Do you recall those moments when you suddenly look up and the vision in front of you just makes you go WOW! Pressing the button on your camera or phone just becomes compulsory because you have to capture that point in time, that magnificent landscape, that beautiful piece of architecture, that funny moment, that unforgettable memory that will remain in your mind forever.
Looking back through my photo collection of all the places we have been fortunate enough to visit has really brought this home to me.
Whilst this record of WOW moments sits nicely with my two previous posts:
Unforgettable Adventures: My Favourite Cities Revealed
and
Unforgettable Places I’ve Visited: My Top Six Picks
I know I would have written this anyway because I just felt compelled to have these favourite moments and memories on record so here is my Top 25!
Number 25:
In May 2025 we ventured to Morocco, primarily to Marrakech. As part of our trip we also visited Essouiria which I wrote a post about entitled Discovering the Beauty of Essaouira’s Medina and Harbour.
Having been dropped off by our guide, we crossed over the road and made our way to the harbour where I was immediately struck by both the hustle and bustle of the vibrant fish market on the opposite side and the wonderful sea blue, fisherman’s boats bobbing around on the water in between. It was one of those moments where I just stopped, held my breathe and just absorbed the beauty of what lay in front of me.
Number 24:
Taking pictures at sunset, for some reason, I find incredibly difficult bearing in mind that most of the time I’m just using my trusted iPhone. This photo was taken whilst sitting on our balcony in Barbados in February 2025. The colours were amazing, it was a calm and peaceful moment.
Number 23:
This might seem a bit of an odd set of pictures but the WOW factor for me came from the statistics available at this famous old prison -The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia which we visited in 2023.
Operational from 1829 until 1971, it was once the most expensive building in the U.S. and famously held notorious figures like Al Capone. Today, the site operates as a National Historic Landmark offering both audio and guided tours.
I found it incredibly hard to absorb the reality of the information presented to me. It was one of those moments where I felt compelled to study this phenomenon further on my return home.
Number 22:
I love to look at the architecture when I’m visiting a place that has existed for hundreds of years as is the case here.
This amazing piece of Roman architecture originating in the 1st century BC, in Segovia, Spain is a sight to behold and I still remember, back in 2023, looking up at its sheer size and feeling that WOW moment.
Roman remains always fascinate me, mainly because of the sheer engineering ability they had.
If you want to know more I wrote many posts about our 3 month trip. This one was entitled: Discover Segovia: Top Attractions and Travel Advice
Number 21:
Sitting on our ground floor balcony in Antigua earlier this year eating breakfast we were watching this cruise ship make its way into port when suddenly just in front of it a rainbow appeared in the sky. It was one of those least expected moments made even more so by the fact that the ship actually passed through the rainbow.
I had to capture the moment and still wonder if the passengers knew what was happening!
Number 20:
Another very poignant moment which honestly brought tears to my eyes. We visited Prague, Dresden and Krakow back in 2019. It was our final trip before COVID snuck up on all of us and compelled us to stay at home.
As part of the visit to Krakow we joined an organised excursion to Auschwitz and Birkenau, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centres. Over 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives here. If only the world, as a whole, had taken this message to heart.
Number 19:
On a much brighter note I am also a big fan of gardens of all descriptions, being outside and just enjoying the peace and tranquillity that can so often come from the purity of nature.
This photo became a WOW moment for me very recently when we visited the Flower Forest in Barbados and I began to use my new camera, gifted to me at Christmas, primarily to take underwater photos. I have no idea what this beautiful flower is but it definitely caught my eye and I had to photograph it!
Number 18:
Continuing the nature theme, in February 2019, we visited Costa Rica where I celebrated my birthday amongst the rain forest, cloud forest and sheer magnitude of this amazing country. This little fellow was photographed by my husband with his far more technical camera than mine. Watching these tiny but beautiful hummingbirds flit from flower to flower collecting nectar was definitely a WOW moment for me.
Number 17:
Along with a fascination for architecture comes a more recent appreciation of sculpture. It’s never too late to adopt a new interest particularly one that you previously had no inclination to explore.
My love for this form of art sprang from visiting Paris back in 2023 and the Musee Rodin which my husband wanted to look at.
This particular piece of art by Camille Walala’s “Captivated By Colour” just mesmerised me. It was part of a Sculpture Trail that we followed in Canary Wharf in London last summer 2025.
This local artist designed colourful geometric shapes, playing with the long perspective of the tunnel. The design shows an optical pattern that shrinks and elongates as it moves across the panel of the bridge – creating a distorted effect as visitors pass through.
I have never seen anything quite like this and cannot think of anywhere else we have currently travelled to where this amount of effort has been put into creating what is in effect a tunnel for pedestrians to walk through. Outstanding and definitely a WOW moment!
Number 16:
Back to architecture, this time from Granada in Spain.
The Alhambra Palace is one of the most revered monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the top visitor attractions in Spain. We could not fail, therefore, to visit whilst on our Western Europe adventure back in 2023.
To try and give you some idea of the size of the palace, throughout the Nasrid era, the Alhambra was a self-contained city separate from the rest of Granada below. Within its walls could be found most of the amenities of a Muslim city such as a mosque, public baths, roads, houses, workshops and a sophisticated water supply system.
As a royal city, there were at least six major palaces. You honestly cannot fail to be in awe of this place and I experienced many WOW moments whilst walking around on our visit.
With so many WOW moments from our adventures to sort through I’m going to leave you in suspense for a few days before revealing my Top 15!
I hope my photos and narrative give you inspiration to go out there and find your own WOW moments amidst forthcoming adventures!
If you want to see other photos taken on our travels they are available on Flicker.
Let me know if you’ve visited any of the places I’ve listed or maybe give this post a like. Let me know what you thought when you were there, I’d love to hear from you in the comments
A Midlife Adventure 