Just a kilometre south of Chora lies the village of Pera Gialos, once the island's main port. Today it boasts a relatively well-developed tourist infrastructure and a charming beach, ideal for a refreshing swim. Boat tours run from here to nearby sites and other beaches.

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.

The Whirlpool Aero Car, designed by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo, has been transporting passengers across the Niagara River since 1916. Suspended from six sturdy cables, the antique red cable car offers a unique perspective of the Niagara Whirlpool, a mesmerizing natural phenomenon formed where the river abruptly changes direction. Far below, witness the torrent of water as it escapes through the narrowest channel in the gorge, creating a swirling spectacle that is both captivating and awe-inspiring.