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Guinness Storehouse, “the home of Guinness”, is Dublin’s most popular tourist attraction. A converted brewing factory, it is effectively a shrine to Guinness, incorporating elements from the old brewing factory to explain the history of its production. Some of the old brewing equipment is on show, as well as stout ingredients, brewing techniques, advertising methods and storage devices. The exhibition takes place over 7 floors, in the shape of a 14 million pint glass of Guinness. The final floor is the Gravity Bar, which has an almost 360° panorama over the city, where visitors can claim a free pint of “the black stuff”. The storehouse is where they used to add the yeast to the beer for fermentation. Unlike the Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour, Guinness Storehouse visitors do not get to see the beer being brewed in front of them. But from various vantage points in the building you may see parts of the brewhouse, vats, grain silos and the keg yard. Must see tourist spot in travel guides for Dublin.
GPS travel coordinates: 52° 20′ 69″ N, 6° 17′ 11,58″ W
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Originally founded by the Carthaginians and was already the seat of a bishop in the 4th century. After being governed by the Moors under the names of Madina al Jazira and Madina al Manurqa for several centuries, Ciutadella was recaptured during the reconquista by men serving Alfonso II and became part of the Crown of Aragon. During the Middle Ages, it became an important trading center. On the 9th of July 1558,the Turks under Barbarossa with a powerful Turkish Armada of 140 ships and 15,000 soldiers, put the town under siege for eight days entered and decimated the town.The town was defended by only a few hundred men. All of Ciutadella’s 3,099 inhabitants who survived the siege were taken as slaves to Turkey together with other inhabitants of surrounding villages. In total, 3,452 residents were sold into slavery in the slave markets of Istanbul(Constantinople),Turkey. Real gem for summer vacation.
GPS travel attractions coordinates: 40° 0′ 2.01″ N, 3° 50′ 7.04″ E
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Phaistos, also transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Phaestus is an ancient city on the island of Crete. Phaistos was located in the south-central portion of the island, about 5.6 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. It was inhabited from about 4000 BC. A palace, dating from the Middle Bronze Age, was destroyed by an earthquake during the Late Bronze Age. Knossos along with other Minoan sites was destroyed at that time. The palace was rebuilt toward the end of the Late Bronze Age. Greece is perfecr destination for honeymoon vacation on beautifully Greece islands.
GPS travel location: 35° 3′ 5″ N, 24° 48′ 49″ E
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The belfry of Bruges, or Belfort, is a medieval bell tower in the historical center of Bruges, Belgium. One of the city’s most prominent symbols, the belfry formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives, and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other danger. A narrow, steep staircase of 366 steps, accessible by the public for an entry fee, leads to the top of the 83-meter-high building, which leans about a meter to the east. To the sides and back of the tower stands the former market hall, a rectangular building only 44 m broad but 84 m deep, with an inner courtyard. The belfry, accordingly, is also known as the Halletoren (tower of the halls). Nice tourist spot for Belgium sightseeing tour.
GPS travel coordinates: 51° 12′ 30″ N, 3° 13′ 29″ E
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The Halaszbastya or Fisherman’s Bastion is a terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style situated on the Buda bank of the Danube, on the Castle hill in Budapest, around Matthias Church. It was designed and built between 1895 and 1902 on the plans of Frigyes Schulek. Its seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896. The Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen which was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. It is a viewing terrace, with many stairs and walking paths. A bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary mounted on a horse, erected in 1906, can be seen between the Bastion and the Matthias Church. The pedestal was made by Alajos Stróbl, based on the plans of Frigyes Schulek, in Neo-Romanesque style, with episodes illustrating the King’s life. It was featured as a Pit Stop on the sixth season of The Amazing Race. Great tourist city in middle of Europe.
GPS travel location: 47° 30′ 6″ N, 19° 2′ 6″ E
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Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison, located in Inchicore in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980’s by the Office of Public Works (O.P.W.), an Irish Government agency. Kilmainham Gaol has played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the jail. The jail has also been used as a set for several films. When it was first built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was called the ‘New Gaol’ to distinguish it from the old jail it was intended to replace - a noisome dungeon, just a few hundred metres from the present site. It was officially called the County of Dublin Gaol, and was originally run by the Grand Jury for County Dublin. Over the 140 years it served as a prison, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. The leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed here. Kilmainham Gaol was abandoned as a jail in 1924, by the government of the new Irish Free State. Following lengthy restoration, it now houses a museum on the history of Irish nationalism and offers guided tours of the building. An art gallery on the top floor exhibits paintings, sculptures and jewellery of prisoners incarcerated in jails all over contemporary Ireland. Not usual tourist spot, but worth to consider. Enjoy Dublin
GPS travel location: 53° 20′ 31″ N, 6° 18′ 35″ W