Page 156 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

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CITIES

ABOVE Shimla, once a Raj hill station and now the fast-growing capital of Himachal Pradesh
RIGHT Sintra’s Palácio Nacional, a fascinating mixture of different architectural styles in the heart of the old town

SHIMLA, INDIA The best way to travel to the mountain retreat of Shimla is the way SINTRA, PORTUGAL This is a charming town with fairy-tale appeal, where the kings of
British officers and their wives did during the Raj: aboard the panoramic narrow-gauge Portugal used to come to escape Lisbon’s summer heat. Hidden among wooded hills
steam railway. Clinging to spurs way up in the northwest Himalayas, Shimla (then Simla) above the Atlantic Ocean are a scattering of palatial retreats, their fanciful turrets peeking
was the summer headquarters of the British government in India, a place to escape out. At their center is the Palácio Nacional de Sintra, instantly recognizable by its twin
the intense heat of the plains. The Viceregal Lodge and Gaiety Theatre are reminders chimneys. Begun by the Moors, it was home to Portugal’s royal family for nearly 500 years.
of those days, as are The Ridge and Scandal Point on the Mall – a road and a crossroads, Exploring Sintra by foot involves lots of walking, but take heart – you can always hop
respectively. The latter is still the town’s main strolling and meeting area. aboard one of the horse and carriage rides if you tire of climbing the town’s steep hills.

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA The name of SIENA, ITALY Nobody who walks into SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, USA This is the American South at its most gracious. Come
this city, which means “new flower,” is a Siena’s Piazza del Campo can fail to be to sip sweet tea and enjoy the locals’ renowned hospitality. Take a guided tour of the
fitting way to describe the rising star of overwhelmed by the audacity of its space. historic district – it’s one of the largest and most elegant in the USA – to find out
Africa. Old meets new in Addis Ababa, This hilltop Tuscan town is much smaller who lived where and how they made their money. River Street is among the main
where you’ll find a museum housing 3.2- and less busy than major tourist centers entertainment areas, lined with warehouse conversions housing seafood restaurants,
million-year-old human remains, historic such as Florence, but is jammed full of souvenir shops, and taverns. Walking is the best way to explore the city, but do go for a
monuments, hip bars, and luxury hotels. rewarding corners and artistic highlights. riverboat or harbor cruise – preferably in a paddle steamer.

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY One of ODESSA, UKRAINE Returning to the TOURS, FRANCE As a hopping-off place
Germany’s most romantic towns, world stage after decades in the Soviet for the châteaux of the Loire, Tours is too
Heidelberg owes a lot to its setting, high Union, this cosmopolitan port has often overlooked. Lying between the Loire
on a bank beside the Neckar River, with a rediscovered itself as the hotspot of the and Cher rivers, the city has a half-timbered
a ruined Gothic castle looking down on Black Sea. Summers here have a medieval center with a first-rate art
it. Mark Twain wrote of the duels that Mediterranean feel, the beaches are gallery, cathedral, and sophisticated
took place here (you can still visit the playgrounds, and people stay up late. boutiques. Social activity centers around
dueling club for coffee or tea), but it’s Palaces, a ballet theater, and an opera Place Plumereau, particularly on
hard to imagine blood being spilled in house are proof that the city’s grandeur weekends, when commuters who take
such a genteel, well-preserved town. never entirely went away. the TGV train to Paris find time to relax.

SUCRE, BOLIVIA Although Sucre was SEDONA, ARIZONA, USA Set between GRAZ, AUSTRIA The Habsburgs seem
once the country’s capital, its core is desert and mountain snows, Sedona is to live on in this sunny city in southeast
sufficiently contained to walk around. hauntingly beautiful. The city is known for Austria, with its old regime of grand
Bolivians are the most colorfully attired of its massive red sandstone rocks and rich palaces, spires, and cobbled courtyards.
all Latin Americans, and they create a cultural life, which includes the Sedona Unblemished by war, its architectural mix
continual vibrancy beneath the white International Film Festival and various – from Italian Renaissance to Baroque –
walls, balconies, and red roofs of this old music events. Shops offer crystals, amulets, gives the city a solid, confident air. But not
Spanish city. The exhibitions at the textile and other healing devices that appeal to all is old – there’s a brand-new art gallery
and modern-art museums are testament New Age visitors who are convinced the and an imaginative glass amphitheater
to the continuing taste for bright colors. Native Americans are on to something. that sits in the middle of the Mur River.

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