Lesser-known sites for sore eyes

THE other day a friend posted on Facebook pictures he had just taken of the Taj Mahal. It took me back more than 30 years to the time I saw the Taj up close.

THE other day a friend posted on Facebook pictures he had just taken of the Taj Mahal. It took me back more than 30 years to the time I saw the Taj up close. It was not the first time I’d seen the mausoleum of course: the Taj is beyond ubiquitous when it comes to tourism. I’d been seeing its image in books and magazines all my life and I recall a close relative had a faux marble Taj on her mantelpiece for years. I was ready to be cynical.

We were in India on the cheap-as-chips trail, a couple of steps up from the zoned-out hippies we saw wandering through the bazaars, but certainly seeking the alternative subcontinent. The Taj seemed very Women’s Weekly and we almost didn’t bother. To my surprise, when we did, I was knocked sideways, deeply impressed. Here was a genuine aesthetic and emotional experience on offer. Here was a tourist spot that did not, could not, disappoint.

It’s not always that way: the Facebook post set me thinking of how expectations about a tourist destination can interfere with our response. What do you really think when you finally get to the object or panorama you’ve crossed the world to see? OMG! It’s the Mona Lisa! Far out, the Coliseum! We’re so prepped to react that it’s hard to know how much is us and how much is us channelling our finely honed expectations. And if you strike an icon that leaves you cold, it’s harder still.

In New York for the first time 20 years ago, I was marginally underwhelmed by the streetscape. Where was the Manhattan of my favourite Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn movies? Fifth Avenue shops were fabulous but on the sidewalk it all seemed smaller than I expected. The streets buzzed, but the fabled skyscrapers? Meh. Saying that out loud was another matter. What was that about a man who is tired of London being tired of life?

I’ve sometimes wished I could come to a tourist site fresh, minus my (historical) baggage, yet equally, I’ve had many moments of discovery. Even with the internet allowing us to peek into any street in the world, we can be genuinely surprised. Why didn’t anyone tell me about Chicago’s scale and confidence? How come Dublin on a summer’s day wasn’t top of my bucket list?

Most of us have a handful of special travel memories that we can roll out on demand — and they rarely involve the big sites. Ask people for the best day they have spent during their travels, and they are unlikely to say it was the day they visited the Tower of London or their first glimpse of the Pyramids. More likely, they will talk about the morning they ate freshly caught fish on a small boat on the Red Sea. Travel is personal.

But it’s good to know, too, that there is a shared experience on offer, that we can still have our Taj moments.

Susan Kurosawa is on assignment and back next week.