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READING

1 In pairs, make a list of special places in the area 2 Read the article quickly. Which of the ideas in 3
where you live. Share your ideas with the class. exercise 1 are mentioned in the article?
theme parks special streets or squares stadiums

museums place names interesting buildings

sPEciaL

places

4
What is special about your town or village? Maybe it
hasn’t got any big tourist attractions, but many places
have other, little things which make them interesting,
both for tourists and for the people who live there.
For example, Exeter in England has the narrowest street
in the UK – Parliament Street. It’s only 64 cm wide at 5
one point. However, Reutlingen in Germany has the
narrowest street in the world. Spreuerhofstraße is only
50 cm at the widest point and 31 cm at the narrowest
point. Visitors are careful because they don’t want to
get stuck!
A very long or short name can also make a place
special. The shortest place names in the world are just
one letter long! There are villages in Norway, Sweden
and Denmark called Å and a river in Russia called .
Long place names are popular with tourists, too. Many
visitors have their photo taken next to the UK’s longest
place name. It’s a village in Wales called
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

But that isn’t the longest place name in the world. That
is a mountain in New Zealand. It’s eighty-five letters 6
long, and it holds the record for the longest place name.

The people of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and Wrocław
in Poland also live in special places because of the
colour of the buildings. Most homes around the world
are grey and cream, pale yellow, brown or white, but
Wrocław and Puerto Vallarta have some of the most
colourful buildings in the world. What do you think?
So, next time you’re out in your town, look around
carefully. You may find some very special places.

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