Clive Gifford
INSPIRATION • October 2016
Seven quirky destinations to inspire young minds
The world is a wonderfully diverse and, at times, decidedly odd place. Surprise your children, says author Clive Gifford, and get them thinking by visiting some unusual, quirky locations and attractions around the globe
Vienna, Austria
Home to entire museums devoted to globes, central heating and the 1949 film The Third Man, Austria’s capital is also the location of the world’s oddest orchestra. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra uses around 70kg of fresh vegetables each time it performs a concert, carving the produce into working musical instruments including leek violins, carrot flutes, turnip bongos, pepper trumpets and aubergine cymbals.
Quirk factor: 4/5 – you’ll never look at leeks and peppers in the same light again.
Waitomo, New Zealand
A boat ride along the Waitomo river takes you into caves festooned with the glow worm Arachnocampa luminosa, unique to New Zealand. Tens of thousands of these creatures illuminate the caves with an unforgettable blue light emitted from their tails.
Quirk factor: 4/5 – a memorable double encounter with nature.
Chios Island, Greece
Every Easter Sunday, this lesser-known Aegean island hosts the most striking and strange contest as two churches at either end of the town of Vrontados appear to go to war with each other. Some 60,000 rockets are fired by the congregations of the St Mark’s and Panaghia Ereithiani churches, 400 metres apart, each aiming to hit the other’s church bell, making for a fierce and fiery firework spectacle.
Quirk factor: 3/5 – a ferociously illuminating display in an otherwise tranquil location.
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Nestled in the southeast of the country are the world’s largest salt flats. At 10,582 square km, they’re bigger than Cyprus or Lebanon and are so level that, if covered with a thin film of water, can act as a perfect natural mirror – ideal for messing around with some epic trick photography. Visitors in November also get treated to a riot of colour as three species of flamingos (pictured) arrive in their thousands to breed.
Quirk factor: 5/5 – an incredible landscape you’ll never forget.
Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA
A strikingly scenic set of caves where giant stalagmites and fluted columns form a terrific support act to the magnificent Great Stalacpipe Organ (pictured). This bonkers brainchild of engineer Leland W Sprinkle consists of a normal pipe organ keyboard linked by more than 8km of wires to rubber mallets that strike 37 different stalactites, each carefully selected to play the correct pitch of note. The whole cave system rings to their sounds.
Quirk factor: 5/5 – an unusual instrument and amazing acoustics create the ultimate ‘rock’ music.
Chongqing City, China
Lehe Ledu Wildlife Zoo is all back to front. Visitors pay to be locked in cages while lions and tigers roam free outside, sometimes looming up close, attracted by hunks of meat strapped to the cages. A short journey south of Chongqing lies Meitan and its Museum of Tea Culture, housed in a giant red teapot (pictured) measuring 73.8 metres – the height of a 20-storey building.
Quirk factor: 4/5 – quirky central China will amuse and amaze.
Merida, Venezuela
Start with a super-sized ride on the world’s highest cable car (pictured), newly reopened in April 2016. Running from the city, the 12.5km ride reaches a dizzying height of 4,765 metres at the top of Pico Espejo, the country’s highest point. Need to cool off? Head to Heladeria Coromoto on Avenue 3 Independencia, which boasts a world-record, ice-cream menu consisting of more than 850 flavours, from vanilla and mango to macaroni cheese and sardines in brandy. There’s even a flavour named British Airways.
Quirk factor: 4/5 – stunning views and ice-cream heaven.
Clive Gifford is the award-winning author of Atlas of Oddities (£16.99, Egmont Publishing). Clive’s father worked for British Airways for 40 years and inspired his love of travel, which has seen him visit 75 countries so far.
This article has been tagged Adventure, Travel Tips