Longyearbyen in Svalbard is the northernmost inhabited city in the world. It is a 100 miinutes flight towards the North Pole from the northern Norwegian city of Tromso. Longyearbyen is an old mining town and is a great place for an out of this world holiday experience.
During summer there is perpetual sunlight - although you may experience some snow even in July. During the cold winter months the sun never rises in this city.
A live webcam picture taken at 1pm on Friday, February 4 shows a ship in Longyearbayen harbour. Another picture taken from the same camera at 6pm shows that the ship has sailed. Despite perpetual darkness, life goes on in Longyearbyen. People drive around in their snow scooters and children attend school even though it may be dark outside.
SAS has daily flights to Longyearbyen from Oslo and Tromso. Since there are not many flights to Oslo from the Middle East, you can take Norwegian Airlines from London to Tromso. The demonstrations in Tahrir Square getting you down? The snow blizzard in the US affecting your travel plans? The cyclone in Australia bothering you? If you want to get away from it all and experience a different kind of holiday then go to Longyearbyen. Don't worry, your creature comforts will be well taken care of at the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel Spitsbergen in Longyearbyen. You may even get to see a polar bear.
60 km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City is the Great Temple or Holy See of the Cao Dai religious sect, a uniquely Vietnamese religion that combines aspects of Buddihism, Taois, Confucianism and Catholicism and regards Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Muhammad, Julius Caesar, Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc and Sun Yat-Sen as some of its saints. The temple was built between 1933 and 1955 and is colorfully and extrav...
‘Alhamra’ literally means a woman in red clothes. This building is made up of red bricks, earning the same impression. The architect was Nayyar Ali Dada and this complex has been admired for its superb architecture, even receiving an award for it. It is a venue for many art exhibitions, theatrical shows and musical concerts. It also acts as a training centre offering courses in various arts ...
This plaza in the heart of the city is a major stop for subway lines, an entrance to the Zeil shopping district and a busy gathering point for Frankfurters. The baroque Hauptwache building was once a prison but has also been used as a police station and is now in its current incarnation as a café. ...
This temple dates back to the 1690s. Traditionally it belonged to the next Yongzheng Emperor but after the seat of the empire was shifted to the Forbidden City in the 1740s this building was converted into a temple. They are some magnificent incense burners located here in addition to statues of some significant protagonists of Tibetan Buddhism. The most beautiful amongst these is the statue of Ma...