Town Sights

1. Ban Ko Lanta (Old Town)

   • Ko Lanta, Thailand
   • Sights › Town

   Halfway down the eastern coast, Ban Ko Lanta (Lanta ) was the original port and commercial centre for the island, and provided a safe harbour for Arabic and Chinese trading vessels sailing between Phuket, Penang and Singapore.

   Some of the gracious and well-kept wooden stilt houses and shopfronts here are more than 100 years old. Pier restaurants offer up fresh catch and have views over the sea. There's a small afternoon market on Sunday, and if you're looking for sturdy, attractive handmade leather goods, stop by Lanta Leather; for quality hammocks don't miss Hammock Housewhere you can also pick up its fabulous Lanta Biker's Map full of off-the-beaten-path recommendations.

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2. Castel Gandolfo

   • Castelli Romani, Italy
   • Sights › Town

   Continuing southwest brings you to Castel Gandolfo, an impressive, dome-capped hilltop borgo (small village) overlooking Lago di Albano. This is the pope’s summer residence, which, although closed to the public, still attracts hordes of tourists to the impressive town square. The small town is a very pretty place for a wander, with views opening out across the lake below.

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3. Frascati

   • Castelli Romani, Italy
   • Sights › Town

   A villa perches over the town above ornamental gardens, its flat-fronted façade like an expensive stage set. It’s the 16th-century Villa Aldobrandini, designed by Giacomo della Porta and built by Carlo Maderno; it’s closed to the public, but you can visit the impressive gardens. These are a fine example of an early Italian Baroque garden, with the palace as the focal point, set dramatically into the wooded hill. Water features in the garden were designed by Orazio Olivieri, though many of the fountains no longer function.

   Also worth a visit in Frascati, sharing the stable building with the tourist office, is the new Museo Tuscolano with artfully lit republican and…

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4. Nemi

   • Castelli Romani, Italy
   • Sights › Town

   The town of Nemi is perched high above Lago di Nemi, the smaller of the two volcanic lakes in the Castelli Romani. This area was the centre of a cult to the goddess Diana in ancient times, and favourite holiday spot of the emperor Caligula. Today it’s a popular getaway from Rome, and famous for its wild strawberries, best eaten in the early summer. There’s a great museum here, the small Museo delle Navi Romani on the shore of the lake. This was built by Mussolini to house two incredibly preserved wooden Roman boats, dating from Caligula’s reign, that had been discovered and salvaged from the lake in 1932. These were tragically destroyed by fire in 1944 – what you see…

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5. A Map

   Bundeena

   • Royal National Park, Australia
   • Sights › Town

   Isolated Bundeena (population 3500) sits near the mouth of Port Hacking, surrounded by national park. The main drawcards are its beaches: beautiful Horderns Beach and, further east, even lovelier Jibbon Beach. On Jibbon Beach's eastern headland there is a large Aboriginal rock-engraving site, where you can see outlines of the animals the Dharawal people used to hunt. Heading in the other direction, west from Bundeena, is the Bundeena-Maianbar Heritage Walk.

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