The future has been dissected, discussed and often anticipated in various Sci-Fi works released along the years, by such authors like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick or Robert Heinlein. However, the limits of normal travel have remained the same for decades, although machinery and tech have improved adjacent factors like comfort or speed. The skies [...]

Back March I made a list of 10 of the most beautiful bridges in the world. Now, I've decided I should return to my long lasting passion for bridges and present to you the 5 longest bridges in the world. Enjoy, and don't forget to share your thoughts.

Recently, there's been a lot of fuss (and for good reason!!) around the pollution level of the USA, about how many amazing areas have been destroyed or have lost some of their charm. We also hear a lot about how so many clubs and stores are not "what they used to be". But still, we shouldn't forget about the many beauties this country has to offer, both natural and human.

There are really few cases when people keep themselves impassive when it comes to traveling. But what do we like the most: the fact that we can come back home whenever we want to, returning to our stumps, or seeing new amazing things, feasting all of your senses with the wonders of foreing lands ? If you're in the 2nd category (as you really should), the only significant problem is the destination itself, this is why we should take in consideration the miracles of the world, made by nature or humans.

Mysteries are the salt and pepper of a human life. There are many things humans don’t know and never will know - in history, psychology, physics, math or geography. One of the most famous mysteries that make people wonder is the Egyptian sphinx, the one that has been given lots of interpretations and associations, like being [...]

Photo by Robert Silverwood

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder or at least that’s how the saying goes. For a few people, beauty, is a bit more relative the people perceive it. Someone might consider an abstract painting horrific, while the other might find it simply enchanting. However there’s something truly magical about something that, we can all agree upon, bridges the barrier between grotesque and serene.

A prison is a symbol of entrapment, torture and suffering. A hotel is mostly associated with comfort, relaxation and escape. Put the two face to face and you’ll find little, to no similarities, however by combining them you can achieve a certain level of beauty and bliss, that surfaces only in the weirdest of places. I mean think about it. Hotel + Prison, Prison + Hotel. I guess inmates would love to serve their time in hotel, but about travel guests lodging in a prison? Here’s 3 of the world’s weirdest, but at the same time beautiful, prisons converted into hotels.

1. Four Season Hotel - Istanbul, Turkey

Maybe the most famous jail house turned luxury hotel is the 65-room Four Seasons Istanbul, which up until 1969 was the Sultanahmet Jail, a detention center for writers, journalists, artists and dissident intellectuals awaiting trial at a nearby courthouse in central Istanbul.

The building’s exterior of Turkish neo-classic architecture was maintained, while contemporary glass additions were created to connect the series of buildings that frame an open courtyard, adding natural light to the hotel’s interior. This hotel offers an atmosphere of personal attention and ease that is unprecedented in Istanbul.

More at http://www.fourseasons.com/istanbul/

2. Breakwater Lodge - Cape Town, South Africa

Once a 19th century prison, the South African former notorious correctional facility Breakwater Lodge, is now a vibrant tourist location. This 1859-built structure with castle-like ramparts on the glitzy Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in the heart of Cape Town, is the country’s first jail-turned-hotel.

More at http://www.breakwaterlodge.co.za/

3. Malmaison - Oxford, UK

If an inmate of Her Majesty’s Prison in Oxford were to pay a return visit to his former clink today, he might come away wishing he’d committed his crime 40 years later. The castle-like walls, built for William the Conqueror in 1071, remain; as do the three-inch-thick steel doors in the cell blocks. But the prison’s name has been changed to the Malmaison and conditions have improved dramatically. The House of Correction gym features has state-of-the-art exercise equipment, and high tea, not corporeal punishment, is served up in the visitor’s room.

Back in2005 the famous Malmaison hotel chain turned the oldest prison in Britain into one of the classiest boutique hotels in the county. Quite a makeover. Instead of changing the old look, the designers created a jail house theme by keeping the wrought iron stairwell and many of the original jail bars and bare brick walls. Of course, the designers also added a modern touch and vibe to the retro, creepy theme. A soft mood lighting and original pieces of art are just a few additions. The dining area is now a chic brasserie with a menu featuring steak tartare and fillet of sea bass, and the old cells feature plasma TVs, heated slate-stone bathrooms, plush velvet curtains and fully stocked mini-bars.

More at http://www.malmaison-oxford.com/

4. Liberty Hotel - Boston, USA

Oh, the irony. The Charles Street Jail, in Boston, was one of the countries most infamous prisons, dating from the middle of the 19th century. It started it slow decay as prison, in the mid 20th century, before finally closing its doors at the beginning of the 1990’s. But from the ashes, a gorgeous new 298-room hotel was raised. Opened in September 2007 after a $150 million renovation, 18 of its rooms are set within the high granite walls of the 1851-built main prison, which has as its centerpiece a towering light-filled 90-foot-high lobby rotunda.

More at http://www.libertyhotel.com/

5. Hotel Katajanokka - Helsinki, Finland

To find one of Europe’s classiest prison hotels, you must cross the Baltic to Helsinki, Finland, and check into Hotel Katajanokka, a tall red-brick structure on a narrow peninsula close to the domed Uspenski Cathedral in the center of the city. This was the Helsinki county prison for 150 years until it closed down in 2002; it’s now a 102-room boutique inn run by Best Western, with a swish bare-brick restaurant called Jailbird. Which room to book? Ask for the private cell where former Finnish president Risto Ryti was jailed by the Soviets at the end of World War Two.

More at http://www.bwkatajanokka.fi

6. Hotel Loewengraben - Lucerne, Switzerland

The Jail Hotel Loewengraben in old town Lucerne, Switzerland, functioned as a prison right up until 1998. Right about the same year it re-opened as a small, clean, unfussy boutique hotel. The rooms have bars on the windows, the doors tiny slots to push food through, and the communal areas are decorated with prison memorabilia. And just in case you missed the joke, the hotel bar is called Alcatraz. Not exactly four seasons material, but fun enough to get welcomed in the list.

More at http://www.jailhotel.ch/

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