“Islands are my favourite destination,” said Julien Vaché, a business and technology consultant living in Amsterdam. “They always give you a special sense that they are a world of their own. Our anxious human nature feels somehow quieter when the hugeness of the cosmos is reduced to clearly palpable physical boundaries.”Tristan da CunhaWhile Vaché suggested more than 50 islands across the world (complete with a Google map of them all), he saved Tristan da Cunha, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, for last. The most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, the British territory is 2,000km from the nearest inhabited land mass, the island of Saint Helena – and 2,400km from the closest continental land, South Africa.Aside from its remoteness, Tristan da Cunha is also known for its bountiful bird life, with 15 native species of breeding birds including albatrosses and rockhopper penguins.MuranoA frazione (village) 1.5km north of Venice, Murano has been home to Italy’s world-famous glassmakers since 1291, when the craftsmen were forced from Venice for fear of fires.The centuries of craft have created one of the world’s most surprising shorelines. “I've been to quite a few islands in my day, with beautiful beaches, secluded palm trees, resort hotels… but Murano island takes the cake,” said Ahn-Minh Do, an editor living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. “It is the only beach I've ever seen made almost completely out of glass.”Over the years, if the artisans had extra glass or a mistake, they threw it on the beach. Over time, the glass smoothed to look and feel like pebbles. “The beauty of colourful glass shining in the sunlight is a true sight to see,” Do said. These small, unnamed glass beaches can be found around the island, but top collector spots include the beach near the Glass Factory (39-041-527-5370) in the southern part of the island, and a small area just next to the Navagero taxi landing in the frazione’s southeast.AogashimaAbhay Kini A, a mechanical engineer from Mysore, India, described Aogashima as a “Jurassic Park-like natural fortress”, thanks to the crater walls rising up as high as 400m from the sea. The volcanic island also has a smaller crater within, formed from a second, smaller eruption. Those looking for spectacular stargazing can camp out within the second crater, where photographer Toshihiko Ogawa has captured some spellbinding starry nights.The odd geography is interesting enough, but the fact that people live within the crater itself is even stranger. No one is quite sure why the settlements first occurred, but records of inhabitants stretch back to the early Edo period, which started in 1603. According to local legend, Kini A said, the island was once forbidden to women, as “it was believed that men and women living together would anger the gods”.GuernseyLocal Peter Clark chimed in for his hometown island of Guernsey, part of the British Channel Islands. He mentioned the “adorable” Guernsey cows that produce some of the most delicious dairy in the world and are celebrated in the annual cow parade, where locals decorate and paint cow mannequins in colourful and crazy ways, then parade them down the street.(BBC)Bakudaily.Az