Baghdad
Warzone/ Movie: Iraq invasion (2003), as seen in Green Zone (2010)
Level Of Heat: The heavi꧟ly fortified 10-square-kilometer Green Zone, where U.S. troops quickly made their home🦹 after deposing the Saddam Hussein regime, is supposed tobe the safe part of town.
."Multi-storey buildings often tower over ancient arcaded bazaars overflowꦇing with fantastic things. Motley of colors, races, costumes, and ways of life gives th♊e city an air of vitality and excitement."
O🌳h, and the occasional suicide bomb. Gu♛ess they've forgotten to mention those.
Normandy
Warzone / Movie: D-Day landings (1944), as seen in Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Level Of Heat: Most intense on Omaha Beach, where Captain John Miller (Tom Hanaks) and his fellow Allied troops must dash across the sand under the crossfire of embedded German artillery. That is, if you even m🧸ake it out of the water.
The countryside provides space to breathe, but with snipers, machine gun posts and Panzer tanks everywhere, the temperature scarcely drop🌊s for Miller's team.
Has it cooled down since? makes it sound like a lovely place.
"Visitors have a choice between seaside and countryside. The stunning beauty of the region's interior, with its thatched cottages, traditional farming and ever-changing landscapes♚, is matched by a long coastline...
...which stretches from the romantic cliffs and sandy b𓂃eaches of Seine Maritime in the East, to the wild Cotentin seaboard and the World Heritage Site of Mont Saint Michel and its bay, with its huge tidal range and strong currents."
Saigon
Warzone / Movie: The Tet Offensive (1968), as seen in Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Level Of Heat: Saigon is humid as hell anyway, even without the Vietcong launched strikes on the🌼 South's key base of operatio♎ns.
Corporal Joker (Matthew Modine), posted as a Marine Combat Correspondent,🃏 finds it's hard to avoid fight🌸ing in the heat of battle.
Has it cooled down since? Renamed Ho Chi Minh City🍸 after the war, today it's a thriving metropolis, as confirms:
"Over hundreds of year🍎s, with the vicissitude of💛 history, the world’s various cultures seemed to have found a common place to converge in Saigon-HCM City.
The city has been gradually turned into a non-discriminating community, a cultural kaleidoscope, for peopl𒀰e from almost every cor𒆙ner of the world,regardless of race and ideology."
Algiers
Warzone / Movie: Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), as seen in The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Level Of Heat: Rock the Kasbah - it's a pressure-cooker in there, as the French a𒆙rmy battles Algerian guerillas and both sides resort to torture and terrorism.
Has it cooled down since? After nearly fifty years, we'd hope so. T⛎he pict﷽ure paints is certainly a far cry from the chaos of war.
"Algiers the White remains one of the most beautiful cities of the Arab world. It is while strolling around the twisting roads, the st꧟aircase-like backstreets, the monuments and the modern district that one can discover this met✨ropolis which summarizes the whole Algeria of today, a country rooted in his traditions and passionate of modernity."
Thermopylae
Warzone / Movie: Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC), as seen in 300 (2007)
Level Of Heat: Depends. If you're one of t🗹he 300 Spartans facing an army of one-million-plus Persians riding on rampaging elephants, you'll probably feel a bit sweaty. In a manly way, of course.
However, if you're one of those Persians, youꩵ'll wish you could melt away with fear.
Has it cooled down since? So much that all that history has turned t🌠o stone, if is a🍰nything to go by.
"Greece is full of archaeological sites and monuments of distiဣnctive prestige and charm, on which all known periods of its long-standing history have left their mark.
Visitors have the opportunity to make a unique “journey” through the rare ཧ“mosaic” of historic and cultural memory which has left an indelible mark on every region of theꦺ country and effortlessly highlights the manifold manifestations of Greek culture to date."
Stalingrad
Warzone / Movie: Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43), as seen in Enemy At The Gates (2001)
Level Of Heat: Quite the opposite. Warmth is conspicuously lacking both in the numbing cold of the Russian winter and the unyielding slog of a siege that would le🐻ave first the Soviets, and then the Nazis, at breaking point.
No wonder the film's heros are sniꦍpers Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) and Erwin Konig (Ed Harris) - guys who can snuggle under a blanket and wage their war from a position of relative comfort.
Has It Cooled Down Since? In terms of buzz, it's heated up, says , possibly as a resu⛦lt of the name change.
"Volgograd is a major tourist center. It is a monument-city and a hero-🏅city, visited by hundreds of thousands of Russian and foreign tourists.
They are attracted by Volgagrad's nature, mineral springs, spas and rest-hꦜouses, along with the 🅷rich and glorious history. There are many museums and monuments, with a vibrant culture and architecture."
Beirut
Warzone / Movie: Lebanon war (1982), as seen in Waltz With Bashir (2008)
Level Of Heat: Combustible, as Israeli forces become complicit in the Lebanese militia's massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra a😼nd Shatila refugee camps.
Even two-and-a-half-decades on, ex-soldier Ari Folman finds that those guilty memories have b𒀰urnt themselves onto his subconscious.
Has It Cooled Down Since? Despite its location in the still-trouble Middle East, it's a lot safer no🐟wadays, says .
"The destroyed town center is once again active. Its former r🥃eput🍸ation as a crossroads between three continents and gateway to the East has been restored and modernized.
The new city planners hold computer-rendered plans that🔯 show a♛n extended coastline, a new residential area, and a touristic recreational zones built around a central park."
Sarajevo
Warzone / Movie: The Bosnian war (1992-5), as seen in Welcome To Sarajevo (1997)
Level Of Heat: Sar꧋ajevo is apparently only "the 14th worst place on Earth," 🌸says one U.N. guy here, but try telling that to inhabitants besieged by kill-happy Serb forces.
The hothouse atmosphere gets too much for ITN reporter Michael Nicholson (Step💫hen Dillane), who stops observing and turns hero to rescue a B𓆉osnian orphan.
Has It Cooled Down Since? Now that it's back in the hands of the locals, yes - just ask Bosnia & Herzegovi🔯na's .
"Sa𓆉rajevo is a city in which even strangers can feel at home.
Neither geographically expansive nor characterised by large buildings, the city retains a part෴icular, arresting charm with its abundance of busy café's and abiding tradition of hospitality."
Kigali
Warzone / Movie: The Rwandan genocide (1994), as seen in Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Level Of Heat: The U.N. is trying to play it co🧸ol, to the point of doing bugger all 🦩but stand around and watch as 800,000 Tutsis are massacred by Hutu extremists.
It's left to locals, amongst them hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), to deal with the facts: Kigali ﷽is a p൩owder keg that's sadly been ignited.
Has It Cooled Down Since? "Among the safest and friendliest of African capitals," says . We have to assume they're not just talking aꦗbout visi🍸tors to the city.
"The Rwandan capital provides both a comfortable and welcoming introduction to this land of a thousand hills and an ideal spring🀅board from which to exp🌺lore this magical country."
Salvador
Warzone / Movie: The first year of the Salvadoran civil war (1980, but lasted until 1992), as seen in Salvador (1986
Level Of Heat: A left-wing guerilla uprising is enough to make an entire country l𒁃oco, without the CIA turning up the temperature by covertly funding the government'✅s right-wing death squads.
Scorched with revulsion at America's i𝓰nvolvement, cynical journo Richard Boyle (James Woods) soon🏅 mans up to report the conflict.
Has It Cooled Down Since? "A place of remarkable warmth and intelligence, maౠde all the more appealing for being so unexpected," reveals .
But is it safe? "Travellers tend to skip El Salvador...unnerved by stories of civil war and gan✨g violence. But the wa𓂃r ended almost 20 years ago, and crime, while serious, is almost exclusively played out between rival gangs; tourists are virtually never involved." That's OK, then.
Guadalcanal
Warzone / Movie: Battle of Guadalcanal (1942-3), as seen in The Thin Red Line (1998)
Level Of Heat: A major strategic stronghold for Imperial Japan, thisꦚ South Pacific island is a crucial ta♒rget for an Allied assault.
♏But when C Company (every actor in Hollywood) arrives, they discover that - alongside the expected bloodshed - Guadalcanal is also eerily beautiful.
Has It Cooled Down Since? The most chilled-out place in ths l༺ist, if the is to be b𒈔elieved.
"Guadalcanal is known as a top diving spot, with clear water and a rich array of wildlife, as well as shipwrecks to explo🥀re. The island is also a wildlife and bird watcher's paradise, where over 200 species of birds can be seen."
Mogadishu
Warzone / Movie: Battle of Mogadishu (1993), as seen in Black Hawk Down (2001)
Level Of Heat: Like a furnace.ꦿ The beಞst policy for Delta Force soldiers on an extraction mission: get in fast, and get the hell out even faster.
Trouble is, when Somali militiamen have shot down the getaway vehicle, it'♓s hard to avoid getting burnt.
Has It Cooled Down Since? "The safest way through Mogadishu is escorted by Ethiopian and official Somalian troops," reports . "However, the💙y themselves are a target for the militias and may come under ꦬattack."
Th🦂at'd be a categoric no, then..🌜.but if you need further proof...
"Independent travel is suicidal. When being escorted, it is best to be in an armored car. Infantry are highly likely to get engaged in street battles, and an armored vehicle can provide far better protection against most threats. A bullet proof vest is a must-have in Mogadishu."
