Seasonal Awards ~~ or a Few Destinations if I'm Asked ~~

Without being completely self-serving –after all, one of the purposes of this blog is to write about travel – here are two particular places I enjoyed in 2007… these were all visited in BB-time (before the blog) so you won’t find reference to them in previous posts.

Nicest surprise ? Medellin, Colombia

The former drug capital of the Americas and the city with perhaps the worst reputation is actually quite pleasant and interesting. Nestled in The Aburrá Valley of the northern Andes – in the Colombian province of Antiquia - Medellin has extensive public parks filled with lush landscaping and a profusion of flowers. Indeed, the Festival of the Flowers, so the tourist brochures say, is the most important festival of the region and it takes place every August. Medellin also claims to be the educational capital of Colombia with some 25 colleges and universities.

It is also much, much safer than at the nadir of its reputation twenty years ago - see Business Week's favorable review of Colombia on May 28, 2007.

The defining physical feature of Medellin (besides its verdant mountainous setting) is its metro : apparently one of the world’s longest (at 15 miles from north to south!), cleanist and most efficient. Each station and every metro car is meticulously spotless and trains run every two minutes. I rode it (with my hosts) to the metro-cable branch which rises up as an aerial tramway above the city. What a marvel !

Medellin is also home of the artist Fernando Botero (he of the fat people fame) and the Plazo Botero, naturally displays a large – no pun - selection of his bronze sculptures.


Central Europe’s Best? Krakow, Poland

I was lucky enough to visit Krakow or Cracow in the spring when the nice weather had arrived in southern Poland. Krakow is the ancient capital of this central European country and is home to several leading universities. Luckily, most of the city, like not so distant Prague, was undamaged in WW II which accounts for its overwhelming “old world” charm. Not much has changed in terms of its physical layout since the 14th century.

The old town is truly lovely with its vast central market square, churches (this was home to John Paul II you’ll recall), shops, restaurants and cafes. Wawel Castle overlooks the meandering Vistula River. The old Jewish quarter, the Kazimierz, is being revitalized – no small miracle in this place of heartbreak for the Jewish people.

Krakow is a good jumping off point to explore the Carpathian Mountains which rise up just to the south of the city.

This city is a gem! Interestingly, though, a Pole I’ve met since then at a workshop claims that Wroclaw, the capital of Lower Silesia, is just as beautiful. Now what’s an excuse to get there?