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Parc de Montjuïc, Barcelona, Spain (Part 2)
If you’re continuing your Montjuïc expedition from the Jardí Botànic, keep reading this paragraph. If you decided to split up your Montjuïc adventure over two days, skip to the next paragraph. When you exit the Jardí Botànic, head back to Avinguda de l’Estadi and continue walking west to Plaça de Sant Jordi, where you’ll bear right onto Avinguda dels Montanyans. This will lead you to El Poble Espanyol, or the Spanish Village. For day two, you’ll begin your journey at…
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Parc de Montjuïc, Barcelona, Spain (Part 1)
Parc de Montjuïc spans an ancient hill overlooking the southern edge of the port of Barcelona. It is the city’s largest public space and is filled with more than a day’s worth of sites to see and explore. Yet, like Barcelona’s very own Xanadu, it also provides a scenic and serene escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Your visit to Montjuïc should start with an adventure on the Telefèric del Port – an aerial tramway that dangles…
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Tigre, Argentina
A fun and easy day trip from Buenos Aires is a visit to Tigre. Just 18 miles northwest of the city center, the town of Tigre is located on the Tigre Delta, where the Rio Paraná splits off into several smaller rivers that flow into the Rio de la Plata. These smaller rivers create a network of canals, which over time have formed numerous sedimentary islands covered in forest and grasslands. The waterways and islands of the region have played…
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Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain
On your next trip to Barcelona, be sure to visit the architectural wonderland commonly known as Park Güell. It is a bit of a hike to get to (literally), but well worth the climb. Nowhere else in the city can you see and explore so many works by Antoni Gaudí in such close proximity – it’s truly a Gaudí admirer’s paradise. The property was originally envisioned as a residential oasis by entrepreneur Count Eusebi Güell who, at the turn of…
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Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
As a child, I was an aspiring architect who took a great interest in Frank Lloyd Wright. I read up on all of his major works, from Oak Park to Taliesin to the Guggenheim Museum, and of course, Fallingwater. I remember feeling mystified by the Fallingwater design; how could a house actually be built over a running waterfall? I’ve always wanted to experience first-hand this ingenious Wright creation, and on a recent trip to Pittsburgh, that chance finally came to…
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Parque Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Every world-class city has a quintessential urban park – a green space for its residents and visitors alike. Perhaps the most notable pairing is Central Park in New York. And of course there’s Hyde Park in London, Bois de Boulogne in Paris, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and the list goes on and on. One park that doesn’t get much recognition but should is Parque Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, which has been serving the Argentine porteños for…
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Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, New Mexico
Only a 35 minute drive from downtown, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is definitely worth a visit the next time you’re in Santa Fe. The adventure begins from the moment you turn onto Interstate 25, with a minimum speed limit of 75 miles per hour; being a New Yorker, this was quite exhilarating since on a normal day I’m usually creeping along in gridlock. From I-25, you take two-lane Route 16, which cuts across a sandy expanse with the scenic…
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Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
If you’re visiting southern Oregon or northern California, you absolutely must check out Crater Lake. I’ve had a fascination with Crater Lake for just about all of my life. As a child, seeing pictures of a volcanic island rising out of a lake in the Encyclopedia Britannica was such a curious sight to me. In 2011, While visiting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in nearby Ashland, I finally got a chance to see it in person, after which I was even…
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Forsyth Park, Savannah, Georgia
It was a balmy spring afternoon in Savannah, and I was looking for somewhere to escape the heat. I didn’t want to head back to the hotel but it was just too hot to walk around, and so I made my way to Forsyth Park. The 30 acre space is over 150 years old, and is a center point for the residential area that lies south of Savannah’s historic district. With a book in one hand, a bottle of water…
