{"id":1541,"date":"2024-09-25T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T09:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2024-09-26T16:43:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T13:43:55","slug":"9-u-s-destinations-that-feel-like-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/25\/9-u-s-destinations-that-feel-like-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"9 U.S. Destinations That Feel Like Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> 1. New Orleans, Louisiana<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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New Orleans, aka the Big Easy, is arguably the most unique city in the United States. The French Quarter in the heart of New Orleans is known for its Creole and Cajun cuisine, French- and Spanish-inspired architecture, Mardi Gras celebrations, voodoo, weathered cemeteries, and French-language street signage. Oh, and beads \u2014 lots and lots of beads.<\/span><\/span><\/span> If you find yourself enjoying some \u00e9touff\u00e9e and a beignet on the iron-railed balcony of a Bourbon Street restaurant before embarking on a ghost tour to see the grave of voodoo queen Marie Laveau or the haunted mansion of socialite-turned-serial killer Delphine LaLaurie, you’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 2. Solvang, California<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Solvang<\/span><\/span><\/span> is located in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, California. In 1911, a group of Danish Americans settled in the area to establish a Danish community far removed from Midwestern winters.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Dubbed \u201cThe Danish Capital of America,\u201d Solvang’s quaint streets are lined with windmills, European bakeries, boutiques, and wineries that give it an Old World feel. There is even a historic wooden streetcar pulled by draft horses that makes its way through the town with a population of about 6,100 people.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Fans of the movie <\/span><\/span><\/span>Sideways<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> will recognize Solvang as one of the places where the characters played by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church tasted wine and bumbled through their midlife crisis.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 3. Leavenworth, Washington<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Leavenworth is a small town in Chelan County, Washington with a population of only 2,263 people, according the 2020 Census. Nestled in the Cascade Mountains, Leavenworth’s main street and town center were modeled after a German Bavarian village.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> With its alpine-style architecture and annual celebrations such as Oktoberfest, Maifest, and Autumn Leaf Festival, Leavenworth was deliberately designed in the 1960s to resemble southern Germany. The unofficial motto for the town is \u201cHoly Schnitzel!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 4. Frankenmuth, Michigan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Frankenmuth, aka Michigan’s Little Bavaria, is a city of about 5,000 people located in Michigan’s Saginaw County.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Lutheran immigrants from Germany settled in the region in 1845 and founded Frankenmuth. The two-square-mile city is known for its chicken dinners, Bavarian architecture, a large Christmas store, and for housing an impressive number of garden gnomes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 5. St. Augustine, Florida<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest continuously inhabited European-settled city in what is now the United States.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Founded in 1565 by Spanish admiral Pedro Men\u00e9ndez de Avil\u00e9s, the \u201cNation’s Oldest City\u201d is known for its Spanish colonial architecture, forts, and plazas. Castillo de San Marcos, built in the 17th century, is the oldest masonry fort in the lower 48 states and continues to draw tourists to this seaside community on the Atlantic Coast.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 6. Venice, Los Angeles, California<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Venice is a seaside neighborhood in Southern California founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a resort town. Now a part of the city of Los Angeles, Venice is known for its eclectic boardwalk, Muscle Beach, and its many canals designed to resemble the Italian city after which it is named.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Abbott Kinney Boulevard with its bars, restaurants, art galleries, and retail shops intentionally resembles a European promenade and is a principal attraction in the neighborhood.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 7. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Carmel-by-the-Sea \u2014 a town of many hyphens located on California’s Central Coast \u2014 markets itself as a \u201cfairy-tale village.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Known as an art colony and seaside resort, Carmel is known for its wine tasting, restaurants, white-sand beaches, galleries, and film festival. The town’s many European-style cottages and cobblestone streets make it feel like a Mediterranean village.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Napa Valley, California<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Located north of San Francisco, Napa Valley is considered one of the top wine regions in the world. John Patchett was the first winemaker to take advantage of Napa Valley’s Mediterranean climate and establish the region’s first commercial vineyard in 1858. After the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, the world came to know Napa Valley as a region that produces premium wine on par with the best regions in Europe.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> Drive around Napa Valley and you’ll notice that the numerous vineyards and Tuscan-style estates make one feel as if they are traveling through the Italian countryside.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 9. Savannah, Georgia<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

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<\/a> Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia and attracts millions of visitors every year. This seaport city of more than 404,000 people was a strategic port during both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/a> With its cobblestone streets, lush gardens, Victorian Historic District, and Spanish moss dangling from trees, Savannah looks more like a southern European city than a typical American one. The book and movie <\/span><\/span><\/span>Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> are set in Savannah’s historic and haunting downtown area.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans, aka the Big Easy, is arguably the most unique city in the United States. The French Quarter in the heart of New Orleans is known for its Creole and Cajun cuisine, French- and Spanish-inspired architecture, Mardi Gras celebrations, voodoo, weathered cemeteries, and French-language street signage. Oh, and beads \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1605,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedresponse.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}