, which is instantly swallowed by a flock of hyenas, then try it yourself: treat the hyena with meat from your hand or take a stick in your mouth, hang a piece of meat on it and wait for the beast to take it off.
Lovers of hiking, the metro trail on Mount Huashan, China, is for you. Huashan is one of the five sacred mountains of Taoism, but not everyone can get to the top. Sages and hermits used to hide among the mountains, and impressive paths over the cliffs still lead to the peaks. The steepest is the “path of death” on the Southern Peak. You will have to make your way along narrow wooden planks nailed to a vertical rock at an altitude of 2000 meters. At the entrance, everyone is provided with safety systems. If you dare to rest your feet on the path and hang on the rope above the clouds, you can consider that the most extreme vacation in your life is provided for you.
Another adventure that not everyone can dare is waiting for you in the Trichnyukayigur volcano’s crater in Reykjavik, Iceland. To begin with, you will have to go into an open elevator, which will take you 120 meters down to the very bottom of the volcano crater. This is because Trichnyukayigur has been sleeping peacefully for four thousand years and will not spew lava from under your feet. And then the elevator will take you back to the light, and you will have to walk 3 km to the beginning of the road much more cheerfully than you went to the volcano.
Many people know that Japan is famous for its delicacy – puffer fish. However, puffer fish can become the last delicacy in your life. This is because Puffer fish contains tetrodotoxin, one of the world’s most potent poisons, many times more toxic than potassium cyanide. So, cooks filigree cuts out the liver and other organs that accumulate toxins to minimize the risk. After that, the puffer is considered safe and served in the form of sashimi, tempura or boiling broth, which is cooked right on the table. If you dare to try, choose well-known restaurants that employ licensed chefs you can trust.
Have you ever been to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil? For many, Rio is known for its skyscrapers, yachts and luxury villas. However, behind all this beauty, Brazilian slums are hiding. Inside the slums, there are narrow and crooked streets; houses are built one above the other, and children play football under the wires. At first, you may be afraid to enter the slums because of bandits or gangsters. However, the favelas in the city’s south are safe, especially Santa Marta, Vidigal, Rocinha, Tavares Bastos and Cantagalo. Take a guide from the locals — they call themselves carioca — and explore the slums in safety. Then, for the fullness of the sensations, have lunch right in the favela, tasting the local feijoada. However, it is better not to visit favelas in the north of Rio because there is a high probability that they will return without a wallet.
Exceptional services are offered in Jakarta, Indonesia. For example, the spa offers snake massage. Lie down on the massage table and be ready to see the head of a two-meter python instead of the tanned hands of the master. Daredevils say that reptiles perfectly stretch their muscles and feel problem areas in the human body. Moreover, those who could not relax for an hour and a half of the procedure then boast of a new way to combat herpetophobia.
Embark on a mind-blowing adventure in Stockholm, Sweden. Purchase a ticket for a rooftop tour to see the famous old parliament on Riddarholmen Island. Before you start, they will put on a safety system and a helmet and explain how to handle carbines. From a height, Stockholm is even more charming!
On the island of Guadalupe, Mexico, you have an excellent opportunity to meet sharks. While others admire the harmless coral reefs and seahorses, you decide on a real adventure — diving with white sharks. Toothy cannibals are looking forward to meeting you from July to November off the coast of the Mexican island of Guadalupe. Going on an adventure with sharks, you will be placed in a non-biting cage submerged underwater for 9 meters. You will breathe through a long hose fixed on the boat, so a diver’s certificate is unnecessary. However, courage does not hurt: up to six great white sharks gather around the cage. The main thing is not to stick your hands out.
San Francisco in the USA is known for the Alcatraz prison. On Alcatraz Island, you can feel how hard it was for the gangsters and rebels who got there. The worst was in Block D, where the most dangerous criminals were kept. However, there was no choice in the most famous prison: for 29 years, officially, no one managed to escape from it. To feel like Al Capone, come to San Francisco, take the ferry and go on a tour to Alcatraz. You will walk through the dreary showers, rows of cell cells, a dining room and windows for meetings with relatives. Choose a tour in the early morning or before sunset to feel the oppressive atmosphere better.
Rafting on the river with crocodiles on the Nile River, Jinja city, Uganda, will give you unforgettable emotions. You will fly over the breakers, crash into the white foam and fall out of the raft — on rafting on the Nile. The rapids are like waterfalls, and the numbers will impress even experienced water tourists. However, even if you have not held an oar in your hands before, it does not matter. The instructor will tell you when to row and how to skip the threshold, which seems impassable. Moreover, the crocodiles on the Nile River will add to the thrill. However, you try to relax: the guides know all the crocodile places and will not let you even stick your finger out of the raft, which is dangerous.
The last and perhaps the most exciting adventure can be tried out in the Catacombs of Paris, France. Paris is not as romantic as it seems in Montmartre or the Tuileries Garden. Underground, in the catacombs under the city, lie the remains of 6 million people. Previously, these were quarries where a stone was mined for construction, and wine cellars were also arranged. Moreover, cemeteries overflowed in Paris in the XVIII century, and skeletons began to be transferred to underground labyrinths. For several months, people dragged bags of bones here at night — this is how a large ossuary turned out, which is now open to tourists. To look at the mosaics of skulls, come to the entrance of the Danfer-Rochereau metro station. It is damp, cold and gloomy below, but it is here that the remains of Robespierre, Pascal and Charles Perrault rest.
