Things to Do in Kelowna & Okanagan Valley

Immortalized on-screen in the eponymous 1999 romantic comedy film, Notting Hill is much more than just a backdrop for the famous Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts’ love affair. The west London district, stretching over Ladbroke Grove, Portobello Road and parts of North Kensington is one of the city’s hippest destinations, lined with vintage boutiques, bijou cafés and indie music venues. Located between the upmarket neighborhoods of Knightsbridge and Kensington, Notting Hill brings a dash of bohemian cool to the stately Victorian townhouses and cobbled side streets, making it the perfect location for the annual Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest and most flamboyant street festival.

Notting Hill is also home to the world famous Portobello market, where one of the largest antique markets in the world is held alongside stalls selling everything from vintage and alternative clothing to handmade crafts and jewelry, music (legendary record store and label Rough Trade is in these parts) and fruit and vegetables.

Notting Hill’s nightlife is also renowned – the Notting Hill Arts Club hosts a number of live bands and DJs; The Castle, Prince Albert and The Cow are popular local pubs or else there are dozens of trendy bars on and around Portobello Road. A number of art house cinemas make it a popular destination for film fanatics too, including the funky Electric cinema with its plush leather sofas and an in-house bar; the small yet luxurious Gate cinema and the grand Coronet cinema, London’s oldest operating cinema, which has been showing movies since 1916.

The Lilliputian Nicholas Quarter is an area that was developed around Berlin’s oldest parish church, the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas’s Church), dating from 1230. The area now tries to maintain its medieval character; its cobblestoned lanes worth a quick stroll if you are in the surrounding borders of Rathausstrasse, Spandauer Strasse, Mühlendamm and the Spree River. Though there are many gift stores, cafes and restaurants in the quarter, you will find locals elsewhere.

The main attractions, in addition to the St. Nicholas church, include the Ephraim Palace, a masterpiece of palace architecture of the 18th century Berlin. Equally beautiful is the Baroque style Knoblauch house built in 1760, which offers insight into world of the upper middle class world through its rooms and valuable furniture.

For those who love historical architecture, you'll find two of Berlin's oldest buildings at Breite Strasse : No. 35 is the Ribbeckhaus, the city's only surviving Renaissance structure, dating from 1624, and No. 36 is the early baroque Marstall, built by Michael Matthais between 1666 and 1669.

Novodevichy Convent & Cemetery comprise one of Moscow’s most beautiful attractions. Also known as the New Maiden’s Convent, the convent may be best known as the place where Peter the Great imprisoned his half-sister Sofia after deposing her and taking over as tsar of Russia. He later confined his first wife to the convent as well. Originally built as a fortress in 1524 to commemorate the conquest of Smolensk, the convent features 12 battle towers. Most of the current buildings, however, date to the late 17th century, when the convent was substantially rebuilt.

The largest and most important church in the convent is the five-domed Cathedral of the Virgin of Smolensk. It was finished in 1525 and contains impressive icons dating to the 16th and 17th centuries. Almost as impressive as the Cathedral is the red and white Church of the Assumption, built in 1680.

The Novodevichy Cemetery sits adjacent to the convent and is one of the most prestigious resting places in all of Russia – as well as the third most popular tourist destination. Over 27,000 people are buried there, including Russian and Soviet notables such as writers Anton Chekhov and Nikolai Gogol, poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev and former Russian president Boris Yeltsin.
For those interested in locating particular graves, a map is available at the entrance.

Nizwa is one of the most impressive of Oman’s numerous fort cities. It sits on a plain in the Hajar Mountains which was once a strategic point on the caravan route and, like Rustaq, served time as Oman’s capital. Its fort, with its warren of high-walled chambers dominated by a huge central tower, dates to 1668.

Long before that, Nizwa was renowned as a centre of Islamic teaching, and it consequently boasts some of the best of Oman’s early mosques. Meanwhile, secular life is centered on the busy souks; sample dates and other fruits which grow here in oasis-like conditions. Vendors are refreshingly laid-back so you can cast your eyes and fingers over the city’s trademark silver jewelry and other handcrafts in peace.