Advertisement
Travel & Experiences

Offbeat Traveler: Unromantic places around the world

Ordinarily, Seville, capital of the Andalucia region in southern Spain, is quite romantic with picturesque plazas, palaces, museums and eclectic architecture. A recent garbage strike, however, left the city under 7,000 tons of trash. The strike ended on Thursday and a cleanup is underway, but it might be a while before the odor dissipates.

Ordinarily, Seville, capital of the Andalucia region in southern Spain, is quite romantic with picturesque plazas, palaces, museums and eclectic architecture. A recent garbage strike, however, left the city under 7,000 tons of trash. The strike ended on Thursday and a cleanup is underway, but it might be a while before the odor dissipates.   (Raul Caro / EPA)

Share

Tired of thinking about romantic places to go for Valentine’s Day? Here are some unromantic locales to take your mind off of love, including a sewer museum, a park filled with giant lizards and an attraction sometimes referred to as the “Gates of Hell.”

If you’re not worn out by Cupid’s arrows, read about these romantic cities or dreamy lodges.

This group of islands in Indonesia is the only place in the world where you'll find Komodo dragons, the world's largest extant lizard species, in the wild. They grow to about 10 feet and they're as close as you'll get to living dinosaurs. Oh, they're also nimble and venomous. Even less romantic is that these lizards have been known to reproduce through virgin conception. More info: www.komodonationalpark.org

This group of islands in Indonesia is the only place in the world where you’ll find Komodo dragons, the world’s largest extant lizard species, in the wild. They grow to about 10 feet and they’re as close as you’ll get to living dinosaurs. Oh, they’re also nimble and venomous. Even less romantic is that these lizards have been known to reproduce through virgin conception.

More info: www.komodonationalpark.org  (Romeo Gacad / AFP / Getty Images)

At this museum in central Mexico, you'll find over 100 mummies exhumed from a Guanajuato cemetery between 1870 and 1958. In 1870, a local law required families to pay a tax to ensure that their deceased loved ones stayed buried. The penalty for not paying was disinterment. More info: www.momiasdeguanajuato.gob.mx/english/historia.html

At this museum in central Mexico, you’ll find over 100 mummies exhumed from a Guanajuato cemetery between 1870 and 1958. In 1870, a local law required families to pay a tax to ensure that their deceased loved ones stayed buried. The penalty for not paying was disinterment.

More info: www.momiasdeguanajuato.gob.mx/english/historia.html  (Daniel Jayo / Associated Press)

The Gum Wall, in Pike Place Market, originated in the 1990s when Market Theater patrons began sticking their chewed gum on the venue's wall as they waited for shows to start. Theater owners tried to remove the gum, but they eventually gave up as the wall began to be known as a tourist attraction. The wall of vintage gum rises 15 feet high and stretches across about 50 feet. When you think of all the mouths that these pieces of chewed gum came from, you won't be in the mood for smooching.

The Gum Wall, in Pike Place Market, originated in the 1990s when Market Theater patrons began sticking their chewed gum on the venue’s wall as they waited for shows to start. Theater owners tried to remove the gum, but they eventually gave up as the wall began to be known as a tourist attraction. The wall of vintage gum rises 15 feet high and stretches across about 50 feet. When you think of all the mouths that these pieces of chewed gum came from, you won’t be in the mood for smooching.  (Alex Trautwig / Getty Images)

Travel & Experiences

More From the Los Angeles Times

Advertisement