Wine tasting in South America: Where to Go and What to Try

Outside of the well-known wine-producing countries of France, Italy and Spain, a quiet wine revolution is taking place in the southern cone. Down in South America, winemakers have been using European stock since the Jesuits arrived in the new world, to produce wines that are uncorked, poured, swirled, tasted, drunk, exported and lauded all over the planet.

Geography and climate dictate much of where good wine grapes will grow. Between the grape vines themselves, daily and yearly temperature fluctuations, the amount of rain and sunlight the grapes get, and even the amount of trace minerals in the soil, many factors determine the quality of the grape which vintners begin with, and the quality of the wine they can press and ferment from it. As a rule, grapes grow well at about 20-50 degrees north and south latitude. The climate that yields the best wine grapes is described as “Mediterranean,” with defined seasons.

In South America, Argentina and Chile lead the pack in production, and awards, with a few other countries, such as Uruguay, producing consistently well-reviewed wines for export, while Brazil’s sparkling wines win accolades.

Wine Tourism in South America

Wine tourism is taking hold in South America, and those from the northern hemisphere who are planning a trip should keep in mind that the seasons are reversed down in the southern cone, with the height of summer in January and February and wine harvests generally taking place in March and April.

Below you’ll find the main wine-producing, and thereby prime wine-tasting areas in South America, with a heavy focus on the big two, Argentina and Chile, a warning not to forget Uruguay, and information about wine in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and even Venezuela each of which are working to carve out a space for themselves in this growing industry.

Argentina

Argentina produced 2,900,000 metric tons of wine in 2007, which places it ahead of Chile in terms of production, though Argentina’s neighbor across the Andes actually exports more wine to other countries.

Visitors to Argentina will find that most wine tasting takes place in and around the city of Mendoza, which enjoys an extremely long spring and summer, and contributes to the health of the vines and the quality of the wines produced.

Argentina’s signature wine is Malbec, a red wine originally from the Bordeaux region of France. Argentina has been growing grapes for Malbec for over 150 years, but only in the last 20 has this wine truly taken off, and Argentina now produces more than 70% of the world’s Malbec. It is a dark red, and some people describe hints of blackberries and coffee beans but unless you’re a sommelier or have trained your nose with the Nez du Vin aroma set, you’ll probably just taste it and know if you like it or not, without identifying the underlying notes.

Entrepreneurial travelers and visitors to Mendoza can rent a car and fill it up with friends and strangers to visit the wineries on their own, (with a designated driver, please!), but more commonly, visitors to the area book day trips with travel agencies to take them amid the rolling hills of the wine region.

Booked-from-your home-country wine tours in Argentina generally consist of 4-and 5-star hotels and often pick up in Buenos Aires and include top-end everything, accommodations, wines and restaurants included. These tend to last from five to eight days and include the flight to Mendoza.

Wine lovers visiting the region Argentina may also like to visit areas other than Mendoza which produce excellent wines, such as Salta, to get a full picture of what Argentina has to offer. In addition to Malbec, Argentina also produces Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and also varieties such as Tempranillo, Bonarda, Barbera and Torrontés. Information on Argentine wines can be found on the Wines of Argentina website.

Chile

Just over the Andes from Argentina lies Chile, a diminutive strip of land sandwiched between the ocean and the cordillera, and which is exploiting its wine-growing regions to great advantage in recent years.

Chilean wines are popular exports, and its most fabled variety is Carménère, which has made a particularly big impact after the source vines Bordeaux suffered a blight and all but disappeared in their native France. In Chile the variety continues to be strong, and great efforts are made by the Chilean government to protect Chilean agriculture, including the wine industry.

Wine in Chile is not limited to Carménère, and the nation also produces prize-winning Cabernet Sauvingon, Merlot, Syrah and other varieties. As of this year, Chilean wine represents 40% of the wine imported to the United States, due both to its reputation and price-quality ratio. Chile is mainly known for its red wines, but it also produces quality white wines including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, and even a small quantity of Gewürtztraminer. Blends and sparkling wines are also taking hold in Chile.

Chilean wine tourism, or enoturismo has taken off in recent years, with multi-day trips offered by various outfitters, which mainly focus on the Colchagua, Maule and Maipo valleys, which are not far from Santiago, though valleys north and south of the capital city also receive visitors.

A “wine train” takes wine tourists to Santa Cruz wineries, and includes tastings on the train as well as folkloric dance and talks on Chilean history, if visitors wish. Multi-day trips can be arranged in groups or privately, on train, by vehicle, or even by bicycle through the various valleys, and several wineries are easy to get to by public transportation, including the mass market Concha y Toro, which is just a few minutes from the end of the Santiago metro line.

For a complete listing the nation’s wine-producing regions, see the Wines of Chile website.

Uruguay

Uruguay, like Chile and Argentina, has a history of wine-production tracing back to its European ancestors. The country is well situated (if a bit humid in places) to produce good wines, and its shining star is Tannat, for which this small, Atlantic nation is known.

Most wine production takes place in the Canelones region, near the capital city of Montevideo. While many amateur wine-lovers would not come to Uruguay for wine tasting on its own, it is not uncommon to take a day or two here after touring some of the more selective wineries in Chile and Argentina.

Visit Uruguay’s wine website for more information about Uruguayan wines, including where to find distributors closer to home.

Brazil

Brazil is perhaps better-known for cachaça, the grain-alcohol that forms the base of the minty-lemony caipirinha, but several states in this vast country produce wines, including Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco and São Paulo, though the Serra Gaucha, north of Porto Alegre is one of the most commonly-visited.

Recently, Brazilian vintners have brought wines to tastings in Germany and California’s Sonoma. At a recent tasting held in Brazil, whites and sparkling wines were the best received, as the reds suffered from poor climatic conditions (excessive rain) that are typical of much of Brazil.

Wine tourism is doing well in Brazil, with multi-day tours and one-vineyard trips as the budget allows.

Peru

Just to the north of Chile and Argentina, where the Andes mountains grow even more soaring as they reach up into Peru, there are also several wine-producing areas where visitors can go wine-tasting.

Wine tourism in Peru is in its infancy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of a day tour, or organize your own to one of the wineries in the principal grape-growing regions near Lima, Ica and Arequipa.

And if it turns out you don’t love Peruvian wines, near Ica is also the famous region of Pisco, for which the main ingredient in Pisco Sour (Peru’s signature drink) is named.

Bolivia

Bolivia is not exactly world- renowned for its wine, but serious purveyors of the hard-to-find won’t want to miss wines produced in this nation, which dares to grow the fruit at 5,600 to 9,200 feet above sea level, when grapes in South America are normally grown between 2,000 and 3,000 feet.

Information on this wine high-altitude wine production is available on the vinosenlatura website, the name of which means “wines at altitude” in English. Near the municipality of Tarija, you can find wines produced by Campos de Solana, for example, whose offerings include Cabernet Sauvingon and Riesling.

As in Peru, much of the wine crop is destined to the national spirit, which in this case is Singani.

Ecuador

Ecuador actually imports quite a bit of wine from Chile, but it does produce its own as well, with grapes grown at 8,000 feet above sea level, where daytime temperatures are spring-like, and nighttime temperatures drop, which increases the grape’s sugar content, and makes for good wine.

At Estancia Chaupi, they produce Chardonnay, Palomino, Palomino Fino and Meritage wines. The vineyard is located about 6 miles south of the Equatorial line and in the foothills of the Andes in the Yaruqui valley. Ecuador also produces a sparkling wine and several fruit “wines” which are not technically wines since they are not made from grapes.

Colombia

Colombia may also surprise you with the presence of Ain Karim, a vineyard that produces wines under the brand name Marqués de Villa de Leyva, which started production in the 1980s, in the foothills near Sutamarchán. In a country which is largely tropical, and in a zone which is clearly outside of the prime grape-growing here the solution was also to grow grapes at an altitude, to fulfill the need for daily temperature fluctuation. This vineyard’s website proclaims that the vineyard was formed through a combination of inspiration and insanity. It produces Riesling, a German variety and Pinot Noir, originally from France.

Another Colombian wine agglomeration brings together 70 families from 16 communities in the Consorcio del sol de Oro, which together has more than 250,000 plantings, where European specifications are followed to produce Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvingon and Sauvingon Blanc wines, exported to Bogotá (the undisputed gastronomical capital of Colombia), as well as Europe.

Venezuela

A trip through all the wine-producers of South American would be remiss in not mentioning, Venezuela, which the uninformed might also assume is too close to the equator to be able to grow wine grapes. Again, altitude is the answer, and the favorable conditions include a grater-than-30 degree daily fluctuation in temperature and good soil drainage.

The area produces two harvests per year, in September and March. Bodegas Pomar, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Polar, which produces beer and other foodstuffs in Venezuela, has spent $20 million to help develop the Venezuelan wine industry in the last ten years, and represents a hefty chunk of the Venezuelan wine market.

Bodegas Pomar grows six varieties of red grapes and five of white grapes, with hopes to expand the market, to which tourism is essential, because though wine-drinking is increasing in Venezuela, hard alcohol is more commonly drunk.

Plan your own trip

South America has wine tasting for every budget, and in many nations. If a multi-day trip to the vineyards is not in the cards, consider a day trip. Or check out events surrounding the vendimia (wine harvest) or other wine tasting events held in cities and near vineyards.

Another option is to contact local wine and liquor stores or restaurants to see if they can host a wine tasting, and if all else fails, pack a corkscrew among your (packed) baggage, and be sure to (carefully) pack some wine for the way back home. Add some cheese, crackers, fruit or a nice meal and you can find the perfect maridaje (pairing) for your libations.

Read about author Eileen Smith and check out her other BootsnAll articles.

Photo credits:
Wine glass by Alan Heitz on Flickr, Argentina by Altos Las Hormigas, Chile by Santa Ema, Winery on horseback from San Pedro in Chile, Brazil by wines at Peterlongo, Tasting menu by bearshapedsphere on Flickr

One has to see to believe the beauty and mystery of this amazing 160 room
Victorian mansion known as “Winchester Mystery House”. For some it is a Bizarre,
strange, haunted and mysterious house whereas some believe that it is a
masterpiece, beautiful, massive and that it is impossible to find another piece
of architecture like the Winchester Mansion. It got its name from the strange
and unexplained oddities that are throughout the Winchester mansion. Unlike most
homes of the 1880’s, the Winchester Mystery House had been built according to
the modern era, it had modern heating, push button gas lights, 3 hydraulic
elevators and 47 fireplaces. Everything right from the red roofs to
Tiffany art glass windows and chandeliers made of gold and silver
will leave you wondering about the creativity and expense with which each and
every part has been made up of. 

The
Winchester Mystery House was built by widow named Sarah Winchester, the
only heiress to the Winchester Rifle Fortune. Sarah Winchester had a lot of
wealth but was a very lonely lady after the death of her infant daughter and
then her husband. It is a popular belief that grieved by the death of her
beloved, she went to a psychic who told her that her family had been cursed
because the Winchester Rifles had taken too many lives. She was also told by the
psychic that the only way to get rid of the curse was to leave her home in
Connecticut and to move westward towards the setting sun. The Psychic also told
her to build a massive mansion to appease the spirits of the dead, the
construction of witch must go on as long as she lived, else she would die.
As a result Sarah Winchester moved to California and bought a farm house and
started a construction in 1884 that went on round the clock, 24 hours a
day and 7 days a week for 38 years till she died on September 5, 1922. She
built, rebuilt, altered, changed, constructed and demolished one section after
another. It is believed that Mrs. Winchester got instructions from the spirits
about the design and layout of the building which she followed.

Winchester Mystery House is truly mysterious with doors opening into walls,
staircases that reach the ceiling with no outlet, cupboards that are only
half an inch deep, floor with a window in it, a chimney that rises four floors,
upside down posts and many more weird layouts. In the courtyard there is a hedge
shaped like a crescent moon, mysteriously, the hedge points to the bedroom where
Mrs. Winchester died. Mrs. Winchester also seems to have been obsessed with
number 13 and her obsession is visible throughout the mansion. There are windows
with 13 panes, walls with 13 panels and even drains with 13 holes in them. In
the 13th bathroom there are thirteen windows and the grand staircase has 13
steps. She also seemed to have a obsession towards numbers 7 and 11. There is a
staircase that has 7 steps downwards and 11 steps upwards. There’s another
staircase that turns 7 times and has 44 steps but moves up only by 9 feet.
Winchester Mystery House will leave you wondering was Mrs. Winchester weird?
compulsive? possessed? or simply crazy? Whatever she was but she left behind a
masterpiece that is today a very popular tourist attraction in San Jose.

Winchester Mystery House Tours:
Guided tours of Winchester Mystery House are available that will take you
through more than 100 rooms with Bizarre and unusual architecture. You can also
go for “Behind The Scenes Tour” that explains the Victorian architectural
principles that guided construction and describes how the Winchester Mystery
House once functioned. It also takes you to the areas which remained unexplored
for several years. Children under 9 are not allowed to this tour for safety
purposes. Also “The Garden Tour” will take u around the beautiful Victorian
Gardens that surround the Winchester Mystery House. You can book your tickets
online or get them at the spot.

Winchester Museums:
You must visit the Winchester Firearms Museum and the Winchester Products
Antique Museum on the grounds. Winchester Firearms Museum consists of a large
collection of the Winchester Rifles with “Gun that Won the West” being the main
attraction of this museum. Winchester Products Antique Museum consists of a rare
collection of antique products that were manufactured by the Winchester Products
company. It displays a collection of Winchester flashlights, cutlery, lawn
mowers, roller skates, choppers, electric irons and much more.

Winchester Cafe:
The Winchester Cafe is open daily and has a nice relaxed atmosphere to enjoy
quick snacks, deserts and beverages.

Winchester Gift Shop:
The Gift Shop has many unusual objects for purchase and great souvenirs to
take back home for family and friends.

Address:
525 South Winchester Boulevard
San Jose, CA 95128

Hours:
9am-5pm Sun-Thu; 9am-7pm Fri-Sat
 

Tromso (or Tromsø) is a small city located in the northernmost region of
Norway, about 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. It has a population of
about 65,000 inhabitants and is one of the best places to view the amazing
Northern Lights.

What are Northern Lights and how are they formed ?
Northern Lights originate from the sun when explosions cause solar particles to
be thrown out in the form of large plasma clouds into the space. Some of these
plasma clouds reach close to earth after a few days. The magnetic field of earth
pulls these plasma clouds towards them. Northern lights are produced when solar
particles inside these plasma clouds collide with the atmospheric gases of earth
causing aurora (moving lights in the sky).

Although to see the Northern lights in Tromso, anytime between November to March is good,
but the end of December is usually the best. It is advised to check the
weather before your visit, as clouds can hamper your view. 

Tromso is located on a small island about 10km long and it’s main city center is
located in the south-eastern part and has biggest concentration of historic
wooden houses, north of Trondheim along with modern buildings. There are several
other popular tourist attractions besides the Northern Lights which are:

  1. Polaria, the Polar Museum.
  2. Contemporary Art Gallery.
  3. Tromso Museum.
  4. Arctic Cathedral.
  5. The Cable Car and Gondolas.
  6. Several Lutheran Churches.
  7. Mack Brewery.
  8. The University.
  9. Mount Storsteinen and Lake Prestvannet.
  10. Tromso Military Museum (only summers).
  11. Several gardens, ponds and birch forests.

FESTIVALS IN TROMSO:
The Bukta-Tromso Open Air music festival in summers.
The International Film Festival in winters.

Tromso also has a good nightlife, food, spectacular scenery and historical
attractions. It’s lively ambiance has earned it the nickname of “Paris of the
North”. The main road “Storgata” is 1 km long where you will find many locals
and tourists. Tromso island is connected to the mainland by a long tunnel and a
bridge. The average temperature in January is around -4 °C and snowfall can
happen any time till May. In summers the weather is nice and most days are mild
warm. The average temperature in July is +12°C. Between mid-May till mid-July
the the sun is always above horizon and similarly between mid-November till
mid-January the the Sun is always below horizon. A cable car goes up to mount
Storsteinen to a nice vista point from where you can see the panoramic view of
Tromso. There are several hiking trails also in the mountains.

Although this region has been inhabited since the end of the ice age, the Sami
culture is the first known culture of the region and you will find some of their
exhibits in the Tromso Museum or the University Museum. The Polar Museum
displays the past of Tromso when it was the center for Arctic hunting and polar
expeditions. Arctic Alpine Botanic Garden is the world’s northernmost botanic
garden. The Arctic Cathedral is only a few years old and has huge windows and
chandeliers.

A Light In Their Lives – Kathmandu, Nepal

It’s 8:25am, not long from the start of school, and RCDP volunteer Jenny Dea expertly wields a toothpaste tube, squeezing out dollops of toothpaste onto the several toothbrushes held by small outstretched hands in the Light For Nepal Orphanage in northern Kathmandu, which provides rays of hope for several local children.

“Namaste!” they proclaim while holding their hands in a position of prayer at their chest, the typical Nepali greeting. “What is you name?” Where are you from?”

At 8:30am Dea walks with them, two of the youngest ones hand-in-hand, to the Nepal Matri Grihasocial primary school. The kids know all the back-lane shortcuts (she sticks to the main streets when walking back to the orphanage on schooldays) so there’s plenty of help both given and received. A few older kids peel off from the younger orphans at the secondary school. At this point an effervescent youngster grabs my hand, ending my note taking for the time being. But to this writer it feels a privilege to be trusted as an adult by one of these gentle souls.

Rajesh, my new five-year-old friend and I are starting to get to know each other through his good English—the language of instruction at his school. We are falling behind the group, so like, well, schoolboys we scamper up to the rest of the children and Dea. I slowly try to let go to see if I can get a hand loose to write with, but young Rajesh just tightens his hold on three of my fingers. Along the way are tiny general stores, fruit markets, Hindu shrines and a few back-lane surprises, like two Western women who Dea later says were the first foreigners she had seen in the 10 days she had so far volunteered in the area of northern area of the Nepali capital. That alone ensures cultural authenticity in this volunteering project. The random temples and bustling attractions of the area further seal the deal.

We meet up with Dea and the five youngsters she is accompanying as two cars traveling in opposite directions compete to fit through an impossibly narrow stretch of road hemmed in by Newari red-brick buildings on either side. There’s not even enough room for pedestrians to squeeze by in. Eventually might makes right and the bigger vehicle breaks through the logjam. It’s all part of the fun of enjoying a typically urban Nepali street scene.

“With many of then them their parents have passed away,” Dea explains about her young charges. Both Dea and her partner in care-giving, Charlotte Anderson, hail from Toronto, Canada and are in their early 20s.

“We’ve tried to teach them about hygiene. The children had toothpaste and toothbrushes, but they didn’t use them,” explains Dea.

She made lathering up their faces with soap “a kind of dance” in order to tempt the kids into wanting to keep themselves clean. Dea has tried to make a positive impact by introducing liquid hand soap to the center. She made it a habit more fun to pick up by showing the kids they could make ever-popular bubbles while lathering up.

The orphans were using soap to wash their hair with soap before the Canadians introduced them to shampoo. As only cold water is available, the orphans shower just once a week. The water isn’t any warmer for the volunteers. But rouging it and living by local standards provides unique insight into the local culture.

“I’ve never met so many independent five-year-olds in my whole life,” says Anderson, who calls the orphans rather self-sufficient when compared to the rather coddled kids of a similar age back home in Canada.

Still, the children, especially the younger ones, enjoy the attention showered on them by Dea and Anderson, and greatly value the impact they two have already had on their lives.

“Mostly we play with them,” says Dea, who with Anderson have free time from 8:30am when they drop of the children, until 4pm when the two young women pick them up. This is their primary time for getting to know the Kathmandu Valley.

The orphanage is run on a shoestring budget and it is difficult to provide nutritional meals—even the quintessential Nepali meal of dal baht is not made here. Instead both the children and volunteers eat spinach, potato and other veggies with rice. Meat—generally chicken—is served about once a week. Once the couple was befriended by a neighbor who offered them pieces of papa, a crispy, circular Nepali bread that they found delicious.

In the daytime, the duo have done the accessible sides of fabulous Kathmandu, including the Monkey Temple (the Buddhist Swayambunath Stupa) and the capital’s stunning Durbar Square as well as the ever popular Thamel travelers’ district. The fabulous Chitwan National Forest is in their sites as well.

The Canadian duo appreciates how the RCDP programs allow for not only the deep cultural immersion that volunteering provides, but the schedule that affords for seeing the must-see sights—as well as a few diversions off the beaten track.

To follow their three weeks of volunteering and daytrips, Dea and Anderson are looking forward to taking on the Everest Base Camp trek over two weeks.

The twosome strongly believes that volunteering is a good way to understand the local culture.

The older kids do a lot to help out. One teenage orphan cooks breakfast while another prepares dinner.

The volunteers’ day starts at 7am, when they help the children review their homework. Their homework is first at night. It is reviewed the next morning in order to make sure that the kids know the answers cold, and can thus evade the smack of a stick against their wrist or the disciplinary measure of repeatedly writing a sentence about their mistakes on a chalkboard.

The orphanage has a kitchen, two rooms—one for the six boys and one for the five girls—plus a volunteers’ room and red brick courtyard good for playing games in.

The Canadians instilled a token of conscientiousness by getting the children to turn down the TV’s volume when the orphanage’s oldest resident, an 18-year-old, was studying in his room nearby.

“The kids here did not have a parent figure. Volunteers are here 24/7 as caregivers and entertainers,” says Anderson.

The kids are endearing and kind to a fault. The duo was at first treated by what Dea describes as “like royalty”. After at first letting the orphans wash the volunteers’ dishes in the kitchen and clothes on the rooftop, the couple started washing their own stuff to make themselves more down to earth.

“We don’t feel sorry for the kids here. They are taken care of.  They have food and a pace to sleep. They have clothes on their backs,” says Anderson, adding that many of them have family members, albeit ones who cannot afford to care for them. “We are more concerned about the street kids in Kathmandu.”

“At the end of our stay we would like to give a cash donation,” says Dea, who hopes that it could be targeted towards maintaining the upgraded hygiene of the children, lest unclean practices like not washing up with soap after using the bathroom creep up again. They further hope that more funding can go to the replace the kids’ ramshackle shoes and holy socks.

As for what her parents thought about her Nepali adventure, Dea says “All parents have concern when sending their 22-year-old daughter to a third-world country.” But her soothing emails back home made whatever lingering concerns of her mom and dad melt away.

“There was a lack of toys and games here. We brought a Winnie the Pooh jigsaw puzzle that was so popular that after a few days the edges of the pieces had frayed.”

“You can only play tag and duck duck goose so often,” says Dea. “We decided to buy books and toys and games. The coloring books are a complete hit.” Their drawings are displayed on a wall.

Dea says that living in Nepal has been a thrilling, heads-first adventure, summing with great sincerity that “There is only so much a guidebook can tell you about a place.”

10 of the World’s Most Unique Fountains

Many of us enjoy the rhythmic sound of water. Spraying water. Rushing water. Trickling water. The sound of water gently lapping at a shore or raindrops on the roof of our home. We have water features in our yards and spend time near lakes and the ocean. Maybe it’s because our own bodies are 66% water.

Whatever the reason, if you’re missing the melody of water, and find yourself inland or in the midst of urban sprawl, try searching out a fountain to get your fix.

Jet D’Eau – Lake Geneva, Switzerland

This fountain is located in Lake Geneva where the lake empties into the Rhone River and is one of the largest fountains in the world. It is so grand that you see it from everywhere in the city and from a distance of six miles in the air.

There is a stone jetty that you can walk out onto if you’d like to get a closer look but beware, the fountain pumps 132 gallons of water up in to the air each second. If the wind shifts, you are likely to get drenched.

Peterhof Palace Fountains – Saint Petersburg, Russia

There are many fountains located throughout this UNESCO World Heritage Site complex, with the most famous being the Grand Cascade on the northern side of the Grand Palace. It is a breathtaking sight made up of of 64 separate fountains, 200 statues and many other decorations, including an amazing bronze statue of Samson wrestling with a lion.

As you wander the grounds you’ll see many other water features including one that resembles a large chessboard, a pyramid fountain, and one shaped like a disk which shoots out water to resemble the sun’s rays.

Trevi Fountain – Rome, Italy

Rome is a city overflowing with fountains, but this one is the most famous. You’ve undoubtedly seen it at some point in a movie, or perhaps you’ve heard the legend about throwing a coin into the fountain? It’s supposed to guarantee you a trip back to Rome. Two coins? You’ll get a new romance. Three coins? Marriage or divorce, whichever your preference may be. I wouldn’t recommend throwing any more coins, you may go broke. I wonder who gets to clean out the fountain and keep all those coins?

The fountain is located at the end of an ancient aqueduct that was built in 19 BC. It was designed by Nicola Salvi and completed in 1762, and is an incredible work of art. The design is of Neptune riding a chariot pulled by two sea horses & Tritons. On either side you’ll see the two statues of Abundance and Salubrity.

Magic Fountain of Montjuic – Barcelona, Spain

When I visited Barcelona for the Olympics in 1992 I assumed that this fountain was a new modern marvel constructed specifically for the Olympics. Little did I know that it had been created years before for the Great Universal Exhibition of 1929.

It’s been putting on quite a show ever since and is a definite must-see if you find yourself visiting this city. The sprays of water in the 164’ x 213’ pool combine with music, vivid colors, lights and motion to make the fountain appear almost to be dancing.

Bethesda Fountain – New York City, United States

Located next to the lake and near the center of Central Park in New York, this fountain hosts hundreds of visitors everyday for a myriad of reasons. People come in the summer to relax and cool off, moviemakers love it as a backdrop (it’s been shown in many films) and romantics spend time near it being, well romantic.

It was sculpted in 1868 by Emma Stebbins, the first woman ever to be asked to design a major piece of art for New York City, and unveiled in 1873. If you look closely you’ll see that the winged female angel holds a lily in her hand, a symbol for the fresh water brought to New York City when the Croton Aqueduct was built in 1842.

Chocolate Fountain – Cologne, Germany

This is not your typical fountain, but being a chocolate lover it’s one of my personal favorites. Judging from the 5 million visitors the museum receives each year, I’m not the only one. Trust me, dipping a wafer into the stream of chocolate pouring from the fountain and then savoring it, is reason enough for a visit.

The fountain is located inside the Chocolate Museum in Cologne. In the museum you’ll find out everything you need to know about how chocolate is made, beginning with the bean right up to the delicious morsel you pop in your mouth. When you leave there is a museum that sells postcards, books, mugs for hot cocoa and of course, chocolate.

Dundas Square – Toronto, Canada

The Dundas Square splash fountains are the perfect place for urban dwellers to spend a warm afternoon. They are located in the center of Toronto, in what used to be an undesirable part of town, but thanks to a city revitalization project the area was improved and the fountains and square were built in 1998.

The fountains consist of two rows of ten fountains each that run through the main walkway of the square. They were designed with the intent that people splash around in them, so the water goes through a filtration system to keep it clean. If you’d rather not get wet, there is plenty of room to walk around and just enjoy that magical fountain sound.

Court of Neptune Fountain – Washington DC, United States

This elaborate fountain is located in Washington D.C. outside the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. It was created by the sculptor Roland Hinton Perry in 1897.

The fountain shows a scene from the court of the sea god Neptune. Neptune is huge, about 12 feet tall, and is surrounded by the lesser god Triton, sea nymphs and other sea creatures and monsters.

Palais Longchamp – Marseilles, France

The city of Marseilles used to have a serious water shortage and in 1835, after a deadly cholera outbreak, the inhabitants decided they needed a supply of fresh water. They undertook the enormous project of digging a 53-mile canal from the river Durance. To celebrate the arrival of the water, the magnificent Palais Longchamp and fountain were built.

The fountain is a brilliant creation. It consists of four bulls and three female figures. The women each represent something different: the Durance river, grapes and vines, and wheat and fertility. Water pours from these into a basin and then a pond, eventually coming out of 12 bronze fountains lining a cascading waterfall area.

Generalife – Granada, Spain

Generalife is part of the Alhambra palace complex, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building was the summer palace for the sultan rulers of Granada and was built by Muhammad lll in the 1300’s.

The summers were hot, so the gardens had alluring fountains in them to help cool the royal court. The most photographed is the long pool found in the Patio de la Acequia. It is surrounded by eye-catching, fragrant flowerbeds.

Read about author Deanna Hyland and check out her other BootsnAll articles.

Photo credits:
Jet D’Eau and Grand Cascade by stevesheriw on Flickr, Magic Fountain by colinjcampbell on Flickr, Bethesda by Photo Gallery on Flickr, Chocolate Fountain by The Voice Of Objective Truth on Flickr, Dundas Fountain by Kevin Steele on Flickr, Court of Nepture by wallyg on Flickr, Longchamp by orangejack on Flickr, Generalife by Marciela on Flickr, Trevi by khoogheem on Flickr