# What's the most interesting place you've ever been to?



## Oatmeal (Aug 4, 2016)

I'm thinking country-wise or city-wise, however, if you'd like to talk about a nifty little bar you've been to that no one else really knows about, that would be cool too.


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## FLMike (Sep 17, 2008)

You first


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## sbdivemaster (Nov 13, 2011)

Tonga.

Just got back a few weeks ago from another visit there...


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

My Family and I went on a cruise to Niagara Falls in 2003.


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

I like the hidden bar idea! Maybe not so hidden but:

BOADAS bar, located off the Ramblas de los Estudios at Tallers, 1, Barcelona, Spain (a review from the internet):









Day or night, there's always a warm Catalan welcome at Boadas. Opened all the way back in 1933, this art deco cocktail bar is the oldest in the city. Located not far off the Ramblas, it caters to a cool, artsy and often moneyed crowd - the place attracts a lot of regulars rather than the 'pop in once to tick it off the list' tourist crowd, and the odd famous face has reportedly been spotted in these chic surrounds.

The founder learned his trade at Hemmingway's Floridita Bar in Havana and passed on that happy, cocktail-in-the-morning feel to his family, who now run the place, which probably goes a long way to explaining its enduring appeal. The tuxedoed bar staff are happy to prepare you something classic or mix your drink to order if there's nothing on the menu you like (or try the cocktail of the day).

There's a good range of spirits on offer (including some good English gins) and the daiquiri comes particularly recommended by those in the know. Drinks and stylish patrons aside, there's plenty to distract you while you drink: the eclectic collection of art and letters on the wall includes Miro sketches as well as some contributions from more recent celebrities.

It's not a bar that is catering for the backpack crowd: while you don't have to be dressed to the nines, they won't thank you for turning up looking scruffy, so best to be smart - after all, you have all that gorgeous art to live up to. Its location makes it an ideal start-of-the-night venue: many of the patrons come here for a drink to kickstart their night, and later it gets a bit livelier and more crowded​
And I was awed by the the Pyramids. Just to stand in front of one, a world marvel you've heard about all your life, the size, the unknown skill of how it was built was inspiring but slightly greater - same feeling was Angkor Wat, the temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world!


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## bernoulli (Mar 21, 2011)

I am with Andy. Nothing beats Angkor Thom (which I prefer to Angkor Wat). Cambodia is the most amazing place I have ever been to, with Macchu Picchu and Angola close seconds.


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## drlivingston (Jun 21, 2012)

Santorini, Greece... I could go on and on. From beautiful sunrise to awe-inspiring sunset, it is one of the most beautiful of the Greek Isles.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

The most interesting place that I have ever been to? Probably best not to get into that particular experience here.

However, less decadently, Pamukkale is fairly spectacular, I have a photo somewhere of me sat on the edge of this (long black hair and bathing trunks!) also the nearby necropolis of Hierapolis - fine locations both.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

To a substantial degree I think it depends on one's individual perspective. Career choices allowed me to experience a lot of different places and things. Indeed, deployments, living out of a duffel bag or suitcase was a way of life for much of my adult life...to the point that, even today, walking into an airport induces in me, almost a state of situational depression that clears immediately when we depart the airport to go home. I seem to have embraced the "Dorothy perspective" (from the Wizard of Oz)..."there's no place like home, there's just no place like home!" 

Well that's enough nostalgia. Perhaps it's time I tell you about a back woods bar and dance club called the Slanted Shanty!" LOL.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Shaver said:


> The most interesting place that I have ever been to? Probably best not to get into that particular experience here.
> 
> However, less decadently, Pamukkale is fairly spectacular, I have a photo somewhere of me sat on the edge of this (long black hair and bathing trunks!) also the nearby necropolis of Hierapolis - fine locations both.


Where is that located?


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Howard said:


> Where is that located?


It is Turkey, Howard. You will be delighted, I'm certain, to be informed that I have located the photo of me there. I shall scan and upload it tomorrow.


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## drlivingston (Jun 21, 2012)

eagle2250 said:


> I seem to have embraced the "Dorothy perspective" (from the Wizard of Oz)..."there's no place like home, there's just no place like home!"


I am having a hard time picturing you in ruby slippers.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Whilst it may appear, at first glance, that yer ol' uncle Shaver is in the naughty nuddy nude, please be reassured that my modesty is ensheathed within a pair of navy speedos.

This shot always puts me in mind of Matthew 4:8-9 NKJV.


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## LordSmoke (Dec 25, 2012)

I have been most fortunate to have made one to four trips to Europe per year for the past fifteen or twenty years. So that is rather familiar. My most interesting place (from a few years ago) would be Istanbul - Eastern enough to be quite exotic, Western enough to be easily navigated. Oh, the hard-sell and dodgy street salesman suck, but otherwise very lovely.

This year seeking to expand my global experience with a trip to either South Africa or Iceland.


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

LordSmoke said:


> I have been most fortunate to have made one to four trips to Europe per year for the past fifteen or twenty years. So that is rather familiar. My most interesting place (from a few years ago) would be Istanbul - Eastern enough to be quite exotic, Western enough to be easily navigated. Oh, the hard-sell and dodgy street salesman suck, but otherwise very lovely.
> 
> This year seeking to expand my global experience with a trip to either South Africa or Iceland.


Shame what is happening in Turkey now. I personally would not travel to Istanbul again for some time. When I was there last, in 2012, things were already going south. I always insist on walking everywhere in cities, and wound up going through some very conservative/religious parts, and getting yelled at. In fact, my wife was invited to speak at a conference in Istanbul in February, but she and the other Americans all declined after the latest warnings.

By the way, they are converting church-museums back into mosques, and are -- though they won't admit it -- holding prayer sessions in parts of Hagia Sophia. Letting Turkey into the EU is pretty high up on the list of lunacy.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

For me it's a toss up between the Mitchelstown Caves in Co. Tipperary and the ancient ruins, ancient parks, ancient old towns and ancient chapels and churches of Sicily.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Welcome back Earl!


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Shaver said:


> Welcome back Earl!


Thanks.


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## Balfour (Mar 23, 2012)

The Dead Sea is fairly high on my list.

A swift G&T at 'The Lowest Bar in the World' ... where else would you expect to find me?


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Shaver said:


> It is Turkey, Howard. You will be delighted, I'm certain, to be informed that I have located the photo of me there. I shall scan and upload it tomorrow.


I've never been to Turkey, How is the weather over there?


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

What a hard question! "Interesting" is a big word.

I mean, I can think of any number of laboratories in which I've seen fairly mind-blowing things. Some other places come to mind which are *moving* or *awe-inspiring*, but perhaps wouldn't be described as "interesting".

So I'll go less with the place being interesting than *visiting the place* is interesting. Two come to mind, so different that they're hard to compare.

(1) The first would have to be Antarctica, specifically Palmer Station, which lies near 300 foot tall ice cliffs, and the Antarctic airports with blue-ice runways. It's the closest experience to what early colonial life on another planet will be like.

(2) The other place is La Gran Sabana, in southern Venezuela. First, it's the place which inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World", and for good reason - if there were a hidden civilization or dinosaurs hidden in the modern world, *that* is where it would be. The region includes a sandstone highland which has eroded in places over the past hundred million years or so, so that separated mile-high "shelves" called "tepuis" remain, evolutionarily isolated from each other (and the rest of the world), so that each hosts unique flora (mainly orchids).

Getting there was an adventure. I went with two Austrians, a physicist and an archeologist (both Princes, just to add to the fun), departing from Atlanta in a Cessna 210; after refueling in Miami, you have to fly over Cuban airspace to reach Caracas (and this was in the mid-90s, so that took some doing...) Without going too much into storytime, we basically flew into the interior, landed at a little lakeside "prospecting" community (which had a rudimentary runway), hired guides, and spent a couple of weeks exploring some tepuis. The worlds tallest waterfalls are there, too, spilling off the tepuis; several fall in a ring to form the mentioned lake.

It's much more accessible now; I highly recommend a visit to the region (well, once Venezuela is back on some kind of normative track).

DH


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## RightJohn (Dec 11, 2016)

I have been to Iceland last summer (2016  ) and really loved it. A really beautiful place.


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## cellochris (Dec 14, 2015)

Finally got around to uploading a video montage of my time teaching in Afghanistan this past September. Enjoy!


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## Gurdon (Feb 7, 2005)

Bhutan. It has one somewhat paved highway running east-west, a human landscape based on foot travel and transport of goods by animal (This is rapidly changing as paths become roads.), an organizing principle entitled "gross national happiness" and constitutionally guaranteed 60% or 70% forest coverage. 

The king decreed that the country become a constitutional monarchy. 

The cell phone system is quite a bit better than that of the US.

They have a quite quirky version of Tibetan Buddhism that includes prominent displays of penis images everywhere, even to the use of penis shaped scarecrows. 

It is utterly beautiful, if one likes high mountains, first growth forests, picturesque temples, and an Asian variant of Swiss alpine building types.

Gurdon

PS: I also think of Butte, Montana as an interesting place. Until it was remodeled a few years ago, the Helsinki Bar, in Uptown Butte, was one of the lowest dives I'd ever patronized. I've spent time in lots of low bars.


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## jpgr (Sep 2, 2016)

I like going to interesting places, so it's hard to choose a single one.

I think Sperry Chalet at Glacier National Park was a very special place.

I was amazed at the Terracotta Army in Xi'an.

But for unexpected pure surprise, I think I would say that was at Fushimi-Inari shrine in Kyoto. I really had nothing planned for the day and happened upon this amazing scene. The sign out front said there were 1000 of the red gates. I think there were a lot more than that.


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## Mr. B. Scott Robinson (Jan 16, 2017)

Hands down, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Just stunning natural beauty and a living museum of post soviet urban design. 








Followed closely by Bangkok, where my wife lives and I where I am visiting at the moment.

Cheers,

BSR


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## tda003 (Aug 16, 2009)

Bangkok was interesting, but there was this bar in Saigon in 1967 with a boxing ring in the center and an orangutan in one corner. You could win $1000.00 for going three rounds with him.

No. I wasn't THAT drunk.


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## Adventure Wolf (Feb 26, 2014)

Hong Kong is the most interesting place I have ever been, but I don't travel internationally much.


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