Arena di Verona is a Roman amphitheatre from the 1st century, right on Piazza Brà. Still used today, mostly for opera in the summer, which draws big crowds and makes the whole thing feel surprisingly alive for something nearly 2,000 years old.

The Duke’s Diwan is a time capsule of early 20th-century Amman, hidden in plain sight on the busy King Faisal Street. Built in 1924 as the city’s first post office, this Ottoman-era stone house later became the Haifa Hotel before heritage activist Mamdouh Bisharat ("The Duke of Mukheibeh") rescued it from demolition in 2001. Today, its creaking wooden floors lead through rooms frozen in Jordan’s past, complete with antique typewriters, sepia photos of camel caravans on dusty roads, and a balcony overlooking downtown’s metamorphosis. More than a museum, it’s a living diwan (gathering space): poets hold readings at the carved oak table, while artists riff under the Arabian archways. Admission is free, and the duke himself sometimes holds court, spinning tales of old Amman over cardamom coffee. Don’t miss the upstairs gallery, where rotating exhibits spotlight Jordan’s underground creatives.

Ottenby, on the very south of the island of Öland, is one of the top areas for birding in Sweden — 377 species have been observed here. A visit to Öland offers fantastic opportunities for bird studies all the year round. Ottenby Bird Observatory was founded in 1946 and has ever since performed studies on migrating birds. Around 20,000 birds are ringed each year. Also, the bird observatory is involved in bird migration research projects on the island of Capri, Italy, and in Nigeria.