1. Taj Mahal, Agra
Perhaps the world’s most famous monument to love, the Taj Mahal was commissioned in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631 aged 38 from complications following childbirth. It was her 14th pregnancy. The name Taj Mahal means “Crown of the Palace”, a reference to Mumtaz Mahal’s title at the Mughal court.
Construction began soon after her death and took more than two decades, involving thousands of craftsmen and artisans. When Shah Jahan died in 1666, he was buried beside Mumtaz, slightly off-centre. By then he had been deposed by his son Aurangzeb and confined in Agra Fort. Accounts describe him spending his final years looking across the Yamuna River towards the tomb.
Visiting
The Taj Mahal is a Unesco World Heritage site. Foreign adult entry is INR 1,100 (about R200). See tajmahal.gov.in
2. Alcobaça Monastery, Portugal
One of Europe’s most enduring love stories is written into stone at Alcobaça Monastery, where Pedro I of Portugal and Inês de Castro are entombed. Their relationship became a court scandal in the 14th century when Pedro, heir to the throne, openly continued his affair with Inês — a Galician noblewoman — after the death of his wife. In 1355, Inês was assassinated on the orders of Pedro’s father, Afonso IV of Portugal. When Pedro became king two years later, he revealed that he had secretly married Inês and posthumously proclaimed her his queen.
Pedro later commissioned elaborate tombs for himself and Inês, placing them facing each other across the nave so that, on the Day of Judgment, the lovers would rise and see each other first.
Visiting
Alcobaça Monastery is a Unesco World Heritage site in Alcobaça, about 120km north of Lisbon. Entry to the Church of Saint Mary of Alcobaça, where the tombs are, is free, while tickets are required to visit the wider monastic complex. Admission is €6. For more information, visit this website.
3. Juliet’s Balcony (Casa di Giulietta), Verona
Juliet’s Balcony is one of the world’s most famous literary landmarks, created when the city of Verona chose to embrace its ties to Shakespeare’s play as part of a tourism marketing campaign. The house, built in the 13th century and bought by the city in 1905, was partly chosen because its former owners’ name – Cappello – vaguely resembled Juliet’s surname, Capulet. The balcony was added in 1937 and it quickly became a tradition for visitors to leave letters to Juliet, usually seeking relationship advice, in the courtyard below. Today, there are designated postboxes where visitors leave their letters, which are collected and answered by volunteers from the Juliet Club of Verona.
Visiting
Casa di Giulietta is in Verona’s historic centre. Entry to the courtyard is free; access to the house museum and balcony is €12 (about R230). See casadigiulietta.comune.verona.it. The Juliet Club of Verona also answers letters received by post and email. See julietclub.com.
4. Karen Blixen Museum, Nairobi
The farmhouse at the foot of the Ngong Hills is where the Danish writer Karen Blixen lived between 1914 and 1931, during her years running a coffee farm outside Nairobi. It was also the setting of her relationship with Denys Finch Hatton, an English aristocrat, aviator and big-game hunter with whom she shared an unconventional partnership, marked by his frequent absences and reluctance to settle on the farm. Finch Hatton worked as a safari guide, spending long periods travelling across East Africa, a way of life that shaped both the relationship and Blixen’s writing.
Blixen later wrote about these years in Out of Africa, published in 1937, framing the landscape, the farm and the relationship as inseparable. Finch Hatton was killed in a plane crash in 1931 and is buried on a hill in the Ngong Hills, overlooking the land he loved. Blixen left Kenya soon afterwards and returned to Denmark, where she is buried at Rungstedlund, her family home north of Copenhagen. The farmhouse near Nairobi has since been preserved as a museum, its rooms arranged to reflect the period that shaped both her writing and her life.
Visiting
The Karen Blixen Museum is in the Nairobi suburb of Karen, about 10km from the city centre. Entry for international adults is approximately KES 1,200 (about R165). See nmk.go.ke/karen-blixen-museum.
5. Château des Milandes, Dordogne
Josephine Baker, the American-born dancer, singer and civil rights activist, bought the Château des Milandes in southwest France in 1947 with her husband, the French orchestra conductor Jo Bouillon. By then Baker was one of the most famous performers in the world, as well as a decorated member of the French Resistance. The couple intended the château to function as both a family home and a public statement.
At Milandes, Baker adopted and raised 12 children from different countries and backgrounds, whom she called her “Rainbow Tribe”, a social experiment intended to demonstrate that people of different backgrounds could live together as equals. Financial pressures later forced her to leave the property, but its association with her life and work remains.
Built in 1489, the château is today a popular attraction in the Dordogne region, where visitors can admire its Gothic architecture, learn about its history, wander the gardens, visit the Josephine Baker museum and watch birds of prey demonstrations.
Visiting
Château des Milandes is in southwest France, about 170km east of Bordeaux. Entry for adults is €15. See milandes.com.
6. Boone Hall Plantation, South Carolina
The landscapes of coastal South Carolina form the backdrop to The Notebook, one of the most captivating screen romances of this century. The film’s settings have become closely identified with the love story, particularly the white clapboard house that Noah restores in the hope of winning Allie back. The real house is a private residence on Wadmalaw Island and is not open to the public.
One can, however, see the place where it all begins. Allie and Noah meet during a summer holiday in the fictional coastal town of Seabrook. The exterior of her wealthy family’s summer home was filmed at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, one of South Carolina’s best-known historic estates. Established in 1681, Boone Hall is one of the oldest working plantations in the United States. The estate is best known for its Avenue of Oaks, planted between 1743 and 1749, and for its preserved 19th-century slave cabins, which form part of a permanent exhibition on enslaved life on the plantation. Scenes set inside Allie’s family home were filmed separately at the Calhoun Mansion in Charleston.
Visiting
Boone Hall Plantation is in Mount Pleasant, about 20km from Charleston. Visitors can explore the grounds, walk the Avenue of Oaks, and visit the preserved slave cabins as part of the site’s exhibitions and guided tours. Adult entry is $30 (about R480). See boonehallplantation.com.
The Calhoun Mansion, now renamed the Williams Mansion, is in Charleston. It has previously offered tours to the public but is temporarily closed. For updates, see williamsmansion.com.
7. Le Mur des Je t’aime (The I Love You Wall), Paris
Le Mur des Je t’aime is a contemporary artwork in Paris’s Montmartre district, created in 2000 by artists Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito. The tiled wall features the words “I love you” written more than 300 times in over 250 languages, scripts and dialects from around the world. Scattered among the text are red fragments, which the artists have described as symbolising a heart broken into pieces and reassembled.
The wall is set in Square Jehan Rictus and occupies a modest corner of the garden. Visitors typically pause to photograph the words in their own language or one they recognise.
Visiting
Le Mur des Je t’aime is in Square Jehan Rictus in Montmartre. Entry is free. See lesjetaime.com.
