Results: "Fictional" Travel Destinations That Leap Off The Pages

An ancient Greek poem attributed to Homer, The Odyssey traces Odysseus (or Ulysses, in the Roman version of the myth) and his epic journey home after the Trojan War. A fantastic chain of events has the homesick hero battling a fierce one-eyed monster Cyclops and a six-headed sea monster, Scylla. Along the real-life Cyclops Riviera that stretches from Catania to Acireale along Sicily's gorgeous eastern coast, you'll find seaside towns, citrus orchards, and looming Mount Etna, home of Cyclops and Vulcan, the god of fire. Scilla, the nearby Calabria fishing village, is named after the sea monster that devoured Odysseus' companions. Have you read The Odyssey, and do you think there is any truth to this folklore?

Homer's other epic Greek poem, The Iliad, recounts the brutal 10-year Trojan War between the city of Troy and the Achaeans (ancient Greeks) that sparked when the prince of Troy kidnapped Helen, the daughter of Zeus. Thanks to Odysseus' plan to use the fabled wooden Trojan horse, he and the Achaeans penetrated the massive walls of Troy and besieged the city. For centuries, scholars were convinced the Trojan War was entirely a Greek myth. But in the late 1800s, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann uncovered what historians believe are the remnants of Troy near Turkey's northwest coast. Today the 4,000-year-old ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Have you ever visited this UNESCO World Heritage site?

The name "Shangri-La" first appeared in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon as a fictional utopia high in the Tibetan Himalayas, where life is enlightened and days are lived in peace and wonder. So influential was the myth that the term now appears in the dictionary as a synonym for a remote paradise. Several communities deep within the snow-capped Himalayas have since claimed to be the novel's inspiration, and the China-Tibet border town of Zhondian even renamed itself Shangri-La in 2001. But any definite location of any actual Shangri-La, as with Buddhism's enlightened Himalayan kingdom of Shambhala, is pure speculation. Do you think that Buddhism is probably the world's most peaceful religion?

As the legend goes, King Arthur was a British leader who led his Knights of the Round Table against Saxon invaders in the 5th or 6th century CE. He took the throne at Camelot by pulling a magical sword, Excalibur, from a stone, a feat only the true king of Britain could accomplish. British Library manuscripts suggest Arthur is based on an actual person who lived in Shropshire. That county's Wroxeter archaeological dig site, with remains of an ancient city and castle, is believed to be King Arthur's Camelot. Which of these Camelot themed TV shows or movies have you enjoyed (only listed some)?

Some of us hear "Xanadu" and immediately flash back to the '80s musical with Olivia Newton-John on roller skates. Roller discos aside, the definition of Xanadu is an idyllic place of great beauty, luxury, and contentment. And that's what English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes when he references Xanadu in his famous poem "Kubla Khan." As Coleridge's poem notes, Xanadu (or Shangdu) was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty after 1264. It was located in what is now Inner Mongolia, some 220 miles north of Beijing, but was abandoned in 1430. Xanadu was recently added to the list of World Heritage sites and features the remains of the city's temples, palaces, and tombs, and a canal. Have you ever travelled to see this site?