A tour of the south of Europe can be done in one go. The motorways shorten the travel so much that even more than 1500 km isn't a problem. When we have a bit more time, we try to brighten our trip with attractions, thanks to which our tired children don't yank their hair out and get on our nerves. I think that adult travellers could also take advantage of our proposals. They are special and remarkable. I like medieval ruins and castles which quietly tell their stories, but my children make a wry face at the prospect of visiting more "old walls".

Therefore, we changed our plans and decided to take a trip around the world. We didn't need 80 days like Phileas Fogg in the book by Julius Verne. We needed only one nice afternoon to see about 150 models of buildings and other objects from around the world in Minimundus, the Miniature Park near Klagenfurt. The park was opened in 1958 and every year the number of new exhibits increases. The income from the tickets goes to the "Rettet Kind" foundation ("Save a Child"), which runs the park. We didn't know how the objects in the park were chosen. We found out that the visitors also have a role in choosing them, as they can suggest which buildings should appear in Minimundus Park.

You can find here not only the biggest and the most famous buildings in the world, like the French Eiffel Tower or St Peter's Cathedral from Vatican City. Among the places found here there are also small and seemingly less significant but charming buildings like St. Kevin's Church from Ireland or the Belgian watermill. Each place was arranged with great attention to detail, decorated with small greenery that goes well with the style of the buildings. The details of the models are breath-taking. Reportedly, some of the maquettes were made with extraordinary building materials that cost even over half a million euros.

My children gaily ran between the models trying to guess without glancing at the map what building they had just found. Model trains from various ages ran between the buildings, activated by fascinated children. We noted that among the 156 buildings there is a touch of Poland as well. We found a miniature of the Royal Castle from Warsaw.

Although in Minimundus the buildings are not situated in the order in whch Phileas Fogg visited them, thanks to a small sticker book your children can recreate his travels around the world. It is an original way to encourage children to tour the park in an active way. In Minimundus we looked for black bowlers with questions, and answered them based on information from a book, and with the stickers we made a map of Phileas' travels. The game of looking for bowlers can even attract adult visitors, and the short bits of information in the book are interesting and easy to remember.

At the beginning I thought that Miniature Park Minimundus wasn't something that would engage my children. It quickly emerged that I was way off base. Minimundus is an amazing place for everyone.

I recommend it!