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Odense, Denmark
Hans Christian Andersen’s Childhood Home
The home of the most popular Dane & his 168 fairytales.
AWA visted here
Presented with
Classic Facades
The stunners contained within this theme scream AWA. Guess what, they are all real places, each with a story to tell. We invite you to explore some of the most "classic" spots around the globe.
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
Kerkira, Greece
Tobacco House 1941
Since 1941, this family tobacco shop has outlasted an empire of smoke.
From the Community
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.
From the Community
Miami, Florida, United States
The Carlyle
This Ocean Drive hotel has appeared in more films than some actors.
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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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Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Queen’s Arcade
Before the arcade, the site belonged to Belfast's harp-playing doctor who taught blind children music and founded a hospital.
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Uayma, Mexico
Santo Domingo de Guzmán Church
Built from stones of dismantled Maya temples, this church took priests over 100 years to convince locals to enter.
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Savannah, Georgia, United States
Lucas Theatre for the Arts
Savannah's Lucas Theatre reunited with its Wurlitzer organ after a 50-year separation.
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Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, Chile
Torres del Paine National Park
British ranchers shipped prefab buildings to Patagonia's edge, where puma hunters were once paid per kill until 1980.
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London, United Kingdom
Royal College of Music
The future King Edward VII opened a music college in 1883 where talent mattered more than birthright.
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Weymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Jefferson School
After designing 140 churches, architect Shepard S. Woodcock finally built something you could skip on Sundays.
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Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm Palace
Stockholm's Royal Guards rotate in from across Sweden for week-long shifts, and once doubled as the city's firefighters.
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London, United Kingdom
Chelsea Embankment
How a river too putrid for Queen Victoria became one of London's most pristine waterfronts.
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Oamaru, New Zealand
Oamaru Opera House
The architect designed it in 1907, then sailed to Australia in 1911 and never returned to see it age.
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Tabriz, Iran
Sound & Music Museum
Forty years of collecting led to Iran's first sound museum, where fruit-core instruments share space with oil-powered radios.
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Ljubljana, Slovenia
Slovenian School Museum
Slovenia's oldest specialist museum once lived in a bar and a castle before finding its permanent home in 1938.
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Tabriz, Iran
Imam Khomeini Mosalla
Tabriz's forever-unfinished prayer hall has been accused of undermining its ancient neighbor.
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Belgrade, Serbia
Zeleni Venac Market
Belgrade built Zeleni Venac in 1926 to banish illegal ox-wagon vendors and accidentally created the "Queen of the markets."
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Nancy, France
Grand Nancy Métropole Meurthe-et-Moselle
Built in 1908 by refugees from German-annexed Alsace, Nancy's Chamber of Commerce married art with industry as cultural resistance.
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Kerry, Ireland
Dan Foley’s Pub
The most-photographed pub in Kerry was run by a member of the Magic Circle- and yes, "it's an illusion."
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Paris, France
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
Sacré-Cœur's travertine stone self-cleans with every rainstorm, releasing calcite that recoats the basilica white.
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Creemore, Ontario, Canada
Creemore Springs Brewery
Mauled by a tiger during the Depression, sold a brewery for $25 million at 74.
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Jaipur, India
Monkey Temple
This temple honors the elephant god but houses hundreds of monkeys who commute to Jaipur daily to steal and pickpocket.
AWA visted here
Rajasthan, India
Chand Baori
Built in the 8th century, this stepwell drops 13 stories and stays five degrees cooler at the bottom than the surface.
AWA visted here
Agra, India
Ganeshi Lall Emporium
Founded in 1845, this Agra emporium houses a jeweled carpet that took one craftsman 9.5 years to finish.
AWA visted here
Agra, India
Mehtab Bagh
Built a century before the Taj, this garden turned to sand, then archaeologists dug for a mythical Black Taj that never existed.
AWA visted here
Geneva, Switzerland
Bijouterie CD I Love You
A jewelry store in Geneva’s neighborhood where love is the local specialty.
From the Community
Luxor Governorate, Egypt
Sofitel Winter Palace Hotel Luxor
Where the Nile meets nostalgia — the Winter Palace in Luxor has welcomed explorers, writers, and kings since 1886.
From the Community
Venice, Italy
St. Mark’s Campanile
One of the world's most copied structures is, itself, a copy.
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
M. Trock Building
We could go for a cream soda right about now.
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Kampar, Malaysia
Bandar Agacia
Once a pastel Disney-inspired township with cafés, themed streets, and dreams of a Cinderella castle didn't quite see a fairytale ending (yet!).
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Porto, Portugal
Club Fluvial Portuense
Club Fluvial Portuense, founded in 1876, remains a living hub of rowing, swimming, and community on the Douro—more working river club than monument.
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Basel, Switzerland
St. Johann Capelle
St. Johann Chapel in Basel, plain and modest beside the grand Minster, endures through centuries of shifting use—once a fruit storehouse, now a quiet space for small services.
From the Community