Favorite places

Discussion, in general

Favorite places

Postby cmsellers » Thu May 26, 2016 5:45 pm

So Bear-n-Potatoes' post on the Florida Keys has me thinking about my favorite places in the world. I've probably seen more of the world than the average person, and there are some places I simply love.

  1. Western Massachusetts. It's where I'm from, and although I almost never visit Springfield and friends (whose views of Western Massachusetts are even more solispsistic than Metro Boston's towards the rest of the state), Northampton, Franklin County, and the Berkshires are all wonderful. I suppose you can throw Brattleboro, VT in there too.
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  2. Key West. I explain why I love Key West here. Walkability, museums, street performers, street chickens, and key lime pie.
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  3. Helsinki. I was only there for a few hours, but it's gorgeous, had a walkable downtown, and the Finnish strawberries I had at the farmer's market were the best I've ever tasted.
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  4. Izmir. My favorite city in Turkey, bar none. It has the best public transportation in Turkey, the inner city is walkable and I just felt alive there.
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  5. Oaxaca. A smallish and walkable city in Mexico, with so many chocolate companies. So many chocolate companies.
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  6. Sivas. It's a beautiful smallish city in the Turkish mountains which reminds me of Northampton, MA, if not for the giant Seljuk Madrasa in the city center.
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  7. Lamma Island. It's close to Hong Kong (part of it actually), yet it feels a world away.
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  8. Heybeliada. Like Lamma, the Princes' Islands are close to Istanbul but a world apart. Heybeliada is the prettiest of these, and the majority of the island is still covered in trees.
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  9. Trabzon. One of the termini of the Silk Road and holy fuck is it gorgeous. Even with an ugly-ass highway running right along the coast, it is just... stunning.
I mean, there's plenty of places I love visiting, but these are all places I've fantasized about living (actually did live in Western MA; it was awesome). Of course the first three are expensive and the last seven involve making money in a foreign country.

I'm pretty sure I'd also love New Zealand, Tasmania, Scotland, Norway, Hokkaido, central Chile, Oregon, the Olympic Penninsula, and the Alaska Panhandle, northern Spain, Solo (in Indonesia), Marrakech, Asheville, and likely a whole lot of other places, but I've sadly never been to any of those places. These are my favorite places I've actually been.

Arguably the San Diego Zoo deserves an honorable mention. While San Diego has amazing Lebanese food, an awesome farmer's market, a kick-ass aquarium, and the best zoo in the United State if not the world, I wouldn't want to live there. However if you offered me a house within the zoo itself, it might be a different story.
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