Photos: 9 worldly trips for culture lovers

Bob Dylan landmarks are scattered around the streets of Greenwich Village, including clubs where the American band first strummed a chord. Spend a weekend freewheeling around New York from Fourth Street to the Chelsea Hotel, and tap into the unpredictable, rebellious spirit of music’s prickliest minstrel.

England’s capital was where rock music was reborn. As you walk the streets of London, the clues might be as blatantly obvious as Abbey Road or one of the English Heritage blue plaques denoting a famous site, or musical memories may simply sneak up on you, courtesy of a sudden sighting (Baker Street, Victoria or a Waterloo sunset). The Savoy Hotel’s steps are where Bob Dylan’s classic video “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was filmed in 1965, and 23 Heddon St. in Piccadilly Circus was where David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust was born.

Dublin has its share of storytellers, so much so that the city has been dubbed by UNESCO as a City of Literature. After all, it was the birthplace of James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. Venture to any of its quirky bookshops, literary festivals or the pubs where famous writers observed their countrymen spin a yarn, and relive some history.

Head to the bay city of Salvador da Bahia if you want to see real capoeira — a form of martial arts that’s based on a ritualistic African dance — in action. And if you visit at the beginning of the year, know this: The area ranks second only to Rio’s Carnaval. Looking for fun outside of Carnaval, the area’s Lavagem Do Bonfim festival is a party that takes place on the second Thursday in January -- with city festivities and processions of costumed women carrying buckets of flowers to the church of Igreja Nosso Senhor do Bonfim.

In the 1930s, a modern national identity was up for grabs in Mexico City; social rebels ventured there and realized they were free to be who they wanted. Today, it retains this spark and verve, and every street is a colorful photo of cultures coming together. The city has a definite rebellious teenager personality, where anything is considered possible and people are willing to give everything a shot. Defenos (as those from the capital are known) are keen to embrace modern life, and yet, you’ll find them equally proud of being easygoing and living for the moment. Artistically, the city is perhaps best known as the home of Frida Kahlo, but peel back the layers, and there’s plenty more to discover: revolutionary echoes reverberate through the Mexican capital and are easy to tour.