Heavenly Matched Travel
Before Rio de Janeiro became the glamorous heart of Brazil, Salvador de Bahia was the nation's very first capital, established by the Portuguese in 1549. Today, Salvador remains the vibrant epicenter of Afro-Brazilian culture.
The iconic Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro is relatively modern history! Completed in 1931, the massive art deco statue was funded almost entirely by donations from Brazilian Catholics.
In 1808, the Portuguese royal family fled to Rio de Janeiro to escape Napoleon's invasion. This made Rio the only European capital to ever be located outside of Europe.
Capoeira, a spectacular Afro-Brazilian martial art, was developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil. To practice self-defense without drawing attention from slave masters, they disguised the martial art as an acrobatic dance.
The São Francisco Church and Convent in Salvador is considered one of the finest examples of Portuguese baroque architecture. Its interior is famously covered in an estimated 800 kilograms (over 1,700 lbs) of gold leaf.
The famous cable car that carries passengers to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro was built in 1912, making it only the third passenger cable car system built in the world.
Around 508 BC, the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called "demokratia," or "rule by the people," laying the groundwork for modern democratic systems worldwide.
Built in the 5th century BC to honor Athena, the Parthenon has survived a turbulent history. Over millennia, it has been repurposed as a Christian church, an Islamic mosque, and even a gunpowder storage facility.
Athens is not just ancient; it is the oldest capital city in Europe. Archaeological evidence proves that the city has been continuously inhabited for over 3,400 years.
After a 1,500-year hiatus, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896. They took place at the Panathenaic Stadium, which remains the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble.
In ancient Greek, "akro" means high or edge, and "polis" means city. While most Greek city-states had an acropolis for defensive purposes, the Acropolis of Athens is so significant it is usually referred to simply as "The Acropolis."
Located at the foot of the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionysus is considered the world's very first theater. It is the birthplace of ancient Greek tragedy and comedy, hosting the premieres of plays by Sophocles and Euripides.
New York City was originally a Dutch settlement called New Amsterdam, founded in 1624. In 1664, the English captured the city and renamed it "New York" in honor of the Duke of York.
Long before Washington D.C. existed, New York City served as the first capital under the U.S. Constitution. In 1789, George Washington took his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street.
In 1626, Dutch colonist Peter Minuit famously "purchased" the island of Manhattan from the Lenape Native Americans for trade goods worth 60 guilders, historically (and famously) equated to about $24.
Beneath the Waldorf Astoria hotel sits Track 61, a secret railway platform. It was famously used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to enter the hotel privately, keeping his polio diagnosis hidden from the public.
Despite its natural, rolling appearance, Central Park's 843 acres are entirely landscaped. Building the park in the 1850s required moving more cubic yards of soil and rock than the digging of the Panama Canal.
When the Statue of Liberty was gifted from France and dedicated in 1886, it was the shiny color of a copper penny. It took roughly 30 years for oxidation to give the statue its iconic green patina.
Morocco is home to the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez. Founded in 859 AD by a visionary woman named Fatima al-Fihri, it is recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest continually operating university in the world.
The city of Chefchaouen is famous for its vibrant blue buildings. The tradition was popularized by Jewish refugees in the 1930s, who believed the color symbolized the sky and heaven, reminding them to lead a spiritual life.
In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, Morocco became the very first country in the world to officially recognize the newly independent United States of America.
The Moroccan city of Ouarzazate and the fortified village of Ait Benhaddou are massive hubs for the film industry. They have served as stunning backdrops for films like Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and the series Game of Thrones.
The magnificent Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca features a towering 689-foot minaret. Remarkably, part of the mosque's floor is made of glass, allowing worshippers to pray directly over the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Fes el Bali medina in Fez is one of the world's largest contiguous car-free urban areas. It contains over 9,000 narrow, maze-like alleyways navigated exclusively by foot, donkeys, and handcarts.
Costa Maya and Cozumel are gateways to the ancient Mayan civilization. The Mayans were brilliant astronomers and mathematicians, building massive stone pyramids without the use of metal tools or the wheel.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Roatan, Honduras, was a famous haven for notorious pirates. Hidden coves provided perfect hideouts for swashbucklers like Henry Morgan and Blackbeard to ambush Spanish galleons.
For the ancient Maya, Cozumel was a highly sacred island dedicated to Ixchel, the goddess of fertility and medicine. It was expected that Mayan women would undertake a spiritual pilgrimage to the island at least once in their lives.
The waters off the coast of these Caribbean destinations feature the second-largest coral reef system in the world. It stretches nearly 700 miles from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula down to the Bay Islands of Honduras.
The famous El Castillo pyramid at the ancient site of Chichen Itza (accessible from the Mayan Coast) acts as a massive stone calendar. It has exactly 365 steps in total—one for each day of the solar year.
The ancient Mayans were among the very first people to cultivate the cacao plant. They roasted and ground the beans to brew a bitter, spicy drink that was highly revered and considered the "drink of the gods."