Workman Publishing, New York
by Patricia Schultz
l. Travel-Guidebooks.
Life is not rneasured,
by the nurnber of
breathsw e take but by
the places and rnoments
that tahe our breath away.
-ANONYMOUS
Just with Paypal
Book Details
Price
|
5.00 |
|---|---|
Pages
| 992 p |
File Size
|
101,386 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN-13
| 978-0-7611-0484-1 |
Copyright©
| 2003 by Patricia Schultz |
Introduction
The Story of This Book
Is it nature or nurture that sends a person out onto the Road-that
whispers in one's ear that it's time to take off and make for the horizon, just to see what's out there?
The urge ts tlsys[-1o open our minds
and move beyond the familisl-is sg old as man himself. It's what drove the ancient Romans to visit Athens's Acropolis and Verona's amphitheater.
It's what sent Marco Polo off on his momentous journey easto and what moved St. Augustine of Hippo to writeo "The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page."
Whether we go to London for the weekend or to a place thatos utterly alien, travel changes uso sometimes superficially, sometimes profoundly.
It is a classroom without walls. I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you about my own wanderlust.
Family legend (never proven) has it that weore somehow related to Mark Twain, America's great storyteller and also one of the preeminent globetrotters of his day. How then to explain my mother's reaction when I had my own first Great Adventure?
It was the late 1950s, and Atlantic City was as exotic and unknown to me as Shangri-la-all sand and seao hotels and boardwalko and the intimation of greater things just beyond what I could see from the family beach blanket. I set off at the first opportunity but after what seemed only a few precious minutes of intoxicating discovery (in fact several hours), I was snatched up by my apoplectic mother and a cadre of relieved lifeguards and brought back to the roost. This is my earliest memory:
I had heard the siren call of the great, global beyond, and I had answered.
I was hooked. I was four.
Fast-forward to college graduation.
Campus buddies were heading straight for Wall Street apprenticeships,in ternational banking programs, and family business obligations, but I made a beeline for the airport and my own private Grand Tour through the marvels of Italy and its neighbors. Could one make a Iiving off la dolce uita? I was amazed
when my first articles got published, but then I realized: one could. Many guidebooks and innumerable anicles later, I found myself at a round table facing publisher Peter Workman and his right-hand editor, the late Sally Kovalchick, who told me about their desire to compile the world's most enticing
and intriguing treasures between two covers, and their belief that I was up to the challenge. I was on board. When it came time to actually do it, though-to choose from the nearly bottomless grab bug of the worldos possibilities, both legendary and unsung-I realized I was in for a Iengthy battle with philosophy and methodology and all the questions anyone who flips through this book is bound to ask. How did I arrive at these particular destinations and events?
What were my criteria? How to explain the wide range, from undeniably glorious far-flung mysteries to apparently mundane backyard beauties? The inclusion of the Taj Mahal and the Sistine Chapel makes sense, but why give the Pork Pit in Montego Bay the same weight as Paris's legendary Taillevent? Am I really implying that an agritourist B&B on a Tuscan wine-producing estate is just as worthy as Bangkokos storied Oriental Hotel, where Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling were regulars? Does the weirdness of Roswell hold up against the magic of Tikal? Antoine de Saint-Exup6ry's Little Prince had it easier when he asked the geographer, o'W.hat place would you advise me to visit now?o' and was told, 'oThe planet Earth. It has a good reputation.o' In the final analysis, the common denominator I chose was a simple one:
that each place impress upon the visitor- and, I hope, upon the readersome
sense of the earth's magic, integrity, wonder, and legacy. That was
the standard I applied, across every continento from the conspicuous and
predictable to the small and humble, from spiritual spots like Bagan in
Myanmar to temporal ones like Hong Kong's shopping districts, from natural
wonders like the Grand Canyon to manmade ones like Petra, Jordan's fabled
'olost city"-life experiences all. To compile my list, I drew uPon the
decades of insatiable travel that followed my epiphany on the sands of
Atlantic City. I pored over hundreds of travel books and glossy magazines and
spoke to scores of tourism boards and PR agencies effusively loyal to their
clients-then I sleuthed out the real story on my own. I picked the brains of
travel colleagues and peripatetic friends, and queried anyone stepping
off a bus, train, or plane who was smiling. At countless dinner parties, I
listened while complete strangers scribbled the names of magical places
on cocktail napkins, or swore me to secrecy and then whispered their
favorite destinations in mY ear. In the seven years it took me to
research and write this formidable project, I was reminded time and again
that travel is always personalo and that no two people walk away from the same experience with the same memories. What it came down to, in the end, is that each of the places in this book is truly, completely, and undeniably inspiring-through the ages or to the modern world-often both-to the
simply curious traveler as well as to poets, adventurerso painters, pilgrims, scholars, and travel writers.
"Tfavel," wrote my maybe-ancestor Thain inThe Innocents Abroad,, "is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindednesso and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." Travel dispels
many of our bad impressions, confirms the positiveo and promises innumerable surprises. It opens our eyes to exotic places like Zanzibar, Katmanduo Machu Picchu, and Lalibela-names familiar to us through films, books, and tales, but whose reality is so much more than they could ever explain. In the flesh, it shows us why even the most clich6d travel experiences- riding a gondola in Venice, taking a Turkish bath in Turkey, braving Times Square on New Year's Eve-are perennially popular. With travel, our minds become more curious our hearts more powerful, and our spirits more joyous. And once the mind is stretched like that, it can never return to its original state.
The world today is a smaller place than it was even twenty years ago, and while the romantic concept of Ultima Thule-what Webster's describes as "any far-off, unknown region"-may still be found in the otherworldly landscapes of Namibia, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and the timeless Nadaam horse games of Mongolia's Ulaanbaataro the fact remains that these places all lie only a day or two's journey away, thanks to today's monumental travel infrastructure. What does this do to our sense of adventure, of exploring the Other? For meo it comes down to a matter of viewpoint: As the Sherpa said
to Edmund Hillary on the slopes of Mount Everest, some people travel only to look. while others come to see. Some road warriors can speed from New York to L.A. without registering a thing; I can walk around my mid-Manhattan block and come home with a carton of milk and stories to tell. In the end, the number of miles covered has nothing to do with the real pleasures of travel; the inherent beauty of the world and the discovery it promises are all around us. In this time of global uncertaintyo even the intrepid might feel inclined to stick closer to home base, or to retreat into armchair travel-and even this
can be rewarding. I can shut my eyes and hear the sound of loons again on Squam Lake, or the flutter of prayer flags outside a Tibetan monastery in Llasa. I can smell the spices of the market in the ancient medina of Fez, or the floating aroma of fritto misto in the cobbled backstreets of an Italian Riviera village. This is my moveable feast, the memories that sustain me until my next ticket is in hando my next Great Adventure about to begin.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die is my own personal short list of dream trips. While the number daunted me at first, I came to realize there were a thousand times a thousand possibilities. . . . Perhaps I'll save them for a sequelo or for another life. Not every entry is for everybody, but show me someone who won't find enough between these two covers to keep busy for the next few decades. Never a travel
snob. I confess Iove never understood the appeal of certain must-do's (though Iove happily included them), like playing the finest golf courses in Scotland or going bungee-jumping in New Zealand, but these activities may well figure into your own game plan. I know I'll raise eyebrows by including unconventional destinations such as Calcutta and Madagascaro arduous choices that some travelers might avoid, but I consider them deeply moving and insightful windows into the human experience. The same goes for Chicago's landmark Superdawg hot dog stand, whose inclusion will be questioned only by those who have never been there.
The number of hotels I've included might also need a brief explanation. A longtime hotel buff, my opinion about cities both large and small is always greatly inlluenced by where I hang my hat and unpack my bag. Can one even think of visiting London without enjoying high tea at the Ritz? Or, when
in Singaporehoa ving a SingaporeS ling where it originated, at the legendary Raffles Hotel? Isn't Singita safari lodge on the periphery of Kruger National Park as inspirational as the game viewing?A nd isn't Sweden'sIc e Hotel the ultimate hoot?
Other unforgettable memories I have not been able to re-create for this book, like the day my driver in
Casablanca took me to his mother's home for Saturday lunch when I asked him who served the best couscous in town, or the time I somehow became the guest of honor at a stranger's fourday
wedding celebration in Cairo. From experiences like these I learned that camel meat's not bad, and serendipity really is the best tour guide.
Any trip can be fraught with disappointment: Expectations are always high, and anything can go wrong. Here are a few suggestionsfo r both first'time and inveterate travelers: More important than packing a bag full of money' pack a b^g full of patience and curiosity; allow yourself-encourage yourself-to be sidetracked and to get lost. There's no such thing as a bad trip, just good travel stories to tell back home. Always travel with a smile and remember that youore the one with the
strange customs visiting someone else's country. Relying on the kindness of
strangers isnot naive-there are good people wherever you go. And, finally,
the more time you spend coming to
....
Table of Contents
lNTRODUCTION ' x i
THE Sronv or Turs Boox xi o How rHE Boor ls OnclrurzgD xn
EUROPE " I
From Windsor Castle to the Highland Gamcs of Scotland, Vezelay in Burgund,y to Auila
in Spain, Count Dra.cula's Castle in Romania to Santa's Village in Finland
Gnnnr BRtrnrN AND IRELnruo3 . ENcLANDo Scorrexn o Wetrs . IRELAND
o NoRTHERNIR ELAND. Wnsrnnru EuRopn 90 o AusrRr . r o Bsrcrun[
. FReNcu . Moueco o GERMANy. GRnecr . I tety o NetutRLANDS
. Ponrucer . Sperx. SwTTzERLAoN DB lstERw Eunopn 290. Czncm
Rnpunrtc r HunceRy . Porenn o Rouenle . RussIA . ScnnuIuAvIA
312 . DnnueRr . FTNLRNI o IcnL.q,nt . NoRwey . Swennn
AFRICA " 34[3
From the Great Pyramids of Ciza to the Imilchil Betrothal Fair in Morocco,
Kenya\ Masai Mara to Namibia's Skeleton Coast,
South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains to Stone Town in Zaruibar
NonrnnRNA FRTcA3 45 o Ecypr o Monoccoo TuNrsIAo BASTERANN D
SourunRru Annrcl 361 o Borsweue o Ernroprl . Ksr{ye
o MADAGASCARo Matewl . MALI o MIURI I IUS o NeMIsIe o SeycHst tns
o SoutH Arnrce . TANzeNre . UcIwDA . ZAMBTA . ZlMgenwe
i v l l t 1 , 0 0 0 P l e c n s r o S t r B n r o n E You D t E
THE MilDDLE EAST " 397
From the Dead Sea to Jerusalem's Old City, Petra in Jordan to Krak des
Cheualiers in Syria, Dubai's Gold Souh to Yernen'sO ld Sana'a
Isnenr o JoRoen o OMIN o SAUDI AReetn . SyRIA o UNITED Anes
EutRerus o YnunN
ASIA " 4L7
From Beijing's Forbidd,en City to Xi'an's Tbrra-Cotta Warriors,
Japan's Sapporo Snow Festiual to Calcutta's Marble Palace, TLrhey's Whirlirug
Deraishes to the Meltong Deha in Vietnarn
Elsr Asle 419 . Curxe o JeeeN . MoNGoLTA o SourH AND CENTRAL
Asln 440 . BHUTAN . INDrA . IRAN . NEpAL o SRt Lexre o TURKEy
. TURKMENTsTANo UzBEKTsTAN. SoUTHEAST Astn 475 o CeMsooIe
. INDoNESIAo Leos o MALAysIA . MyANMAR . PHILIppINESo StxcepoRe
o TuetteruD . VIETNAM
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND,
AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS " 5]13
From the Sydney Opera House to ,4yers Roclt,
New Zealand's Tasman Glacier to the Cook Islands' Dance Festiaal,
the Sepik Riaer in Papua New Guinea to Tbnga's Heilala Festiual
Ausrnlun AND Nnw Znelnno 515 o THB Pncrntc IslnNns 540
. CooK Isr.eNos . FrJr . FRENCH PorvNnsIe . MICRoNESIA
o PepueN Ew GutNue . ToNGAo WESTERSNA MoA
l , O O O P L A C E S TO SEE BEFORE YOU D I E
THE UNITED STATES OF'AMERICA
AND CANADA " 56]L
From Alaska's lrcide Passage to Saaannah's Historic District,
the Art Institute of Chicago to the French Quarter in
New Orleans, the l,os Vegas Strip to New York's Finger lnkes Regi.on,
Monticello in Virginia to Jachson Hole in Wyoming,
Skating the Rid,eau Carnl in Ottawa to Heli-Skiing in British Columbia
Tun UxrrED STATES oF Aunnrcl 56J o Ctrxl.nt T4T
LATIN AMERICA" 777
From the Ma,yan Ruins of Palenque in Mexico
to Belize's Barrier Reef, the San Blas Archipelago
of Panarna to Bucnos Aires's Tango Bars,
Chile's Wirrc Region to the Otaoalo Market in Ectndor,
Marhu Picchu in Peru to the Penguin Rookeries of Antarctica
Mnxrco AND CENTRATA mnruce 779 . MExrco . BELTZEo cosrA Rrce
. GUATEMALoA HoruouReso PANAMA. SourH AMERICAA ND Arrlr.lncrrcl
804 o ARcENUUAo BoLrvIAo BRAaTL. cur re . coLoMBIAo EcuADoR
o PERU. URUGUAoy VENEZUEL.A Anrencrlce
I , 0 0 0 P r e c E s r o S E r B n r o n r You D I n
THE CARIBBEAN, BAHAMAS,
AND BERMUDA 8 49
From CapJ ulura in Anguilla to the SharkR odeoa t Walker'sC ay in the
Bahamas, Cuba's Jazz Festiaal to Sailing the Grenadincs,
Old San Juan in Pu,erto Rico to Saba Marine Park
AilcUltre . ANTIGUA . BAHAMAS . BARBADoS' BARBUDA o BERMUDA
. BONAIRE o Bnlttsu VInCtn ISreNnS . CAYMAN ISrewnS o CUsl
o DOMINICA . DOMINICAN RnpunrtC o GnnN,q,oe ' THE Cnnneotilrs
o GuADELoupE o Jeuetce o MARTINIQUEo Nnvts ' PuERTo RIco o Sese
o Sr. BenrH6lnnty . Sl. KIrrS o ST. LUCte e Sr. Me,nrti'l ' TOBAGO
o TRINIDAD o U.S. VtncIN IsLeNos
INDEXES " 895
Spncler lltonxns 895 . ACTIvE Tnlvrl AND ADvENTURE o ANCIENT
Wonlos: Pyneuttso RUINS, AND LoST Ctrtns o CULINARY EXPERIENCES
o FESTTvALSA ND SpeCter EvEurS . GLORIESO F NATURE: G,t'RlrnS, PenrS
AND WtLlnRNnsS PRnSonvnS, AND Nerunel WoNlnRS ' GORGEOUS
BnecHns AND GETAvAy Isrenls o GREAT Horels AND RESORTS' Ltvtt'{c
HrsrOny: Cesr rss AND PALACESH, ISToRIcALS t rns ' UNRIvALEDM USEUMS
o RoADS. Roures" AND BYwAYS. SAcREDP LACES' GBNERAT lunnx 918
Screenbook
....
Workman Publishing Company,I nc.
7OB Broadway
New York, NY 10003-9555
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: September 2003
40 39 38 37 3635343332