The changing of the Guard is and always will be an attraction. When I was five my mother and father took me to London which was a big thing in 1855(!) I remember standing squashed against the railings and the Big Guard came towards me and with his bright sword nearly touched my nose for a moment I was terrified. Then the Guard smiled at me and I melted. To this day I will never forget him. Shame I had not got a camera. I am 61 now and have never been back to London and suppose now never will but that Guard remains in my memory.

www.royal.gov.uk/
Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA
+44(0)20 7930 4832
Google map: bit.ly/wnr3Ev

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Take refuge in Frederic’s shop, where you can revive flagging legs with a cup of rich hot chocolate. No instant stuff this; but basically just melted chocolate, including the speciality Fredericisime, with no sugar and just a little honey, that you might not like but will knock your socks off. Along with the large and imaginative chocolate selection there are hot chocolate spoons, chocolate spreads, and ice creams. I must try the “Belgian sunshine” - I like a chocolatier with a sense of humour!

www.frederic-blondeel.com/en/presentation/
Quai aux Briques/Baksteenkaai 24, 1000 Brussels
+32 2 502 21 31
Google map: bit.ly/x8SWpl

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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Founded in 1919 in Brussels, since 1942 Mary has been the chocolate supplier to the Belgian royal family. There are only three shops in the country, and the brand has
shunned expansion and stuck to its retro-style packing, discreet service and pralines named after Princesses past and present. This is about class, but there is nothing to be concerned about on price! Chocolates are still made by hand by around ten employees in a former armaments factory.
A browse through the brochure reveals that chocolates should be kept between 15 and 18 degrees, avoiding rapid changes in temperature. “In truth, however, our chocolates seem to disappear rather quickly.” You bet they do.

www.marychoc.com/
Rue Royal/Konigsstraat 73, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
+32 2 217 45 00
Google map: bit.ly/zyRZ1L

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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For macabre Victoriana take a trip round Highgate Cemetery. Sadly it is no longer open for individual roaming, but the accompanied tours are entertaining and informative. With its catacombs, statuary, grand mausoleums and famous names this latter day necropolis is a spooky but fun place to visit. Lucinda Hawksley, Charles Dickens's great, great, great granddaughter, will be giving two talks in the cemetery's chapel in February 2012.

www.highgate-cemetery.org
Swain's Lane, London N6 6PJ
+44(0)20 8340 1834
Nearest tube: Archway
Google map: bit.ly/e24iLF

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Jane, a Londoner, was highly sceptical when I suggested this tour. We piled on clothes (it was November) so stayed warm enough to appreciate the birds’ eye view from the upper deck. Over several hours we learned an eclectic mix of history, celebrity, and the macabre: Trafalgar Square’s lions were cast from melted French cannons; a City company insures Tina Turner’s legs for £millions; Green Park was a swampy, medieval graveyard for lepers. You can hop on and off along any of the three routes and the ticket includes a river cruise and guided walks. Commentary is live on one route; on the others it’s taped, in seven languages, plus an extra-gruesome one (in English) for kids. The ticket, normally valid 24 hours, is extended to 48 in winter, so the next day I used it to get to the museums in Kensington, hearing about the humble origins of Harrods and Harvey Nichols along the way. Jane confessed that next time she has out of town visitors, she might do it again.

www.theoriginaltour.com; from £23 adult, £11 under 16s.

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Ingwansan is a 338 metres tall mountain located in the heart of Seoul. A short walk away from the nearest subway station, a brief 15 minute hike will see you encountering Buddhist temples, citywide vistas and a shamanist shrine to boot.
Be sure to pick up some kimbap (김밥 in Korean script) from one of the many small restaurants nearby to devour as a snack upon reaching the summit. Made of white rice and various other ingredients, wrapped together in dried laver seaweed, a kimbap is the perfect reward after a short and sharp climb.
Oh, and don't be surprised if you're offered a soju pick-me-up by one of Korea's numerous elderly hikers!

From Dongnimmum Subway station (Line 3), leave through Exit 2 and take an immediate left. Follow the winding road and you will, after 2-3 minutes walking, come across some steps on the right handside. Climb the steps and you'll find yourself at Ingwansan.
Google map: bit.ly/ziF6hT

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The food stalls in the square of the Jemaa el Fna or La Place, as the French call it, where Marakshis have come for centuries for dinner and a show are a place everyone should visit at least once in their lives we agreed with the German couple sitting next to us tucking into snails and camel heel while discussing their daughters’ Northern Soul thesis and watching the snake charmers and storytellers work their magic. I preferred their taste in music to their taste in food but the myriad of food stalls here also serve fish and chips or tagines for the more faint hearted. This isn’t a big place but that only seems to make you so much more aware of just how diverse and colourful the world is as you break bread with people from all corners of the world.

Google map: bit.ly/ydKNEH

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When all that you want in life is a tasty paratha and a strong sweet chai to propel you along on your rented bicycle, you realise you must be on the right track. Once a capital city of ancient kings, Orchha is now a tiny village bursting with architectural gems of palaces and temples. Take time out to explore the quietly magnificent sights, breath in the pure rural air, and just let your mind wander with you. We only have so much time to stop and stare, so make sure you take some time out for yourself in such a mesmerising place. Who knows where your thoughts could take you.

Google map: bit.ly/wGiSar

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A proper Spanish Village. Unspoiled typical Andalucia. Quiet, crime free, with warm friendly people. A little look at a time that has gone and is now almost forgotten about.
They still serve free tapas in the bars.

Google map: bit.ly/xQIkW1

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Hidden behind the imposing National Museum, the Historical Museum in Sarajevo is a deeply moving, eye opening and inspiring experience. Documenting the atrocities of the Bosnian war with a touchingly impartial pathos, the simple yet affecting exhibition stopped me in my tracks and the hours spent at the museum will stay with me. For someone born in 1990, the images, artefacts and written accounts of the conflict brought home the reality that these horrors occurred within my lifetime. When this is combined with the ubiquitous scars of war which cover the country, the humility and compassion of the Bosnian people in the aftermath of their recent tragic history is all the more striking. Among young people in the UK not enough is known about this conflict and I can think of no more essential starting point than the Historical Museum in Sarajevo.

www.muzej.ba/
Zmaja od Bosne 5, 71 000, Sarajevo
+387 33 226 098

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Delphi. Bold illustration of Classical Greece. Place of the Gods.
Delphic hills covered with barely whispering olive trees and the cemetery with its warmly inviting glowing night lights. Alone with Zeus and eagles you can gently jog the 100 yards in Delphi's ancient stadium. Later have a one/one session with the Oracle - she only tells you things you already know: that Delphi is breathtakingly beautiful and that you will return again and again.

Google map: bit.ly/wsc3l7

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Pitsidia, Crete. A village to open you up and re-affirm what you have always believed life should be like. Chancing upon a Cretan means, at the least, a friendly ‘Cala Mera’ and a wave, sometimes an invitation to come in and drink tea. Bars and Cretans really move the welcoming spirit another notch; if the owner is not around then customers are trusted to simply help themselves and pay their bill later that day or even the next. The most seductive Cretan music just helps to confirm what you have always wanted to believe – that life and people are beautiful.

Google map: bit.ly/xP652a

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The immense Kymer temple complex of Angkor Wat has been cited by many as being the world's "8th wonder"- with good reason.
It's vastness and grandeur envelops you from the moment you exit the canopy of the long, straight road from Siem Reap and you can't help but feel you've stepped far back into a magical time.
This magnificent sensation was enhanced when I decided to hire a bicycle and set off at 4am from Siem Reap to reach the temple while it was dark dark. It was incredible being able to sit back and watch the entire sunrise unfold with the temple's silhouette slowly coming into view, hearing only the flutter of dragonflies hovering over the pond in front of me.

Google map: bit.ly/AaogXn

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Most people go think that doing the last 200kms to Santiago is what the Camino is about. Don't do this! Start in France (from Paris, Vezelay, Le Puy or Arles) and do part of it this year. You need a guide and a Pilgrim Passport (from the Confraternity of St James), accommodation is cheap and so is travel, but once you’ve started you’ll want to go back and complete the journey and that is when it will begin to change your life!

www.csj.org.uk/

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In Summer 2008 I joined a conservation project in the Peruvian Amazon. I was based in the Manu Biosphere Reserve, said to be one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. It was.
Strangely, for me, the jungle itself wasn’t the best bit. I loved the people who lived there. While I helped them to reforest instead of deforest, they taught me how big life can be even with very little.
On my last day I scaled a waterfall, avoiding bullet ants, poisonous spiders and deadly snakes, to visit a natural oil spring. Daniel, our jungle guide, told me that in 50 years time an oil company would be drilling where I stood, exploiting both the oil and the people who live there. Afterward I travelled up the Madre De Dios river to the Shintuya community. There I saw a hand painted Makaw on the side of a Peki-Peki boat. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.
In that moment I realised there are all kinds of marks we can make on the world and I knew there and then I wanted to leave a brightly coloured one.

www.crees-expeditions.com/
Google map: bit.ly/yYlMAi

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Monte Alban is less well known than many other pre-Colombian sites in Mexico but it is in a spectacular location on top of a levelled-off ridge at the point where three valleys meet, just outside of Oaxaca city. Views from every vantage point are magnificent, with forest-clad mountains seeming to stretch infinitely towards Guatemala and beyond.
Mexico was the first stop on a world trip my wife and I did a few years ago and this location was significant to me as it was the first time I had been overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of nature. The feeling of eternity among the ruins with the stunning Sierra Madre backdrop made me feel insignificant. However I was surprised at how comforting this actually was. Truly awe-inspiring.

Monte Alban, Oaxaca: whc.unesco.org/en/list/415
Google map: bit.ly/xSvwSe

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Great food market located in the centre of Cork city. Open as a market from 1788 and still thriving. When the British Queen visited Ireland in 2011, the English market was one of the places on her itinerary.
Quite a range here from exotic fruits, vegetables, artisan breads, handmade chocolates, fish and meat. Additionally there are numerous cafes in which you can take a pit stop.

www.corkenglishmarket.ie/
Princes Street, Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland
+353 86 175 6296
Google map: bit.ly/Akggt0

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Between Covent Garden and the Thames, down Villiers St off the historic Strand awaits Gordon’s Wine Bar. This is London’s oldest wine bar and must be one of the world’s best. Visiting Gordon’s is a unique experience of London’s history. Before becoming a wine bar in 1890, the building was home to Samuel Pepys and also an illustrious brothel or two. Outside, in Villiers St, the building now has the appearance of a deserted and condemned old building from Dickensian London and is often unrecognised by the most dedicated visitors. The only clue is the dusty original gas-lit lamp above the door, labelled “Gordon’s Wine Bar”. Take the narrow steps down into the unlikely darkness.
The bar has the appearance and feel of a dark basement untouched since Pepys left. Nicotine stained walls of tongue-n-groove boards, history-stained stone floors, and rickety tables and chairs under the low, brick-domed ceiling of the original wine cellars are not retro but original features. Candles light the reticent faces of illicit encounters. The staff are efficient and friendly and pull schooners and beakers of sherry, Madeiras, or port from the barrels stacked behind the bar. Excellent wines are also available by bottle or glass. Recently homemade food has been introduced, and the tables spill out into Watergate Walk to the side. But stay indoors to enjoy the uniqueness and excellence of Gordon’s Wine Bar, and drink deep the history of London.

www.gordonswinebar.com/
47 Villiers Street, London WC2N 6NE
+44(0)20 7930 1408
Google map: bit.ly/yoMnP7

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Not the one at the Che memorial but the one outside the communist party HQ just down the road from the train monument. Not only is it brilliant, but you can also have your photo taken next to a life-size Che without any bother as there's no guard.

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Stationed outside the Capitol building in Havana you'll find some brilliantly restored convertible Cadillacs. These are available for one-hour tours for about 30 CUC. Not cheap by Cuban standards but, once you've seen them, you may just not be able to resist.

Barcelona, Havana, Cuba
+53 7 8637861
Google map: bit.ly/x1b8HR

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