Travel Briefs

In the Siberian town of Tobolsk, the Prison Castle museum (5 Red Square, Tobolsk 5626152, Tyumen Region, Russia; phone +7 8 3456 22 37 13, tiamz.ru/en/museums/21) is now also a hotel. 

At the cost of RUB600 (near $9) per person per night for up to 16 people, each guest can sleep on a metal bunk in a 2-person “sweat-box” room, a cramped room used to punish prisoners. A toilet and shower are on site. Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Czar Nicholas II are among prisoners who spent time in the penitentiary. 

A crumbling, 5-mile section of China’s Great Wall was repaired with sand and concrete, resulting in a flat, sidewalk-like surface that has been described as “ugly.” The repair to the 645-year-old section of the wall, in Suizhong County in northeastern China, was done in 2014 but only recently came to light because, while that portion of the wall can be visited, it is not open for trekking. 

Visitors to Barcelona can take a 3-hour private sailing tour of the coast aboard a sailing yacht with Barcelona Sail (Dock 5, Moll de Xaloc, Barcelona 08005, Spain; phone +34 622 226 190, barcelonasail.com). Instructed by an English-speaking skipper, guests will steer the boat, themselves. 

Tour costs range from €190 (near $212) for one to three people up to €470 for eight to nine people. Food can be provided, on request, for €10 per person.

Whale-watching season in Australia is May to November. To learn more about the types of whales that frequent Australia and where and when to best spot them, visit www.australia.com/en-us/things-to-do/nature-and-wildlife.html and click on “Whale watching in Australia” and then on “View more information.”

At the undersea Bremer Canyon off the coast of the town of Bremer Bay, which is southeast of Perth in Western Australia, the largest gathering of orcas (killer whales) in the Southern Hemisphere occurs each summer, lasting from January into April. 

On 12-day cruises to the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the M/V Sea Spirit, an overnight camping excursion is an option ($250) for up to 40 people per sailing. 

Poseidon Expeditions (Providence, RI; 347/801-2610, poseidon
expeditions.com) provides all the camping gear, including a one-person bivouac (to be dug into the snow) or two-person tent, water-repellent sleeping bags and insulated pads. Campers prepare their own campsites. No food is allowed onshore.

In eastern Tokyo during the blossoming season (early March to early April), the shidare zakura (weeping cherry tree) and Feudal Lord’s Garden are illuminated each night until 9 p.m. within Rikugien Garden (6-16-3 Hon-komagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0021, Japan; tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_08.html#rikugien), located in the city’s Bunkyo¯ Ward. Park entry costs ¥300 (near $3).

The world’s shortest international flight, 13 miles in length, is scheduled to begin service on Nov. 2, 2017. Operated by People’s Viennaline (www.peoples.at [in German only]), the flight goes from St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport (ACH) in Switzerland to Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH), just across Lake Constance, in Germany, in eight minutes. There are two such flights a day; the one-way fare is €40 (near $45). 

In Paris, along the west bank of the Seine, the Voie Georges-Pompidou expressway was closed to vehicular traffic on Sept. 26 for at least six months, with city leaders suggesting the closure may be permanent. During the six months, the road will host a riverside park with gardens, playgrounds and restaurants plus courts for games of boules

The mausoleums and mosques in Qutb Shahi Heritage Park, in the Shaikpet district in western Hyderabad, Telangana state, India, are undergoing a 10-year restoration that officials hope will make the area a destination on a par with the Taj Mahal. The buildings, built by the Qutb Shahi family, who ruled the area in the 16th and 17th centuries, are built in a mix of Persian, Hindu and Pathan styles, with distinctive onion domes and pointed archways.