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Santorini and Mykonos in Greece. In a country full of beauty, the islands overrun by foreigners are the least Greek and least authentic at the end of the day. There are far more beautiful and serene places in that country.
Times Square- Tacky, smelly crowded and full of people and people dressed in filthy costumes ready for your wallet.
Wall Drug Store in South Dakota. Miles and miles of signs telling you you are close and then you get there and ???? Same with the Corn Palace in Mitchell. A building covered with corn, I don't know what I was expecting frankly.
Salem Mass.- Underwhelming
The road to Hana in Maui- Miles of winding road and at the end a drugstore. It was scenic, but at some point you really want that winding road to stop before you hurl.
Hollywood Ca. Kind of tacky, interesting stars on the sidewalk and some historic sights but generally one time will do.
San Francisco in the summer. Cold, dirty, overpriced and over hyped. Instead of leaving my heart there, I left my jacket there
Beale Street Memphis and Elvis' House. Beale street was short and not alot there, Elvis' house much smaller than imagined on a tacky large road. Memphis is a somewhat depressing place to add to the ambiance.
Hundreds of people sitting and standing around it waiting for 45 minutes to an hour, baking in the sun to see 1-2 minutes of a geyser that I thought would be MUCH more spectacular. Very disappointed and a very long, slow, bumper to bumper ride through the park to get there.
We were there with another couple, with both couples pulling RV's, and just trying to find a parking spot was a feat in itself. Round and round a jammed parking lot with no RV parking. We finally found a place at the back near the worker's cabins. (asked permission)
Mount Rushmore was FAR, FAR better equipped for RV parking. Attendants directed us right to perfect parking spots for our rigs.
Cuba. Been twice. Once with Harvard. Second time with family. Oh my god what a complete CRAPHOLE. Blackouts, undrinkable water (and bottled water is hard to find), very few grocery stores (most have no power and zero refrigeration), horrible restaurants, impossible to rent a car that doesn't have 100,000 miles on it, terrible roads, massive pollution, very, VERY limited Internet, decrepit hotels, roaches and rats oh my! I do not understand the allure of Cuba (yes, the people are sooo nice; until they start hitting you up for money and telling you how much they are dying to leave the island and can you help them????).
Cuba is not my idea of fun.
Unless you want to disconnect from the world and go back in time to 1959. And before anyone attacks my politics, my opinion has NOTHING to do with politics.
It's the product of slick marketing and a bit of revisionist history. It's touted as the seminal Texas experience. The hype would have you think it's right up there with the Great Pyramids in terms of importance yet it spent nearly a century as a derelict storage shed. It was so neglected that the front of the building looks NOTHING like it did during the siege. The Battle of the Alamo itself was so important that the 50th anniversary wasn't even commemorated.
You wait outside forever and once you finally get in you're immediately underwhelmed. It's a church with some displays inside and a courtyard out back.
I went there around 10 years back. I was staying at a Holiday Inn at Riverwalk and Alamo was walkable. I dont recall any queue to get inside. I sort of enjoyed San Antonio with the Tower, Ripleys destination. A bus used to go from near Alamo to Seaworld and that saved us costly parking.
The Alamo looks nothing like a Fort of those days.
Beale Street Memphis and Elvis' House. Beale street was short and not alot there, Elvis' house much smaller than imagined on a tacky large road. Memphis is a somewhat depressing place to add to the ambiance.
I had very low expectations for Graceland, but was actually impressed with it. I expected it to be overpriced and too crowded. Yes, it is small compared to the mansions we're used to seeing today. But I felt like they did a good job of providing the history of the rooms and personal stories about Elvis. We went in January (thus small crowds) and I think that made a difference.
You're definitely right that it is in a less than stellar part of town and very touristy around it. I also could see if you had high expectations that you'd be disappointed.
I had very low expectations for Graceland, but was actually impressed with it. I expected it to be overpriced and too crowded. Yes, it is small compared to the mansions we're used to seeing today. But I felt like they did a good job of providing the history of the rooms and personal stories about Elvis. We went in January (thus small crowds) and I think that made a difference.
You're definitely right that it is in a less than stellar part of town and very touristy around it. I also could see if you had high expectations that you'd be disappointed.
I have friends who actually go just to peruse the tacky tourist shops. They have no interest in Graceland itself, they have challenges to see who can find the most bizarre tacky Elvis souvenir. And they've come back with some pretty amazing "treasures" LOL
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