San Marino – the oldest country in the world

Possibly because it’s too small and insignificant for anyone to worry about invading, the tiny Republic of San Marino has been in existence since AD301. Surprisingly, this makes the 61 km² state, entirely landlocked by Italy, the oldest country in the world. Whilst other nations have been busy invading each other, changing names and having revolutions, sleepy San Marino has stood by and watched, untroubled. It doesn’t have an airport or railway station (try nearby Rimini in Italy for that), and shopping is the main attraction for the three million tourists that visit every year. This is largely because items are not subject to the 20% sales tax imposed by Italian law, but novelty collectables such as stamps and coin sets are also big earners. However, it’s not all souvenirs and duty free shopping, with the three mountain fortresses overlooking the Adriatic coast providing views that far bigger nations would be insanely jealous of. Getting to San Marino Nearest International Airport: Rimini in Italy is the closest, although Bologna is not far away and that gets more flights. Using public transport: Buses go reasonably regularly from outside Rimini’s train station. More information: San Marino tourism

Author David Whitley is an Australia travel expert who runs AustraliaTravelQuestions.com

World's oldest restaurant - Casa Botin in Madrid, Spain

Those authoritarian chaps at Guinness World Records have attempted to silence the bickering over who gets the honour of being dubbed the world’s oldest restaurant, and have declared the Casa Botin in Madrid, Spain the winner.
Tucked away on Calle de Cuchilleros near the main square in the Spanish capital, this has become something of a tourist trap, but it has been open since 1725 for a very good reason.
Whilst most diners are visitors, it is not one of those places that the locals conspicuously avoid because the food isn’t up to scratch.
Quite the contrary, in fact, with the house speciality of roast suckling pig reputed to border on the divine and well worth the few extra Euros you’ll pay for location and gimmick factor.

More information: Casa Botin

Robert The Bruce’s Cave in Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

This is thought to be the place that inspired a legend. The story goes that Robert The Bruce, King of Scotland way back in the early 14th century, retreated to it after a series of crushing military defeats.
With the hated English well on top, Robert had considered giving in. It was then that he saw a spider repeatedly trying to spin a web over the entrance of the cave, and he realised that perseverance would bring rewards.
So he left the cave, probably breaking the poor spider’s web again on the way out, and began to wage a successful guerrilla war against the English.
Bruce’s Cave (or at least the one with the most plausible claim to being it) is now controlled by a nearby caravan site in Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Visitors can enter, although arachnophobes would be well advised to steer clear – spiders still inhabit it.

More information: Bruce’s Cave

Europe’s largest thermal lake – Heviz in Hungary

Nature-watching
For ardent nature watchers, it is a fine example of the species. The taut skin stretches over the substantial curve, as though it is finely packed in, not a spare inch to be filled out. Fetch the harpoons – we’ve got one.
Either side of the protruding bulge of this most excellent corpulent beast are a pair of miniscule Speedos and a fulsome silver moustache, partly covered in the third ice cream of the day. A stirring sight and, amongst those sprawled along the banks of Gyógy-tó, one that is most definitely not alone. As is often the case with this sort of thing, the biggest wellness retreats act like a magnet to those who would be better off doing some hard laps rather than lounging around in the bubbles.

Europe’s largest thermal lake
Gyógy-tó in Heviz, Hungary, is Europe’s largest thermal lake, and it’s an extraordinary sight. Eating five hectares into the surrounding woodland, it is fed by a deep (and very hyperactive) thermal spring that ensures that the water temperature never dips below 26 degrees. Theoretically, it still makes for a nice warm dip even in the heart of a fierce central European winter, but in the summer it is primed for laziness.

Large pavilion
Right in the middle there is a big pavilion, which is described by just about every guidebook as fin-de-siècle, almost as though the writers have just copied each other, not knowing what it means.
Octopus-like would be a far better phrase. From the central head, tentacles are sprawled all over the lake, leading to sun-bathing platforms, changing rooms and all manner of secretive rooms. These are where the portly tourists have their backs pummelled, their faces doused in gunk and their mountainous guts covered with crisp white towels. Shoes must be removed, showers taken and sun protection cream eschewed – the magical waters of the lake must be protected at all times.
At the centre of the octopus, there is a taster. Deep down below the platforms is a darkened pool, in which a gaggle of sectagenarians hang on to a metal bar, all moving on one position every two minutes. It’s almost as though they’re on a conveyor belt, being fed to the hungry Kraaken at the bottom of the lake that has a penchant for wrinkly Hungarians.

Bond villain lair
Once out of the Bond villain lair, however, the lake is an idyllic watery playground. The woodland provides a soothing backdrop to what essentially is a lot of people who should probably know better floating around in rubber rings.
The vague sulphuric smell isn’t enough to deter these hardy adventurers, splish-splashing away in the warm, enveloping cocoon and wishing violent sunburn upon their shoulders. Some even break into a swim, such as the couple wearing matching swimming caps, patriotically emblazoned with the German flag. Not for long mind – just as far as the next pontoon to cling onto.

Getting to Heviz

Nearest international airport: The nearest is the former military base near Keszthely, known as FlyBalaton airport and used by the occasional budget airline, such as Ryanair. Most will fly into Budapest, however.

Using public transport: Trains go direct to Keszthely from Budapest. From there, take a bus to Heviz – it’s approximately 7km away.

More information

Falconry lessons in Gloucestershire, England

Handle birds of prey
There is no CV that can’t be substantially beefed up with the addition of falconry in the skills section, and any sane employer has got to be impressed with a candidate that turns up with a tamed hawk on his or her arm. No?
Irrespective of how useful it is, the National Birds of Prey Centre’s five day course is certainly something different. Based in Gloucestershire, England the course trains participants how to handle, care for and hunt with winged predators, including owls and eagles.

More information: The course costs £450 per person and by the end, you should know how to train a bird from scratch.

Geysir in Iceland – the world’s original thermal spout

If the name Geysir seems familiar, it’s because all thermal water spouts across the world are named after it. But why visit the others when you can make the original your destination? Well, partly because it only works intermittently, but we’ll gloss over that.
One of the results of Iceland’s position just above the earth’s rumbling stomach is that there are many areas of high geothermal activity. So much so that most of the nation’s homes are heated by harnessing it.
At Geysir - which has now become a mini-settlement rather than just an intermittent giant fountain – this underground activity is rather obvious. There are a series of bubbling pools - some of which are shockingly hot, so don’t dip the fingers in – and occasionally the pressure gets too much.
Geysir itself has mellowed with age. It generally only starts emitting when there are earthquakes, but just next door is the most reliable geyser in the world.
Strokkur goes off every six or seven minutes, and the anticipation is almost as exciting as the main show. The water slops back and forth, rumbles with inner turmoil, starts to bulge and then... WOOSH! It’s a fearsome aquatic eruption, shooting 25-30m in the air, followed by a swarming cloud of vapour. All accompanied by the noise of a really fat person jumping into a swimming pool.

Getting to Geysir, Iceland

Nearest International Airport: Keflavik, near Reykjavik.

Using public transport: Good luck to you. Most visitors are either on a Reykjavik Excursions tour bus or have their own hire car.

More information: Geysir Centre

Sorell Hotel Rutli in Zurich, Switzerland

At first glance, the Sorell Hotel Rutli in Zurich, Switzerland is just an ordinary three star hotel, catering for the business traveller and doing everything precisely as standard.
That is unless you’re in one of the ‘City Rooms’, which bear all the hallmarks of a savvy marketing department latching on to a trend for art/ design hotels.
The idea was to let a couple of local graffiti artists loose on the rooms, and see what they came out with. A lot of it is reasonably standard (but stylish) tagging and motifs, but on occasions Drim and Rast have been inspired.
Counting the Sheep is devoted to the storytelling of sleep, with lambs on the wall, ‘Good Night’ sprayed opposite the bed and, er, a green goblin in a pixie hat. The odds of having sweet dreams appear to be entirely dependent on where you look…

Getting to the Sorell Hotel Rutli in Zurich, Switzerland

Using public transport: Sorell Hotel Rutli is at 43 Zahringerstrasse. It’s within walking distance of Zurich’s main train station.

More information: Sorell Hotel Rutli

World’s Greatest Pub – Delirium Café in Brussels, Belgium

To the beer drinker, Delirium Café in Brussels is as close an approximation to paradise as they will ever find.
The reason for this can be found in the large catalogue, weighing the wooden panelling of the table down like it’s a housebrick, or more promptly, by looking at the certificate behind the unhurried barmaid.
It’s from Guinness World Records, and it proudly proclaims that the Delirium has more beers available than any other establishment in the whole world. And that would be a gigantic 2,004 beers at any time. In other words, it’s the world’s greatest pub.
As the English chap plonked on the barside stool is keen to point out, this is a minimum of 2,004. On the list there are another 500, some of which may be out of stock at times due to transport hiccups in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the likes.
A flick through the catalogue is all it takes to realise that this is not your standard Belgian Beer Café. Whilst Belgium is represented in fine style, with every strength, brewing technique and fruit flavouring imaginable, the round-the-world trip is astonishing. Benin, Armenia, Bolivia, Guadaloupe, The Faroe Islands, Namibia, Mongolia, Tahiti… Every corner of the globe is covered, and the temptation to drink your way round it is only dulled by the prices of those obscure brews from Nepal.

Getting to the Delirium Café in Brussels, Belgium

Nearest International Airport: Brussels

Walking: The Delirium is the sort of place you’ll only find if you’re specifically looking for it, or are completely and utterly lost. It’s tucked away on a little cul-de-sac alley (Impasse de la Fidélité) near Grand Place, almost imperceptible as you walk past, off a maze of narrow, restaurant-lined streets, where there is barely room for people to walk two abreast (Rue de Bouchers).

More information: Delirium Café

Crime Museum in Vienna, Austria

Those with a squeamish disposition are adised to skip the Crime Museum in Vienna, Austria (known as KriminalMuseum in German). Tucked away in what seems like a relatively small old building, this place is a veritable TARDIS of gore.
All the text is in German, and the stories of Vienna’s ancient crimes are going to get lost in translation for the non-linguists, but much of the utterly sinister collection is visual. And visceral, for that matter.
The Crime Museum is clearly aimed at the sort of demographic that enjoys walking through extensive cellars, looking at picture after picture of murder victims.
Yes, there are some bits on the sterling work of the police force, but the emphasis is certainly skewed towards rusty torture instruments, brutal weapons and photos of de-limbed torsos being dug up.
But sometimes it’s a refreshing change to settle in for a couple of hours of witch-burnings, violent confession extractions, lynch mobs and mummified heads in jars.
The whole thing is an engaging, morally ambiguous romp through Vienna’s criminal past. Much is ordered chronologically, with illustrated year-by-year and blow-by-blow accounts about the most newsworthy murders complimented by extensive profiles of the crooks. Lovely stuff.

Getting to the Crime Museum in Vienna, Austria

Nearest international airport: Vienna

Using public transport: Get bus number 5A or tram N. The museum is at Große Sperlgasse 24.

More information: Kriminalmuseum

The Bognor International Birdman Contest - Bognor Regis, England

Men (and women) were not born to fly, and should any further evidence of this be needed, then the annual Bognor International Birdman competition in Sussex, England is ample proof.
Held on the first weekend of September every year, this is a contest between eccentrics, fancy dress enthusiasts and wannabe aviation pioneers to see who can fly the furthest after running off Bognor's pier.
Some take it rather seriously, spending a small fortune adapting their hang-gliders into fancy flying machines. Alas, these noble inventors rarely get much further than the comedy entrants dressed as fairies, pirates, library books and cowering donkeys.
Any competitor that manages to fly 100m off the pier under their own power wins a GBP25,000 prize.
However, the contest has been going since 1971, and no-one has yet managed to conquer that distance.
So, while there is a vague element of serious competition, the whole event is largely about giving the general public a chance to watch a lot of people in silly costumes making an exhibition of themselves.
And getting very wet.

Getting to Bognor Regis, England

Nearest international airport: London Gatwick is the closest, although Bournemouth and London Heathrow are fairly accessible from Bognor Regis.

Using public transport: Bognor Regis is in Sussex, on the the south coast of England. The nearest major city is Brighton, from which there are regular buses and trains. However, there are also regular trains from Central London and Clapham Junction station, from where the journey should take just over an hour.

More details: Bognor Internationial Birdman Official Site

Water-jousting in Languedoc, France

At some point in the distant past, the French decided that you don’t need a horse to be a knight in shining armour, and the truly bizarre sport of water jousting was born.
Practiced increasingly across France, it involves two groups of eight rowers powering their champion down the river.
Perched on a heightened platform, the two jousters are armed with a lance and a shield and expected to prod, swing and defend until one of them is knocked off, preferably into the river.
For some reason, the boats also contain a drummer and someone playing a modified oboe, but given that the rest of it makes little sense, who cares? Oh yes, and they’re all singing too.
Languedoc is regarded as the home of water jousting, and while it also happens elsewhere, this is often with ultra-safe lances, and a lot of the pageantry taken out.
The most prestigious tournament is held in Sète on August 25th every year, but events can be stumbled across throughout the summer.

More information: Rules and dates can be found at the Fédération Française de Joutes et Sauvetage Nautique’s website.

Great Gorilla Run in London, England

There’s nothing better to send traffic veering into bollards than the sight of a thousand gorillas rampaging through the streets of London, brandishing bananas as weapons.
Ostensibly run to raise funding for the protection of gorillas in Africa, most of the Great Gorilla Run’s participants are clearly there for the chance to get dressed up in a ridiculous costume and monkey about for the cameras.
The costumes don’t stop at the gorilla outfit either – most taking on the 7km run adapt their outfit to add an extra dimension; hence the gladiator gorillas, Baywatch gorillas and ballet dancing gorillas pouring over Tower Bridge. The Great Gorilla Run takes place in September each year.
Check the official site for more information.

Getting there to the Great Gorilla Run in London, England

Nearest international airport: The event takes place in the City of London, so London Heathrow and London City are nearest airports, although London Luton, London Gatwick and London Stansted aren’t far away.

Using public transport: The event takes place in the City of London, so London Heathrow and London City are nearest airports, although London Luton, London Gatwick and London Stansted aren’t far away.

More details: Great Gorilla Run Official Site

Play or watch Pétanque in France

For a stereotypical image of France, aside from a man in a stripy shirt with onions round his neck underneath the Eiffel tower, you cannot beat a game of boules.
Ah... old men - preferably wearing berets and smoking pipes - leisurely lobbing metal balls into a sandpit in the afternoon sunshine.
The idea is fairly simple, and is closely related to the British version of bowling. The closer you get to the small jack, the better.
Pétanque is the more simplified version of boules, and originated in the south of the country, where it is more prevalent. Ostensibly, it is played for fun, although it doesn’t take much watching to realise that this isn’t the case. At even the lowest level, it is regarded as a game of precision and technique, and this has a tendency to fuel male pride.
It’s important to bear this in mind if you fancy a game. A complete stranger is unlikely to offer you the chance to play, while if you buy your own set of boules, consider the serious looks on the faces around you before treating it as a raucous lark in the local Boulodrome.
Should you wish to watch, then Grenoble is something of a hotspot. The city at the foot of the Alps has held three of the last five World Championships in the sport, hosting competitors from 52 nations.
However, for a dip into history, try the small village of La Ciotat. Just outside Marseille, this is where the game originated.

Beatles tour in Liverpool, England

Few cities play on their musical heritage as much as Liverpool does, but it has good reason to boast. Amongst many other bands ancient and modern, Liverpool was the birthplace of The Beatles, and there are plenty of sights linked to the Fab Four within the city.
Many of these are covered by the Magical Mystery Tour, which visits the houses that John, Paul, George and Ringo grew up in, as well as famous landmarks from their songs. It stops outside the most famous Salvation Army prayer centre in the world – Strawberry Field was formerly a children’s home near John’s childhood home - as well as Penny Lane.
It also visits St Peter’s Church, which hosted the festival where John and Paul met for the first time. Eleanor Rigby’s tombstone can be found in the graveyard.
The tour finishes off at the Cavern Club in Mathew Street. This is a reconstruction on the site of the original venue, but with its basement archways and cramped stage it’s brilliantly atmospheric. It’s not difficult to imagine what it would be like in the early 1960s when the Beatles played one of their 275 gigs.
Spare a thought, though, for the poor souls that live next to the childhood houses of the Fab Four. They must get sick of the visitors prowling around with cameras.

Getting to Liverpool, England

Nearest international airport: Many budget airline and domestic UK flights go Liverpool John Lennon airport, but from further afield, the most convenient major airport is just over an hour away in Manchester.

More information: The Magical Mystery Tour leaves daily from the Albert Dock.

Hotel Kafi Schnaps in Zurich, Switzerland. The Schnapps-themed hotel

The Hotel Kafi Schnaps in Zurich is essentially a coffee shop/ schnapps bar with a few rooms tacked on. In a building owned by a university fencing club (which still practices in the basement), it’s delightfully sketchy and laissez-faire. Go in and ask to see the accommodation, and there’s a high chance that the staff have even forgotten the rooms are there.
But they are, and they’re themed to a ludicrous degree. Each one is based on a different flavour of schnapps. This means that the plum room has little purple cushions bulging randomly out of the wall, while the kirsch (black cherry) one has a carpet designed to look like wood chippings and has pink-rimmed trees painted all over the shop. This is, it seems, regarded as being perfectly normal.
A word of warning – Kafi Schnaps is very much budget accommodation, one step above a hostel. That means a shared bathroom, alas, but who cares when you’re in the only room in the world designed with the Williams Pear as inspiration?

Getting to Kafi Schaps in Zurich, Switzerland

Nearest international airport: That’d be Zurich International Airport then.

Using public transport: Get the regular train in from the airport, then the tram from near the main station. Kafi Schnaps is just north of Zurich city centre.

More details: Kafi Schnaps website

World’s Oldest Museums – Musei Capitolini in Rome, Italy

Unsurprisingly, the prestige of being the oldest building containing old things is fought over quite vigorously by people who should perhaps know better.
Anyway, just about every place housing a dusty old relic will claim to be the oldest museum by inserting some kind of sub-clause, but the most convincing argument comes from the Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums) in Rome, Italy.
They go back to 1471, although they would have been admittedly a pretty poor effort back then, containing only some bronze statues donated by Pope Sixtus IV.
It was 1734 before the museums opened to the public, and is now home to a wealth of artefacts from the Roman Empire, as well as various impressive sculptures.

More information: Musei Capitolini

Hotel Otter – theme hotel in Zurich, Switzerland

The fantastically barking Hotel Otter in Zurich, Switzerland deserves showering with awards for its name alone.
Entry is through the downstairs bar. It has a cow bone for a door handle and a plastic snake in a ‘desert oasis’ near the air vent.
There are 22 rooms in the hotel, and two of them are completely overhauled every year. Sometimes they let artists and designers do them, sometimes DJs. And then sometimes they just let the staff loose with silly ideas they dreamt up over a few too many stiff drinks in the pub. The results are brilliantly bonkers rooms such as Number 501, which has ‘1001 Nights’ scrawled on the door and a full-on Arabian Nights décor inside. Star-spangled blue minarets adorn the gold-painted walls, while liberal lashings of Arabic script, distinctly Middle Eastern furniture and a four-poster bed that screams Scheherezade top things off nicely.
Other rooms include Heaven and Hell (where peaceful blue walls decorated with angels are offset by a blood red bed and flames made of wood), Pop, Monroe and Japan. A word of warning for anyone booking into Carmen, however: you had better really like pink…

Getting to Hotel Otter, Zurich, Switzerland

Nearest international airport: Zurich International Airport, Switzerland.

Using public transport: Either take a 15-20 minute walk from Zurich’s main station or hop on a train or tram down to Bellevue.

More details: Hotel website

Royal Winery in Vaduz, Liechtenstein

There is wine-tasting, and then there is wine-tasting in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The tiny Alpine principality has the world’s smallest wine industry. There’s just the one winery, and that’s owned by the Prince of Liechtenstein.
According to United Nations figures, Liechtenstein produces just 80 tonnes of wine per year. For a sense of perspective, compare that to the five million churned out by France. Or, even better, the 77,000 and 45,000 produced by Algeria and Uzbekistan respectively.
Turn up any time outside of the summer, and it seems a ridiculous proposition. The vineyard is overrun by goats, and is in the foothills of some terribly large snow-covered mountains. Hardly the perfect terroir for viticulture...
But rock up at the Hofkellerei (the winery of the Princely Court) in Vaduz and you get to sample one of the most exclusive wines in the world for free. The pinot noir is sold only in Vaduz. And, believe it or not, it’s absolutely sensational.

Getting to Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Nearest international airport: Liechtenstein doesn’t have an airport, so the nearest is in Zurich, Switzerland.
Using public transport: Get the train from Zurich’s main railway station to Sargans or Buchs on the border. From there, a lime green post bus goes to Vaduz and stops near the Hofkellerei.

More details: Hofkellerei

Republique du Saugeais in France

The not-so-grand République du Saugeais is perhaps the only ‘country’ in the world that started as a joke.
In Eastern France, near the Swiss border, Saugeais started on its road to independence when a local hotelier jokingly asked the visiting regional prefect if he had a passport to enter.
The prefect then went and researched the area’s history and decided it should indeed be independent. He declared the hotelier to be the president.
And so a proud micronation was born, although there’s not really all that much to see.
Two retired farmers in fancy uniform man the border, while highlights for visitors include Montbenoît Abbey, lots of rolling countryside and plenty of cheese makers churning out the national cheese. Just don’t forget your passport

Mouth of Truth in Rome, Italy

Made famous by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday, La Bocca della Verità is perhaps the only former manhole cover in the world that acts as a polygraph test.
Standing outside the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin near the Ponte Palatino in Rome, Italy, it supposedly catches out liars.
The old manhole cover takes the form of a human face carved into stone, and it has a small stone hole in which the brave can put their hand, and then make a statement. Should your words be the truth, you will be able to pull your hand out with no effect.
Should you tell a dastardly, wicked lie – and now is probably not the time to continue your line about how the hamster died or how much that bargain pair of shoes cost – the mouth will snap shut and bite your hand off. There must be a lot of honest people around, as there is no pile of amputated fingers to be seen on the floor beneath.