Two Yanks and a Wank are emarking on their trip feb. 21, from america, U.S.A.
Preliminary Iterary is as follows:
Feb 21, 2009. T.Y.A.A.W. Embark on their journey arriving in london.
feb 26 Paris, France
Mar 2 Barcelona, Spain
Mar 7 Nice, France
Mar 9 Roma, Italy
Mar 13 Florence, Italy including yankerdoodles birthday
Mar 15 Venice, Italy
March 16 Munich, Germany
Mar 21 Vienna, Austria including Lone wanker B-day
Mar 25 Budapest, Hungary
Mar 29 Prague, Czech republic Yanker me timbers b-day
Apr 2 Berlin, Germany
Apr 7 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Apr 10 Brussels, Belgium
Problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flight from london back to u.s.a. is on april 19, 2009.
Solution: Need suggestions for other cities and/or countries, preferably from experience and perferably a good experience. have about 7 days to fill. also, suggestions for attractions, sites, and others would be amazing.
thanks all
the lone wankey
p.s. tales from the cookie: All generalities are false, in general.
Hi there, I got an e-mail from Carrie Moore, Maddog's wife, and she told me you all were on a grand adventure and needed help filling in some gaps for places to go. My husband and I went on a 6th month travel adventure from August 2007 to January 2008 to 17 euaropean countries. So Carrie thought I might be able to provide some inspiration to a few other places to visit along the way.
ReplyDeleteOver all: look for the free walking tours everywhere you go. These were invaluable to us in getting to know the cities we were in. We went on free walking tours in Amsterdam, Munich, Brugges (Belgium), and Berlin. This was a good thing to do on the first day or two in the city and in Berlin it fueled our fire to go back to all those places on our own.
I would suggest some of the following add-ins.
1) while in Spain- make sure that Barcelona is on you list of cities to visit. This was one of our favorite on our 6 month trip. Gaudi's cathedral is a must and will be a day on it's own. GO to Gaudi's park as well.
Also while in Spain, if you are in Madrid, take a day trip to the litte town of Segovia... you will not regret it. There is an amazing Roman Aquaduct there, a quaint little castle, an old fortified downtown with an amazing cathedral. The cathedral provided access to compartments (like the preists' meeting rooms and museum) that no other cathedral we visited allowed. We spent a lot of time in SPain over all, so if you want more ideas for Spain, let me know. We stayed in San Sebastian, Valencia (a reat party town), Madrid, Barcelon, Grenada (home of the Ali Hambra) and Sevilla (another beautiful and historical town) and Tarifa ( an awesome wind surfing town that jumped across to Morocco from).
2)I'd suggest a side trip add on to Lisbon, Portugal as well... if you have time. The people are very friendly and the city has a lot of history to discover. On a side trip from Lisbon we went to a little town called Sentra and hiked up to an old Moorish fortress. THis was probably the coolest fortress/castle we saw b/c it was scenic and felt very ancient. This small town is very quaint and artistic and has two other palaces! From here we traveled to southern Portugal to the beach city of Lagos the train ride was very scenic. There were beautiful cliff beachesin Lagos with a high population of British. If you go there find the Scabby Goat for a free drink on the house...(From here we took a bus ride back to Sevilla, Spain on our way to Tarifa and Morocco).
3) While in Italy, add in a couple night in the Cinco Terra area. This is a series of five towns right along the coast of Italy... it is very near Nice, France. THe big thing to do in Cinco Terra is to take the hike along the coast to the 5 towns. Depending on which ed you start off on it'll either be super easy to more challenging towards the end or the reverse. Regardless it is a beautiful walk. You'll walk past orchards, vinyards, and have beautiful views of the ocean along the way. As you pass through the town, you can stop for Expresso, snacks etc. We also did a couple of other hikes besides the main trail here. It was a lovely place. When
When we visited Rome, we stayed in a place call "TIber Village" it was actually outside of town a ways... but that ended up being great because it was quiet. It's a campground that has huts/campers you can stay in. We got our for 10 euro each a night! They have great sowers, and great pizza at the restaurant.
I'd also suggest a classic visit to the town of Pisa to see the tower and have the best Gelato we had on the trip. A day trip trip really... not so much a place to stay for multiple days.
We also stayed in Turino for a few days at a small on star hotel and enjoyed ourselves ... a very beautiful regal town with lots of historical sites. They also do a tapas type of thing here but it's with food and wine. You'll see many bars and restaurants that offer all you can eat tapa style dishes for the price of a drink. It's a great way to check out the local dishes.
4) While in Berlin, definitely take the free walking tour here. It'll give you a sense of focus as well as a intinary of places to go back and explore on your own. I must say the Berlin was also one of my MOST favorite cities visited. I would like to live here I loved it so much. Also see if the "Underground" walking tour is still going. This was basically a tour of the underground artistic side of Berlin. We visited many of the street art sites as well as an artist colony in a bombed out building where artists started squatting and opening their galaries. THe city wanted to tear it down but the people of the city supported leaving it and voted to subsidize it so the artists could stay. I'd suggest staying on the eastside as opposed to the west. Much better feel. Visit the bombed and rebuilt cathedral on the west side. It is at the stop for the zoo. You can't miss it when you get off the rail. You will not regret this stop. It's an amazing story of how the people chose to represent the church n the rebuild and the inside of the new church is very "aquatic feeling"... you'll see what I mean. IF you get a chance go to the domw at the top of the government building as well... free but usually a long line. We missed it. We literally ran out of time for Berlin and wished we had planned more time here.
WHile in Munich, I'd recommend the walking tour here as well and a day trip to Dachau (the first concentration camp). Entrance is free and you can get one of those handheld tour things for cheap. I was enthralled at this place. THe museum exhibit and the site itself was amazing. I learned so much here that I had never known before. I spent abotu 5 1/2 hours here and actually ran out of time and had to leave because they were closing. It was an excellent pre-cursor to visiting Auschwitz.
5) which brings me to another add in I'd recommend... go to Poland!!! We stayed in Krakow and visited Auschwitz from here. Krakow is lovely and it's square is HUGE. There's an used English bookstore here (if you're craving books) as well as a theater with English language films. Awesome theater that you sit in individual recliners in red velvet lined rooms and watch off of a big screnn TV (basically). Very cool.
6) I forgot, we did a walking tour in Prague as well. We stayed at this little hostl called the Bell hostel. I cannot remember the name of the woman who owns and runs it, but she was sooooo sweet. THe hostel itself wasn't grand or spectacular, but she was so awesome we stayed there two times. We were supposed to take a teaching course in Prague and after we ditched the class we went back and stayed with her. She really took care of us and we liked her a lot. She suggested a day trip to Kutna Hora... whcih I recommend as well... to see the Osuary... the bone church. THe town is lovely but the Osuary is a noteworth visit. Basically, in the times of the plague, there were so many bone that the priests began to decorate the chapel with the bones. GO SEE IT!
I'd recommend adding Scottland and Ireland in as well... if you have time. Cliffs of Mohr in in Ireland... WOW! Take the tour from Galway to go to the cliffs of Mohr as well as to see the ring forts and burial sites. Was a fun trip.
Well.... I've worn myself out... and probably bored you to tears... but if you want more ideas, let me know. I'd love to be able to help someone else enjoy their adventures. We had a blast and I'd recommend sponanity, don't be afraid to take recommendations of people you meet. Check out www.hostelworld and www. hostelbookers for planning places to stay. SOme hostels are awesome, others are just places to lay your head.... but hostels are a great way to extend your money as meet great people who are out there traveling as well.
Have fun!
H