People, customs, dialects, ways of saying, and even oddities: every inhabited center in the world has its own peculiarities that distinguish it from others. Anyone who lives in a village or town knows what makes them “special”, as a resident of a particular place.
The world, however, is so varied and so vast that it offers us an incredible diversity of situations that may surprise us , perhaps for characteristics that we may not expect. The same is true for the cities that we are about to show you: special places, rare in many ways and certainly one of a kind .
City-copy, rocks in the middle of the houses, houses in the dominant colors, and dwellings built-in “extreme” places: have fun discovering them with us … No doubt, it will make you want to plan a new trip under the sign of originality!
#1. Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain
image credit: Andrei Dimofte / Wikimedia
In this Andalusian city, the environment has not adapted to the population, but the exact opposite has happened! The houses follow the rocks and have been built and fashioned around them. For this reason, Setenil is today a popular tourist attraction.
#2. The copy of Hallstatt, China
image credit: Facebook
Apparently, there cannot be two countries more different than Austria and China. They are not only in terms of distance, but also of traditions and landscapes. But this is not the case. In China, they were so impressed by the beauty of the city of Hallstatt, not far from Salzburg, that they decided to reproduce it. The Chinese Hallstatt is practically “identical” to the original!
#3. Matmata, en Tunisie
image credit: Panegyrics of Granovetter/Flickr
A city made of caves and underground dwellings: this is Matmata, a village located in the south of Tunisia. It is a truly fascinating place, which is certainly worth a visit.
#4. Chefchaouen, the blue city of Morocco
image credit: Just Booked A Trip/Flickr
The beauty of Chefchaouen, Morocco, is based on its color. The city is characterized by a predominant use of blue: the houses and alleys are of this color, which makes it a truly enchanting place!
#5. Whittier, and Alaska
image credit: Jessica Spengler/Wikimedia
In Whittier, the inhabitants all sleep under the same roof. Yep: the inhabitants of this village, around 220, as well as the local clinic, a few shops and the police station, are all in the building you see, to save on heating.
#6. Busingen am Hochrein, between Germany and Switzerland
image credit: Prekario / Wikimedia
At first glance, it looks like a quiet German village. In fact, Busingen am Hochrein is a real border town. The village is administratively German, but economically Swiss. Here, unlike other border locations, everything is literally double: two postal codes, booths to call in Switzerland or Germany, a double currency and a German football team which, however, plays in the Swiss championship!
#7. Longyearbyen, Norway
image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / Wikimedia
Longyearbyen is already an “extreme” place in itself. The small town is located in the archipelago of the Svalbard Islands, Norway and, besides being one of the coldest and most built up places in the north of the world, it has the particularity that here … nobody dies! Yes, because, given the too cold temperatures, for more than 70 years in Longyearbyen, we no longer bury the dead. There is no cemetery and the sick are flown to other bigger and better equipped Norwegian towns.