Atlanta isn’t the first city most of the people think of when they think of great tourist destinations. New York is the classic alternative for a metropolitan trip – there are few cities in the world with its mix of population density, diversity, and fantastic blend of cultures. Washington D.C., the museum- and monument-filled American capital, is also a natural choice for tourism.
On its face, Atlanta doesn’t seem to offer nearly as much to the traveler as do these cities. Most travelers’ experiences with Atlanta involve making a connection at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Delta’s national hub and the busiest airport in the United States. However, if you ever do find yourself with a couple of days to spend in the South’s largest metropolis, there are a couple of sights you should try to see before leaving.Check out the Most Popular Tourist Attractions in Atlanta.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site
The histories of Georgia, of the South, and of the nation as whole are inextricably joined, and nobody figure better embodies that truth than Martin Luther King, Jr. The late minister and civil rights activist was born and raised in Atlanta. His memorial, placed in the Sweet Auburn district where King grew up, is split between the museum itself and a number of nearby historically important buildings that include King’s family home and Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he and his father before him preached.
The King Center for Non-Violent Social Change details many aspects of King’s life, naturally focusing on his enormous contribution to the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. However, the museum also features many civil rights-related exhibits from times and places other than King’s. Artifacts of the Jim Crow era, which began before King was born, are a striking reminder of the kind of hateful and violent behaviors that humans are capable of under certain circumstances.
Not amazingly, the King National Historic site conjointly contains a memorial to Mohandas Gandhi. King was magnificently impressed by Gandhi, whose long and difficult struggle against British rule in India managed to attain the goal of independence by non-violent suggests that. As a reminder of the importance of dialogue and peace, the King memorial space is a useful resource and a must-visit for travelers exploring Atlanta.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden
Lovers of flora will want to visit the Atlanta Botanical Garden while staying in the city. The Garden is a large thirty-acre structure that contains thousands of plant species. The gardens are divided into outdoor and indoor collections, which are themselves divided into several different exhibits each based upon types of plant life. For example, the Desert House features many plants and flowers native to southern Africa, while the High Elevation House contains flora from the Andes Mountains of South America. Popular exhibits also include the Orchid Display House and the outdoor Rose Garden.
If you’re visiting Atlanta in the season, you’re in luck – from may to Oct, the Botanical Garden runs a series of cooking exhibitions hosted by top chefs, who use the produce of the museum’s own vegetable garden to create culinary masterpieces. If you can’t make it to one of these fascinating events, however, you still might easily be able to spend an entire day at the Botanical Garden if you have a bent towards botany.
Image by joiseyshowaa Under Creative Common License.
