Am doing a year out before university and consequently have done a little bit of travelling. Have found that I have so much zeal at the start of a week away, but by the end of it I just want to get home! I think that it's the old problem of the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. I start off thinking that seeing end on end of Roman ampitheatres or Gothic cathedrals will someone make me a happily cultured young man, but that is not the case.
What I wanted to know is, what things are really worth visiting? What goes beyond the usual and really touches you? What is out of the ordinary for you?
I must admit that my travels are very limited, being no further afield than Western Europe, but I have a couple of recommendations all the same:
Pompei - simply insanely brilliant. It's all those museums and Roman ruins rolled together into a roller coaster ride of the Classical world.
Battlefields - went to Ypres and was amazed at the overwhelming sense of human tragedy (half a million men killed in the Ypres salient), even though they are now simply green spaces with a few cows.
Van Eyck - I am no art fan, but I saw a Van Eyck (the passion of the lamb??) in Gent Cathedral in Belgium. When i payed my 2.5 euro entrance fee I thought I was going into a museum. Turned out that it was just a vault like cellar with this one big painting. At first I couldn't undersatnd what the fuss was about, but then I put on ly glasses! Superlatively awesome (by that I mean that I was in awe of it). Has to be seen (or something similar - haven't been to the Louvres yet).
Disused Slate Mine Somewhere in Snowdonia, Wales - Couldn't tell you where this mine is, but I love it (might be able to provide grid refernce). It's situated up in the mountains and so remote from the human world - you can't see any roads or pylons. It is a struggle to get there. Pain is part of the viewing process. It's wonderfully melancholy there - dark rust of iron, grey slate, Welsh sky (it rains a lot in Wales), crumbled walls, damp and dreary wetness as far as the eye can see, marsh, bog, green, and then the beauty of nature and the mountains which surround you. Again, there's a sensation of human suffering as you become so aware of how vulnerable man is to nature. If you've walked in Wales you will know what I mean ..
Would have liked to have better described my suggested visitigs, but my powers of English fail me. In any case, that is surely the motive of travel - to imbibe the indescribable?