International Touring Areas

Did You Know…? Banff was Canada’s first national park (1885). West Edmonton Mall is the site of the world’s first indoor bungee jump. The world’s largest herd of free-roaming bison is in Wood ...

Did You Know … ? Tiberius in his last years presided over the Roman Empire from Capri accompanied by his heir Caligula. Richard Wagner used the Villa Rufolo in Ravello for the ...

Did You Know…? Assisi was the birthplace of three canonized saints, St. Francis, St. Clare and St. Rufinus. Cimabue’s 13th century fresco of St. Matthew broke into 120,000+ pieces during Assisi’s 1997 ...

Did You Know? Australia has 21 of the world’s 25 deadliest snakes. The fastest recorded speed for a kangaroo is 40 miles per hour. Australia’s giant Gippsland earthworm can measure up to 10 ...

Did You Know … ? Arnold Schwarzenegger was born the son of a policeman in Graz in the alpine foothills. Maria von Trapp sold rights to the story that became “The Sound ...

Did You Know…? Rostock University is the oldest university in northern Europe (1419). Lubeck was one of the cofounders, with Hamburg, of the Hanseatic League in 1241. The UNESCO-listed Wismar is at the ...

Did You Know? Banff is Canada’s oldest national park, dating from 1885. Wood Buffalo National Park is a UNESCO site larger than Switzerland. Elk Island National Park is completely fenced in. The population in ...

Did You Know…? The unique Black Forest cuckoo clock originated around Triberg in the 18th century. The Romans, who were first to tap the area’s thermal springs, gave the Black Forest its ...

Did You Know…? The port town Coxen Hole, on Roatan, was named for a pirate, John Coxen. The largest whale shark ever measured was 40 feet long. Christopher Columbus was the first European ...

Did You Know? In one tide cycle, more water flows through the bay than the amount of water in all the world’s rivers. Arthur Ganong, president of Ganong Bros. chocolate makers for ...

Did You Know? Bay of Fundy tides rise to 53 feet, for the world’s highest tides. The fictional heroine of Longfellow’s epic poem, “Evangeline,” hailed from Grand Pre. Port Royal was Canada’s first ...

Did You Know…? Godfrey, the best-known leader of the First Crusade (1096), was born at the Castle of Bouillon. Tongeren claims to be Belgium’s oldest town, predating the Roman era when it ...

Did You Know? The name for Ambergris Caye is based on a substance found in whale intestines. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and a partner own Blackadore Caye. The Belizean barrier reef is part of ...

Did You Know…? Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes originated in Bordeaux. A grapevine in the Sauternes region produces only one or two glasses of wine a year. A modern incarnation of ...

Did You Know…? Seventy-five percent of British Columbia is mountainous, 60% is forested. The province (364,764 square miles) is larger than California, Oregon and Washington combined. British Columbia hosts more than 30 aboriginal ...

Did You Know? Seven million flower bulbs are planted in Keukenhof Gardens. Canals formed the basis in the 17rh century for an artificial port city — Amsterdam. More than 20 million flowers and ...

Did You Know … ? In 1784, Cape Breton became a separate colony accommodating Loyalists who left the U.S. after the Revolutionary War. Guglielmo Marconi sent his first transatlantic radio message from ...

Did You Know…? Guglielmo Marconi sent his first transatlantic radio message from Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula to Newfoundland (1901). The largest Cornish pasty, made in 2010, weighed just over 1,600 pounds and took ...

Did You Know…? Painter Pablo Picasso was born in the city of Malaga. Hundreds of spaghetti westerns were shot in the Tabernas Desert outside Almeria. Of the 101 town names in Malaga province, ...

Did You Know … ? Both the Pacific and the Caribbean coasts are visible from the top of Irazu volcano. Costa Rica has only 0.01% of the world’s land, but 3.5% of ...

Did You Know … ? It took Costa Ricans 15 minutes, at today’s Santa Rosa park, to fend off an 1856 Nicaraguan invasion. Costa Rica is home to 1,500 species of orchids. In ...

Did You Know … ? The Royalist Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold is Britain’s oldest inn, founded in 947 as a hospice for lepers. Cirencester was a Roman city called Corinium. Several villages include chipping ...

Did You Know? President Lincoln investigated purchasing Cozumel as a home for freed slaves. The Spanish conquest and smallpox left the island virtually uninhabited by 1600. Hernando Cortes began his 1519 conquest of ...

Did You Know…? Crete is Greece’s largest island (3,189 square miles) and Europe’s southernmost point. The palace of Knossos includes an example of the first flushing toilet system. Domenicos Theotokopoulos — the artist, ...

Did You Know … ? Sacsayhuaman, with stones weighing more than 100 tons, was built without the wheel. Machu Picchu provides a secure habitat for endangered species, including the ocelot. Vilcabamba was the ...

Did You Know…? The name Cyclades, meaning Circular Islands, reflects the fact the archipelago encircles sacred Delos. The island of Ios is said to be the burial place for the poet Homer. Santorini’s ...

Did You Know … ? Emperor Rudolph II bought Cesky Krumlov (the town) in order to park an illegitimate son in the castle (1602). Nearly 180 Czech castles, chateaux or their ruins ...

Did You Know…? Danish Vikings were kings of England before William the Conqueror ever saw the place. Ribe is Scandinavia’s oldest town, dating from 710. Havarti cheese is named for the farm where ...

Did You Know? The Parthenon’s horizontal lines — stair steps, beams and roof — are curved in a slight dome shape. The eternal flame of Altis, at Olympia, is the source of ...

Did You Know…? The Mayflower Pilgrims (1620) and Roanoke’s ill-fated settlers (1586) departed England at Plymouth. The total height climbed if walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path is 114,931 feet (Everest ...

Did You Know? Hippocrates, the father of medicine, led classes and tended the sick on Kos. Christian tradition says John, one of Christ’s disciples, wrote the Book of Revelation on Patmos. The name ...

Did You Know? Nijmegen, with a 2,000-year history, is deemed the oldest city in the Netherlands. The country first imported bicycles in 1869; Deventer hosted the first bicycle club (1871). In the 16th ...

Did you know … ? King Midas, Herodotus (father of history), St. Paul and St. Nicholas (remembered as Santa Claus) were born in Turkey. Bodrum’s Tomb of King Mausolus, one of the ...

Did You Know … ? The prisoner fictionalized in “The Man in the Iron Mask” was held on Ste. Marguerite Island off Cannes. Edith Wharton and F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on “The ...

Did You Know … ? Bavaria’s King Ludwig II never saw Neuschwanstein Castle without scaffolding. Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German while at Wartburg Castle (1521) in Eisenach. The 19th century ...

Did You Know…? KD German Rhine Line is the world’s oldest river cruise company (1826). The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal creates a water route from the North Sea to the Black Sea. The Danube crosses ...

Did You Know…? About 22% of German wine is made from the Riesling grape. Bad Durkheim hosts the world’s largest wine festival [600,000-plus attendees annually). Speyer boasts it has the world’s oldest unopened ...

Did You Know…? The island’s western tip was a haven for gunrunners during the U.S. Civil War and rum runners during Prohibition. The Caribbean yellow pine is the most common tree on ...

Did You Know…? Hurricane Ivan destroyed some 85% of all structures in the Cayman Islands (2004). The 1966 Batmobile, in the Cayman Motor Museum, was based on a $250K “concept car” created ...

Did You Know…? Although British, the Turks islands sold salt to George Washington’s Continental Army. For nearly 100 years, the TCI flag misrepresented the islands’ iconic salt mounds as igloos. The roads on ...

Did You Know? The Parthenon’s horizontal lines — stair steps, beams and roof — are curved in a slight dome shape. The eternal flame of Altis, at Olympia, is the source of ...

Did You Know…? Greece has around 6,000 islands and islets, of which only 227 are inhabited. The Peloponnese Peninsula became an island only when the Corinth Canal was opened (1893). Much of the ...

Did You Know…? The waters around the Ionian islands are the deepest (up to 14,455 feet) in the Mediterranean. Britain’s Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was born on Corfu (1921). Odysseus (aka, ...

Did You Know? Dolomite native Reinhold Messer was the first person to climb Everest solo. Rome’s Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger were natives of the Lake Como area. Fiat’s ...

Did You Know? Pesto was created on the Italian Riviera. Bordighera supplies the palm fronds to the Vatican for Palm Sunday services. Portovenere’s seaside houses were built like a scrimmage line to protect ...

Did You Know…? In most years, Italy is the world’s largest producer of wine. The Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Italy is the world’s No. ...

Did You Know … ? Lake Arenal’s dam produces 35% of Costa Rica’s electric energy. The now-quiescent Arenal volcano began erupting regularly in 1968 after a 400-year hiatus. Arenal (the town) was relocated ...

Did You Know … ? Only one lake in the district is called a lake: Bassenthwaite Lake; all others use the words water or mere. The first pencils were made in the ...

Did You Know … ? Thomas Edison’s movie studio shot the 1902 “Moonlight on Lake Maggiore” at the lake. Mussolini and his mistress were captured and killed in 1945 on the shores ...

Did You Know…? Loch Lomond is Britain’s largest inland body of fresh water (27 square miles). Loch Katrine inspired Sir Walter Scott’s poem, “The Lady of the Lake.” Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Kidnapped” was ...

Did You Know? Joan of Arc’s greatest victory over the English in the 100 Years War occurred in Orleans (1429). The largest chateau, Chambord, has 440 rooms and 365 fireplaces. When Leonardo da ...

Did You Know…? Winnie the Pooh’s name is short for Winnipeg. Piney is home to the only bi-national airport. The province has more than a hundred Indian reservations. Winnipeg was the world’s first city ...

Did You Know? The Maya built their pyramids and palaces without metal tools, pack animals or the wheel. Buildings on the Riviera Maya cannot be more than three stories tall. Whale sharks, up ...

Did You Know…? Most early New Brunswick settlers were American colonists who remained loyal to England. More than 12 whale species are attracted to the nutrient-rich Bay of Fundy. The U.S. and New ...

Did You Know? North America’s oldest European settlement was located in Newfoundland’s L’Anse aux Meadows The province, harboring more English dialects than England does, has its own dictionary. Newfoundland’s Cape Spear is the ...

Did You Know…? The first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel was 63-year-old Annie Edson Taylor (1901). The Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Course is North America’s oldest operating course (c. 1875). On ...

Did You Know … ? The Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan was a setting for the 1978 mystery, “Death on the Nile.” The missing obelisk at Luxor Temple is at the Place ...

Did You Know … ? Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. More than 130,000 troops landed in Normandy on D-Day (1944), history’s largest one-day amphibious invasion. Samuel ...

Did You Know? There are 10.5 square miles for every person in the Northwest Territories. North America’s first diamond mine opened in 1998 near the territory’s Lac de Gras. Great Slave Lake, 2,014 ...

Did You Know…? More than 100 billion tons of seawater move in and out of the Bay of Fundy daily. In Nova Scotia, one is never more than 35 miles from the ...

Did You Know? The Sambro Island Lighthouse (1758) is the oldest working lighthouse in the Americas. Most lobsters are greenish when caught; cooking turns them red. Canada has the world’s longest coastline (125,290 ...

Did You Know…? Ontario has about 250 ghost towns, way more than any other province or U.S. state. At the time of the War of 1812, more than half Ontario’s residents were ...

Did You Know…? The Panama Canal’s Caribbean entry/exit point is north and west of the Pacific entry/exit point. An estimated 28,000 workers died during French (1880s) and U.S. projects to construct the ...

Did You Know? Disneyland Paris covers nearly 5,000 acres, one-fifth the area of Paris. Chartres Cathedral’s stained-glass windows, including 150-plus early 13th century works, cover 27,000 square feet. Versailles debuted with gushing outdoor ...

Did You Know…? Prince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest province and most densely populated. Jacques Cartier discovered the island in 1534. The Island was named Prince Edward in honor of Queen Victoria’s father. Approximately ...

Did You Know? Medieval popes planted the Chateauneuf-du-Pape vineyards. Van Gogh was in Arles when he lost an ear, whether intentionally or by accident. The Val d’Enfer (Valley of Hell) was reputedly the ...

Did You Know…? Quebec is twice the size of Texas, three times the size of France. Sixty percent of Quebecois speak only French; 80% have French ancestry. The snowmobile was invented in Quebec, ...

Did you know … ? The Ciarraighe Celtic people gave their name to County Kerry. The first transatlantic cable station was located on County Kerry’s Valentia Island. The movies “Ryan’s Daughter” (1970) and ...

Did You Know…? The Royal Canadian Mounted Police trains recruits in Regina. The province produces more than half of Canada’s wheat. Estevan averages 2,540 sun-filled hours a year, more than any other Canadian ...

Did You Know … ? The English banned the kilt, tartans and bagpipes in the 18th century. Macbeth was the last Highlander king of Scotland. The Highlands are less populated today than they ...

Did You Know…? The worst earthquake in Europe’s recorded history destroyed Sicily’s Messina and killed an estimated 100,000 (1908). Opera composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Sicily (1801) as was the dramatist ...

Did You Know…? Sherry, a Spanish wine, takes its name from Jerez de la Frontera, sherry being the Anglicized version of Jerez. At least 100 Spanish towns, besides Pamplona, celebrate their saints ...

Did You Know … ? The 15th century Scottish Parliament tried to stamp out golf because it interfered with archery practice. St. Andrews had set the golf round at 22 holes but ...

Did You Know…? The island is dotted with the remains of 54 sugar mills. Point Udall, St. Croix, is the easternmost point of the U.S. Alexander Hamilton held his first job, as a ...

Did You Know…? Laurance Rockefeller donated 9,500 acres to make the Virgin Islands National Park possible. The only mammals native to St. John are bats — six species of them. There are no ...

Did You Know…? Blackbeard’s Castle is the Caribbean’s only 17th century fortified tower (and never saw a pirate). Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro was born on St. Thomas (1830) to a French Jewish ...

Did You Know … ? The Rhine and Rhone rivers originate in the Swiss Alps within 15 miles of one another. Early ski racers were dairy farmers skiing on summer grazing grounds; ...

Did You Know … ? Muhlebach boasts Switzerland’s oldest village center, with houses from the 14th/15th centuries. The Nestle company was founded in Vevey on Lake Geneva, where it is still headquartered. Gruyere ...

Did You Know…? An international banking center, Tortola counts around 500,000 registered financial businesses. More than 80% of BVIslanders live on Tortola. Laurance Rockefeller purchased and donated the land for B.V.I.’s Sage Mountain ...

Did You Know … ? Today there are 14 tower houses in San Gimignano, but once there were 72. Frances Mayes’ “Under the Tuscan Sun” is set in and around Cortona. A Volterra ...

Did You Know … ? The train to Tierra del Fuego’s park is the world’s southernmost railway and Ushuaia the southernmost town. The so-called killer whale (the orca) is really the world’s ...

Did You Know…? The island is called Virgin Gorda (i.e., Fat Virgin) because its profile reminded Columbus of a reclining woman. Philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller donated the land for Gorda Peak National Park ...

Did You Know? The Burren in western Ireland is home to more than 70% of Ireland’s native flora. A 16th century pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, patrolled Ireland’s Atlantic waters for 50-plus years. The Ceide Fields ...

Did You Know? Chocolate was a Mayan discovery, and the Maya used cacao as currency. After a Mayan ballgame, losers or their representatives were decapitated. There are more than 1,600 archaeological zones in ...

Did You Know…? The Yukon River Quest is the world’s longest annual canoe and kayak race (460 miles). Simple hand mining yielded $22,275,000 in Yukon gold in 1900 alone. Diamond Tooth Gerties is ...