Favorite Dark Souls II environment?

So, there's been plenty of talk on Dark Souls II, and I notice that a lot of it centers around the disliking of areas. Amana's funhouse is artificial difficulty incarnate! Mythra's windmill palace of poison goes up into the sky to the iron keep! Aldia's keep goes up into the sky to the dragon areie but we don't see this from outside of it! And I'd like to put that all aside and ask a simple question. What's your favorite area in Dark Souls II? Not enemy wise, but location and environmental wise. Funny enough, I found myself really enjoying the vibe of the gutter. The place is so far down in the dark, and out of the way. It felt suffocating, in some manner, with all those pillars of garbage and trash, and the fact that there was so much sitting on top of it bearing down on everything. But it was quiet, peaceful even, and the undead there really did have a refuge of sorts. It was both constricting and dangerous to navigate, but a place of freedom as well. And, of course, I love the Shaded woods. There's almost no information about the place, and yet, it sits in ancient ruins and a forest shrouded in fog, overshadowed by King vendrick's palace. What was this place, and why was it so covered in darkness?