For the first time in 3 years, the winner of The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament is not a Romanian city. Despite Targu Mures moving all the way to the final, Portugal was able to win the competition for the second time ever. Back in 2011, Porto won The Best City contest, and your votes will send me to Lisbon some time this year. Lisbon got a lot of help from Visit Portugal, the country’s official tourism board to counter a great Romanian effort.
Romania Not Gone
Starting with Sibiu back in 2013, followed by Craiova in 2014, then Targu Jiu last year, Romanians enthusiastically voted their cities the best, sending me to the beautiful country multiple times. I’ll be writing about Targu Jiu in the coming weeks, as well as highlighting why Romania’s wins aren’t so surprising, especially if you’ve been there before. For now though, the Romanian three-in-a-row streak ends and several trends still hold.
A Prize For Lisbon
Congratulations to Mira, who originally nominated Lisbon several weeks ago. Back then I announced the person who nominated the winning city would win $500; in addition I would donate $500 to a local charity. Mira’s asked me to use her portion of the prize to contribute to a non-profit she’s selected. I’ll be writing about the organization when I visit Lisbon this year, hopefully to make the $1,000 contribution in person.
Thank You Everyone
The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament has grown every year thanks to your nominations, votes, and participation. Your involvement over the past few weeks and every year is greatly appreciated and I look forward to an even bigger contest next year!
Let me know if you have any suggestions or would like to see any changes to the tournament in the comments below. And if you’ve been to Lisbon or are from there, send me your travel tips too!
[Top photo by: Lacobrigo]
