Mayor Edi Rama, internationally renowned as an artist before he took over the post of Tirana's mayor in 2000, decided to give the city a more welcoming look by painting old and Soviet block-style building facades in bright colours. The initiative certainly accomplished its goal of helping the city appear more attractive.

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah is a sprawling cultural park in East Jakarta that brings the whole country together in one place. Each province has its own pavilion built in traditional style, complete with crafts, costumes, and exhibits that show off local life. There’s even a lake shaped like the Indonesian archipelago, in addition to museums to wander through and a cable car that gives a great view of it all. It’s a fun way to get a feel for Indonesia’s diversity without leaving the city.

High mountains and deep valleys frame Valldemossa, the village where the island's first two 'celebrity tourists', composer Frederic Chopin and author George Sand, lived in 1838. Once here, make sure to visit the village's main attraction: The Carthusian Monastery of Valldemossa. Originally built as a royal palace in 1309 and later converted into a monastery of the Carthusian order, the Carthusian Monastery of Valldemossa is an impressive complex that houses a palace, a church, an old pharmacy, an art collection of some of the greatest modern Spanish and local artists, and the cells where the monks lived for 400 years to find peace and rest. Each cell has its own exit to the garden terrace with blossoming magnolias and a wonderful view over the valley.