Zanzibar

It's not quite Venice, but still best approached by boat. Even before I knew anything of the place, its name alone piqued my curiosity. Plus, if the Sultan of Oman was willing to move his capital thousands of miles to live there, you know it has to be good....

Zanzibar is a small island off the coast of Tanzania, about two hours by ferry from the port of Dar Es Salaam. Though it's now part of Tanzania, it has a history all its own. Trading sandstorms for monsoons, the Sultanate of Oman ventured all the way down from the Arabian peninsula to colonize the island in the 18th Century. From then on it served as a hub for the African slave trade, funneling captives from the mainland to the middle east and beyond.

I first landed in Stone Town, a historic city with the kind of narrow, winding pedestrian streets one expects to find in medieval Europe. It's a fascinating melting pot of Arabian architecture, Indian cuisine, and (who would have thought) African inhabitants. Perhaps like New Orleans, it's a place where foreigners become acutely aware that they'll never fully understand its mysteries and complexities without being born there.

After a few days of culture, it was high time for the beach. I think the pictures say it all: