Who would have thought, back in the tumultuous coup and counter coup days of the 1970s, that Burkina Faso would become the cultural darling of West Africa? Unlikely as it seems, Burkina Faso has become the Utah of West Africa, hosting a biennial film festival that rivals the Sundance Film Festival for cultural clout. When it's not hosting film festivals, it's busy organizing its other biennial cultural festival.

Located on the Rhône River, Avignon is the city to which the Popes fled when leaving the corruption of Rome in the 14th century. The palace they built, 'Le Palais des Papes,' is a breathtaking must see.

Ganvie, often called the "Venice of Africa," is a lake village located in the heart of Lake Nokoué in southern Benin. What makes Ganvie extraordinary is that the entire village sits on stilts above the water, with wooden homes, floating markets, and schools accessible only by boat. Visitors can glide through narrow canals in pirogues, experiencing firsthand a way of life shaped entirely by water.

Baja California Sur is state located in Northwestern Mexico, on the Baja California peninsula. The capital is La Paz. The area is lightly populated. Tourism is the economic mainstay of this region, centered around the beach resort area, Los Cabos. Sport fishing is a major attraction, as well as having some of the best beaches Baja has to offer.

At the very heart of Denmark lies Odense, birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and Denmark's third-largest city - the fairy-tale capital of Funen, home to 200,000 people and with a history stretching back over 1000 years.