Things to Do in Dunedin & The Otago Peninsula

Located up at Buda Castle, the Hungarian National Gallery is the country’s premier fine-art gallery, housed in the vast, colonnaded former Royal Palace, a restored Renaissance building of massive proportions.

The gallery is chronologically laid out over four levels and follows the development of Hungarian art from medieval times to present day. With around 25,000 artifacts in the collections, the gallery divides between nine permanent exhibitions.

To many western eyes, much of the work will be by unknown artists but the dynamism and skill of the work will more than compensate as the development of Hungarian art unfolds through the gallery. The 19th-century portraits are fascinating as they provide a glimpse into the rarified world of pre-World War I Hungarian aristocracy, but the show is totally stolen by the gleaming, gilded medieval wooden altarpieces depicting the Madonna and various ecclesiastic scenes.

The Iglesia and Museo de San Francisco is a spectacular example of Moorish-inspired Spanish baroque colonial grandeur, but the real highlight is the spooky labyrinth of catacombs underground.

One of the best preserved churches in Lima, the Convent of San Francis of Assisi also has a remarkable library of antique texts and a tranquil cloistered garden.

A guided visit to the Museum and Convent takes you through the buildings’ history and architecture, before venturing into the underground passages lined with the bones of 25,000 Lima citizens from over 200 years of burials.

Bones were interred here until 1808, when Lima’s cemetery was established, and the catacombs lay undiscovered until 1943. A visit is not for the fainthearted, but those who do make the journey will be surprised to see the various skulls and thigh bones arranged in decorative patterns.

On the tour you’ll also visit the library of antique books, the pretty cloister, the museum of religious paintings and artifacts, the carved choir stalls and the Moorish-domed church.

There are several churches in Granada to visit, but the Iglesia de la Merced (not far from Central Park) is noted by many as the city's most beautiful. The church on this site dates from the early 16th century, although it has been damaged twice (to the point of nearly-complete destruction once) and rebuilt, most recently in the 1860s. The present look of the interior is from the most recent reconstruction, while the Baroque facade was added in the 1780s.

Anyone can enjoy a stroll through La Merced church, but the best reason to go is to climb the church's lone bell tower for commanding views of the city center. You will be able to explore the church itself for free, but there is a small admission charge to climb up into the tower. Note that you may need to find a caretaker to gain access to the tower stairs, which are generally open from 10am-6pm on most days, and those who are claustrophobic should be aware it's a narrow spiral staircase to the top.

One of the final stops on South Iceland’s famous Golden Circle route and just 45 km from Reykjavik, the green-living town of Hveragerdi harbors a wealth of geothermic wonders. Located on an active volcanic zone, the steaming landscape of Hveragerdi sprawls along a 5,000 year-old lava field and its geothermal park is one of the country’s main centers of natural energy. A unique community powered by the earth, the Hveragerdi Geothermal Park heats a series of greenhouses that grow everything from flowers to vegetables, and even bananas.

The celebrated Hveragerdi hot springs are one of the principal draws for visitors to the town, ranging from hissing steam vents and gurgling puddles of mud, to pools so hot that locals use the water to boil eggs and bake bread in a ground oven.  Along with bathing in the naturally heated Laugaskarð swimming pool and enjoying an organic clay foot bath, the area around Hveragerdi also offers prime terrain for hiking, surrounded by lush forests running along the banks of the Varmá river. As of 2008, the region is also home to a new hot spring and its creation is the subject of the town’s fascinating Quake 2008 exhibition.

Standing in stark contrast to the baroque palaces and grand plazas of historic Vienna, the colorful facade of the Hundertwasserhaus is one of the city’s most unique works of architecture. Unconventional and somewhat eccentric, the apartment complex is the masterpiece of 20th century Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, one of the country’s most imaginative and controversial contemporary artists. Mimicking elements of Gaudí’s Art Nouveau style, Hundertwasser’s designs marry whimsical shapes and curved lines with a bold color palette, resulting in some of Austria’s most recognizable and most visited landmarks.

The Hundertwasserhaus was finished in 1986 and features a playful mix of painted mosaics and different sized windows, spread over the 52 apartment buildings.  The organic theme even goes one step further, with a grass-covered rooftop sprouting with trees that appear to be grown from within.