Travel Realizations

Celebrating Experiences

Tag: Cities Page 1 of 7

70 Best Things to Do in Santa Barbara, California

By

Last Updated On July 27, 2023

Are you planning your next vacation and looking for the best things to do in Santa Barbara, California? You’re in the right place.

Nestled between the scenic Santa Ynez Mountains and the vast Pacific Ocean, Santa Barbara, often referred to as the ‘American Riviera’, serves as one of the quintessential California beach towns with its tall, slender palm trees, expansive ocean views, and pristine sandy beaches.

But the allure of Santa Barbara doesn’t stop at its shores. Far from just a beach destination, the city is home to awe-inspiring architecture, fascinating historical landmarks, a thriving arts and culture scene, a wide range of outdoor activities, and a gourmet paradise for food and wine connoisseurs.

Whether you’re a history buff, adventure enthusiast, art lover, or foodie, Santa Barbara has something to cater to every traveler’s whims and fancies.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ve compiled a list of the 70 best things to do in Santa Barbara, taking you through popular attractions, hidden gems, recommended restaurants, and much more.

I’ll also guide you on the best times to visit, where to stay, and even local shopping hotspots. So let’s start your journey to Santa Barbara, the perfect blend of California’s natural beauty, culture, and hospitality!

Read More

Hamburg – The Hanseatic harbor city!

By

Last Updated On February 9, 2020

My wintry wandering this year took me to a city, not primarily of painters, poets or prophets but of businesses, industries, and traders. I tried to feel the pulse of the city and ended up with happy vibes brimming with the beauty of a different kind. History draped houses, canals, lakes, and a large port give this city a unique character that settles comfortably into one’s memory and steps forth like old pals at the mention of Hamburg, the Hanseatic harbor city.

Read More

The Festival of Lights in Berlin, Germany!

By

Last Updated On November 24, 2019

Around 11 am, my jet-lagged eyes saw the October morning brimming with autumnal lights for the first time in Berlin. Summer had trickled into autumn, unlike California, from where I boarded the flight two days back. I treated myself with a cup of coffee and sat down to peep into the city from my hotel window. It almost felt like a Facebook feed because of its continuously changing scenes. Then I decided to open the window a little and instantly the city came alive. The aroma from the Pizza shop, the sound of laughter and conversations, and the people made it real and intimate, unlike the virtual world. The open streets that I could see from above have an allure that’s hard to avoid. Therefore, without wasting much time, I quickly planned to see the ongoing Festival of Lights in Berlin, Germany and walk the history-filled roads of Berlin.

Read More

Beautiful Vignettes of Vancouver!

By

Last Updated On November 2, 2019

Vancouver is a beautiful city on the Pacific shore of British Columbia, Canada. Cosmopolitan yet close to nature, Vancouver offers visitors many things to see and do.

Top attractions include the grand urban oasis of Stanley Park, a must-see with its gardens, totem poles and Girl in a Wetsuit statue.

The Museum of Anthropology hosts wondrous totem poles by First Nations and the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park offers thrills of walking on hanging bridges, big and small.

Many more experiences beckoned when we were approaching Vancouver on a balmy summer night.

My Vancouver Diary!

Vancouver greeted us with a marvelous moonshine. After seeing Vallea Lumina, a fabulous artwork of light and storytelling in Whistler, when we reached Vancouver by car, we saw the sparkling sea under a full moon night.

If Vancouver had been a man then he could have felt the silent applause of my eyes. The scene instantly instilled in me the desire to see the beautiful vignettes of Vancouver.

I opened the car window wide open and felt the balmy night and saw the glassy downtown afar.

The next day, after a few hours of sleep, all of us, including our three-year-old daughter, were ready to get the wheels of our car rolling and start exploring.

Top things to see in Vancouver – A video!

Read More

A musical evening with San Francisco Symphony!

By

Last Updated On July 26, 2019

In today’s era when technology refutes geographical distance, music helps me to cross the distance within. Music connects me to my inner self. I love spending my evenings sometimes filled with music; only music. It is to me is a tremendous mysterious element, a force of nature that I have to bow before. Recently, I got an opportunity to spend a musical evening with the San Francisco Symphony. I listened to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique at the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and went through layers of emotions within. Remembering a beautiful quote by Charles Darwin,

If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would have thus been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.

Read More

Pop Art of Andy Warhol at SFMOMA

By

Last Updated On July 11, 2019

In this social media and digital era, our minds are increasingly getting saturated with images and videos in different forms.

Manipulation, reproduction, and distribution of images and videos can be done within seconds using a powerful software that is accessible to all.

From my understanding, these have manyfold results. People have the power to express and distribute their work like never before.

But, the lack of uniqueness and originality leads to relentless production in order to remain in the top of people’s minds.

This overproduction leads to saturation, and nothing really registers in the minds of the viewers, good or bad.

In other words, the shelf life of such images or artworks has decreased significantly. I being a blogger, who extensively uses various mediums to tell a story, always try to find the subtle balance between art and its commercial and mass appeal, a difficult task in this world of excess.

When I heard about the exhibition on the effervescent pop art of Andy Warhol at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or SFMOMA, I turned to the pop art maestro for inspiration and motivation to keep on creating.

Read More

Beautiful steam train rides near San Francisco!

By

Last Updated On April 2, 2019

“Train” – is a magic word for me. On innumerable occasions, it has covered distances between me and my dreams.

It has taken me to the nearest locations to see the magnanimous Himalayas, the Thar desert, surrounded by sand, space and silence, the waves in the oceans, many countries in Europe and recently the wilderness in the USA.

Beautiful steam train rides near San Francisco gifted me exhilarating delights when I saw the curls of silent white steam winding its way through the leaves of the redwood trees.

Read More

Ballads in Ballet – A rhythmic evening in San Francisco!

By

Last Updated On February 15, 2019

The rain was pouring incessantly on the sweet Saturday evening while I was inside the beautiful auditorium of the San Francisco Ballet and was reveling in the flow of music, dance, and drama. The on-stage ballet was a welcome break from the constant presence of screens in our lives. Dancers, musicians, background stage sceneries, and a spirited audience transported me to a world of chivalry; a world of adventure; the world of Don Quixote. The refreshing cadence of this ballet rekindled a memory and my mind traversed back to Madrid’s Plaza de Espana, which I visited a couple of years ago in Spain. The plaza features a stone sculpture of the author
Miguel de Cervantes and two famous characters of his novel – Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

 

Read More

Page 1 of 7

Next →

Search

About me

Hello. My name is Chirasree. I have been traveling for almost 11 years to places all over the world. I enter into a separate reality during my travels and enjoy the allure of escape from the mundane. I seek beauty through nature and human-made creations. Because beauty is powerful. I seek knowledge. I observe, absorb, and write about the places I visit and the profound realizations and inspirations that each place has to offer. 

I lived in Switzerland for six years and dwelled in absolute beauty, day and night. The house of Charlie Chaplin in Vevey, the house of Herman Hesse in Lugano, Read more about me

Follow Me

Newsletter

JOIN ME ON INSTAGRAM

Recent Posts

Most popular content

Follow me on Twitter

[custom-twitter-feeds]

JOIN ME ON INSTAGRAM

Newsletter

Sign up to get travel tips and advice for your next journey.

Connect with Travel Realizations

Travel Realizations – Celebrating Experiences

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén. Read our Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclosure Policy.

Subscribe to Travel Realizations

Enter your email and be the first to get notified when I post an article.

Subscribe!