Which locations stirred up your senses?

Does it have to be in Europe? (I know, I know - 'tis the forum)
Sound - being in the Pisa Baptistry cupola when the guard started to sing a capella in the main space. The acoustics in the building is wonderful and the clear baritone was so fine and clear that it brought me to tears. Also the gregorian chant in Abbey Sant'Antimo near Montalcino.
Taste - my first solo foray at 19 - many moons ago - a cruise. Last night some of us headed to a port restaurant in Palermo - my first taste of 'real' italian food. Canneloni with fresh pasta, ricotta and some sort of bachamel sauce. 40+ years ago that was exotic. To this day I have never tasted such tender pasta as that.
Sight - nature: nothing, nothing to me is so memorable as the skies over the Serengeti. Something about the light and play of colour on the clouds, the shapes....another misty eyed moment (or 3 or 4)

Maria, you’re welcome to stretch beyond the Europe destinations! ; )

Thanks for painting that picture of the sky in our minds - wow!

Sight (Nature) - It's a tie. The very first time I saw the ocean is one. (For me, it was the Atlantic Ocean in North America, but that's just me.) and the other happened when flying to Europe for the first time. I'd managed to fall asleep for maybe an hour when I woke up and looked out the window. I saw pink snow on top of what turned out to be the French Alps as the sun rose. OMG - I felt like I was on top of the world!!!

Sight (Man-made) - Another tie. I literally started crying the first time I saw Michelangelo's Pieta at St. Peter's. The other one - don't laugh - was the first store in Italy where I managed to use my awful, halting Italian to order a snack.

Sound - Nothing beats my native Southern US insect noises there so far. ;-) But a close second would be my first train ride in Europe which was also in Italy.

Smell - I don't have one specific smell to list at the moment. I'm still thinking on this question.

Taste - A three-way tie. One is a homemade dinner in Tuscany. Next is the dessert we had in Trapini (graffa?) which was the best dessert I've ever eaten. Ever. Last is anything I ate in Costa Rica, where the food is sublime.

Touch - Running my fingers through the sand of the Sahara in Morocco.

It's not all Europe, sorry, but I was trying to hit all the bases.

I can't hit all senses but here are two:
Sight - my first glimpse of the Pantheon. I had dreamed of Rome since childhood yet was 38 when I finally got there. We arrived from some small side street and there it was. I now know what people mean when they say something took their breath away. I literally gasped. Close second is (don't laugh) my 2nd cruise. I walked into my balcony room and saw the ocean. My first cruise was in an interior room. This is when I knew I was a cruiser.

Taste- everything we ate in the Dordogne! Affordable too!

Good subject Jean.

Sight (nature): My first view of the Matterhorn from Zermatt. Sunset at the harbor in Mandraki on the island of Hydra.

Sight (man-made): The David, my jaw literally dropped. Chateau Chenonceau in Loire valley.

Sound: Cheesy, I know, but the tenor singing an aria in the gondola next to ours at sunset. The cow bells in an Alpine meadow. The guide on my first Ireland tour, who traveled with his fiddle, jamming with some locals in a pub in Armagh.

Smell: A peat fire in a small roadside pub in Ireland. The odor of the gannet colony on Bass Rock Scotland.

Taste: The ice cream in Sweden - we finished off every dinner with a trip to the nearest ice cream parlor and were never disappointed - even better than the gelato in Italy. My first taste of octopus in Greece - I'm not a seafood person but I got through it and it's an experience I remember well.

Touch: Petting the sheep on a farm in Ireland. Walking on some shifting sands on an island off of Sweden where we were visiting a lighthouse - nerve wracking.

Gosh........this is a tough one.......there are so many and so hard to narrow down to just one for each category.

Sight: The tulip fields in the Netherlands..........ribbons of color and so beautiful.
Blue domes and bells on Santorini.
Going thru the Gerlache Strait in Antarctica
Ravello
The wind glenty blowing the palm trees above my head on Scott Beach in St. John
Northern Lights as we were approaching our landing in Iceland
Lake Louise in Canada
Field after field of poppies blooming in Tasmania
Whale breaching right in front of me in Alaska
Whale so close I could have reached out to touch them in Antarctica
Disko Bay icebergs in Greenland.....sailing among them in an historic fishing boat
Seeing the still-standing ruins of the cottage in Ireland in which my grandmother was raised.
The look on my husband's face when he is seeing something new/fabulous/wonderful.
Looking down into a live volcano from helicopter and then seeing the waterfalls and Napoli Coast by helicopter in Hawaii

Sound: Shutting my eyes and listing to several sets of church bells strike noon in Ghent, while sitting on a bench waiting for hubby who was climbing one of the church towers.
The sound of zillions of penguins calling out at once (but the SMELL of that is one I would just as soon forget...LOL).
The sound of gentle waves lapping on early morning or early evening walks on beaches.
The sound of happy children speaking/singing just about anywhere.

Taste: Most of those top-of-mind special memories are right here in Nashville, although A LOT of fabulous food has been enjoyed on travel.

Touch: Petting husky dog puppies. Petting an Irish Wolfhound.
Being rubbed by Sting Rays in the Grand Cayman (Sting Ray island...they are friendly there)

Wow!!! You have just made me re-live so many wonderful trips. Thanks for asking the question (and I didn't even have to spend money, get on a plane, or have jet lag to re-live some of those trips). Ahhhhhh memories.........won't we all hold our personal memories so dear as the years roll by :)

Touch and sound: after several nights sleeping on a rock-hard mattress in Paris, my back was killing me. While walking around the Marais, we stumbled upon someone giving chair massages in Place des Voges. I gladly paid, sat down and the knots were worked out. Almost immediately after the massage began, orchestra students began to play nearby. I felt like I was in heaven!

Might as well give it a shot :)

Sight (Nature): Torres del Paine National Park - Patagonia, Chile

Sight (Man Made): La Sagrada Familia - Barcelona, Catalonia

Sound: Cistercian Monks chanting at Poblet Monastery - Poblet, Catalonia

Smell: Fresh Pączki (Polish doughnuts) - Warsaw, Poland

Taste: Toro Sushi (fatty tuna) - Osaka, Japan

Taste: Jamón ibérico de bellota (5Js) - Sevilla, Andalucia

Touch: Horseback riding - Monument Valley, USA

Hope these inspire some of your own senses! :)

I have a lot in the sight department. some of them are not necessarily the most beautiful or best examples I have seen, but those that stand out are the firsts.

Sight (Nature): Kayaking on Milford Sound, NZ on a perfect sunny day, gazing up at the snow covered peaks, only to be disturbed by a group of dolphins.
Hiking to the top of one of the mountains overlooking Geirangerfjord in Norway. The big cruise ship in the fjord below looked like a toy ship in a bath tub. i pitied the poor suckers stuck in there!
All of Torres del Paine in Chile.

Sight (Man made): on my first trip to Italy when I was a young teenager, walking into the Duomo in Milan. The size of it all reminded me of the Scene in the Lord of the Rings when the Fellowship enter the great hall in Moria.
The mosaics in Ravenna.
The marble pulpit in the cathedral in Pisa, with it's tiny, intricate carvings depicting the massacre of the innocents. The level of detail is amazing, you can see the agony in the faces of the women., even tough they are tiny. There is just something about religious art, it's designed to move you!

Sound: The sound of the Amazon in Bolivia at night and in the early morning.

Taste: my first pizza in Italy. before that i never knew how real pizza was supposed to taste!
Eating a mango on our hotel balcony in Sao Paolo, Brazil. I didn't know fruit could taste so intense!

1) First and Second time viewing the Sistine Chapel
2) Gondola ride in Venice
3) View from Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany
4) Sitting in Parliament (British) while in session and Thatcher was doing question time.
5) Going Around Cape Horn
6) Passing through Gatun Locks at Panama Canal
7) Viewing the Kremlin from across the Moscow River
8) Swan Lake ballet by Marinsky in St. Petersburg
9) Crusing through Glacier Bay in Alaska
10) View of Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan
11) Bethlehem service on Christmas Eve
12) Viewing Pyramids of Giza

Your answers are expanding my bucket list!

Aquamarinesteph, Andrea & Nancy, you mentioned some that were on my husband’s list, too! The Pieta at the Vatican, the Pantheon and the cowbells echoing across the Swiss mountain valleys. And, Nancy, now I need to try the Swedish ice cream!

Maggie, I haven’t been to Greece, yet, but plan to go there with one of our daughters some day.

Carlos, thanks for including links to your examples. The picture of Chile - wow!

Morten & Geovagriffith, your global locations are wonderful! I’ve been to Australia but not NZ and much to see for top memorable locations on those other continents.

Thanks for sharing!

Nature - Walking across the Pyrenees, waking to the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen and I do see a lot of sunrises.
Seeing the night sky in Spain, in the middle of no where, with a gazillion stars sparkling with all their might

Man-made - The Pantheon in Rome. Breath taking. The Coliseum too. Just so huge and so old.

Sound - the bells on all of the animals in the Pyrenees, the sheep, horses, and cows. The animals were everywhere and for hours, we heard these bells, walking through them

Smell - wood fire while camping in a tipi

Taste - Fish & Chips at the Portobello beach in Scotland, tiny restaurant with in 1940's decor. The fish was perfect.
Lamb dinner in London 32 years ago in an Afghani restaurant.

Touch - Kissing my husband when we got married in Denmark in 2003

Sight - the view from a walking bridge across the river in Salzburg looking toward the old city at night.

Sound - Typically in situ experiences. Some that stand out. Evening service at the Romanesque church in Conques, France. The chant and choir response reverberated around the nave. Street music in general around Europe (so many good musicians). Trad sessions in Ireland (the locals seem to better musicians than the professionals). A choir from Speyer on vacation at Burg Stahleck hostel. They started singing at dinner when they occupied most of the room.

Taste - Oysters in Cancalle. I was surprised they really were the best oysters I've tasted. Fresh Guiness in Ireland.