The Acropolis in Athens, built during the Greek Golden Age (500–300 BC), is today such a dominant icon that many other fine Hellenic sites are often overlooked in its favor. More than 100 years before the Acropolis was built, the cities of Sicily were the richest and greatest in all of Magna Graecia (Greater Greece).

In the little-known but fascinating region of Apulia, the heel of the Italian “boot” is Alberobello, a town with a charm so peculiar that it’s difficult to remember which country you’re in, or which planet you’re on.

While Brussels and Bruges attract tourists, Antwerp carries on its business. If you bypass it, though, you will miss seeing what remains of the 16th- and 17th-century golden period, when Antwerp dominated the intellectual, commercial, and artistic life of the Low Countries. Antwerp’s defining cultural landmark is the soaring 404-foot white stone lacework tower atop the Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal), with its famous carillon of forty-seven bells.

What is the fairest castle hotel of them all? “Hotel” is something of an understatement when applied to Ashford Castle, an imposing flight of fancy reflected in the waters of Lough Corrib, a 68-square-mile lake that is Ireland’s second largest and its best for brown trout fishing.

Adare Manor is an astonishing Gothic pile—with fifty-two chimneys, 365 leaded-glass windows, and turrets everywhere, it looks every bit the location for The Hound of the Baskervilles. Former home and seat of the Earls of Dunraven, it is a self-contained 840-acre baronial haven for guests who relish being cossetted like descendants of royalty.