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Of all the places you've visited, and went along with feeling kind of lukewarm about it in advance of the trip, what was your most pleasant surprise? I'm thinking of places like cruise ports you'd have never chosen to go to, cities or towns other travelers you were with really wanted to see and you reluctantly agreed to, National Parks you thought would be a waste of time but decided to go to anyway, and specific sights or landmarks you had no great desire to see but ended up visiting nevertheless.
I can think of a couple offhand:
Cities - Dubrovnik, Croatia
Sights/landmarks - The Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, Spain
We were hesitant and lukewarm, but the other couple we frequently travel with finally persuaded us to come along. And we were impressed. It's a richly rewarding, culturally rich, country dotted with lovely towns and villages and gives you a wonderful insight into an older, pre-war Europe, despite the ravages of communism.
China, 20 years ago, but I've heard that now it is just the opposite. Filled with apprehension when crossing the border, I was amazed at how quickly the Chinese people were to drop what they were doing and attend to puzzled, baffled strangers who couldn't read or speak Chinese, and see to it that they found their way around. Not with any ceremony, just someone always being around who was polite enough to do it. Being led by the hand to the bus station, and put on a bus going to the place whose Chinese characters we pointed to in the guidebook, and getting off the bus to discover that that's where we actually wound up. And then again led by the hand to the only hotel in town authorized to accept foreign guests.
Actually, it was that way in Taiwan, too, apparently the hospitable nature of the Chinese people -- but it was more than I expected in parts of mainland China where travelers had never been seen. We traveled across the south for three weeks, much of it on unpaved roads,from Hong Kong to Hanoi, and during the whole time, met only one other foreign traveler (Japanese).
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Unexpected nice places for me has been eastern Europe. But I have a lot of ground yet to cover. Many friends have enjoyed Africa more than they had expected. And even some like India!
Last edited by PJSaturn; 04-22-2015 at 02:47 PM..
Reason: Off-topic. Save it for the Politics forum.
That's good to know about Dubrovnik, Katzpur. Dubrovnik is the first port of call on a cruise my boyfriend and I have booked for this fall.
I visited Europe for the first time two years ago. We spent the first four nights in Brussels, Belgium. I knew I'd like it, since it was my first trip to Europe and all, but Belgium far exceeded even my high expectations. What a lovely city, and so much to do and see! I could easily go back and spend a week in Belgium. The citizens were friendly and welcoming, the food was scrumptious and the sights were breathtaking. While in Belgium, we also spent time in Bruges and Ghent. I want to go back to Belgium!
My three travel companions were all experienced world travelers, and all were smitten with Belgium as well.
Grand Place, Brussels
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Dubrovnik is a very special place. One of my favorite cities in the world. Unfortunately on a cruise ship you only have a few hours to explore the area (unless you are on a small ship that ports in the old harbor) and you can't even begin to crack the surface with less than a few days.
Bleuberum in Germany. Insanely nice people that were very helpful. The tiny city with the nearby cloister was just...nice. Peaceful.
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