BootsnAll Travel Community

WINDHOEK -NAMIBIA MAPUTO-MOZAMBIQUE GABORONE-BOTSWANA
PRAGUE-CHEC REPUBLIC BANGALORE-INDIA BANGKOK-THAILAND
MANCHESTER-UK LIVINGSTONE-ZAMBIA DURBAN-SA
All these Cities I have thoroughly enjoyed.

I really enjoyed Kilkenny in Ireland. A very pretty little place with such a great atmosphere and the pubs there are top class

I also enjoyed Barcelona alot, I know alot of people go there but I just really love the place and could easily live there for a couple of years.

Travis... here be Vilcabamba photos and info.

Say it! Vilcabamba!

I agree with everyone who suggested Quebec city! It's brilliant there! Montreal is great as well. Very close to home also!

The Haag and Leiden in the Netherlands really suprised me. I loved both those cities. All had a lot to offer, and great character. It was strange, there seemed to be no tourists while I was there (first week of April). I think most people go to Amsterdam when they go to the Netherlands (they are really missing out!!)

León, Nicaragua
Zacatecas, México
Damascus, Syria
Suchitoto, El Salvador
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Oaxaca, México

In England, Shropshire county and, especially, the little town of Ludlow.

This is the area immortalized by the late great poet, A.E. Housman. My wife and I attended a Housman Centenary celebration there in 1996. Ludlow is a beautiful little village and one that time seems to have passed by. When we weren't attending a Housman activity, we wandered all around the town and visited the shops and snacked at the many sidewalk cafes.

It's a bit off the beaten track but well worth a visit.

BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS

"Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?
This is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain.
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again."
- A.E. Housman (1859-1936)

usa: asheville, nc
st. augustine,fl
salt lake city, utah
western new york
mout desert island, maine
ashland, oregon
pacific: kauai
mexico: mexico city
costa rica: alajuelita
nicaragua: san juan del sur
finland: helsinki
sweden: malmo
spain: murcia/cabo de palos
cyprus: nicosia (greek side of course)
england: cardiff
spain: leon
france: taize
my own list, probably to remain unread.

St Malo, France. That amazing city of Brittany where I felt like settling down - windy beaches, pretty architecture and lazy afternoons of wind-sailing. The force of the ridin waves in high tides made me feel both awestruck and dazzled. And the many 'magical islands'..do I love it?!

quote:

Originally posted by Madhuri:
St Malo, France. That amazing city of Brittany where I felt like settling down - windy beaches, pretty architecture and lazy afternoons of wind-sailing. The force of the ridin waves in high tides made me feel both awestruck and dazzled. And the many 'magical islands'..do I love it?!

St. Malo is nice (though I've been to nicer towns in Britanny), but how did it end up on this thread??? I didn't even go there in high season and it was swamped with tourists.

Well, other than a few venturers, it is easy to see that you lot like to hang out in the crowded northern hemisphere.

A few more from the antipodes then:

Wanaka, south island, and Tauranga and Taumaranui on north island of NZ.

For Oz., and somebody commented on how quiet Canberra is and is right, though it does has some things going for it, but certaily not the politicians, but more from the top:
Cooktown, up past Cairns
Maryborough and Gympie, Queensland, and Queensland's Garden City - Toowoomba
Narooma and nearby Central Tilba on NSW southcoast.
Good to see Salmo got in Tasmania with Hobart, and I will add Launceston and Tassies Queenstown and nearby Strachan.

Victoria can have Sorrento and a ferry across to Queenscliffe, down the Great Ocean Road to Lorne and Port Fairy, up to Halls Gap in the Grampians and back towards Melbourne via Ballarat, and onto Echuca on the Murray, Mansfield (Man from Snowy River country), Beechworth,

Better chuck in Victor Harbour and Adelaide for South Australia, and Esperamve, Albany and Broome in addition to Perth for WA.

Heading to the other half, well Singapore need not be on the list of not oft visited oplaces, but one small village of same name as the prison shpold be there - Changi - good beach and national park for free camping on weekends.

Doesn't anybody go to Malaysia? - Tioman Island, Cameron Highlands, Melakka, Penang, Langkawi.

Thailand - Mae Hong Son, Thom Tat on border with Myanmar at a river to go down to Chiang Rai (smaller version of Chiang Mai) and a town with about twelve different names, and then the Mekong River right where the Golden Triangle is, and down stream.

Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia deserve a mention (and on the list for next trip)
Vietnam - Hoi An and Marble Mountain, northern end of China Beach (remember the series with Dana Delaney) - that's the beach, right near Da Nang.

Going West, Hungary should be there for quite a few places including its salt mine place.

Going further West, Salzburg and Vienna in Austria

Munich might as well be there for some beer drinking, and Regensberg - oldest take away food shop still operating on the Danube from way back in the sixteenth century.
And of course after downing a few lagers and feeling romantic about lusty wenches - The Romantic Road (google)

Locarno, Betteralp/Riederalp with Europes highest golf course at about 2000 metres, walking distance from one of their largest Alps Glaciers, Berne, Aarlberg, Murten and Biele all in Switzerland and Zurich ain't half bad either.

Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo (a fortress city home of the knives) and El- Escoria in Spain.

Dijon, Honfleur(southern side mouth of the Seine) and Bayeaux (first town liberated after D-Day). Reckon Bordeaux would be ain't half bad either, after bringing back a 1.5L bottle of their 1990 plonk and drank it only a year ago and it was rather magical.

Galway in Ireland

And who's next westward Ho - shit, ain't been to states but reckon Richland, Missouri must be OK seeing as some now friends from there reckon 1770 (yes a town, where old Cookie first landed in Queensland)is OK, so we better add us in too.

Who's doing an update?



Thailand

Great thread! I've been reading back through and scribbling notes for my next trip. Since the thread is still going strong, I'll add my faves.

Under the "Because They're Fun to Say" heading:
Ouagadougou and BoBo Dioulassou in Burkina Faso: Bobo is a local music center, and it is easy to hear some great bands there!

Timbuktu, Mali – though it hardly qualifies as a city, because it gets a bad rap among travelers as only being worth it to say you went there. I thought it was beautiful in a lonely, sand-swept kind of way – it made me feel like TE Lawrence. I look at my pictures of it and ache to go back there again.

Zaragoza, Spain -- relaxed, but with plenty of nightlife, and one of the grandest, most beautiful squares I've seen anywhere in Europe.

It's been mentioned twice, but I have to throw in a third for Darjeeling, India. It’s a great place to chill out for a long time, drink a lot of tea, eat a lot of Tibetan mo mos, visit gompas, and see snow leopards (in the local breeding center).

Bhaktapur, Nepal, in the Kathmandu valley: gorgeous architecture, much less hectic than Kathmandu (which I also love), a medieval feel, and site of the Bisket New Year’s Festival, which is awesome.

Luang Prabang, Laos – beautiful, peaceful, spiritual, good restaurants, and just enough other travelers.

Maputo (Moçambique), yes!!

And I would add Beira - a city with a very bad reputation but I had a really great time there! There are plenty of delicious African markets, a ship's graveyard, urban European cafe culture, great food, friendly people...

Forgotten Yokohama, forever in Tokyo's shadow.

Tokyo is Tokyo; overwhelming, exciting, claustrophobic, and shouldn't be missed. But it's forgotten the sea. It's only buildings horizon to horizon. If your in the Tokyo area, take the 30 minute train ride south to Yokohama for a breather. It's actually Japan's second most populous city, but it has a charm and atmosphere all it's own. You can take a nice stroll along the seawall, and don't miss the cleanest Chinatown on earth. If you have time, check out the Ramen museum near shin-Yokohama station. It's like stepping back fifty years into Japan's past. Plus the best ramen recipes the country has to offer.

I was actually in Yokohama; you are dead right Danny, it's a brilliant city. The seawall is a nice walk, very quiet if you go in the morning too. Great Ramen too. God, I love Japan...

Riga in Latvia
Tallinn in Estonia
Helsinki in Finland (short ferry hop form Estonia)

Had a great time there last summer.

KG

Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.

The town has a monument to American draft dodgers from the Vietnam war. A big lake makes for good swimming. The rivers feature fantastic kayaking. Epic hiking and climbing opportunities in the Valhalla Mountains.

It seems like every street intersection features:
-Bike Shop
-Ski Shop
-Vegetarian Restaurant
-Coffee Shop/Art Gallery

I really enjoyed the following:

Riga, Latvia
Bled, Slovenia
Heidelberg, Germany
Hoi An, Vietnam
Yangshuo, China
Chefchauoen, Morocco
Stone Town, Zanzibar
Brasov, Romania
Salmanca, Spain
Tavira, Portugal

None of these are exactly off the beaten track, but they often get overlooked by bigger neighbours (whether neighbouring cities or countries).

I know this is probably going to get a rebuttal or two; people seem to either love this city or hate it, but I thought Dubai was just great. I've been there several times and would love to go back soon. I always find something new there, be it a previously undiscovered side street in a souk that has a little hole-in-the-wall shop selling awesome fruit smoothies, or a new place that serves *the best* Indian food (yes, what I eat when I travel is one of the biggest reasons I go, can you tell? *smile*). I know that a lot of people dismiss it as the Las Vegas of the Middle East but I think there's something for everyone there and it's a great way to get introduced to the region -a good mix of Arabic culture but also enough of an international feel to it that you can feel at home no matter where you're from.

Whoof, long reply, sorry - went off on a little tangent there!

Hi, Wayward Angel:

Hey, if Dubai floats your boat and trips your trigger - go for it! You only go round once and taking care of number one is what it's all about.

No apologies needed.

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor
planet of a very average star. But we can understand
the Universe. That makes us something very special."
- Stephen Hawking

Thanks Tom!