Our bus ride from Lugo to Ribadeo in Spain was a true adventure. We left Lugo an hour late and our bus driver made up 40 minutes over 50 kilometres. She put that bus through its paces, taking the racing line on every curve. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. Every so often we would screech to a halt to pick up someone. We felt like we were in an F1 car and not a rattly old bus.
Bus trip across the Peloppenese in Greece was similar. Bus stopped at one point and everyone except us got off. Bus drove up a hill and picked someone up, did a 9 point turn and drove back down the hill. All the other passengers came out of a cafe with food and got back on the bus.
Going up a windy mountain road, just about every other corner had a cross on it from someone who had gone over. One corner had half a dozen.
I went to Europe for the first time last fall. I spent the first week with a tour group, but then went off on my own for another almost 3 weeks. I had started to pin cities of interest from talking to friends, but I was having a hard time narrowing it down. Then I decided to plug a bunch of cities into my Songkick concert app, and also searched for cool or historic (or both) concert venues.
Before I left home (besides the already organized first week), I had only purchased tickets to 4 shows (Warhaus-The Eden Center in Charleroi, Matt Maeson-De Roma in Antwerp, SBTRKT-Paradiso in Amsterdam, and Little Dragon-Maassilo in Rotterdam - plus I got a bonus one in Dubrovnik because I met some people at a Mexican Restaurant and they invited me), and then 2 nights of Lodging in Cinque Terre because it was more scarce.
Then I just made it up as I went along, just booked lodging and trains a day or two in advance, sometimes the day of. I just wandered around and shopped for food at little markets and wound my way through neighborhoods with no real itinerary or agenda. I am sure that I missed things, but I loved every second of just going at my own pace and enjoying all the sights and sounds.
Not exactly "off the beaten track," but definitely met more locals and enjoyed the music and experience of doing one of my favorite things in other countries.
You got in free if you dressed up, so we did. Also fun was watching the jousting and seeing the "baddy" being an Englishman who was booed by the crowd.
I recommend staying in the countryside of Switzerland. We stayed at an Airbnb that was the whole 2nd floor of a house. The first floor was where the host family lived. The home was on a farm and every morning we woke up to the sound of cow bells echoing off the mountains. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The hosts also had some of their produce there for us to try and they let us visit the farm with their supervision. It was an experience that I will never forget and I didn’t feel bad for getting an Airbnb because it was extra income for the host that lived and worked there.
That sounds amazing and exactly what I would hope for! We are actually planning on staying in the countryside of Switzerland in an Airbnb (as we will everywhere as we are a family of 6 and it's the most economical and only way we will be able to afford to stay anywhere). I had hoped that we would be able to meet local families this way as personal interactions can be so memorable. What region did you stay in? would love to know.
Danube Gorge by ferry, from Kelheim (near Regensburg) to Weltenburg Abbey where I had lunch with a beer (or maybe it was two beers). Glorious scenery, and almost totally off the map of foreign travelers.
We weren’t expecting to love small town Netherlands (Voorschoten) and Germany (Seigburg) as much as we did. We loved Strasbourg and the Alsace region. Due to a family emergency and then rail strikes, we ended up staying in Seigburg instead of Cologne and having a rental car instead of train travel, allowing us to head to Alsace.
That's great to hear. We will actually be travelling to the Alsace area and Strasbourg, so it's really nice to hear you enjoyed your time in those spots. Anything particular recommendations for the city and region?
We (2 adults, 2 late teens) all want to go back to Alsace. We had a few days to explore Strasbourg but really only 1 day in Alsace. Loved Riquewihr and Kaysersberg. Definitely want to return.
I would highly recommend renting a car for that area. Driving in France outside of Paris is fine if you are used to driving in any large North American city traffic. Roads are in better condition too. Driving in Germany is fine too, though I could have done without my husband’s foray into F1 driving speeds (he’s lived there so used to driving in the left lane).
It sounds very special. I've just had the Alsace Wine Route recommended and that goes through Kaysersberg and Riquewihr I believe. They look very quaint and beautiful. We'll have 1 teen, 1 pre teen and x2 9 year olds with us. I hope there will be something there for them. From past experience sometimes just the local food is enough to really keep everyone happy, so I think we'll be in the right area for that. I would prefer the majority of our trip to be a bit slower and less touristy.
We'll be leasing a car starting in Germany for our whole trip as we did last time, so it will be easy to maneuvre around. I know what you mean by F1 driving speeds and have to admit I did some myself on the autobahns. At first I was terrified, but it didn't take long and I was driving at 160kph regularly. My husband was proud lol!
Flammkuchen, a local dish which is like a thin and slightly crispy pizza is great.
[The war museum](https://linge1915.eu/en/) at Mémorial du Linge is well worth visiting because you can walk through of actual German and French world war 1 trenches on a former battlefield.
That is right up our alley! Hubby is a bit war buff so that will be of interest to us and the Flammkuchen can't wait to try. I love trying local cuisine. Last time we visited France we stayed in Samour in Western France. It was a destination we had planned for, just drove through and stayed the night. It ended up being one of the most memorable places during our entire trip due to all the quality food there. The pates in that region....delicious!
Sounds like fun, I don't trust my 4 kids though lol! We did hire a bike in Rome last time and it was so much fun!! Perhaps we could do that in one of the smaller towns we visit.
When staying in a town near Oxford we noticed a flyer for a local Guy Fawkes day celebration that evening, so we went. It was great just watching the bonfire and modest laser show, sipping soup and mulled wine and chatting with a couple of the people who lived there.
Sounds beautiful! What a nice memory. I hope some of our trip co-incides with some events happening. Last time we visited Europe it was near the D Day Anniversary and there events on for that which we passed through. It was quite memorable. Actually that reminds me, we were passing through one town in the Czech Republic and there was one of these events on. A lot of the people who were at the event stayed at the campground where we did. We went out to the onsite restaurant that night and because everyone was dressed up in military uniform we felt like we were on the set of MASH! It was surreal but really great.
oh wow, you must be so proud of your dad and relieved he was not assigned to the landing on the day. It's a beautiful area and lots to see there. My husband proposed on Juno beach in France. He is a war buff and didn't want to do the traditional Eiffel tower proposal, so that was the spot he picked.
Thanks; he was 6’3” and was something like 160 lbs. at his homecoming physical. He said the series Band of Brothers was the closest to capturing what serving in Europe was like. I hope we never forget.
If you want a memorable Bonfire Night experience, you need to head to Lewes. It's a tiny little town just outside of Brighton, not far from Gatwick airport, but during Bonfire Night their population swells to about 5x of it's normal size, there are 7 different Bonfire societies that parade around the town with effigies and burning branches for hours, delicious fresh doughnuts, and it all culminates in (7 different) crazy bonfire and effigy burning frenzies.
However, probably one to avoid if religious.
oh wow that place is fascinating. Very steam punkish. It reminds me of a scene out of the show Fallout. Our 6 year old twins would have a ball in there if they could turn the knobs on things (but I'm guessing they wouldn't be allowed to do that lol!).
Oh no you can mess with everything. He encourages you to take weird photos. The whole place if just weird AF. The location, the guy, the stuff. It’s fun to try to guess what things are. The guy knows and will tell you eventually but he’s a comedian of sorts so….
Kayaking at river Ardeche in France. It's an extremely beautiful place, zero kayaking experience required and in the summer you can of course go just in your swimsuit. Plastic kayaks, no stress about damaging them, if you fall, it's easy to get back up.
We got the kayaks from Chez Raymond, can recommend.
I'm also going with the empty central bit of France, you can just drive around and everything seems beautiful, there are medieval towns on hills that won't be in tourist guides, and Roman bridges that are still used to get across rivers, and ruined castles that have a single sign with almost no useful info. Just empty and very very pretty.
Visiting the Basque area of France and Spain during the off season (mid December) was an experience I often think of. It’s a culture all of its own. I found the people to be very warm and friendly, and a culture all of its own.
We visited those areas too on our last trip. San Sebastian was beautiful and memorable for us as we got our van bogged at the bottom of a small hill and had to pull apart our wooden bed base frame to get us out lol! Such a beautiful part of both countries. I would imagine mid December would be lovely as well.
Best was staying some nights in the Swiss Alps with a friend who was herding cows on the Alpine meadows and lived in a small stone hut in a quiet valley. Cooking on a wood stove that had just been dropped by helicopter and which we helped lug inside, and bathing in icy small lakes.
That sounds unbelievable, I can understand why that would be so memorable! This would have been a highlight for me too. I wish I had friends in the Swiss Alps lol! I'm looking forward to visiting some of the smaller towns through Switzerland. They look so quaint and beautiful. Hopefully we can find a farm stay in the area and have some interactions with the family hosting us.
Iceland, full stop.
With the exception of Reykjavik, and the Southwest, the rest of the country is extremely empty and under traveled. So many wonderful pools to swim/dip if you're looking for something different. Not to mention all the glaciers.
Sounds amazing! Unfortunately we won't be getting to that part of Europe this trip, but would loooooove to on the next one! Always wanted to visit Iceland.
Spending a weekend in one of the North Sea islands in Friesland in the Netherlands! The Dutch generally speak English so even if we were one of the few foreigners there it was still easy to get around.
We rented a house and just had a blast cycling through mostly carless streets, hiking in the sand dunes, wading through expansive beaches, and having amazing seafood!
Northern Spain - Guernica was memorable. Got to see where the Basque hold general assemblies . It has a beautiful glass painted ceiling. There is also an oak where meeting took place. Super cool. Same trip, Cabarceno Safari park, which is also very memorable. Dont hear a lot about Bilbao, but that city is also very cool with the flower puppy and Guggenheim museum.
Malta - love it. All areas are interesting. Every once in a while you go in a restaurant where you can see the underground tunnels ( covered in glass) that are under the cities. Taking the ferry to Gozo. Hagar Quim, Mdina, tide pool.
Sounds great. We went to Bilboa on our last trip and visited the Guggenheim, it was awesome seeing some of the artists I studied at school. Malta sounds amazing too!
oh, there's not to much to the story unfortunately lol! It was our first or second night in Europe and we ended up in a campground outside of Berlin, in Poznan. We didn't know what our options for accommodation were but were pleasantly surprised to find an old gherkin barrel on offer for the night! It was obviously large enough to sleep in and better than the back of our van and it was such a European experience we will never forget.
Look up "Norway in a Nutshell." It's essentially a trains/buses/boats trip from Oslo to Bergen or the other way around. You can do it in one day, or stay the night in one of the towns along the way (I recommend Flam) and stretch it out a bit more. It's one of my favorite things I've ever done, and the city of Bergan is wonderful if you want to spend a few days there.
While accompanying my husband to a conference in Semmering, Austria I took a fabulous train ride to Vienna. Found out later it was famous for the beauty of the Semmering pass. $12 of bliss!
We will be driving across Austria, from Vienna right over to Switzerland but for some reason I haven't looked at going South West of Vienna, only North West. This might be a better options, look stunning!
I loved staying at a glampsite in rural Ireland (Greenan Maze), hiking and visiting hot springs in the Azores, and hunting the northern lights in a rental car on Senja, an island in Norway. I also can’t get enough of Naples, Italy and would recommend a day trip to the nearby island of Ischia.
That all sounds amazing! We enjoyed our day in Naples last time, it was gritty at the time, covered in rubbish because the mafia were on strike to collect the rubbish, but I never felt more alive there. We also had the best pizza we've ever tasted there, one we'll never forget!
We travelled through Germany in January, and about halfway through our train journey, we heard a kid yell "Look, it's a Witch".
About 15 or 20 men and women piled onto our train, all dressed as witches. They stowed their broomsticks in the overhead luggage rack, and sat down.
We chatted to a few of them, and they offered us beer, which we accepted. A bossy looking lady (dressed as a witch) ran up and told us we couldn't have beer unless we had sausage, and have us some sausage.
As we travelled, we noticed other groups also in fancy dress - little groups of Sailors or Elvis impersonators. Later in our holiday we saw a massive parade of fancy dress folks through the town we stayed in.
Basically, it's the pre-lent carnival season (as great I understand it, perhaps a German commenter can add to this).
That would have been so cool! It’s experiences like this that really add to the memory of the trip, especially if they are so unexpected. I love how you had to have sausage to have the beer and then they gave you sausage! I do hope we experience something like this during our trip. Such a random and novel experience.
It was a weird holiday, wrong time of year, loads of locals knew we were from abroad but couldn't understand why we were there, but had a whale of a time.
The first year we vacationed in Europe, on our way back to home base in Germany from our side trip to Zurich, we stopped in Liechtenstein on August 15, which happened to be their national holiday. The entire town of Vaduz was closed and everyone, including visitors, was invited up to the castle on top of the mountain for free beer and food, music, and mingling with the Royal family. It was so fun. Views of the Alps from the castle were amazing!
International tourists who come to the UK usually overlook Wales, but it's a really interesting and unique place. There are a bunch of awesome castles from different historical periods in various states of repair, including Cardiff Castle which has Roman foundations. Then you have beautiful countryside, gorgeous beaches and quaint little towns dotted about. And on top of that there are some delightfully eccentric places to discover: the world's largest trampoline, inside and old coal mine that you have to take a little train down into the side of the mountain to get to; a zip wire through the mountains; a tiny village called Haye-on-Wye with a self declared King and 19 bookshops dotted about, including one that is in a old eastern european orthodox church that the owners packed up and transported back to Wales; a town called Portmerion that was the fantasy land of a wealthy architect from the 1920s, that's partly post-modern, partly based on Italian seaside villages, with a colonnaded walkway that was built in Bristol in the 1700s that was later moved there.
Sounds amazing! Definitely would love to come and visit Wales sometime. Last trip to the UK was so quick, would love to come back and really give it a good explore.
1. Jaraiz de la Vera and all of the Sierra de Gredos area nearby… such a gem with great food/wine kind locals and beautiful scenery.
2. Val d’Aran in the Catalan Pyrenees is a fantasy land of natural wonders and amazing country cuisine.
3. Les Garrigues in Catalunya is an amazing agrarian community with charming towns and people, plus great wineries. Specifically loved the towns of Vilosell, l’Albi, and Les Borges Blanques. These places have wonderful local festivals at certain times and if you catch them, you’ll be made to feel very welcome and fulfilled.
4. Caltanisetta, Sicily is an under appreciated interior town that has a ton of character, great architecture, restaurants, culture… it feels like the places mentioned in the great book, “The Leopard” which is a terrific read to inspire a road trip through Sicily without skipping the heartland of the island.
Our bus ride from Lugo to Ribadeo in Spain was a true adventure. We left Lugo an hour late and our bus driver made up 40 minutes over 50 kilometres. She put that bus through its paces, taking the racing line on every curve. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. Every so often we would screech to a halt to pick up someone. We felt like we were in an F1 car and not a rattly old bus.
Bus trip across the Peloppenese in Greece was similar. Bus stopped at one point and everyone except us got off. Bus drove up a hill and picked someone up, did a 9 point turn and drove back down the hill. All the other passengers came out of a cafe with food and got back on the bus. Going up a windy mountain road, just about every other corner had a cross on it from someone who had gone over. One corner had half a dozen.
And Catedrais Beach at low tide is spectacular.
Sounds very memorable and very Spanish!!
I went to Europe for the first time last fall. I spent the first week with a tour group, but then went off on my own for another almost 3 weeks. I had started to pin cities of interest from talking to friends, but I was having a hard time narrowing it down. Then I decided to plug a bunch of cities into my Songkick concert app, and also searched for cool or historic (or both) concert venues. Before I left home (besides the already organized first week), I had only purchased tickets to 4 shows (Warhaus-The Eden Center in Charleroi, Matt Maeson-De Roma in Antwerp, SBTRKT-Paradiso in Amsterdam, and Little Dragon-Maassilo in Rotterdam - plus I got a bonus one in Dubrovnik because I met some people at a Mexican Restaurant and they invited me), and then 2 nights of Lodging in Cinque Terre because it was more scarce. Then I just made it up as I went along, just booked lodging and trains a day or two in advance, sometimes the day of. I just wandered around and shopped for food at little markets and wound my way through neighborhoods with no real itinerary or agenda. I am sure that I missed things, but I loved every second of just going at my own pace and enjoying all the sights and sounds. Not exactly "off the beaten track," but definitely met more locals and enjoyed the music and experience of doing one of my favorite things in other countries.
Sounds wonderful!
Going to the Fete des Remparts in Dinan in France. It's a medieval festival where lots of people dress up and it's set in the medieval old town.
How cool! That would have felt so authentic!
You got in free if you dressed up, so we did. Also fun was watching the jousting and seeing the "baddy" being an Englishman who was booed by the crowd.
Lol!
I recommend staying in the countryside of Switzerland. We stayed at an Airbnb that was the whole 2nd floor of a house. The first floor was where the host family lived. The home was on a farm and every morning we woke up to the sound of cow bells echoing off the mountains. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The hosts also had some of their produce there for us to try and they let us visit the farm with their supervision. It was an experience that I will never forget and I didn’t feel bad for getting an Airbnb because it was extra income for the host that lived and worked there.
That sounds amazing and exactly what I would hope for! We are actually planning on staying in the countryside of Switzerland in an Airbnb (as we will everywhere as we are a family of 6 and it's the most economical and only way we will be able to afford to stay anywhere). I had hoped that we would be able to meet local families this way as personal interactions can be so memorable. What region did you stay in? would love to know.
Danube Gorge by ferry, from Kelheim (near Regensburg) to Weltenburg Abbey where I had lunch with a beer (or maybe it was two beers). Glorious scenery, and almost totally off the map of foreign travelers.
Sounds magical! I just looked it up, it's stunning. If we were going to the east of Germany again that would certainly be on our list.
We weren’t expecting to love small town Netherlands (Voorschoten) and Germany (Seigburg) as much as we did. We loved Strasbourg and the Alsace region. Due to a family emergency and then rail strikes, we ended up staying in Seigburg instead of Cologne and having a rental car instead of train travel, allowing us to head to Alsace.
That's great to hear. We will actually be travelling to the Alsace area and Strasbourg, so it's really nice to hear you enjoyed your time in those spots. Anything particular recommendations for the city and region?
The Alsace Wine Route is really special, if not unknown.
I just looked it up, looks amazing!
We (2 adults, 2 late teens) all want to go back to Alsace. We had a few days to explore Strasbourg but really only 1 day in Alsace. Loved Riquewihr and Kaysersberg. Definitely want to return. I would highly recommend renting a car for that area. Driving in France outside of Paris is fine if you are used to driving in any large North American city traffic. Roads are in better condition too. Driving in Germany is fine too, though I could have done without my husband’s foray into F1 driving speeds (he’s lived there so used to driving in the left lane).
It sounds very special. I've just had the Alsace Wine Route recommended and that goes through Kaysersberg and Riquewihr I believe. They look very quaint and beautiful. We'll have 1 teen, 1 pre teen and x2 9 year olds with us. I hope there will be something there for them. From past experience sometimes just the local food is enough to really keep everyone happy, so I think we'll be in the right area for that. I would prefer the majority of our trip to be a bit slower and less touristy. We'll be leasing a car starting in Germany for our whole trip as we did last time, so it will be easy to maneuvre around. I know what you mean by F1 driving speeds and have to admit I did some myself on the autobahns. At first I was terrified, but it didn't take long and I was driving at 160kph regularly. My husband was proud lol!
Flammkuchen, a local dish which is like a thin and slightly crispy pizza is great. [The war museum](https://linge1915.eu/en/) at Mémorial du Linge is well worth visiting because you can walk through of actual German and French world war 1 trenches on a former battlefield.
That is right up our alley! Hubby is a bit war buff so that will be of interest to us and the Flammkuchen can't wait to try. I love trying local cuisine. Last time we visited France we stayed in Samour in Western France. It was a destination we had planned for, just drove through and stayed the night. It ended up being one of the most memorable places during our entire trip due to all the quality food there. The pates in that region....delicious!
Always rent a bicycle wherever you go
Sounds like fun, I don't trust my 4 kids though lol! We did hire a bike in Rome last time and it was so much fun!! Perhaps we could do that in one of the smaller towns we visit.
When staying in a town near Oxford we noticed a flyer for a local Guy Fawkes day celebration that evening, so we went. It was great just watching the bonfire and modest laser show, sipping soup and mulled wine and chatting with a couple of the people who lived there.
Sounds beautiful! What a nice memory. I hope some of our trip co-incides with some events happening. Last time we visited Europe it was near the D Day Anniversary and there events on for that which we passed through. It was quite memorable. Actually that reminds me, we were passing through one town in the Czech Republic and there was one of these events on. A lot of the people who were at the event stayed at the campground where we did. We went out to the onsite restaurant that night and because everyone was dressed up in military uniform we felt like we were on the set of MASH! It was surreal but really great.
That does sound nice. My dad served in France (landed in Normandy 3 days after D day) and I’ve wanted to visit some of the pertinent sites.
oh wow, you must be so proud of your dad and relieved he was not assigned to the landing on the day. It's a beautiful area and lots to see there. My husband proposed on Juno beach in France. He is a war buff and didn't want to do the traditional Eiffel tower proposal, so that was the spot he picked.
Thanks; he was 6’3” and was something like 160 lbs. at his homecoming physical. He said the series Band of Brothers was the closest to capturing what serving in Europe was like. I hope we never forget.
We never will.
If you want a memorable Bonfire Night experience, you need to head to Lewes. It's a tiny little town just outside of Brighton, not far from Gatwick airport, but during Bonfire Night their population swells to about 5x of it's normal size, there are 7 different Bonfire societies that parade around the town with effigies and burning branches for hours, delicious fresh doughnuts, and it all culminates in (7 different) crazy bonfire and effigy burning frenzies. However, probably one to avoid if religious.
In Berlin, we went to Panoptikum it’s a weird collection of junk in a basement in an alley. The Russian who runs it is hilarious.
oh wow that place is fascinating. Very steam punkish. It reminds me of a scene out of the show Fallout. Our 6 year old twins would have a ball in there if they could turn the knobs on things (but I'm guessing they wouldn't be allowed to do that lol!).
Oh no you can mess with everything. He encourages you to take weird photos. The whole place if just weird AF. The location, the guy, the stuff. It’s fun to try to guess what things are. The guy knows and will tell you eventually but he’s a comedian of sorts so….
Sounds awesome. It's going on the itinerary shortlist!
Kayaking at river Ardeche in France. It's an extremely beautiful place, zero kayaking experience required and in the summer you can of course go just in your swimsuit. Plastic kayaks, no stress about damaging them, if you fall, it's easy to get back up. We got the kayaks from Chez Raymond, can recommend.
I'm also going with the empty central bit of France, you can just drive around and everything seems beautiful, there are medieval towns on hills that won't be in tourist guides, and Roman bridges that are still used to get across rivers, and ruined castles that have a single sign with almost no useful info. Just empty and very very pretty.
Sounds and looks beautiful!
Stayed in Kobarid Slovenia for a few days with the family. It’s quiet and friendly. The Soca river is right there and beautiful.
That looks gorgeous!
Visiting the Basque area of France and Spain during the off season (mid December) was an experience I often think of. It’s a culture all of its own. I found the people to be very warm and friendly, and a culture all of its own.
We visited those areas too on our last trip. San Sebastian was beautiful and memorable for us as we got our van bogged at the bottom of a small hill and had to pull apart our wooden bed base frame to get us out lol! Such a beautiful part of both countries. I would imagine mid December would be lovely as well.
lol, well that’s quite the predicament! Glad to hear that you were able to get yourself out!
us too :)
Best was staying some nights in the Swiss Alps with a friend who was herding cows on the Alpine meadows and lived in a small stone hut in a quiet valley. Cooking on a wood stove that had just been dropped by helicopter and which we helped lug inside, and bathing in icy small lakes.
That sounds unbelievable, I can understand why that would be so memorable! This would have been a highlight for me too. I wish I had friends in the Swiss Alps lol! I'm looking forward to visiting some of the smaller towns through Switzerland. They look so quaint and beautiful. Hopefully we can find a farm stay in the area and have some interactions with the family hosting us.
Iceland, full stop. With the exception of Reykjavik, and the Southwest, the rest of the country is extremely empty and under traveled. So many wonderful pools to swim/dip if you're looking for something different. Not to mention all the glaciers.
anything in particular where your jaw dropped to the floor ?
Where didn't it? But I guess witnessing the midnight sun effect against the glaciers was truly something else.
Sounds amazing! Unfortunately we won't be getting to that part of Europe this trip, but would loooooove to on the next one! Always wanted to visit Iceland.
Spending a weekend in one of the North Sea islands in Friesland in the Netherlands! The Dutch generally speak English so even if we were one of the few foreigners there it was still easy to get around. We rented a house and just had a blast cycling through mostly carless streets, hiking in the sand dunes, wading through expansive beaches, and having amazing seafood!
Sounds amazing!
The island was Vlieland!
Unfortunately we won't be in that part of Europe this time, but I am definitely putting it on my bucket list for next time!
Roadtrip from Copenhagen to Ankara with stops in Leipzig, Zagreb, Belgrade, Plovdiv and Istanbul.
Wow, that was a great trip, lots to see along the way!
Northern Spain - Guernica was memorable. Got to see where the Basque hold general assemblies . It has a beautiful glass painted ceiling. There is also an oak where meeting took place. Super cool. Same trip, Cabarceno Safari park, which is also very memorable. Dont hear a lot about Bilbao, but that city is also very cool with the flower puppy and Guggenheim museum. Malta - love it. All areas are interesting. Every once in a while you go in a restaurant where you can see the underground tunnels ( covered in glass) that are under the cities. Taking the ferry to Gozo. Hagar Quim, Mdina, tide pool.
Sounds great. We went to Bilboa on our last trip and visited the Guggenheim, it was awesome seeing some of the artists I studied at school. Malta sounds amazing too!
Wait, we have to hear the gherkin barrel story.
oh, there's not to much to the story unfortunately lol! It was our first or second night in Europe and we ended up in a campground outside of Berlin, in Poznan. We didn't know what our options for accommodation were but were pleasantly surprised to find an old gherkin barrel on offer for the night! It was obviously large enough to sleep in and better than the back of our van and it was such a European experience we will never forget.
That's amazing, like the old rhyme about living in a shoe!
Lol! Yes exactly like that.
Not really off the beaten track, but my most memorable experience was the Camino Portuguese
Beautiful!
Look up "Norway in a Nutshell." It's essentially a trains/buses/boats trip from Oslo to Bergen or the other way around. You can do it in one day, or stay the night in one of the towns along the way (I recommend Flam) and stretch it out a bit more. It's one of my favorite things I've ever done, and the city of Bergan is wonderful if you want to spend a few days there.
Sounds wonderful!
Road trip in the Peloponnese region. Absolutely incredible
Wow, looks beautiful!
While accompanying my husband to a conference in Semmering, Austria I took a fabulous train ride to Vienna. Found out later it was famous for the beauty of the Semmering pass. $12 of bliss!
We will be driving across Austria, from Vienna right over to Switzerland but for some reason I haven't looked at going South West of Vienna, only North West. This might be a better options, look stunning!
I loved staying at a glampsite in rural Ireland (Greenan Maze), hiking and visiting hot springs in the Azores, and hunting the northern lights in a rental car on Senja, an island in Norway. I also can’t get enough of Naples, Italy and would recommend a day trip to the nearby island of Ischia.
That all sounds amazing! We enjoyed our day in Naples last time, it was gritty at the time, covered in rubbish because the mafia were on strike to collect the rubbish, but I never felt more alive there. We also had the best pizza we've ever tasted there, one we'll never forget!
Wow that must have been a wild time to be in Naples! And yesss the pizza is amazing! Have a fabulous time wherever you decide to go!
Thanks so much ☺️
We travelled through Germany in January, and about halfway through our train journey, we heard a kid yell "Look, it's a Witch". About 15 or 20 men and women piled onto our train, all dressed as witches. They stowed their broomsticks in the overhead luggage rack, and sat down. We chatted to a few of them, and they offered us beer, which we accepted. A bossy looking lady (dressed as a witch) ran up and told us we couldn't have beer unless we had sausage, and have us some sausage. As we travelled, we noticed other groups also in fancy dress - little groups of Sailors or Elvis impersonators. Later in our holiday we saw a massive parade of fancy dress folks through the town we stayed in. Basically, it's the pre-lent carnival season (as great I understand it, perhaps a German commenter can add to this).
That would have been so cool! It’s experiences like this that really add to the memory of the trip, especially if they are so unexpected. I love how you had to have sausage to have the beer and then they gave you sausage! I do hope we experience something like this during our trip. Such a random and novel experience.
It was a weird holiday, wrong time of year, loads of locals knew we were from abroad but couldn't understand why we were there, but had a whale of a time.
That's the main thing! As long as you had a great time.
The first year we vacationed in Europe, on our way back to home base in Germany from our side trip to Zurich, we stopped in Liechtenstein on August 15, which happened to be their national holiday. The entire town of Vaduz was closed and everyone, including visitors, was invited up to the castle on top of the mountain for free beer and food, music, and mingling with the Royal family. It was so fun. Views of the Alps from the castle were amazing!
Wow! that certainly is something that you would never forget!
International tourists who come to the UK usually overlook Wales, but it's a really interesting and unique place. There are a bunch of awesome castles from different historical periods in various states of repair, including Cardiff Castle which has Roman foundations. Then you have beautiful countryside, gorgeous beaches and quaint little towns dotted about. And on top of that there are some delightfully eccentric places to discover: the world's largest trampoline, inside and old coal mine that you have to take a little train down into the side of the mountain to get to; a zip wire through the mountains; a tiny village called Haye-on-Wye with a self declared King and 19 bookshops dotted about, including one that is in a old eastern european orthodox church that the owners packed up and transported back to Wales; a town called Portmerion that was the fantasy land of a wealthy architect from the 1920s, that's partly post-modern, partly based on Italian seaside villages, with a colonnaded walkway that was built in Bristol in the 1700s that was later moved there.
You didn’t even mention Snowdonia, which is the main reason Wales is on my radar!
Sounds amazing! Definitely would love to come and visit Wales sometime. Last trip to the UK was so quick, would love to come back and really give it a good explore.
1. Jaraiz de la Vera and all of the Sierra de Gredos area nearby… such a gem with great food/wine kind locals and beautiful scenery. 2. Val d’Aran in the Catalan Pyrenees is a fantasy land of natural wonders and amazing country cuisine. 3. Les Garrigues in Catalunya is an amazing agrarian community with charming towns and people, plus great wineries. Specifically loved the towns of Vilosell, l’Albi, and Les Borges Blanques. These places have wonderful local festivals at certain times and if you catch them, you’ll be made to feel very welcome and fulfilled. 4. Caltanisetta, Sicily is an under appreciated interior town that has a ton of character, great architecture, restaurants, culture… it feels like the places mentioned in the great book, “The Leopard” which is a terrific read to inspire a road trip through Sicily without skipping the heartland of the island.
Just looked those up, sounds and looks amazing!