Seven Places Where Time Seems to Stand Still

After than extensive renovation, one of Asia's great colonial landmarks emerged from its facelift with its soul still intant. The writers Bar (watering hole for Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad) takes you right back to the days when Somerset Maugham bellied up for his favorite Million Dollar Cocktail.

A mix of ancient Swahili and Islamic cultures, the port of Lamu is Kenya's oldest living city. Donkeys roam its narrow streets; the men wear white robes and caps; the women, black purdah. Graceful dhows still ply the waters off the coast, and you can easily find one that will take you for a sunset sail. 

Like the Pyramids, Pompeii is familiar to any school child, but nothing prepares you for a visit to the world's most famous ruins, where an entire once flourishing town was buried (and preserved) under 20 feet of volcanic ash in A.D. 69 when the nearby volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted with little notice. It's as is the ancient Romans had left only yesterday.

Horse-and-buggies start arriving at dawn for the weekly auction where farmers in wide-brimmed hats and Old Testament beards bid on hand-powered tools, kitchenware-ware even old wringer washing machines Friday's horse and pony auction shouldn't be missesd.

This perfectly preserved 18th-century town is one of the world's greatest enclaves of Baroque architecture. Like a stage set of decotative wrought-iron balconies, pastel-colored mansions, and steep cobblestone streets, this old mining town is home to 13 Baroque churches, including the lavish Nossa Senhora de Pilar. 

Situated in a high mountain valley, Yemen's capital Sana'a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years. Lined with ornate multiple-story mud brick houses with intricate bingerbread facades, the narrow streets of the ancient medina quarter seem straight out of the Arabian Nights.

Built in 1982 to accommodate quests arrining on the Orient Express, the hotel has a faded glamour, and a guest book that lists everone from Mata Hari to Agatha Christie, who wrote Murder on the Orient Express in Room 411. Come for tea and savor Old Stamboul.