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Cape Town, South Africa
Muizenberg Beach Huts
Once changing boxes for Southern African family beach days, now survived a 2017 removal threat.
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Whitby, United Kingdom
Whitby Beach Huts
Victorian bathing machines were beach huts on wheels, hauled into the sea by horses to preserve your modesty while you slipped into the water.
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Aarhus, Denmark
ARoS Aarhus Art Museum
Denmark's oldest art museum outside Copenhagen just built a massive grass-covered dome... underground.
AWA visted here
Wengen, Switzerland
Hotel Bellevue des Alpes
A family-run hotel since 1840, accessible only by train, with a front-row view of the "murder wall" that's claimed 64 lives.
AWA visted here
Tuineje, Spain
Ermita Protestante de Violante
A German widower built this 2.5-meter chapel on a Fuerteventura hilltop in 2011; inside, strangers leave wishes in a book.
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Glencoe, United Kingdom
Wee White House Glencoe
This Highland cottage's Ballachulish slate roof beat 75% odds: most of the locally-quarried material rusted through with holes.
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Tehran, Iran
National Garden Gate
Tehran's pre-Azadi icon: a gate to a garden that barely existed, where a bugler once announced dawn and dusk to the city.
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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Farmers Public Market
Built to end a farmer-versus-business feud, this 1928 market hosted Count Basie upstairs and produce vendors downstairs.
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Perkins, Oklahoma, United States
Old Texaco Gas Station and Museum
This 1930 Texaco station pioneered the gas-and-groceries model three decades before 'convenience store' was even a term.
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Kohukohu, New Zealand
Tauteihiihi Marae
This marae has outlasted Kohukohu's timber boom, when 2,000 people lived on land literally built from kauri sawdust.
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Yucatán, Mexico
Convento de San Antonio da Padua
The world's second-largest atrium was built in six months by 6,000 Maya workers—using stones from their own demolished pyramid.
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Corfu, Greece
Corfu
The only Greek island never conquered by the Ottomans, Corfu's Venetian soul survived four centuries of sieges.
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Vienna, Austria
Louis Vuitton Vienna
Julius Meinl kept one store when selling 700+ locations. Louis Vuitton now occupies the building next door to it.
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Kashan, Iran
Mahinestan Raheb Hotel
A Qajar mansion with three courtyards (one for family, one for guests, one for servants) now welcomes everyone equally.
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Brooklyn, New York, United States
Parkside Avenue Subway Station
This Brooklyn station is literally split: two-thirds tunnel through buildings, one-third open to sky: a subway chimera.
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Broc, Switzerland
Maison Cailler
This 1898 chocolate factory powered an entire Swiss village: its hydroelectric plant brought electricity to Broc in 1899. What a uniquely sweet history!
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Luxor, Egypt
Hot Air Balloon
Every morning, balloons chase the moon above tombs carved for pharaohs 3,500 years ago.
Singapore, Singapore
Peranakan Museum
A wedding bed where seven children were born now anchors the world's only museum dedicated entirely to Peranakan culture
AWA visted here
Presented with
Odense, Denmark
Hans Christian Andersen’s Childhood Home
The home of the most popular Dane & his 168 fairytales.
AWA visted here
Presented with
Odense, Denmark
Klods Hans
Named after Andersen's 1855 tale of a "stupid" brother who wins a princess with mud, dead crows, and a wooden shoe.
AWA visted here
Presented with
Tangalle, Sri Lanka
Ruhunu Cinema
As Sri Lanka lost cinemas at a rate of one per month for nearly a decade, Tangalle's Ruhunu Cinema kept its projector running.
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New York, New York, United States
New Yorker Hotel
NBC broadcast live big band performances from here nightly during the Depression.
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Baku, Azerbaijan
Juma Mosque
This mosque spent Soviet rule as a carpet museum, its prayer hall draped in rugs rather than reverence for seven decades.
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Sao Paulo, Brazil
Parque Minhocão
Named after a quasi-fictitious earthworm-like creature that burrows through São Paulo.
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Wanaka, New Zealand
Wānaka Lavender Farm
A freestanding purple door in a lavender field frames nothing but mountains and has become irresistibly photogenic.
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New York, New York, United States
Domino Sugar Refinery
At its peak, this factory refined 98% of all sugar consumed in the United States.
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Dublin, Ireland
Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre
Where U2 got their start, shoppers now browse beneath a glass dome locals call "The Wedding Cake."
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Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Haji Yaqub Mosque
Built for a mystic who mastered the art of disappearing.
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Kerkira, Greece
Tobacco House 1941
Since 1941, this family tobacco shop has outlasted an empire of smoke.
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Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Italy
Pasticceria Gran Bar Follis Dario
A medieval Germanic dialect survives in an Italian valley, eight centuries after the migration over the Alps.
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Miami, Florida, United States
The Carlyle
This Ocean Drive hotel has appeared in more films than some actors.
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Kingston SE, South Australia, Australia
The Big Lobster
Modeled on a real stuffed lobster, Larry was voted Australia's #1 Big Thing in 2021 beating over 1,000 competitors.
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Djúpvegur, Iceland
Óshólar Lighthouse
This 1937 lighthouse guided boats to a town with no road access until 1950, where the sea was safer than land for decades.
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Monteroni di Lecce, Italy
Chiesa dei Santi Medici Cosma e Damiano
A church honoring twin doctors so committed to free healthcare that a talking camel had to intervene in their burial dispute.
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Tallinn, Estonia
Restoran Olde Hansa
This Tallinn restaurant bans potatoes, tomatoes, and chocolate—only ingredients available before 1492 make the cut.
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