My Favorite Travels

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the top 5 places I would love to see and why.  This week I thought I'd write about the top 5 places that I have already been and why they are my favorites

1. Las Cruces, Costa Rica

Costa Rica has my heart.  If I ever had the opportunity to move abroad, this country would be very, very high on my list. I had an amazing experience working at a biological station and learning about the things that grow there and the animals that live there, I even got to hold a bat! I got my first experience staying in hostels during our first and last nights and I got to see and experience a wide variety of wild life.  It doesn't hurt that this Country is absolutely beautiful!

Hanging out in a Strangler Fig Tree.

2. Savannah, Georgia

I am not a huge fan of cities but this southern city made me feel right at home.  It is safe to say that apart from DC, this is my favorite place in the United States and I would not hesitate to live here.  The city is absolutely beautiful and definitely has charm.  River Street is a great area for shopping, eating and drinking and was probably my favorite area of Savannah.  Also, Leopold's Ice Cream was enough to make anyone want to stay!  Also, as a former Girl Scout (11 years) it was neat to see Juliet Gordon Lowe's Birthplace.

Fountain in Forsyth Park

Juliet Gordon Lowe Birthplace.

3. Assisi, Italy

Assisi was exactly what I pictured when people would talk about Italy.  The olive tree's made me feel as if I were standing in a pastel painting.  I also had the amazing experience of rappelling down the side of a 100 ft castle wall which was not open to the public!  Assisi was such a beautiful town and my whole experience there was positive, from the activities to the hotel, it was a great experience!

4. Carcassone, France

I have mentioned that I am fascinated by castles, Carcassone was no exception. I have a picture of an area which I swear looks like Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. It doesn't hurt that while we were there, Sting was playing a concert in the Castle.  Such a neat experience (even though we could only stand outside of the stadium area).  Also, while we were there, France won one of their World Cup games so there was definitely some partying in the street happening.  I have so many great memories associated with this place!  Fun Fact: It was the filming location of Robin-hood, Prince of Thieves.

5. Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona was such a neat city.  I loved all of the Gaudi architecture!  It seemed like everywhere we went there was some weirdly shaped awesome looking building.   Of course seeing amazing sites such as Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia did not hurt the experience!  I learned so much on our tour of Sagrada Familia and found the history fascinating!   I even bought a book from the bookstore!   We were also in Barcelona when Italy won the world cup!  Our bus driver was Italian so that was definitely a fun experience!  We also got to try some AMAZING tapas and got to see a flamenco show!   Overall, my experience in Barcelona was amazing and I definitely want to go back.

   

I had a really tough time narrowing this down.  I was taking both the place and my experiences into consideration so it was really hard to leave Boulder Creek, CA off of the list because I had such a great experience leading those kids! It was also hard to leave Cinque Terre off but overall, I think my top 5 are pretty accurate.