| In Birmingham, Alabama you should
also visit the Barber Vintage
Motorsports Museum, where you can
see around 1,200 motorcycles (the oldest from 1904)
and racing cars, and the place is a real paradise
for motor racing freaks. There is also a racetrack
in the attached park. Near the city is also the
legendary Talladega Superspeedway, which
is known nationwide for its NASCAR races and which
stands for the fastest speeds. NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) operates the
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The
Apollo program was once developed here by Wernher
Von Braun and his staff. The U.S . Space and
Rocket Center can be visited with
numerous exhibits relating to U.S. space
travel. Huntsville also has a local art museum worth
seeing.
In the capital, Montgomery, you should
visit the Alabama State Capitol, where the
Confederate States of America were founded in
1861. At that time, the President of the Southern
States, Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889) resided in
the First White House of the Confederacy.
Where the civil rights activist Rosa Parks was
arrested, you can visit the Rosa Parks Library and
Museum today and learn more about the history
connected with it.
The Dexter Avenue King
Memorial Baptist Church,
where Martin Luther King once preached, is also the
place where the civil rights movement began.
The city also has a great zoo, the Montgomery
Museum of Fine Arts and the Alabama
Shakespeare Festival, one of the largest of its
kind in the world.
The coast on the Gulf of Mexico is of course also
worth a visit, as there are beautiful coastal towns
such as the graceful Mobile. The city
takes its name from Fort Louis de la Mobile, which
was built by the French in 1702 and is still
French-Mediterranean.
Particularly worth seeing are the many historical
districts, buildings and churches that convey a
typical southern flair and reflect different
eras. The well-tended azalea and flower gardens are
also famous, as is the botanical garden in Alabama's
largest port city.
Anyone interested in history should visit the USS
Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, where, in
addition to the USS Alabama, numerous other military
means of transportation by water and air are
presented.
Golf enthusiasts will love the Robert Trent
Jones Golf Trail, which has 26 golf courses.
Mobile is also known for its carnival, which
has its own home here with the Mobile
Carnival Museum. If you visit the city
in February, you can experience the Mardi Gras
Carnival live. Good bathing opportunities and
beaches such as Orange Beach are
also easy to reach from the city. In general,
Alabama is known for its snow-white sandy beaches
that can compete with Florida. |
