Fort Cornwallis is George Town’s most prominent historical landmark. Its star-shaped 18th-century ramparts on the waterfront enclose an array of British colonial buildings, including prison cells, a powder magazine, a chapel, a harbour beacon, and bronze cannons still mounted on the battlements.

The three Art Nouveau kiosks by architect Ernesto Basile appear like unexpected gems along the buzzing streets of Palermo. Built about the end of the 19th century, the kiosks once hosted the traditional Sicilian vendors of soft drinks and refreshing beverages but are today converted into tobacconists. Chiosco Ribaudo located in Piazza Verdi, the most famous one, is a crimson and wrought iron building adorned with golden letters. The second Ribaudo kiosk in Piazza Castelnuovo is decorated with colourful majolica and mosaics while the Chiosco Vicari, in front of the Teatro Massimo, is a triumph of Moorish, Islamic, and Colonial architecture.

For those who set eyes on Deansgate's John Rylands Library for the first time, 'library' might not be the first word that comes to mind. This masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture looks more like a castle or cathedral. When John Rylands died in 1888, he was one of Manchester's most successful industrialists with a personal fortune of £2.75 million. The library was commissioned in 1890 by his wife, Enriqueta Rylands, in memory of her late husband. This world-class collection includes the oldest known piece of the New Testament, the St John Fragment. Other treasures of the vast, varied collection include magnificent illuminated medieval manuscripts and a 1476 William Caxton edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.