Things to Do in Piedmont & Liguria

Medellin, now sprawling with more than three million people as Colombia’s second city, is fast becoming an ultra-modern conurbation of rapid transit, experimental architecture, and rising seas of skyscrapers. So it’s comforting to know that you can take the city train to a well-preserved (well, mostly fabricated) monument to Medellin’s quaint colonial past.

The absolutely adorable Spanish pueblito (“little town”) of Paisa, founded in 1978, crowns 80m (262ft) Cerro Nutibara, a natural landmark named for legendary Cacique (Chief) Nuibara. It would worth climbing just for the views. Today it is home to a perfect central plaza, surrounded by colonial adobes rescued from an actual Spanish outpost since flooded by the Penol-Guatape Hydroelectric Project. The beautifully restored buildings, complete with flower-draped wooden balconies and ceramic tejas tiles, is centered on the single cutest Catholic chapel you’ve ever seen.

While originally designed to depict businesses you’d find in a typical rural community—pharmacy, tobacconist, barber—as well as a school and city hall, have been largely replaced with souvenir shops, and the place is populated by a surprising number of mimes and living statues, especially on weekends.

Be sure to visit the Parque de Esculturas, next door, displaying the artistic inclinations of modern Medellin and Latin America, an interesting contrast to the idealized vision of the city’s colonial past.

The eastern part of Willemstad’s downtown historic district is called Punda, which comes from the Dutch word for “point” because this part of the city sits at the end of a promontory at the mouth of St. Anna Bay. First settled in 1634, the area is a picturesque port area packed with pastel-colored colonial architectural. One of the main attractions here is Fort Amsterdam, built in 1635 as a garrison to protect the city, which is used today as the governor’s palace. Another historic site is the Mikve Israel-Emanuel synagogue, which was built in 1732, making it the oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere. Throughout Punda, you’ll find great shopping, art galleries and restaurants, and you can also take a walk across the Queen Emma Bridge, a floating pontoon bridge called the “Swinging Old Lady,” to explore the Otrabanda side of the historic downtown area.

The Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park was opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 1994. Since its opening, the park’s central woodland trail has been joined by a lake and wetlands, tropical flower gardens and an iguana habitat.

The Heritage Garden is pretty enough to live in, with a pink traditional cottage, fruit trees and sand garden.

The park’s highlight remains the woodland trail, a 20 minute stroll from wetlands to cactus and mahogany woodlands. Orchids and butterflies can also be spotted in the park.

The Queen Emma Bridge is a floating pontoon bridge that connects the waterfronts of Willemstad’s historic neighborhoods Punda and Otrobanda. Nicknamed the “Swinging Old Lady,” the Queen Emma Bridge is hinged with two diesel-driven propellers so that it can swing parallel to the shore to allow boat traffic in and out of St. Anna Bay. Built in 1888, the pedestrian-only bridge is a unique and popular attraction on Curacao, with upwards of 15,000 people walking across it every day. On both the Punda and Otrobanda sides of the bridge, you can find cafés and restaurants lining the waterfront, and the bridge area is a popular and picturesque gathering spot at night when the bridge is lit up with twinkling lights.

The busy riverside promenade of St. Goar is lorded over by the sprawling ruins of Burg Rheinfels, once the mightiest fortress on the Rhine and a must-see. Built in 1245 by the local counts of Katzenelnbogen as a base for their toll-collecting operation, it withstood attack from 28,000 of Louis XIV's French troops in 1692, just one of the many attacks made on it. Eventually it was Napoleon and his French Revolutionary army who destroyed the place in 1797 with the help of explosives.

The castle's size and labyrinthine layout is astonishing. Not just children love exploring the gigantic vault cellar, subterranean tunnels and mine galleries, while keeping an eye and ear out for ghosts. In the only complete room of the castle there is a museum.