Most excursions include visits to museums, ruins, old fortresses. There are many similar facts in the history of famous sights. So, in almost every ancient Russian city there is a fortress that burned more than once, and in German - a repeatedly restored town hall. Recently, more and more popular are unusual excursions - excursions for sophisticated tourists who have seen a lot and are not much surprised.
Sadly, travel agencies make a lot of money from disasters. Many agencies offer unusual excursions to places that have been seriously damaged. Such a journey carries a danger. However, there was a lot of thrill-seekers at all times, and therefore travel agencies do not suffer from a lack of customers. Chernobyl, for example, in 2011 was visited by more than three thousand people. Unusual excursions also include:
- Sewers of Paris.
- The funeral in Bali.
- Indian slums.
- Red Light Street in Amsterdam.
Paris sewer
A visit to the museum, located in Paris, underground, is one of the most unusual excursions in Europe. Thanks to this trip, you can get basic information about the history of the sewage system of Paris since the XIV century. Museum exhibits are capable of plunging an unprepared tourist into a light shock.
There are no shop windows. A visitor inspects the dungeon, where once an epidemic of plague and other ailments arose, crushing a good part of the French capital. The situation in the sewers has not changed much since the 15th century. But this is a misleading impression. The most unusual excursion in Paris is harmless.
Funeral in Bali
The death of the inhabitants of Bali is not as gloomy as the Europeans. The funeral here is a solemn event in which there is no place for sadness. This unusual and informal tour is free. Relatives of the deceased are only welcome guests. Nevertheless, a person who first finds himself in Bali may seem to be visiting the funeral of a stranger at least unethical.
Indian slum
Anyone who has read the Shantaram book by Australian writer Gregory Roberts knows about what is happening in the troubled areas of Bombay. Once in India, he wants to feel for a while one of the heroes of this work. There is such an opportunity. One of the most unusual excursions to Indian attractions involves visiting slums. It is aimed at lovers of contrasts.
Anyone after visiting Indian slums understands how well his own life has developed. Such unusual excursions of local residents do not bother. Tourists usually donate money, naively believing that they can somehow make a difference. At a demonstration of poor neighborhoods and travel agencies, the slum dwellers themselves make good money.
"Street red-light district"
This part of Amsterdam is visited not only by men who want to use the services of affordable Dutch women. "Red Light District" is one of the main attractions of the city. Tourists are immersed in an unknown world. You will not see anything like this in any European city.
In the wake of the serial killer
One of the unusual travel programs in Los Angeles is a tour following the footsteps of the Manson sect. A tourist examines places where nonhumans killed their victims, among whom were Hollywood celebrities (for example, Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski). This tourist route is for people with strong nerves. Are there any such unusual excursions in Russia?
In the Mines, where Chikatilo committed his first murder, there are no travel agencies offering to visit places associated with the name of the serial killer. But among the guests of this town are those who are partial to the biography of the maniac. He committed his first crime in a small house located at 26 Mezhevoy Lane. Curious people sometimes come here.
They say this area of the mines is very gloomy. In addition, there are many rumors about the so-called damned zone around this city. It is believed that the situation in the East Donbass is unfavorable, which affects the appearance of serial maniacs. Here, in this city of the Rostov region, several "murders" were committed by "follower" Chikatilo Mukhankin.
Chernobyl
On the territory of the former Soviet Union, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is the most visited disaster site. Moreover, thrill-seekers from different countries come here.
The level of radiation in Chernobyl decreased after measures to eliminate the consequences of the accident. This happened in the early nineties. The first tourists appeared about five years later. In 1995, an organization was created that controls trips to the Chernobyl zone. Yet then not everyone could get here. In 2010, entry was opened to all comers.
Before the trip, the guides advise tourists to take shoes that are not a pity to throw away. The fact is that there is still a high level of radiation. The exclusion zone should not be visited by people who are impressionable and endowed with a rich imagination. These are beautiful, but gloomy places that can serve as a backdrop for any thriller.
During the tour, many tourists are visited by a feeling of fear, confusion. The dead city is a terrible sight. Still on the destroyed playgrounds, you can see toys that remind of the rush in which people fled from here. And how many died. Especially gloomy thoughts are prompted by an abandoned kindergarten and the well-known Ferris wheel.
Unusual excursions in Moscow
Attractions in the vicinity of the Kremlin are familiar to everyone. But there are places in the Russian capital that excite the imagination of suspicious citizens. And not everyone knows about them.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the area of Kitai Gorod, where the most expensive restaurants and shops are today, thieves, murderers, fugitive convicts, young ladies, beggars, and other asocial elements lived. This area was called Khitrovka. A respectable citizen had nothing to do here.
One of the unusual excursions around Moscow involves visiting places where there were once slums. This tourism program is called "Moscow criminal". Cost - 400 rubles. Duration - 2.5 hours.
The tour is of interest primarily for those who read Gilyarovsky’s book “Moscow and Muscovites”, know the history of the Russian capital or are familiar with the work of Boris Akunin, whose works depict the life of the dysfunctional Khitrovka.
Another gloomy place in Moscow is a building located at Serafimovich Street, house 2. This building appeared in the early 20s. The House on the embankment was built, and it was precisely this name that it received among the people, for officials of the highest rank. According to legend, they built it where mass executions were carried out in the Middle Ages.
In 1938, the apartments suddenly became empty - almost all the residents were repressed. They say that at the entrance number 11 Chekists lived all this time, who listened to the inhabitants of the house. Today, a museum is located within the walls of the House on the waterfront. The cost of the tour is 600 rubles.
Most of the houses on the waterfront are occupied by residential apartments. Ordinary people live in them. But once in this house for the first time, a person experiences an unpleasant sensation. Even if he does not know anything about what happened here almost a hundred years ago.
Unusual excursions in St. Petersburg
Sights known around the world are best visited accompanied by a guide. But in St. Petersburg, as well as in Moscow, there are places where not all guides take their wards. These are streets, courtyards, unusual monuments that are not included in popular tourist routes, but are no less interesting than the famous palaces and parks.
The old courtyards and ceremonies of St. Petersburg are an unusual excursion that allows not only to see the festive, glossy side of the Northern capital, but also to walk through the back streets where small officials, factory workers, cabmen roamed in the 19th century. There are areas in the city that have preserved the spirit of the times of Dostoevsky.
The duration of this unusual excursion around St. Petersburg is an hour and a half. The cost is 700 rubles. It is carried out only in Russian.
A visit to unusual monuments is another unusual excursion to St. Petersburg. Indeed, among the attractions of the city on the Neva, not only worthy of sculptural compositions located in the historical center, but also rather unusual intricate monuments that are located outside it are worthy of attention. You can get around these attractions on your own, without a guide. Unusual monuments of St. Petersburg :
- Ostap Bender, Italian street, house 2.
- "Chizhik-fawn", Fontanka Embankment, 1st Engineering Bridge.
- "The hare on the pile." Hare island, a pile at the John’s bridge.
- “Hippo Tonya”, Birzhevoy passage, house 2.
- "Photographer", Malaya Sadovaya, house 3.
- “Elisha the Cat and the Vasilisa Cat”, Malaya Sadovaya, 3.
- “Tower of Griffins”, 7th line of Vasilyevsky island, house 16.
- "Lamplighter", st. Odessa, house 1.
Observation Decks in St. Petersburg
Walking along the roofs of St. Petersburg is one of the most interesting excursion routes, including a visit to the best viewing platforms of the city. Namely:
- Dome of the Singer House.
- The roof on the Uprising Square.
- The roof is opposite the Kazan Cathedral.
- Observation deck Leader Tower.
- The bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
- The roof of the loft project "Floors".
- Colonnade of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
- Eliseevsky shop.
- The roof opposite the circus on the Fontanka.
The cost of the tour in Russian is 800 rubles per person. In English, 1100 rubles.
It is easy, knowing the addresses, to find buildings from whose roofs a bewitching view of St. Petersburg opens. But to go on such a trip is still not worth it. The guide instructs how to walk on the roof, for which you can hold on, and for which it is impossible.