I must stand up and walk for Gatlinburg. I found it an interesting place. Not even Las Vegas (I assume, I have never been there) can match it for pure middle class American tourism. When I visited the Great Smokies Park I drove through “downtown” Gatlinburg. Driving is an exaggeration, people were strolling, not really walking, faster than the traffic was moving. I was in no hurry and I kind of got in to the groove, stare in astonishment at the giant tourist “attraction” on the left, admire the cheesy strip mall on the right, edge around the construction markers in the road, move 5 feet-repeat.
This was during the weekday. I was impressed. Certainly impressed enough to never try to drive through the there after 8 AM in the morning.
Now that I have described a few negatives, lets point out the positives. Any of the smaller towns a couple of miles outside the Gatlinburg “downtown”. And of course the National Park itself. Yes, it is crowded, but heck it is a national park. Find a parking lot and start walking. You will get away from the crowds in a few minutes. Downtown Gatlinburg is like a school of fish. Fascinating to watch but one would never want to join them. The rest of the area is quite nice.
I grew up loving Northern California and hating Los Angeles. Well, after fifty years away, I had a conference in LA, so I added a couple of days on for “fun” and… darn, still hate it.
It was late spring, but everything had already turned brown, so that it could match the air.
When I got home, I immediately walked down to our local park and revelled in all the green.
Florida. There’s a ton of fun stuff there, but too bad everybody there is a fucking idiot, and they are, easily, collectively the worst drivers I’ve ever seen anywhere, and I’ve lived in and around DC my entire life.
Dodge City Kansas. Very dissapointed. Hoping to see alot of living “old west” history. While their are some cool statues all the historical areas are in one tiny area surrounded by a busy city. If you want a better old west town check out Deadwood South Dakota.
I choose Arizona, though we just passed through. Near Sedona it was beautiful, then it was a long, long trek through a big ugly vacant lot.
My husband says Mount Dora, Florida. Tiny and touristy. Also, we stayed in a “haunted” hotel, but the ghost failed to manifest. I had a fairly good time there because I drank some Iron Maiden beer and threw up in front of a lot of people who were eating breakfast.
We both agree that we never need to go to Miami again for any reason.
Prijedor, Bosnia. I spent a few hours there in 1982 (when “all those places” were still Yugoslavia) – from that experience, reckon it the ultimate in bleak, dismal-feeling, devoid-of-beauty, nothing-to-recommend-them back-of-beyond hick towns ever encountered by me in my life. (Went there in pursuance of a particular hobby, and that mission proved disappointing – which maybe had some effect on my feelings about the place.) No-one there was nasty to me in any way – in fact, the locals completely ignored me – but the whole atmosphere was intensely depressing.
Hideous things were done in and around that town, in the prolonged strife attendant on the break-up of Yugoslavia; but even if the members of the different “tribes” there had entertained and practised total loving-kindness to each other, I consider that it would still have struck me as a miserable, desolate outpost.
I found Nashville, TN pretty boring. Most of the attractions were bars, country music stuff, or historical things I wasn’t really into. We went to the Parthenon, which was… cool, I guess? Even now, though, looking at the “things to do” in case maybe I just missed the good stuff because of the person I was with, there isn’t anything that particularly interests me. Johnny Cash is okay and all, but I really just don’t care that he once bought milk at this checkout or that he passed out on that stage or whatever.
I found myself disliking Rome. It was dirty and every square inch of space seemingly covered in graffiti. Some of the sights were okay but I left with no affection for the city as a whole. Venice was also grimy, ill-kept and stank from the canal water and fish.
Exactly my experience too. I urge anyone considering a trip to Italy to spend a lot of time in Florence, and make just a brief excursion to Rome.
My worst memory of Rome was the Sistine Chapel. After spending a couple of hours winding through the Vatican shoulder to shoulder with hordes of of people, the actual Chapel is small, dark, sweaty, it’s hard to see the frescoes and they have guards going around yelling at people for taking pictures. Very unpleasant.
If you asked me after my first trip to Moscow, I would have said Moscow. I’ve been there twice since, and I’ve actually developed a little bit of fondness for it. In the other thread I said there’s no place I wouldn’t want to visit again, and that’s basically true, because my opinions on places change, and I’ve never really been anywhere I felt was that horrible that I wouldn’t want to return. Even Phoenix, Arizona. Took me several trips to even start to warm up to it, but I can at least tolerate it now (my in-laws live there, so I’ve been there maybe a dozen times now?) It’s okay, Phoenicians – I live in and absolutely love Chicago, and there’s plenty of people who don’t understand it, either. Different strokes.
Wasilla, AK. A truly ugly town with a million dollar view. One long strip mall catering to tourists, hunters and fishermen going anywhere else but forced to drive through this shithole to get there. Off the main drag, it’s all mostly ugly snout houses and places with yards full of rusty trucks, snow machines, ATVs and mysterious objects cloaked with the ubiquitous blue plastic tarps. I traveled over much of the state on business, and even the remotest village never came close to Sarah Palin’s home town.
New Orleans. So they have music and food, I’ll give them that. But I can’t stand the aggressive con men panhandlers and loud drunken shits that fill the streets every night. It’s the only major city I’ve been in where I feel a little unsafe.
I have to agree somewhat with Traverse City. The traffic is indeed horrific but there is so much beauty in the area to make up for it. Just a little drive to Sleeping Bear dunes, lots of great Lake Michigan beaches and tons of smaller lakes to enjoy.
I can’t say anything about Alpena. Never went there, never wanted to go there, it’s miles away from everything and Lake Huron isn’t nearly as nice as Lake Michigan.
Do you know, it’s your opinion, but it’s not law. “I” happen to regard Rome as one of the most memorable and awe inspiring cities on earth (I also love Florence). Perhaps I have less of a problem with grafiti.
To the OP, I’d like to add Key West (stupid expensive, not great food and swarming with tacky outlets catering to the 4000 cruise passengers that land every day).
Also Bangkok - this may not be a popular view, and I stayed in a lovely hotel, but I thought the city was a pit.
But the worst – Moscow. Grey-ist city on earth with the least friendly people.
I agree about Rome. I love it so much. But I like cities and noise and people. We go a couple times a year and I never get tired of it. Also don’t mind the graffiti. Or the rundown look of it or Venice either. It’s part of the charm.
There’s this little piazza in the Monte district we discovered our first time there that made us fall in love with the area. In the evenings we walk down, get a beer or wine from the little shop and sit on the fountain enjoying the people watching. We always book our airbnb in that area. I’d love to stay in the Trastevere district…maybe next time.
We did all the touristy stuff on our first trip, now we just go for pure enjoyment of walking the city. Eating the food. Mmm.
My kids didn’t like Rome, but loved Paris. So ya, everyone has different opinions and tastes.
Florence didn’t wow me. It was beautiful and I wish we had stayed longer than two nights, but Rome is my first love.
I had a similar experience on I-80 in Wyoming but I don’t remember the name. The only restaurant in town that looked any good was a Chinese buffet that had an hour left according to the sign but had no customers in it and a bunch of stale-ish food. Plus it only had at most 10 items even when it was being restocked and 5 or less when I got to it. But I ate as much noodles as I could since I was hungry, and they only charged me $3.99. I left a $2 tip since that price seemed ridiculously cheap even for the less-than-mediocre if not quite outright crappy food I had just had.
