Five Incredible Places We've Been Without Taking Any Photos!

I'm a sucker for a great photo op. When we travel, I'm the one who's making memories and simultaneously snapping away. It's not just about having the photo for Facebook sharing, but it's about preserving the memories. As they say, like all great travelers, we have seen more than we can remember and remember more than we have seen. For us, the photos help secure that memory forever, when time has distorted these thoughts from their original form. 

But every so often, an adventure comes along that cannot be captured in photos. Either from a missed opportunity or the lack of a camera, or maybe a location that doesn't allow you to take photos, or maybe it's too dark or too crazy. Whatever the reason, here's our top adventures for which we don't have a memorable photo!

1. The Inside of Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul

The Entrance Gate to Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul, Turkey

This incredible palace is one of the most impressive buildings I've ever seen. The palace was home to the sultans of the Ottoman Empire for 100 years. It has 285 rooms, including the Mauyede, grand ceremonial room, with a ceiling that's 36 meters high and containing 4.5 tons of crystal chandeliers. You just have to see this building in person to believe it! 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, photos of the inside are not permitted. I bought a book of postcard with pictures of the inside, but they do little to capture in the magnitude of this place. 

​2. Ancient Cave Paintings, Cueva De La Pileta, Spain

Ancient yet pristine cave paintings that have existed for 25,000 years? Yes, please! But no photos allowed! The awesome experience in the Spanish countryside was a tour into a cave system on the side of a mountain in which ancient paintings, some of the oldest ever found, were well-preserved from weathering and erosion outside the cave. 

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3. Paragliding over Blue Lagoon, Ölüdeniz, Turkey

Getting ready to jump off a mountain! Once we paraglided to the bottom, our phones and cameras were safely packed away in our pockets and backpacks.

Google Ölüdeniz, Turkey and you'll see the $120 photo we didn't pay for when paragliding off Baba Dag above the Blue Lagoon in Turkey. Since we weren't allowed to bring our GoPro for the ride, because apparently in the past, tourists had "dropped their camera" onto the beach below, our only choice was to purchase the photo taken by our trained tandem jumper's GoPro. 

We left with all of the experience and $120 richer. 
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​4. White Water Rafting in Costa Rica

The only photo we took of our four hour white-water rafting trip in Costa Rica!

It was advised to us before we went on our Class IV white -water rafting trip that we secure any valuables while rafting, as our hands would be busy gripping the sides of the boat or reaching for our paddles. No free hands for our GoPro! So, above is the only photo we have from our rafting trip. I know the river behind us doesn't look like much,  but I assure you, the one guy who did utilize his GoPro, as it was attached to his helmet, was knocked clear off his head when we mounted the first waterfall, where his boat was over turned and they crashed into the rocks below! Even without photos, I'll never forget that white-knuckled rafting trip!

​5. Swimming in the Luminous Lagoon, Falmouth, Jamaica

A beautiful photo of Frenchman's Cove, NOT the Luminous Lagoon, which we visited at night to hopefully spot the bioluminescent plankton in the water. Therefore, we didn't take any photos of the luminous lagoon.

The Glistening Waters tourist attraction, about an hour east of Montego Bay, Jamaica, is available as an excursion to the flurry of cruise-ship goers in Jamaica. But since we went to Jamaica sans-cruise, we were able to drive to this hotel, bar, and boat yard that services the lagoon one night during our four night stay in Ocho Rios. It advertises the chance to swim among the illuminating microscopic creatures that light up the lagoon each night with their unique ability to bioluminesce, or create their own light through a chemical reaction. 

If you google pictures of the lagoon, it conjures up images of an other-worldly experience of swimming under a night sky with both stars above you, and surrounding you in the lagoon, as you happily snap away photos of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But while these images are intoxicating, some of there are completely misleading. While the glowing creatures do exist, they are very faint and are only visible when disturbed, like, a person swimming and thrashing in the water, or the active motor of the boat. As long as you are OK with lowering your expectations just a little, since the reality is that your experience is just not going to live up to the saturated images online, then you will have a fantastic experience that you most likely won't be able to post photos of online. 

When we went that night in our little boat to the middle of the lagoon, it was cloudy, cold, and the lagoon's star residents, the dinoflagellate bacteria that provide the bioluminescence, were shy that day. So the glistening waters experience, although pretty fascinating, wasn't as brilliant as the pictures lead you to believe.

I was the only one of my party of three that jumped into the 4 feet of brakish and muddy water. It is encouraged that you sort of doggie paddle around to help stir up the plankton to glow, while avoiding the mucky bottom, because not only is is disgusting, but also because stirring up the mud will decrease the visibility of the plankton. Being in the middle of a muddy lagoon with no lights and no way to see what is in the water around you is not for the faint of heart! However, being up close and personal with the plankton in the water definitely gives you a better view of their glowing talent. 

I would still recommend it. As you've learned from reading my post here, it's OK to have experiences that you can't share with others in photos. If anything, it provides the traveler with an experience that is even more sacred, since it is only in memory. It becomes something only you possess, and in a way preserving it from the eyes of the hundreds (thousands?) of people that halfheartedly scroll through your photos on Facebook.

Furthermore, without photos, the traveler is required to share their story with others in words, making the experience even richer through story-telling!

Beergarden in Munich, where many stories are shared.