Traveling Europe

[Corwin]

not a bad choice of countries. personally i'd probably want to explore more of the inbetween countries you don't hear about that much, like croatia/serbia/belgium/ireland rather than just the ordinary "germany, france, england, italy". you do have greece on that list though, which i'm going to refer to as a journey to the land of win. as for denmark, i reckon that the only two interesting places that are close to sweden would be roskilde (for your viking history lesson) and copenhagen (for your drinking needs).

Croatia. Go to Croatia. It's the best place I've ever been to.

[Nysuatro]

For Belgium : Leuven and Gent

Public transportation is good in belgium.

Now that you mention it: What about Bruges? I heard it's quite nice and think about going there sometime as well!

Ow yeah forgot about Bruges. Nice indeed, but like Corwin said : it's very touristic. But yeah, almost every popular city is touristic

If you want I can ask to family of me what are nice places to visit in Bruges. They have lived there for some years.

[Sindwiller]

As for Switzerland, you should definitely check out Bern - a really beautiful city and everyone's real nice and unhurried by default Zürich and Geneva are pretty cool cities, too. As for the Balkans, there's too much stuff you could visit: The bigger cities I know of that are in the Serbian parts; like Zagreb, Belgrad/Beograd, Skopje, Podgorica, Tirana (Albania) etc. If you come over to Bulgaria, you should definitely visit Gabrovo and Tryavna, which are really beautiful cities (well, Tryavna is more like a small town) with lots of conserved medieval architecture (there's also a little art museum in Tryavna, where my second cousin sometimes does guiding for tourists). If you're into folklore and the sea, you probably won't go wrong if you visit Varna and the Dobrudja region in general. If you happen to be into Metal/Rock, you might also visit the coastal town Kavarna, where many rock and metal concerts and festivals are organized (since the mayor is a metal head ). Of course, visiting Sofia, the capital, wouldn't be a bad idea either. And when you're there nearby, you can just as well visit Thessaloniki down in Greek Macedonia

[e-freak]

yea Bern is pretty nice and you may check out Geneva and see CERN or what's left of it anyway

For Balkan - I have absolute no idea about these countries what's touristic appealing. Belgrad doesn't seem to be a too safe place to be, neither is the Kosovo or Zagreb. Albania could be possible though. Oh and for Greek - no way around tourists, the whole country is one big Tourist place. For smaller towns you could check out Navplia (not sure if the spelling is correct) which hosts a castle of the bavarian king of greece and has some pretty nice spots overall. It's not too crowded and it offers something different than one-million temples in a row. Also check out the spartan region, it's got some pretty nice spots as well. I'd avoid Athens how ever, apart from the akropolis, because that city is just one big mess. I've never seen a town so unappealing as athens. it might be the part of athens I've been at but that city is noisy, it smells and most of the folks is unfriendly if you don't speak greek with athen-accent.

if you have the chance you may also travel to Kreta or Santorini. Kreta holds a whole lot of cultur (Min0s friend Minotauro s coming from there) and Santorini is basically the most awesome place on earth if you're into Lost Coast. Volcano in the mid of the mare nostrum with a village in the cliffs

[Sindwiller]

Belgrad doesn't seem to be a too safe place to be, neither is the Kosovo or Zagreb.

Yeah, Kosovo is still pretty unstable. As for Beograd and Zagreb, none of them are more dangerous than Sofia I'd reckon. Then again, former Yugoslavia is pretty rough terrain still, you never know what might happen. Bulgaria's bigger cities are pretty tourist-friendly it seems (however, I'm more like a native guy, so can't tell clearly), if you don't run into local police or something Macedonia (or, FYROM, for that matter *coughs*) seems to be a pretty stable place, too, so you won't get...... I don't know what you all expect to happen and to see over there, since it's a pretty nice place. Just because the media and a bunch of greedy bastards summon all-embracing chaos in the Balkans doesn't mean that it's a permanent state.

For Balkan - I have absolute no idea about these countries what's touristic appealing.

How about culture, languages, landschaft, architecture, history? You might just as well ask yourself what's so appealing for tourists to go to America, even though in every western country we're surrounded by American culture, so why'd you figure you'd need more of that?

[Steppenwolf]

I wouldn't recommend any of the smaller countrys for a first time visitor of europe. I believe italy, france, germany, spain, greece and maybe scandinavia is exactly what a american wants to see the first time he comes here.

If i will ever get interested in traveling america i would start with New York, Washington etc. not some obscure insider places that i haven't heard before to put this in perspective.

[e-freak]

Sindwiller - i was only referring to my lack of knowledge of touristic spots in these regions, not that there ain't any.

[Chunks]

Speaking of Croatia, i've heard Split is very nice. It is purely a tourist/vacation spot, though.

My sister spent awhile in the Czech Republic and said it was one of her favorite European countries she had ever been to.

I've only been to England, Scotland, and France. I enjoyed them all, but the culture was too similar. Spain is next on my list, either that or some eastern european country.

[Sentura]

I wouldn't recommend any of the smaller countrys for a first time visitor of europe. I believe italy, france, germany, spain, greece and maybe scandinavia is exactly what a american wants to see the first time he comes here.

If i will ever get interested in traveling america i would start with New York, Washington etc. not some obscure insider places that i haven't heard before to put this in perspective.

I've only been to England, Scotland, and France. I enjoyed them all, but the culture was too similar. Spain is next on my list, either that or some eastern european country.

this.

[Steppenwolf]

I haven't even mentioned England and Scotland you smart ass. But sure send him to Serbia. He will make many friends there as american.

[Sentura]

I haven't even mentioned England and Scotland you smart ass. But sure send him to Serbia. He will make many friends there as american.

so you're implying that all serbians are cold blooded killers with a vengeance for people from america? i love prejudice and bigotry too! also, let's all start calling each other smart asses for copying another persons statement because you agree with it. :roll:

i was implying that the culture wouldn't much different than that of america, and therefore might not be as interesting as other countries. however, you're obviously right that he shouldn't go anywhere but the heartland of europe since that's where everything good and right and true comes from and everything else is the land of thievery, death and murder. piss off.

[FrieChamp]

Can both of you calm down? Please? This is an innocent thread about vacation in Europe, not inter-cultural conflicts or your personal grudge against each other.

[dux]

You forgot Wales.

The English slate us all the time, but they're just cocks.

[Sentura]

The English slate us all the time, but they're just cocks.

are you kidding me? that looks like it's taken straight out of lord of the rings... and i thought i had seen everything... damn

[Minos]

Awesome pics dux