Head off to explore the filming location of 12 Monkeys, Michael Jackson’s hometown turned ghost town, Berlin’s 1936 Olympic Village, deconsecrated churches, forgotten castles, deserted train stations, prisons and mental asylums, a cemetery of rusted locomotives, abandoned steel factories, phantom metro stations, and more.
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Discover the historic location of Rembrandt's famous "Night Watch", the origin of the invention of cognac; homage to prostitutes; decypher facade stones; make love quite legally in the open air; visit magnificent interior courtyards; ski in the heart of the town, or become an adept of "boat-in" - the Amsterdam version of « drive-in » - and eat a pizza in your own boat.
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The secrets of Gaudí and the Sagrada Família, a taxi-ride in the nude, a fantastic model railway network below the central station, a mysterious hand, an extraordinary dissection hall, an unsuspected anti-aircraft shelter, a deadly kiss, a museum in the back shop, some very special toilets, romance in love hotels or helicopters, ants and scorpions on the menu…
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Dine in the home of a perfect stranger, enjoy your meal on an extraordinary, little-known terrace looking out on the Parc de Monceau, eat lunch at a restaurant that’s totally invisible from the street, have a drink at a bar next to a man taking a shower in a glass box, join a band of artistic squatters for an afternoon barbecue, visit a Royalist bar, catch up with a moveable feast, get unbeatable value for money at a hostelry school, and experience numerous other timeless venues and atmospheres….
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A “love hotel” where you can say a prayer, a reconstituted section of the Senne river at Saint-Géry, an extraordinary private museum devoted to plastic, a farm with sheep, goats, and turkeys at place de l’Yser, Masonic secrets in the Parc de Bruxelles, a hotel overlooking the Grand-Place, a surrealistic trip in a lift, a homage to the military pigeon, potholing at Koekelberg basilica, a swimming pool with a panoramic view of the city, a scandalous pavilion in the Parc du Cinquantenaire, an immense vegetable garden at Uccle, an 19th century artist’s studio at Schaerbeek, a camping ground in the heart of the Belgian capital, a forgotten garden-city at Forest...
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Visit a church in a prison, learn how Florence became the centre of hermetism during the Renaissance and where you can still find traces of it today, escape from the crowds of tourists to visit little-known artistic masterpieces, head off to hunt for the 34 plaques displaying quotes from the “Divine Comedy”, fill up your tank at a vintage service station, have your children count the number of bees sculpted on the monument to the glory of Ferdinand I, look for the last wine distributors of the Renaissance, notice the minuscule windows designed to let children look out quietly onto the street, visit superb private gardens that even the Florentines don’t know about, learn how the purple colour of the Fiorentina football team is connected to the pee of a Florentine crusader in Palestine . . .
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A game of pétanque played with square boules, an astonishing aerial well, stained-plastic windows, a marble bench built in memory of the Queen of England’s haemophiliac son, the instruments of the Passion of Christ, a cannon that fires cherry stones, a good-luck pig, a mysterious pyramid, a monument to secret agents, an entire village that “moved house”, a gas mask for horses, a statue sculpted by Saint Luke, a chapel showing the dead rising from their tombs, a trapdoor in the nave of a church that opens onto a rushing torrent, a restaurant in an Orient Express railway car, Babar’s beach, Tintin’s Black Island, and Sleeping Beauty’s chateau, a chance to admire the Riviera’s first pair of naked breasts, or spend the night sleeping in a tree ...
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Head off to discover hidden tunnels and a bomb shelter beneath the Old City, follow a secret passage open once a year, admire the cathedral’s Orpheus capital, pray at Calvin’s fake grave, look for the plaque that compares the pope with the Antichrist, visit the secret gardens of the Carouge district, discover why the national monument represents two Savoyard women, learn where Frankenstein was created, sleep in Professor Calculus’ room, and more.
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 Why is the Portuguese coat of arms set at an angle of 17° on the façade of Rossio station? Where in Portugal was The Magic Flute played for the first time and why did Mozart dedicate it to his master Cagliostro? What is the theory concerning the fifth dynasty of Portugal, traces of which are found in the street layout? Where can you find the most beautiful azulejos secreted around the city? Why and how did Lusitania become Portugal (Porto Graal), the place harbouring the legendary Holy Grail? Where can you find the Lisboan serial killer’s head preserved in formalin? Why was the south doorway of the Jerónimos Monastery designed according to Hebrew Kabbalistic principles? What symbols are concealed within the Saint Vincent polytych at the Museum of Antique Arts? Who in fact are the Sebastianists, messianic in the style of Shiite Muslims, awaiting the return of the lost King Sebastian?Since the Middle Ages, Lisbon has been a favourite site for the development and application of the theories of alchemist kings, masonic ministers, occult poets, followers of hermeticism and the secret knowledge of the Knights Templar, who found refuge in Portugal after they were banned from the rest of Europe in the 14th century. Vitor Manuel Adrião, acclaimed historian and philosopher, is heir to all this esoteric knowledge in Portugal. Here for the first time he reveals his incredible knowledge in this truly initiatory guide, with a mind-boggling interpretation of the arcana of a city which some consider is on the way to becoming the spiritual capital of Europe.
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Mingle with the most impressive handlebar moustaches in the country, pay your respects at the dog cemetery in Hyde Park, visit a masonic temple, take trapeze lessons in a former power station, pray in a floating church, sail on a disused reservoir, discover the stone from which Arthur dreaw Excalibur, admire the sacred penis of a pharaoh, have a game on the City’s last bowling green, examine a cucumber straightener, a stuffed mermaid or a cow’s heart, go stargazing at Greenwich Observatory … "Secret London" received the 1st prize among 300 competitors in the travel guides category at the International Book Fair of Prague
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Discover a secret club frozen in time since 1946, press the champagne button to summon the bubbly trolley to your booth, read the infamous list of house rules of a members' club hidden behind a door with no sign outside, join a louche club in the original dressing and rehearsal rooms of a theatre, sweet-talk your way into a secret bar frequented by the Pogues and John Lydon, find a guide who’ll squeeze you into an intriguing slice of Soho history that's only accessible from a door behind the bar, meet the members of the glorious Handlebar Moustache Club at their pub, go for serious food at knock-down prices in cookery schools, travel back to the heyday of the USSR in a hidden Polish gem of a restaurant, seek out a bar in a converted subterranean public convenience built for the 1908 Olympic Games, eat curry for free in a Sikh temple, frighten yourself in a haunted bar that contains an ancient stone marking the dead centre of the City, go to the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world, have lunch in secret gardens…
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Have your favourite pet blessed, visit an underground mine in the centre of Madrid, see the astounding liquefaction of the blood of Saint Pantaleon once a year, meet Spain’s only Catholic exorcist, find out how the king had his medicine made using alchemy, smell the apple odour that wafts once a year from the still-intact body of Mariana de Jesús who died in the 17th century, visit an underground art gallery, dine in a car park...
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Discover a canal lock designed by Leonardo da Vinci as well as the secrets of his Last Supper, find out where Mussolini’s hidden bunker lies, marry beneath frescoes by Tiepolo, visit artists’ houses usually closed to the public, see exceptional private collections, admire the sculpture of a young girl shaving her pudenda, look for the boxers carved on the roof terraces of the cathedral, and so much more.
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Discover secret gardens, decipher ancient riddles on tombstones, visit a disturbed Indian burial ground, observe the stars and planets through a university telescope, frown at a bronze statue of Lenin, harvest mastodon food in Central Park, enjoy the aroma of a roomful of dirt, find a Venetian palazzo above a former stable, spot the forbidden island that was once declared a sovereign nation by a guy in a rowboat, track down a townhouse concealing a subway tunnel, walk under the canopy of a primeval forest, read a memorial plaque to an event that happened in another dimension, fall into a trance before a piece of subway art that flickers and moves, have your bicycle blessed in church.
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A priest who blesses animals, wine-producing firemen, a tree in a church, an inverted phallus at a famous entrance, an atomic bomb shelter under the Gare de l’Est, a real Breton lighthouse near Montparnasse, unsuspected traces of former brothels, a patron saint of motorists, royal monograms hidden in the Louvre courtyard, the presentation of Christ’s crown of thorns, a prehistoric merry-go-round, a sundial designed by Dalí, war-wounded palm trees, bullet holes at the ministry, biblical plants in a priest’s garden, a mysterious monument to freemasonry at the Champ-de-Mars, a solid gold sphere in parliament, a Chinese temple in a parking lot, the effect of the Bièvre river on Parisian geography, a blockhouse in the Bois de Boulogne …
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A statue of a pregnant Virgin Mary, an astronomical observatory in a former nuclear missile silo, a hotel room in a tree or a gypsy caravan, primitive Provençal artists, the mark of Christ’s knee, a fountain that flows with wine, a caiman dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a church in a theatre, an erotic mediaeval bas relief, a countess who returned to life, a Provençal Villa Médicis, a false volcano at La Roquebrussane, a “sheep bridge” at Arles, a rain-making saint, an alchemist’s garden, a magic palindrome at Oppède...
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Visit palaces closed to the public, admire exceptional works of art away from the tourist circuit, listen to a concert in a magnificent hidden oratory, have your dog or car blessed, observe the miraculous liquefaction of the blood of Saint Pantaleon, puzzle over a rare catoptric meridian or a wonderful anamorphic fresco, discover the remarkable motorised Rubens, enter into the secrets of the Vatican, rediscover a lost Bernini masterpiece, say a prayer before an image of the Holy Face of Jesus like that deposited on the moon in 1969, organise a dinner for two in a private palace, protect your throat from the rigours of winter.
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The oak tree where Pinocchio hanged himself, a fifteenth-century stained glass window with an image of Mussolini, a forgotten statue by Leonardo da Vinci, a luxury hotel that is now a public lavatory, a 17th-century milk distributor, a wine-drinking frog, a unique astronomical phenomenon, a staircase in Siena bearing St. Catherine’s teeth marks, a whale in Lucca, an authentic phial of Christ’s blood, a faith that moves rocks, diamonds within marble, the location of the amphora from the Marriage Feast of Cana, an extraordinary anatomical theatre in Pistoia, Fata Morgana’s spring of eternal youth, an unusual stroll along a marble quarry monorail…
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Discover the secrets of St. Mark’s Basilica with not a tourist in sight, finally crack the mystery of the pillars around the Doge’s Palace, take a trip on the only underground canal in Venice in search of the alchemical sculpture of the winged horse, lunch at a restaurant tucked away in a lagoon fisherman’s house, track down Teriaca, that miracle potion brewed in Venice from time immemorial, decode the paintings of the Scuola di San Rocco applying the principles of the Jewish Kabbalah and see how Kabbalistic music influenced the construction of San Francesco della Vigna, visit an unknown underground cemetery, stroll through unsuspected gardens beyond the gates of palazzos and monasteries, admire the extraordinary forgotten library of the Venice Seminary, sleep in a sublime bedroom concealed within a palazzo, go shopping in Giudecca women’s prison market, play petanque in the heart of the city, retreat to a wonderful lakeside monastery, away from the crowds … Five years of research have gone into the compilation of this exceptional guide, an opportunity for all who love Venice, as well as Venetians themselves, to leave the beaten track far behind and rediscover the most extraordinary city in the world.
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Spend the night in the cabin of a dockside crane that you can rotate, in a tent hanging from a tree, in the depths of a salt mine, an igloo, a round house that turns with the sun, a survival pod from an oil rig platform, a giant hamster cage, a coffin, at the top of a lighthouse, in a cider cask, a glass pyramid, aboard a plane, on a private island, in a house anchored to the top of a factory smokestack, in a red cube in the countryside, in a train, a chapel or a prison … Our selection of hotels, B&Bs, self-catering cottages and other unconventional lodgings, the result of five years of research, will let you spend a night unlike any other, which you will never forget. More than 250 unusual properties, starting at €10 a night.
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