Oh sure lying on a beach with a good book, bronzing it up, while maybe sipping a cerveza can certainly be mentally relaxing but how about a vacation that goes beyond your brain and treats your senses with lasting memories?  This is the first in a series of posts intended to tickle your senses.

We asked the well-traveled Flight Centre global consultants to suggest sensual can’t miss experiences for body, mind and soul.

Smell and taste work intimately together and sure the tongue can distinguish 5 distinct tastes but the nose can distinguish hundreds of smells. Today we honour the hardest working sense in nose business; smell. So close your eyes, smell the fragrance and… wait, please open your eyes so you can continue reading.

Tuscany

Enjoy the smells of Tuscany with a scent filled experience. Leave Pisa and travel to Casciana Terme for lunch in a wine cellar then head off to the farmhouse to start your Tuscan cooking lesson. A professional chef will teach you how to prepare delicious antipasti, pasta or soup dishes as you take in the smells that only come with cooking from scratch. To top it off, you can enjoy the fruits of your labour while enjoying the bouquet of smells that comes from the fine Italian wine you are sipping. Take away memories of sweet aromas, a full belly and a happy heart.

Gilroy Garlic Festival, Gilroy, California

The town of Gilroy, located south of San Francisco, is known as the Garlic Capital of the world and home to the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. This is the ‘not to miss’ festival if like me you worship garlic. It is the festival to miss if you happen to come from a region called Transylvania and have the initials C.D.

Over 100,000 converge upon Christmas Hill Park for the 30 year tradition. 2009 will see the festival take place from July 24 – 26 with tickets available online or at the gate.

Be warned; ensure every traveling companion enjoys copious amounts of garlic – ‘nuff said.

So what travels have you taken where smells are still as clear in your mind today as they were the day you discovered them?

We have highlighted Tuscany in today’s map below.

Categories: Cuisine

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 10:31 am and is filed under Cuisine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.