Comments on: What is the most spectacular tourist site you’ve visited?

By: Darkwings

Darkwings — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:40:31 +0000

I envy many of your travels more than you would believe… but the one place that brought tears to my eyes was, believe it or not, the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. All my childhood dreams, standing in front of me… (oh, darn, my eyes are sweating thinking about it…).

The Special Access visit at StoneHenge (book through English Heritage), as Cindy said (#9, above), is absolutely awesome, too. Did that in 2001, just before the world changed.

And I have never heard silence like the windless day in Joshua Tree National Forest (middle of the Mojave desert, the day I was there, it rained… such is my luck).

By: Susan Mcneely

Susan Mcneely — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:14:31 +0000

I’ve seen many of these places – don’t think I could even start to rank them, although I would add many of the Himalaya views in Nepal (Annapurna circuit, Everest from the air, Machapuchare from Pokhara). I think the one place of which I expected the least was the Taj Mahal – and I must say, seeing it at sunset filled every expectation I had ever had, from high school on. It is everything every dreamer ever imagined.

By: RM Nishikawa

RM Nishikawa — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:26:41 +0000

The Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is a temperate rainforest with huge trees that are hundreds of years old and an impassable undergrowth — you have to walk on a boardwalk. It feels like you are walking in the time of dinosaurs.

Runner up is the Sognefjord in Norway.

By: Kathleen Kelly

Kathleen Kelly — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:35:02 +0000

Machu Picchu at any time of day. I loved Iguazu Falls, Antactica, the Hudson River Valley, Hudson Bay, the Aleutian Islands, dawn over Denali from 30,00 feet. As a member of western civilization, the Acropolis brought tears to my eyes the first time I saw it. But Machu Picchu is the perfect match of site and structure, beautifully executed. The kind of vision that caused it to be built was genius beyond imagining.

The only thing that ever rivaled MP for me was a total eclipse of the sun, but that’s another story.

By: PSWaring

PSWaring — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:34:07 +0000

Hands down there are three sites that have nearly moved me to tears. I would visit each of them again and again and again and it still would not be often enough. They are the Great Wall of China, Ephesus and the Sphinx in Egypt.

By: Greg Thibault

Greg Thibault — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:51:37 +0000

Nothing in the nature comes close to the beauty of Bora Bora. Photographs cannot capture the true depth of colors you’ll see as you ride from the airstrip through the lagoon to your resort located on a motu (small island surrounding the lagoon). I remember saying to my wife, “that’s the bluest water I’ve ever seen”, and about a minute later, “no, this is the bluest water I’ve ever seen”. And so it went; for the 45 minutes it took to cross over to our hotel. I must have seen 20 different shades of blue, all more amazing than the last.

By: Charles Deahl

Charles Deahl — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:51:10 +0000

The Alhambra. Good enough for Washington Irving, good enough for me.

By: John Montag

John Montag — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:26:40 +0000

Some of the sights mentioned above I’ve found truly stunning; others I’ve long wished I could see them. But the place that strikes me as most mind-blowing, strictly in tourist terms, is the Tower of London. Here, you have a precinct steeped in as much history and drama as any acreage on earth; you’ve got the place of beheadings and murders, you’ve got the crown jewels, you’ve got the ravens, an armorial museum, a magnificent Norman chapel, and countless other things worth seeing. If you know British history, you’ll surely find it rewarding. But if you don’t, not to worry; you have your own Beefeater yeoman guard to show you through. These guards, in addition to their official role as, well, guards, are perhaps the most informed and entertaining tourist guides anywhere. They had me in stitches.

You can wander the precinct at your leisure–at least the public spaces, which are many. On my first visit, nearly twenty years ago, I was astonished to find unprotected graffiti scratched into the walls of one of the prison towers; since then it has been covered by clear plexiglass. My first time through I found the names of several Jesuit martyrs in the graffiti. As a Jesuit priest, I felt especially moved by this discovery.

I thought I’d mention one place of natural beauty that stands out for me: Maroon Bells, in the Rocky Mountains, near Aspen. There’s something about the quiver of aspens in the high Rockies, in the late summer and fall especially, that hypnotizes me with joy. The stark striations of the rock surfaces, along with the ‘golden groves unleaving’ provides its own definition of the sublime.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:45:58 +0000

1. Borobadur in Indonesia. Just spectacular.
2. Ephasus in Turkey. Anthony and Cleopatra walked these streets. An evening classical music concert in the small theater with only candle light and the moon for illumination took our breath away.
3. Antarctica. Ice, fog, snow, rain and penguins. One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

By: Kervin

Kervin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:51:55 +0000

Rio de Janeiro & Iguaçu Falls in Brazil are two of the most amazing natural settings I have visited. When we saw the Falls it made us smile & feel alive watching mother nature at its most awe inspiring. Rio has the most beautiful setting of any city I have ever seen. From Corcovado the city below is the cidade marveloso! I have visited many coastal cities (Sydney, SF, Vancouver, Lisbon, SD, Miami, Honolulu, etc.) all of which are beautiful but Rio is the most spectacular.