Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic The most beautiful place...

...You've been!
Today the weather is pretty gloomy here (they say tomorrow will be better-let's hope so!), I open Facebook and my timeline is flooded with photos from friends visiting (or actually living in) amazing places around the world (right now I hate 'em all), so I'm in full wanderlust mode... Therefore I ask you: what's the most beautiful place you've ever been? Share your memories!
Photos are welcome

Without a doubt, hands down, Venice.

'Beautiful' does not give it justice. The history, the architecture...the uniqueness that IS Venice. It is one in a million.

Would love--and hope deeply--to go back there someday...

Laura

To me the most beautiful place I have ever been is the Greek Island of Santorini, particularly Thia (the only major city). The site of the city up on the cliffs as you navigate into the harbor formed by a volcanic eruption centuries ago is absolutely breathtaking. I have attached a picture (the first time I have tried this here...)

Mike

Thia at sunset:
[img]https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...60f9ac5479f9ed9fdea3051f&oe=56CD065F[/img]

Thia from the city:
[img]https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...5eee9f682dfc86b1486d9c5c&oe=56CD185C[/img]

Pics worked great, Mike. Gorgeous!

Laura

Venice is certainly beautiful, though my favorite Italian city is Florence. Santorini is also beautiful. I've been to so many places in the world, and each culture has something that makes me want to highlight it. But if I'm forced to narrow my choice to one, I believe the most beautiful place I've ever been is Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway. I could stare at those statues all day, captivated by the raw emotion Vigeland was able to express. Here's a LINK to the park's website, where you can see photos of Vigeland's art. #20: Man standing behind Woman, is my absolute favorite.

San Jacinto Peak

I hiked up there via Marion Mountain Trail just after I turned 16. That's a western route and a hard way to get up there (very steep). You can get there from the east far more easily by taking the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which starts at the eastern base of the mountain in Palm Springs and goes up 8500 feet (and is also the largest rotating aerial tram in the world). You can then get a wilderness permit and hike the rest of the way to the peak (10,834 feet high). From the top of the peak, on a clear day, you can see into Arizona to the east (beyond range after range of mountains), into Mexico to the south, and to the Pacific Ocean to the west. The northern view doesn't stretch so far, because a taller peak (San Gorgonio, in the San Bernardino range) is present.

John Muir called it, "The most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth."

I, too, have been to many beautiful places in the world. Unfortunately, most of those trips were made before digital cameras were the norm. For deserts, there's Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) in Central Australia. For ocean / sea / water, there is the crystal blue waters of Greece and off of Capri, Italy, as well as the Great Barrier Reef off North-Eastern Australia (I dived near Cairns). For countryside there is Bavaria, Germany dotted with castles (okay, I'm a big fan of King Ludwig II's castles. Not the man, just his architecture.), Quebec Provence in Canada in the fall (those autumn leaves - sigh); we took our honeymoon here. The rolling hills of the wheat fields of Eastern Washington in the spring. For lakes, there's Crater Lake in Oregon and Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany. (Herrenchiemsee has another one of the Ludwig castles I love.) The purple mountains Majesty (it really is purple) around Yellowstone National Park (Montana and Wyoming), the cloud forests of Costa Rica (clouds form from the volcano nearby), and the peaks of the Swiss alps and the Rocky Mountains.

You can find beauty anywhere, even (if you look hard enough) in the city. From the funky Gaudi architecture of Barcelona, Spain, to the palaces of France, to the Greek and Roman ruins of the Mediterranean (I love the white marble streets of Ephesus, Turkey), to the memorials, White House, and Capitol in Washington, DC (The Department of State building is extremely ugly, though). I find it easier to find beauty if you venture out to the countryside, but that's me. Beauty is all around us! You just have to look for it.

Mike, I envy your trip to Santorini. I was a poor student when I studied abroad in Athens and never made it out there. I had an archaeology prof who excavated there. The inner of the island he said sunk into the sea during an earthquake (perhaps also the one that caused the great flood from the bible) and is rumored to be where the myths of Atlantis come from. It's on my list of places to visit when I finally win the lottery. That and the English countryside and Easter Island and visit the Olmec heads of Central and South America and... Sigh. /adds buy lotto ticket to to-do list./

To me, the most beautiful place on earth is where I grew up, and where my mother still lives. It's a small town in upstate New York, and by objective standards, it has nothing to distinguish itself from any other semi-rural place in the region. It is especially beautiful to me both because of the obvious sentimental reasons and because it is the place that I have seen most deeply. It was there that I learned the beauty of everything from the wild flowers that grew abundantly, to the brilliant reds and golds of the leaves in autumn, to the fauna, including deer, chipmunks, rabbits, and groundhogs. I also found the beauty in things most people would probably overlook: everything from pollywogs -- my house overlooked two swamps, with a third one nearby -- to snakes (very graceful in their movements). A side benefit of having to take my dog out several times a day is that I saw the seasons change, and was able to enjoy the beauty in each season, as well as to watch the trees get bigger from one year to the next.

I also spent much time simply gazing up at the stars. Although the area is filled with light pollution now ("progress" has taken its toll), as I child I was able to enjoy seeing countless stars in the Milky Way. It appeared as a thick and brilliant ribbon through the sky. There were always so many stars visible that it was almost impossible to pick out the constellations, since they were hidden amid a myriad of other stars.

I realize my answer probably sounds corny at best and maudlin at worst, but it's the truth.

Joy,
Lynn

I absolutely agree with your choices, Virginia! We spent a month backpacking around Turkey for our honeymoon. Ephesus is gorgeous! Did you make it to Pamukkale or Cappadocia ?

Skipping over some traditional choices like Paris, the Great Wall, or Machu Picchu, and places that are personally special to me like Andorra and Bali, here are some other amazing places I've been:
Borobudur in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Wat Pho in Bangkok, Thailand
St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest, Hungary (the photos don't do it justice - the painting on the walls looks like fabric)
Valletta , Malta
Giants Causeway , Northern Ireland

I could go on (and on, and on!). The world is an amazing place. Grab a passport and go!

That sounds beautiful. It reminds me of how I remember the hills near home that I hiked in as a kid, first with a parent and then later on my own. Green grass and flowers in the spring, with vernal pools full of tadpoles. Spectacular cactus blossoms in the spring and summer. Jackrabbits, gray foxes, coyotes, squirrels, hawks, golden eagles, vultures, quail, and hummingbirds. Acre after acre of golden grass in the early summer, gradually turning brown and then gray with dust -- and then back to green after the rain. Green mustard plants amongst the yellow and brown of summer -- sometimes even growing out of anthills. Black-eyed Susans in the late summer and fall, and the white trumpet blossoms of the deadly but beautiful Jimsonweed. Granite boulders, some of them red with iron, just begging to be climbed. Pale blue elderberries ripe for picking and eating in the late summer. A sky full of stars late at night.

Thank you all for sharing! I really enjoyed reading about your memories and of places I've never heard before... Some interesting choices indeed!This world really is full of amazing spots to discover

Lol, I have to admit: from time to time I buy one of those tickets for exactly the same purpose! :P
Not corny at all! The feeling of belonging is what makes certain places special to our heart, and I bet this is true for a lot of people (myself included). Just last Sunday I was in our country house, built by my grandfather, and I can relate to a lot of what you describe: I used to spend most of the summertime there when I was younger, and every time grandpa went fishing and took me with him, I played with the pollywogs in the creek. And while the place is quite in the middle of nowhere and probably not very attractive for most, for me is a well of memories. This August I was there too: one night I went down to the neighbors' field (they weren't home :P), I lay on an old blanket and I spent a couple of hours gazing at the stars-I saw the most beautiful shooting stars ever, so big and bright that you could see the different colors in them... Literally breathtaking.

I have to say, right here, right now. Michigan's thumb. The trees are in full color and it is glorious. Yellows, oranges and reds splayed across the landscape. Every day it's a different display. I have a very long commute and still, sometimes on my way home it's hard fighting the urge to stop for an hour or so just to drink it in. I'm sorry, but I've never taken a photo that did it any justice so you'll have to visit.

Thanks for stopping by, Shallowford!
I did a little of Google searching: you're absolutely right! It's a good thing to have such a spectacle to brighten up your long commute. Autumn is probably my favorite season.


Believe me, I really wish I could