Icelanders, to be honest, live in a fantasy world. It’s written into the law. Many roads are designed to take detours, simply to avoid going through the homes of the local elves and fairies. Builders and town planners also bypass that land. There is even a government minister to ensure they adhere to this plan.
The Dominican Republic experience is – for many visitors – confined to the Bavaro Barcelo resort, a huge 790-room complex near the town of Punta Cana. This is the archetypal Caribbean resort: beaches lined with palm trees, splendid sunshine, and no shortage of activities on offer – yachting, windsurfing, snorkelling (with or without dolphins), golf, parasailing, even poolside lessons in the national dance, the merengue.
The bulk of Marvel Comics superheroes, from Spider-Man to the X-Men, were fighting crime in Manhattan long before Rudy Giuliani took all the credit, while Metropolis (home of Superman) and Gotham City (Batman’s stamping ground) are thinly disguised versions of the same city.
The guide points the way. “It’s through there,” she says. “Your first challenge is to find your way in.” While she cheerfully watches us, offering no clues, our small group tries to find our way through the door of the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. Eventually, a bright spark works out the code.
It is known as the “Charm City”, which might suggest to an Australian that it is utterly charmless. Fortunately, the US doesn’t do irony, so Charm City really is charming. Located in the state of Maryland, between Pennsylvania and Virginia, it’s a happy fusion of the urbane north and the hospitable south.
Despite Austrian, Russian and Romanian tourists flocking to its beaches, Ferris wheels and restaurants, Bulgaria is still perhaps the greatest secret of the former Eastern Bloc (apart from Albania).
A wander through Xian and its outskirts could be an ideal Chinese history tour – everything from well-preserved prehistoric ruins to the dynamic, modern world of contemporary China.
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