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It’s hard to say which “one” with so many beautiful places that are out there. Mrs Aks & I enjoy and find all of the Nat’l Parks have their own special beauty. Glacier in Montana, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, several of them in Utah and Colo – the list goes on and on to say nothing yet about the east coast areas of Nat’l Parks. I can find beauty in a simple small town city park as well and enjoy it as much as anything else.
The American National Park system is amazing. You've got some real treasures tucked up in those parks, we're so grateful for that. Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonland, RMNP, etc. Last year we were in Yosemite and I wasn't prepared for the beauty there. The vastness of it, the unspoiled nature, those massive rocks. Just gob-smacking stuff. And those trees in Sequoia! My husband and I still enjoy looking at the pictures we took.
There's been a documentary on Yellowstone on the TV lately, we've watched two episodes of it. More gob-smacking beauty, and definitely next on our list, along with Glacier NP. That would tie in well with our planned roadtrip next year, north to south, or south to north, haven't decided yet, from BC to San Diego.
I find the most beautiful places for me are the natural sites, like the national parks and vast areas of wilderness and landscape that isn't cluttered with manmade stuff. Mountains always do it for me. I suppose that might come from living in a place that's very flat. Seeing huge mountains always gets my pulse racing. That, and lushness and green forests or jungle. Again, that's probably from being deprived of that here.
Jasper and Banff natl parks in Alberta. Stunning.
I lived near there for a few years but I never got tired of the beauty of Big Sur and the Monterey peninsula in California.
The following selected for the combination of Scenic beauty and Spiritual presence.
Europe: Moldovan Romania
N. America: Pothole lakes, Dakotas.
S. America: Andean Altiplano
Africa: Lower Niger Valley, Mali
East Asia: Karst region, South China
West Asia: Desert forts, Jordan.
Paint a picture in your head of the most beautiful place you can imagine and ......
ITALY is even prettier than that place you have imagined. I have traveled extensively and can honestly tell you there is no place in the world quite like Italy. The beaches, the mountains, the lakes, the landscapes, the nature, it's story book towns and cities of AWE INSPIRING AND UNPARALLELED ART AND ARCHITECTURE (it'll send a tingle down your spine).
Also I'm not just talking about the tourist traps all and everywhere in Italy is beautiful.
One of my favorite places just 2 hrs outside Rome is Pescara in Abruzzo. It is lesser known amongst American tourist but totally worth the trip, the city itself and stunning natural beauty of the place just renews your soul. You have a seaside city on a coast where the water is near bath water warm and is every color of blue and green, you turn around and you have gorgeous marine pine forest, and beyond that you have green rolling hills, and beyond that snow capped mountains the Gran Sasso and the Maiella. These are the 2 highest peaks of the Appennini chain.
Also, the Gran Sasso (one of the coolest and most beautiful things you will ever see) actually looks like a giant woman sleeping and this is the back drop to Pescara. Type in "Bella Addormentata Abruzzo" in google and have a look....Truly Amazing... Plus you drive a little inland and the rolling green hills of Abruzzo are fantastic honestly people I can't tell you how many times I thought "are my eyes deceiving me?? Is this place real? Can a place be this beautiful??? And as you drive you come upon these story book towns high on a hill built over 1200 years ago you realize just how small you are in the world and the feeling is awesome. Another thing not to miss in this region are "CALANCHI DI ATRI" they are eroded mountain sides which I have no words to describe how awe inspiringly beautiful they are.
Also, drive down the coast of Abruzzo and you see half a dozen towns built 1,000 or more feet up on cliffs overlooking the Adriatic which on clear days is fluorescent blue. Silvi Paese, Ortona, San Vito Chietino, Vasto, these hilltop towns will leave you in AWE.
Plus the landscape in ABRUZZO is "INSERT SUPERLATIVE HERE!" a patchwork of all different colors as you have flowers blooming all year along with cacti and aloe vera plants (I've seen some as large as a car) growing wild. The Sunflowers and I mean fields of sunflowers which in Italian are called "girasole"= turn to sun and that is literally what they do. In the summer you see fields of sunflowers as far as the eye can see and I'm talking the most intense hue of yellow and as the day progresses you can actually see that the flowers have turned towards the sun. Honestly and blasphemy aside I have wondered to myself while being there "I just hope HEAVEN is gorgeous as this place!" Anyway, seriously Abruzzo is not to be missed it will leave you "A bocca aperta" or with mouth wide open in awe.
That was just Abruzzo, I still have all 19 more stunningly beautiful regions to talk about, as well as Italy's cities of art and architecture but this is a blog not a book so I will inform you more later. I leave you with this, nearly 40% (some say even more) of all the world's art can be found in Italy plus Italy tops the chart of Unesco's world heritage site. Included in Unesco's registry are historic centers of many Italian cities as well as even (and very peculiar) the DOLOMITE ALPS. Mountains so naturally beautiful they have been deemed world patrimony. Also, besides the magnificent churches and a great surprise to everyone Italy has over 30 palaces which is more than any other country on Earth and each is more beautiful than the next. Actually the Italian royal family of SAVOIA have 14 royal residences (residenze sabaude) all in and around Turin. This is more than all the Bourbon Kings of France ever had and they were absolute monarchs of all of France and Navarre.
One misty, softly rainy day at Longwood Gardens outside of Philadelphia. The weather kept most everyone away -- except us. We walked through blooming dogwoods and cherry trees and masses of Spring flowers.
That day was magical with a haunting beauty. It seemed we had stepped into a French Impressionist painting by Monet or Manet. I'll never forget that day.
Travelled extensively but i still love my hometown island. El Nido, Palawan, Philippines. Bunch of secluded islands. Our town has boomed and feels Key West-ish with lots of tourists.
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