I often like to recap the cemeteries I visited around the globe. I am terrified of horror movies, yet cemeteries excite me for some reason and I love visiting them when I’m traveling. Each culture has different burial methods and rituals, and I enjoy walking around and getting a feel for the customs by simply looking at the gravestones. Cemetery tourism is unusual, but I know I’m not alone. In Amsterdam people are interested enough in the process of burials to warrant having a funeral museum. Of course I went to it – and I highly recommend it as a quirky, unusual stop if you are in Amsterdam!
This year I visited some famous cemeteries in Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Normandy, and New Orleans. And then I came across a number of small unknown cemeteries and gravesites that surprised and moved me in Vietnam, Savannah, and Maui. Some of these I wrote specific articles about their history, and some I just photographed. So come take a walk with me through some beautiful, moving, creepy, and unusual cemeteries from my travels.
An interesting Hawaiian cemetery in Maui near Lahaina. It was all red dirt and barren, but people clearly care for it and stop often by the looks of the grave-sites.
Cemetery near Zion National Park
Dutch Funeral Museum give insight into different customs in different religions.
A single gravestone on the West Maui drive. People leave leis and other trinkets on it. I left my old leis there as a sign of respect.
Woodlands cemetery in Stockholm. The first cemetery to be named a Unesco World Heritage Site for it’s landscape, design and integration with nature.
A ‘protected’ grave in Colonial Park Cemetery Savannah Georgia. Many ghost tours stop here to tell some spooky stories. However I found this grave fascinating – I wondered if the person died while in jail!
A cemetery in the countryside near Hoi An Vietnam.
The German memorial cemetery in Normandy. An often overlooked stop in this historic region. It’s gorgeous in it’s own dark way.
An eerie grave door in Buenos Aires La Recoleta cemetery
St. Louis 1 cemetery in New Orleans. A unique burial process where numerous bodies are put in one graves-site above ground and let mother nature’s heat decompose them – therby saving space. This cemetery is also home to a bit of voodoo – an interesting history!
Takes the awared for the most unusual! An indoor cemetery I accidentally came across in Saigon Vietnam. Mini caskets placed in glass compartments. Another space saver.
American memorial cemetery in Normandy at Omaha Beach. A beautiful tribute to peace and history.
Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger, and photographer. She’s a co-founder of Briefcasetobackpack.com, a website offering career break travel inspiration and advice.
Additionally, she runs an around the world travel blog writing about her travel and expat adventures at Ottsworld.com.com.
