What’s the coolest place you’ve travelled to?

The “old city” of Jerusalem—such an amazing mix of religions and cultures. The sights, sounds, and smells were intoxicating.
I was looking for an entrance to the upper portions to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and got lost/distracted in the Muslim Wet Market. Did I mention it was the breaking of Ramadan Fast? It was like The Who concert in Cincinnati. I actually thought I was going to die as I was swept out the gate in a mass of flesh, I recall seeing (at 6' 4" I'm a foot taller than the average ME in Old Jerusalem) an IDF soldier, loaded for bear, on the parapets, looking at me and thinking 'WFT are you doing down there, idiot!'
 
I was looking for an entrance to the upper portions to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and got lost/distracted in the Muslim Wet Market. Did I mention it was the breaking of Ramadan Fast? It was like The Who concert in Cincinnati. I actually thought I was going to die as I was swept out the gate in a mass of flesh, I recall seeing (at 6' 4" I'm a foot taller than the average ME in Old Jerusalem) an IDF soldier, loaded for bear, on the parapets, looking at me and thinking 'WFT are you doing down there, idiot!'
Oh wow I bet that was intense. I visited in 2014 a couple of weeks before the bombing.

I was very intrigued by the call to prayer that played a few times a day from the mosques. All of the places I had been up to that point were pretty much in Europe so I had never experienced that before.
 
I have only been to the US once...and although the reason I went was a nice one (the owner of the forums that I managed got married and invited me to the wedding), I really wasn't impressed cos I am not a city person (even though I currently live in a city suburb)

October 2008, Houston/Galveston. I arrived two weeks after Hurricane Ike had demolished quite alot of Galveston. I stayed 4 nights at the Hilton Westchase, Houston....forum owner paid for the flights/hotel.

I did not get to see much of Houston or Galveston. Spent much of the time with the husband to be collecting suits and stuff ready for the big day. Had a gorgeous meal with his family and their restaurant in the city. Wedding was lovely (although having a wedding service in a sportshall seemed weird to me).

Houston airport, IAH, was far from good due to a complete lack of any security present (being someone who is well into aviation, that was a complete shock to be able to board an aircraft to Amsterdam and not get my bag or passport looked at)

Would I return to the US......probably not. Was it an experience to take off the bucket list, yes.

So not a highlight as such as the country is concerned but it was a nice wedding and a pleasure to have been invited and experience.
 
It’s hard for me to pick just one. In the running:

The “old city” of Jerusalem—such an amazing mix of religions and cultures. The sights, sounds, and smells were intoxicating.

The abandoned city of Petra in Jordan—it’s an ancient city carved into the red desert rock. Need I say more?

The city of Delphi in Greece—beautiful mountain setting with ruins of the most well respected Pagan oracle in the world and the temple of Apollo. You could feel the spirituality in the air.

Carcassone in France—a delightful medieval village preserved in time (except now just for tourism)

Venice—riding down the canals is just magical. A city whose streets are waterways and history is at every turn. The amount of artwork in museums and churches is astounding, even for Italy. Some people find the elegant decay disappointing. I found it charming.
Carcassonne had always been a contender as a retirement place…….until brexit ruined that.

I’m a city boy at heart and hated my two spells living in the suburbs so don’t think I’d manage in the country at all. My rule was if I make a cup of tea at breakfast time then walk to buy a newspaper and when I return the tea is too cold to drink then I’m living too far from civilisation. Both at home or on hols I want to walk to cinemas, gigs, restaurants, bars etc and a decent standard football team is essential.

Which means cool places to visit for me are major cities like: London, Havana, NYC, HK, Lisbon, LA, Sydney, Melbourne, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Istanbul, Edinburgh, Lecce, Dublin, Florence, Valencia, Bilbao, A Coruna, Rome, Porto, Lyon, Amsterdam, Cagliari, Budapest, Athens, Brussels, Napoli, Marseilles, Rotterdam, Sofia, Antwerp, Berlin, Bayonne, Bordeaux, Munich, Athens etc.
As small towns, villages, islands for very very short stays go I loved Tavira (2nd Portuguese town in from Spanish border on the med), Hydra the Greek island where Leonard Cohen lived, Aegina a Greek island 16m/30mins from Athens, St Antioca a small island off Sardinia, Leuca and Gallipoli both on Italy’s heel, Lucca in Italy where Chet baker was banged up, Saint Jean de Luz 2nd town in from Spanish border on Atlantic. Etc.

Mind you where I live now is regularly voted one of the top places to live in the UK plus we’ve got the flagship store of the UKs largest LFS chain and one of the two pubs in dispute over which is the oldest pubs in England went into receivership last week and was/is ten mins walk away. It’ll be back. 19 mins by train from central London and it runs nearly all night, Roman ruins, civil war battles, the beheading of the then king was planned here, the Ryder cup inventor lived here, I’m here……..so yeah I’d say right outside my front door is the coolest place I’ve ever visited.
If where you live isn’t then why are you still there? Get a wiggle on this isn’t a rehearsal.
 
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The region of Arenal/La Fortuna, Costa Rica is one of my favorite places in the world and we go back every other year. We always stay for a week and when I leave I always feel like there was so much that I didn't get to do.

Florence (Firenze) Italy and the surrounding areas of Tuscany are simply incredible. Everywhere you look is something historical, and the city of Florence itself is a historical and sensory overload. We visited some cities in the Chianti region that just won us over. Volpaia and Panzano made us feel like we belonged there, and Siena was an absolutely stunning city, in fact we are returning this August for the Palio horse race.
 
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Coolest place of ever been would be the grand canyon. It was years ago but I still remember it.
I go there with a couple friends every October and do what is called Rim to rim to rim. WE run from the south rim down to the river, then up to the north rim, at which point we top off our water, eat a sandwich, then run back the way we came. It's a 43-44 mile round trip and we usually run it in about 13 hours.
 
I've been to several places on this globe but can't really say that I've got one favorite. For they're all favorite to me...
 
The region of Arenal/La Fortuna, Costa Rica is one of my favorite places in the world and we go back every other year. We always stay for a week and when I leave I always feel like there was so much that I didn't get to do.

Florence (Firenze) Italy and the surrounding areas of Tuscany are simply incredible. Everywhere you look is something historical, and the city of Florence itself is a historical and sensory overload. We visited some cities in the Chianti region that just won us over. Volpaia and Panzano made us feel like we belonged there, and Siena was an absolutely stunning city, in fact we are returning this August for the Palio horse race.
Yes Siena is great! Another medieval town preserved in time. Except it’s actually still fully functional apart from tourism—no doubt part of the appeal. I opted to stay a few nights in Siena to see the Tuscany area instead of staying in Florence like many people do and just took a day trip to Florence. Florence is amazing too of course and it’s impossible to see much of what it has to offer in one day but I loved Siena so much I don’t regret the decision at all. There’s a lot of places you want to see once but not nearly as many you feel the desire to return to again and again. Siena is one for me too 👍🏻
 
so yeah I’d say right outside my front door is the coolest place I’ve ever visited.
If where you live isn’t then why are you still there? Get a wiggle on this isn’t a rehearsal
Carpe diem! Unfortunately the coolest places in the world also tend to be the most expensive too 😅 Plus a lot of people feel the need to stay close to family. Then there’s the issue of not necessarily speaking the same language or being able to get a decent job wherever you’d like to move….

Interestingly since I moved to Hawaii I’ve found that when I plan a vacation I long to go places different from where I currently live (so no tropical paradises because I already have that around me all the time). So I guess even if you live in an awesome place it doesn’t mean that you lose all desire to go to other equally cool places 🤔
 
It's a 43-44 mile round trip and we usually run it in about 13 hours.
That would kill me now. It would have likely killed me in my prime. I could carry big packs of ropes but I could never run that fast or far. What was the elevation gain over the whole distance?
 
Yes Siena is great! Another medieval town preserved in time. Except it’s actually still fully functional apart from tourism—no doubt part of the appeal. I opted to stay a few nights in Siena to see the Tuscany area instead of staying in Florence like many people do and just took a day trip to Florence. Florence is amazing too of course and it’s impossible to see much of what it has to offer in one day but I loved Siena so much I don’t regret the decision at all. There’s a lot of places you want to see once but not nearly as many you feel the desire to return to again and again. Siena is one for me too 👍🏻
We will be in Siena for 4 days during the Palio festival and horse race. We have had to put it off for 2 years due to covid, but we will be there this year no matter what.
 

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