Pauline Frommer
Sure, everyone knows the Grand Canyon’s an eyeful, and few cityscapes rival the loveliness of San Francisco. But there are other areas and sights of enviable pulchritude that often get overlooked. Here are some we think you should see.
This UNESCO World Heritage site was once the main port for gold shipments from Brazil to Portugal (thanks to the discovery of one of the richest gold mines in the world nearby). A building boom followed that left the exquisite baroque churches, cobblestone streets and handsome houses one sees today. But in the early 18th century, a rash of pirate attacks slowed the growth of the town.A nd when the mine itself began to peter out in the late 18th century, Paraty (pronounced pair-a-chee) became a backwater. It didn’t even have modern road access until the late 1970’s. But that’s a good thing for tourists, as it kept this Colonial gem perfectly preserved. The town’s a beaut, set on a lovely bay filled with tiny islands. One of the top tourist activities is taking small boats to these nearby islands, so you can lounge on your own private beach for the afternoon. A true paradise.
The go-to daytrip from Paris is Versailles, but Fontainebleau, the hunting lodge of King Francois I and a favorite country home for Napoleon, is just as close and twice as enjoyable. Less badly looted during the French Revolution, it’s filled with period furniture and even displays some Napoleonic artifacts. But the real reason you come here is to stare at the walls. Lavished with murals, all created by artists imported by the King from Italy, they were considered so important they spawned what is known as the Fontainebleau-style of painting.
A horrific 36-year civil war kept this historic city off the tourist trail from 1960 all the way until 1996, so it took a while for it to be rediscovered. As a major colonial capital until earthquakes in 1776 sent most of the population scurrying, it’s filled with important works of architecture, cobble stoned streets and a flowering-tree filled zocalo (central square) that can only be described as enchanting. It reaches its height of beauty during the month before Easter, when its streets are filled on a daily basis, with elaborate religious processions.
You’ll think you’re at the Grand Canyon when you’re standing at the lip of one of the canyons in this awesome national park. The illusion vanishes when you look around and realize that, unlike the crowded Grand Canyon, here you can enjoy the spectacle alone with nature. I’ll never forget the afternoon I hiked halfway down, past rock formations that looked like Dr. Seuss had a hand in their creation. Though I spent an entire eight hours in the park that day, I only ran into two other hikers.
If you saw Jurassic Park 2 or 3, you saw Molokai’s spectacular coastline, an area that truly looks like the land that time forgot. Pristine, tropical and, in many places, entirely undeveloped this is the Hawaii Captain Cook must have seen when he first “discovered” these islands. Dramatic sea cliffs (the tallest in the world), aqua waters and a dramatic back story (the island was a notorious leper colony for many decades) make Molokai well worth a visit.
Sometimes more is more. That’s certainly the case at this admittedly obscure parish church, dedicated to miracles performed by the Virgin of Ocatlan in the 17th century. A statue of the Virgin stands in an eight-sided chapel, every inch of which is gilded and carved into a frenzy of baroque excess. One’s eyes almost itch at the splendor of it all. The photo shows just a small detail of the ceiling; even more gilt and baroque splendor cover the walls.
If you thought Idaho was just drab fields of potatoes, think again. Glaciers carved spectacular mountains in this state, ones that truly deserve their descriptive name. They also left dozens of alpine lakes, many of which have now become resort communities—a gloriously beautiful part of the US that is undervisited much of the year due to limited airlift.