Augarten are amazing Baroque gardens where visitors can marvel at lavish flower landscapes and walk through an extensive area criss-crossed by shady avenues and lined with chestnuts, elms, lindens, ashes and maples. Amongst other things, the Augarten is home to the Vienna Boys’ Choir in the Augartenpalais. With some luck, the Boys’ Choir can also be heard rehearsing here.

In July and August you can make boat tours on the Maas River, from the fortified town of Heusden. The tour boat, Wiljo, departs from the Molensteiger, the windmill base at the harbour at 13.30 and 15.00. The route runs along the Maas River and passes through the Heusden Canal (a man-made section of the river), past the village of Wijk & Aalburg and into the “dead end“ of the original Maas River and, after an hour of sailing, the boat returns to Heusden. Various drinks can be bought on board, both on the upper deck and in the cosy room below deck.

Tucked into the hillside just outside Cortona, Le Celle is a small Franciscan hermitage dating back to the 13th century. It’s peaceful, simple, and still run by monks today. Saint Francis stayed here briefly, and you can actually see his old cell. The hermitage is a sight in itself, but also benefits from beautiful surroundings.

This field reminds its visitors of a time of brutal executions and torture. More than 17,000 people were killed here during the Khmer Rouge regime, and today, there are mass graves and a memorial stupa (a Buddhist reliquary) with thousands of human bones. An audio tour tells the heart-braking history.