The International Museum of the Prophet's Biography offers a detailed, technology-driven exploration of the life and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Located within the Clock Tower complex in Mecca, it uses immersive multimedia exhibits, 3D models and cinematic presentations to convey its narrative. The approach is modern and educational, focusing on accessibility for an international audience with multi-language support. Rather than displaying historical artefacts, the museum prioritises storytelling and moral instruction, providing a structured, informative complement to the spiritual experience of visiting the holy city.

You will be surprised by the straight layout of the city's historical heart in sharp contrast to the usual maze of streets. A walk through Rabat's medina could look like this: start your visit at the Bab El Had gate and take Souika Street, the largest and probably busiest street in the medina. You will arrive in the Es Sabat souk, the shoe market, covered with reed mats and overflowing with babouches (leather slippers) as well as silver and gold jewellery. You then come to the partially glass-roofed Rue des Consuls where craftsmen make woollen carpets, fabrics and copperware. The medina also offers low-priced and local food, so do not hesitate to try mint tea, pastillas or tagine.

Sidi Bou Saïd stands out as one of the highlights of a trip to Tunis. Reach this hilltop village by taxi or suburban train, where cobbled lanes wind between Santorini-esque white houses, their doors and shutters painted vivid blue. The sea views dazzle at every turn. Best enjoyed with mint tea at Café des Nattes or Kahoua El Alia as the sun dips low.

The beguinages of Flanders and the Netherlands are always oases of calm and stillness, where you might still expect to see an old beguine mumbling her prayers in a doorway. Two of Ghent’s three beguinages have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Although the Old St Elizabeth Beguinage, in Begijnhofdries in Ghent, is no longer enclosed by a wall, making it simply part of the city, it still has a unique atmosphere. Today the Old St Elizabeth Beguinage is known as ‘holy corner’, a place of religious tolerance, because it has no less than three different churches: one is Roman Catholic, one is Orthodox and the other is Protestant. From bleachfield to orchard This open beguinage grew into something of a ‘beguine city’ in the 13th century, with a church, the ‘Grootjuffer’s House’, an infirmary, a chapel, more than a hundred houses for beguines, a bleachfield (a field where linen was laid out to bleach) and an orchard. After the French Revolution, with increasing industrialisation, the inhabitants moved to their new beguinage in Sint-Amandsberg in 1873.