50places-2

50 PLACES OF A LIFETIME (2)
must-see destinations- picks of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine

Paradise Found

	*Amalfi Coast* The fishing village of Praiano perches on a ridge that stretches toward Capo Sottile. Photograph by Brooks Walker From a yacht at sea on a blinding summer’s afternoon, the dizzy wall of terraced vines and lemon groves, the tiny white houses and the purple bougainvillea, the perfect fingernails of beach below, all lull you into a timeless present. Yet a thousand years ago, today’s toy town was the hub of the known world.—Peter Robb, novelist
*Boundary Waters* With a flourish of his rod, an angler lands a fish in the pristine reaches of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. French voyageurs once paddled the hundreds of miles of canoe routes in this northern Minnesota wilderness. Photograph by Layne Kennedy We need to maintain some of our treasures the way they were thousands of years ago. That’s why we have the Boundary Waters wilderness. Besides, there are so many lazy people out there who could use a little paddling. There’s nothing like a good paddle.—Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota
	*British Virgin Islands* A tourist enjoys the beach next to The Baths, a rock formation on Virgin Gorda. Photograph by Bill R. Curtsinger These islands offer some of the greatest sailing in the world.—Walter Cronkite
*British Virgin Islands* A tourist enjoys the beach next to The Baths, a rock formation on Virgin Gorda. Photograph by Bill R. Curtsinger These islands offer some of the greatest sailing in the world.—Walter Cronkite
	*Greek Islands* A whitewashed Greek Orthodox church greets visitors to Thera. Photograph by Anne B. Keiser The Greek islands are like musical instruments that form an orchestra in their seas—each has an individual timbre and signature tune.—Patricia Storace, author of Dinner With Persephone
*Hawaiian Islands* Waves crash against the shore on Kauai Island, Hawaii. Photograph by Gordon Gahan You know that God lives in Hawaii. It’s the Garden of Eden, and you feel it every day. You feel it in the sunrise and the sunset. You feel it in the vibrancy of colors, the scent of flowers, the violence of volcanoes.—Bette Midler, entertainer
	*Japanese Ryokan* A bather enjoys the beauty of Hakone National Park in Gora, Japan. Photograph by Torrin Boyd Like one of those paradoxes from a Zen fable, solitude can be its own kind of stimulation.—Arthur Golden
*Kerala* Porters navigate an empty river boat used for transporting commodities in Kerala state, India. Photograph by Priit Vesilind Statistically Kerala stands out as the Mount Everest of social development; there’s truly no place like it.—Bill McKibben
	*Torres del Paine* Blue waters and stunning mountainscapes in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park Photograph by Macduff Everton One night we hiked through icy, fairy-tale woodlands to reach Lago Grey. As we left the woods we saw light from a full moon striking the icebergs. They looked like ghosts floating over the lake. That night I fell in love with Torres del Paine. —Anne Patterson, park guide
*Seychelles* Sunset reddens a cloudy sky as children play on the beach on Mahe Island, Seychelles. Photograph by Steven L. Raymer The islands are so remote that nothing seems to come ashore on the waves except the sea itself.—George Plimpton
	*Pacific Islands* A woman dives into the crystal-clear blue waters of a lagoon in the Tetiaroa atoll, Society Islands. Photograph by Jodi Cobb My favorite place to dive is the lagoon on the island of Rangiroa in French Polynesia....Diving there is quite hairy because you start very deep, then allow the current to drag you at a good clip through the pass, filled with feeding predators and dying prey. Then you’re spit out into the lagoon, where everything is placid.—Peter Benchley, author of Jaws

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