Favorite Places: 2023 Edition

This is our second annual version of this post. This year, we roadtripped across the plains of the USA through upstate New York and around New England, visited Amsterdam on our way back to Portugal and toured around England, Scotland and Wales extensively. So, as is our (new) tradition, I’ll limit myself to only five places in this post. That’s a tough thing to do, but I love a challenge.

1. Amsterdam.
We loved our brief stop in Amsterdam. Like immediately. We were in the cab from Schiphol Airport amongst commuters on our way into town and I said to Melissa: “look at all the bikes”. They were everywhere. Then we started cutting through neighborhoods over small bridges crossing canals and we were hooked. Our hotel had fabulous service and despite air conditioning that couldn’t keep up with atypically hot Dutch weather we adored it from start to finish.

There were two highlights of the trip. Our guided tour of the Van Gogh Museum with Cecilia and our canal cruise with Captain Jack. But most of all, we just loved being there amongst the bikes, canals and lovely Dutch people. We had been told by several people, in advance, how much they loved Amsterdam and, fortunately, it lived up to the hype. We can’t wait to go back.

2. The Coast of Maine. This is kind of a cheat because the coast isn’t one place, but we spent time in the Bar Harbor area, visiting Acadia National Park, in Boothbay Harbor and Portland last summer as we drove across country. There’s a lot to like with a beautiful rocky coastline, great walking trails, iconic lighthouses, lobster shacks… I grew up coming to Maine with my native Mainer grandfather, so it holds special memories for me, and last summer we got to begin building collective memories together. Read our post on our visit to the Maine coast here.

3. The Southwest Coast of Wales. While we are cheating and listing coastlines vs. specific places, we visited both lovely, colorful little Tenby and the fun-loving village of the Mumbles (or Mwmblws in Welsh) on the tail end of our UK tour. Tenby village has rows of rainbow-colored buildings, a lively restaurant scene and beautiful, flat, sandy beaches. The Mumbles had plenty to offer in the way of nightlife and we stayed in one of our top 10 Airbnbs ever there.

But mostly, we just enjoyed watching the tides go in and out in both places.

4. The Cotswolds and Stow-on-the Wold, England. In the heart of the Cotswold villages, we found Stow-on-the-Wold to be our favorite. It’s got all the charm and oolithic limestone filled buildings of its neighbors but felt a lot more like a place a person would live vs. visit. Great restaurants and pubs, cool little shops, great walking trails and a bunch of art galleries, if Britain’s weather weren’t so soggy and we weren’t so settled in and enamored with Portugal, we’d consider trying to move here.

5. Carbost, on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. We were lucky enough to actually feel like we lived on Skye, being there for two full weeks. We also were blessed with really, really good weather, especially for Scotland. It was sunny all day for 10 of our 14 days. We were instantly charmed by Carbost, its people, restaurants and shops.

We stayed in an Airbnb we’d found almost a decade earlier and had been looking forward to staying in since that moment. This is a small town but has a lot going on for a place of its size. Just don’t expect fancy or hustle and bustle. Stroll down to the cafe for a latte or the Old Inn for a pint and just watch the day (and the tourists visiting the Talisker Distillery) roll by. Follow the embedded links to read our posts about Skye and hiking on Skye.

This list could go on. But discipline requires a limit. If I were to permit a sixth, it would go to Edinburgh, Scotland, especially during their August summer festivals. Fortunately for us, London wasn’t a 2023 “new place” so it couldn’t be considered as it is definitely one of our favorite spots in Europe and the wider world.