Our 3 Cents on hidden gems near the tourist traps

When traveling, guidebooks are a great way to find your way around the city and check off all the must-see sights. You’ll be able to find Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower, but there’s always more to a city than any guide will tell you. From deserted castles to crypts decorated with human bones, here are 3 places you probably won’t find in guidebooks.

Lady Elliot Island
Australia

Okay, Frommers was the only guidebook we saw that covered this tiny island at the southern most part of the Great Barrier Reef. But so many more people would travel here if they read about what it offered! Lady Elliot Island is located about 200 miles northeast of Surfer’s Paradise.  This island boasts a resort and a landing strip.
Chartered Cessna planes from nearby Harvey’s Bay or Brisbane airport offer package deals for transportation, snorkeling and free food and booze for a day on the island. The investment is pricey ($600 per person for everything) but compared to flying farther north, getting accommodations, and getting on a boat for day, it's worth it.  
University of New South Wales also offers a week course in February and July to the island entitled Coral Reefs: Ecology and Environment.

Check out their program at www.studyabroad.unsw.edu.au

Deserted Castle
Florence Italy

Rent a scooter (still the best way to get around Florence) and cruise up to Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. Here is where all the tourists gawk at the incredible views of the Tuscan Valley. But you know what? There’s a better view farther up the hill at a deserted castle that all the tour buses and guidebooks seemed to have forgotten about. There really is no name for the castle, but it’s on the map the local tourist offices give out.
The windy, vertical road may give you a hint of scooter-sickness, but at the top of the hill you will see the castle: an acre of untarnished ruins with overgrown grass and a creaky metal gate to enter. My travel partner and I couldn’t understand the lone sign on the place - rusted out and in Italian - but it seemed to say not to enter the castle, so we abided. But the walk around this deserted castle was well worth the ride up to it.

The Capuchin Crypt
Rome, Italy

Located underneath the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, you’ll find a crypt built by Capuchin Monks with some interesting ideas about interior design.  The walls are covered with the remains of over 4,000 Capuchin monks, arranged into elaborate patterns and designs. Human bones serve as the building blocks for crosses, chandeliers and wild designs, giving the place a distinctly creepy-but-beautiful atmosphere.
Metro to Piazza Barberini and walk up Via Veneto to the church. Entrance by donation.
If bone churches are your thing, you might want to check out Kutna Hora, a small town just outside of Prague. High creep-out factor – well worth a day trip.

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