{"id":236,"date":"2008-01-15T22:03:53","date_gmt":"2008-01-15T12:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/?p=236"},"modified":"2008-01-15T22:03:53","modified_gmt":"2008-01-15T12:03:53","slug":"10-top-destinations-for-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/travel-tips\/10-top-destinations-for-2008","title":{"rendered":"10 Top Destinations for 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"float: right\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-1009507070974015\";\r\ngoogle_alternate_ad_url = \"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/google_adsense_script.html\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-06-30: TSBlog 300x250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"2928184950\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"FF6600\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"339933\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\n  src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Well what are the pundits recommending as the top 10 destinations for 2008?\u00a0 I thought I&#8217;d take a look at a few recommendations to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Portugal\/Lisbon\/portugal_026.jpg.html\" title=\"Lisbon waterfront, Portugal\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" vspace=\"5\" align=\"right\" width=\"110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/21178-2\/portugal_026.jpg?resize=110%2C85\" hspace=\"5\" alt=\"Lisbon, Portugal\" height=\"85\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 85px\" title=\"Lisbon, Portugal\" \/><\/a>see what the experts are recommending and if there&#8217;s any commonality in their recommendations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Slovenia\/DSC_1222.jpg.html\" title=\"Slovenia\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" vspace=\"5\" align=\"left\" width=\"110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/24438-2\/DSC_1222.jpg?resize=110%2C85\" hspace=\"5\" alt=\"Slovenia\" height=\"85\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 85px\" title=\"Slovenia\" \/><\/a>Looking at five different groups of recommendations, I must say that they are all quite different.\u00a0 Budapest, Sicily, Montenegro and city breaks in France are the only destinations that scored two mentions each so I guess the moral of the story is <em>chacun a son gout<\/em>, i.e. to each his own!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Hungary\/Budapest\/budcastle\/\" title=\"Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" vspace=\"5\" align=\"right\" width=\"110\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/d\/16968-3\/budcastle.jpg?resize=110%2C85\" hspace=\"5\" alt=\"Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary\" height=\"85\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 85px\" title=\"Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary\" \/><\/a>I\u00a0rather like Fodor&#8217;s top ten list best as I believe their selected destinations have mass appeal.\u00a0 One of the experts included Nepal in their top 10.\u00a0 I have to\u00a0say that we know Kathmandu well and it&#8217;s certainly not the kind of place that everyone will enjoy as a holiday destination.\u00a0 The Nepalese are very nice and hospitable people, however one has to bear in mind that this is an extremely poor country and the poverty and some of the illnesses you see around can be quite confronting for the first timer.<\/p>\n<p>These are Fodor&#8217;s recommendations:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Basilicata, South Italy<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/>\n<em>This is new to me, but apparently Mel Gibson&#8217;s The Passion of Christ was filmed here.\u00a0 Several of Fodor followers&#8217; favorite Italian towns are in the vicinity, including San Chirico and Matera.<br \/>\n<\/em><strong><br \/>\nBologna, Italy<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Birthplace of tortellini and tagliatelle, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and balsamic vinegar all sound good enough for me.<br \/>\n<\/em><strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Hungary\/Budapest\/budcastle\/DSC_1039.jpg.html\" title=\"Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary\">Budapest<\/a>, Hungary<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>We&#8217;ve been here a few times, but I must say that I prefer Praque.<br \/>\n<\/em><strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Portugal\/Lisbon\/portugal_026.jpg.html\" title=\"Lisbon, Portugal\">Lisbon<\/a>, Portugal<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Yes, from what we can see, Portugal certainly is gaining popularity with many visitors heading for the Algarve area as well.<br \/>\n<\/em><strong><br \/>\nLiverpool, England<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/>\n<em>Believe it or not, the EU have selected Liverpool to be the Capital of Culture for 2008.\u00a0 But if you&#8217;re not into culture, Paul McCartney promises to be there as well.<br \/>\n<\/em><strong><br \/>\nMontenegro<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Yes, we&#8217;ve experienced the splendid views from the high cliffs as we drove along the road to the Bay of Kotor.\u00a0 The name of the medieval city Sveti Stefan sticks in our mind as it was hot and sweaty during the journey.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nMunich, Germany<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/>\n<em>Munich turns 850 this year and the city promises lots of celebratory events, so why not!<br \/>\n<\/em><strong><br \/>\nOslo, Norway<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>The star attraction apparently is\u00a0<\/em> <em>the $700-million harborfront Opera House to be opened on April 12.\u00a0 Like the Sydney Opera House, it was designed to be instantly iconic.<\/em>\u00a0 <em>Too cold to be a choice destination for me!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Slovenia\/DSC_1222.jpg.html\" title=\"Slovenia\">Slovenia<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><em>This is a beautiful country.\u00a0 Maribor, the second largest city has the world&#8217;s oldest vine.\u00a0 We&#8217;d go back there again.<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Croatia\/Zagreb\/\" title=\"Zagreb, Croatia\">Zagreb<\/a>, Croatia<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/>\n<em>We travelled through Croatia a year or so ago and loved all of it.\u00a0 Dubrovnik was fantastic.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Happy Planning!<\/p>\n<p>Helen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well what are the pundits recommending as the top 10 destinations for 2008?\u00a0 I thought I&#8217;d take a look at a few recommendations to see what the experts are recommending and if there&#8217;s any commonality in their recommendations. Looking at five different groups of recommendations, I must say that they are all quite different.\u00a0 Budapest, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>10 Top Destinations for 2008 - 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