Best of Travel 2011: Because it’s never too late!

One of my favourite travel bloggers, Angela, of Chasing the Unexpected, tagged me on this a couple of weeks back. Of course, I’ve been a bit lazy in completing it – The Best of travel 2011 rules indicate that the series ran through till Jan 16. But, bah, I still want to write this – reminisce in some of my favourite memories of 2011, and plan ahead for 2012.

2011 has been a pretty good year of travel for me – starting from the fact that the definition of ‘home’ changed right on January 1 on the midnight hour (well, not exactly, but sometime during my 10 hour long flight from Bangalore to London) as I moved to work in Nottingham, UK.

You might see a lot of destinations here that I haven’t written much about. Hopefully, this year, I’ll be documenting a lot more of my trips in both 2011 and 2012.

So, I’ll jump right in..

Best Domestic Travel Destination

Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland

It’s a surprisingly forgotten domestic travel destination, considering that very few Britons had even heard about it when I told them about my plans to go to see this Natural Wonder of the World. Giant’s Causeway, a naturally-formed collection of thousands of hexagonal shaped rocks, is located on northern edge of Northern Ireland, about 60-70 miles away from Belfast. Not only is the location itself very beautiful, it is also accompanied by a picturesque rope bridge a few miles of cliff-walks away.

Best Travel Experience

Paragliding in the Alps

When I signed up for the Contiki Eurotrip in early summers, this was one of the optional activities I was dead certain that I’d be signing up for – Paragliding. An unmissable opportunity – the feeling of flying, that too in the middle of the Alps – turned out to be as good as I had expected it to be. The wind fluttering against your face, the icecaps on the peaks of Alps shining on the horizon and the greenery and streams of water below – it was a very beautiful experience.

Also, got the opportunity to take some really nice photographs! 🙂

Paraglider at Hopfgarten

Best International Destination

La Pedrara (The Quarry), Barcelona

A 10-day trip to Barcelona turned out to be one of my best experiences in terms of solo-travel and immersing into the culture of a place. I was fortunate to have timed the trip to happen at the same time as La Merce, the annual festival of the city. So, not only did I get to see the architectural gems by Gaudi but also felt the real vibe of the city through the evening jaunts to cultural performances and carnivals, amidst visiting some classical pieces of art by masters like Picasso and Gaudi.

Watching Messi-magic at Camp Nou

Worst Travel Experience

This was the closest I got to the Colosseum - photo from a taxi rushing me back to our campsite

Although I haven’t had too many bad travel experiences (thank god!), falling ill with fever and unforgiving cough and cold in Rome, during my Eurotrip, was a very tough one to deal with. I didn’t want to miss any of the travelling, but did not want to fall ill further. I completely lost my voice and felt like I had zero stamina to walk. Thankfully, some rest and a cancelled visit to Colosseum helped me recuperate and enjoy the rest of the trip.

Most Embarrassing Travel Moment

Another one from the Eurotrip. Our tour bus made a surprise stop in Verona – the home to the legend of Romeo and Juliet. At the mansion claimed to Juliet’s house, there is a statue of Julietta. You aur supposed to cup her breast for good luck – every tourist does it. So did I. And it was very embarrassing.

I did manage to force through a very sheepish smile.

Best Local Destination

Alley Cafe, image courtesy http://www.alleycafe.co.uk/

Not sure how different this is from the first category, so I chose to talk about a local Nottingham treasure. Alley Cafe is a vegan cafe bar, tucked into an alley right next to the city centre , has an atmosphere right from Paris of 1920s with quirky music and artwork. I have found the place to be absolutely delightful every time I’ve been there. Make sure you visit it if you ever visit Nottingham.

Best Travel Lesson

The travel lesson from 2011 for me is to live life to the fullest, without regrets. And  that there is absolutely no harm in trying out something offbeat, something different. For example, I went to the Toone Theatre in Brussels (actually, stumbled on to it quiet accidentally) on my recent trip around Christmas time. Although I didn’t understand a single word of it, it was all in French, I still found it very funny and a very amusing experience.

Toone theatre in Brussels

So, here we go, that was the best of 2011 from my trips! And I have already planned a couple of interesting trips to Rome, Paris and India! 🙂

Keep watching this space!

What did Romeo expect to see when he turned up at Juliet’s house?

Well, Juliet of course.

But before he would find himself bedazzled by Juliet’s beauty, which reminded him of the glow of the rising sun – a cliche more cliched than use of the word ‘amazing’ in travel blogs, he would see the famous balcony from which Juliet would call out ‘O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo‘. Okay, just a balcony in his times, it must have become famous later I guess.

So, it’s no surprise that you’d end up imagining a beautiful balcony, huddled beneath an arch, overlooking an inviting yet mysterious looking courtyard. It’d have intricate designs on its sides, probably glistening with embedded diamonds and jewels, for Juliet was daughter of Lord Capulet, who was seriously seriously rich. The beauty of that balcony could only be limited to your imagination, hoping to find only its resemblances in pretty palaces.

Last year, when I went to Rajasthan (literally translates to ‘Land of the Kings‘), I went to a place called Jaisalmer, a town famous for its golden fortress (it shines golden in sunlight as it’s made of yellow sandstone) and being the town on the edge of the Thar desert. But hidden in this small town are a couple of gems which you might miss if you are in a hurry to experience camel rides and sunsets in sand-dunes and rush to the desert. These are the havelis, sandstone mansions built by wealthy merchants of Jaisalmer who wanted to flaunt their wealth and showcase their proficiency in stone carving.

One of these havelis, Patwon ki haveli, was particularly impressive as I came upon this scene..

Patwon ki Haveli, Jaisalmer

That is exactly how I would have liked or thought of Juliet’s balcony to look like! Minus the dopey looking fellow, who oddly makes the photo look even more charming with his not-in-a-hurry-to-do-anything-in-life style.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Change of scene: On Eurotrip, driving down from Hopfgarten in Austria heading towards Venice. Our tour manager surprises us by making an unscheduled stop at a small town before Venice. Any guesses? Verona! The setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet! And as almost every tourist would do, we headed off towards Casa di Giulietta (Juliet’s house), the location for the famous balcony scene. And this is what we saw..

Juliet's balcony in Verona

A disappointment! Not only did it look very very ordinary, it was also teeming with tourists trying to get a picture of themselves at the balcony. Also note, the big crowd in the left hand side corner of the photo, where tourists are trying to grope a statue of Juliet, apparently for good luck.

I guess, sometimes, it’s just better to imagine than to see. 🙂

p.s. I later found out that this house in Verona had no connection with the characters of Romeo and Juliet. In fact, a balcony was added to this old house in 1936 and the house was declared as ‘Juliet’s house’. Bah!