Transcendent Travel Experiences

Watering Albert Camus’ untended grave in the pretty Provence town of Lourmarin
(photo at right, by Henri Bosco)

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Finding the perfect, isolated beach on one of Mexico’s Bahías de Huatulco

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Standing in the Pantheon, in Rome, and watching light rain filter through the oculus, the “eye of God”

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Cruising full speed ahead across Lake Atitlan, in Guatemala, in a rickety motorboat driven by two 10-year-old boys

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Eating rijsttafel and drinking witbier in Amsterdam

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Visiting Jerusalem’s Western Wall and tucking a prayer on a slip of paper in the cracks between the stones

Being overwhelmed by the immensity and intensity of El Greco’s canvasses at the Prado, in Madrid

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Surviving the harrowing bus ride up to Machu Picchu, then stumbling out and seeing the site for the first time

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Sitting on the river’s edge across from Notre Dame at night, drinking a bottle of wine and watching lights glimmer in the Seine

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Watching the sun set over the Pyramid of the Magician at the Mayan ruins of Uxmal, Mexico

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Enjoying a leisurely lunch at Le Fournil, in Bonnieux, France

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Being enveloped by the sinuous Alhambra—by day, by night, any and every time

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Seeking out every Caravaggio painting in Rome

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Doing yoga at sunrise on the beach at Mexico’s Maya Tulum resort

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Drinking a bottle of cava in a leafy square in the old section of Girona, Spain

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Chancing to find, in Barcelona, the astonishing "Migrations" exhibit by the great Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado (Salgado photo at right, Vung Tau, Vietnam, 1995)