Jani's European Adventure

[Virlomi]

For years now I've wanted someday to plan a trip to Europe on my own. It's been something I've dreamt about for a long time, but I had put it in the category of far away fuzzy horizon dreams and not put much stock in it. Through a series of events it's turned out that I have a little more wiggle room than I thought I had, so if all goes well, with some heavy budgeting and a lot of hostel-hopping I think I can actually make this happen!

I'm beginning to plan for somewhere around 6 weeks beginning right after the end of the school year in mid-May. The rough itinerary is probably going to be flying into Spain and spending about a week there, then over to France for a little less than a week, hopping over to London for a few days to visit a friend, over to Brussels for a day or two, to Germany for roughly three days for another friend visit, stop over in Prague, and then flying up to Sweden to visit another friend, and then down to Athens, a stop over at a friend's house in Bulgaria, and then end with a bit of time with a friend in Turkey. I'm choosing these countries primarily because for the most part they're the ones I haven't visited, because I'm planning this to be museum-heavy, and because there are a lot of friends I want to visit.

Jota, any suggestions while I'm in Spain? My thoughts thus far have been about half a week in Madrid and day trips from there, and then over to Barcelona (which I've visited before and absolutely loved), and then a stop over in Bilboa on the way to France. One of my top goals is to see all 5 Gugenheim museums before I'm 25, so I've just got to stop over there. Any ideas on other places to see? Sights that shouldn't be missed? I'm leaning towards less touristy and more art heavy, in general.

So what do you guys think? Anyone have any suggestions? Things I absolutely cannot miss? Do you think I'm crazy and should just stay home?

[steph]

All I can say is that I'm sooooo very excited for you! Yippee!!

One of my favorite things about France was going to Giverny. Standing on the Japanese bridge was just the coolest!

[fawkes]

Well, I've been to France, so maybe I can help out there...

Paris is ok, but it's very dirty and there are a LOT of tourists there, and a lot of pickpockets, so watch your stuff carefully. If you go to the Eifel Tower, move quickly when you're in line or some jerk will push past you and make you hit your head on a steel girder (it's true, it happened to me!). Take lots of pictures from the observation deck, it's the best veiw of the city you'll ever get. The Louvre will take days to get through and see everything, so get a tour and see the more important stuff. It will be very hard to see the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo, and you won't be allowed to use flash, so bring a digital camera so you can see whether or not your picture is worth keeping. GO SEE VERSAILE. Walk around in the garden. Take a tour through the mansion. It will be worth it. DO NOT look for the Moulin Rouge. It's in the red light district, and you WILL see things you'll never be able to forget. Bad things. Posters, mostly.

If you go anywhere else in France, Cannes is a great place. You can see where the Cannes Film Festival is held, and the beaches are awesome. I didn't stay there long, unfortunately, so I wouldn't know where else to go there.

Well, hope that helped a little

[Mahatma]

If you're in Barcelona before May 30, PM me if you wanna visit! I'll be there for the semester. Don't know where I'm staying yet though... *grumble grumble*

The only place I've been in Europe is Norway. I definitely recommend Oslo... but if you're going to visit a Swedish friend, he/she may not agree with me. (There's sort of a lighthearted rivalry there... *cough* Norway's better *cough*... )

[Jebus]

Don't come to Ireland, we're closed.

Make sure to have yourself a döner kebab while you're in Turkey. I've never had one in it's country of origin.

[Virlomi]

Spain will either be at the very beginning or very end of my trip, depending on which direction I take it all in, so if it's at the beginning I would be, and I'd love that!

I decided to come into London to visit a good friend, but I've spent a lot of time in most of the UK (and yes dear, I know you're not part of the UK) so I decided that this trip I should probably keep going to places I'm not as familiar with. Besides, if I came to Ireland I'd guilt you into seeing me, and I just can't trust myself to be able to hide my overwhelming secret love for you...

[jotabe]

Ok, besides the thee cities, if you like science museums, you shouldn't miss Valencia. They have the latest and best science museum in Spain. Seville is another must... I am not sure about which museums they have there, but the architecture of the city, mixing the ancient arabic style, the arabo-christian and later the barroque, together with one of the prettiest gothic cathedrals i've seen yet.
If you go to Seville, you can stop in the neighboring city of Cordoba, the old capital of the muslim caliphate of Spain, with a great mosque, and the Natural Reservation Park of Doñana.

Smaller and less known, you have Salamanca, Toledo and Burgos. And even my own city, Santiago One of the 3 main centers of pilgrimage of the Christianity, we have a Cathedral and a cultural offer to correspond with that.

[Andorbal]

I really like the idea of hostel hopping... In fact, I think my ideal trip to Europe would be to buy a rail pass for a month and live in hostels for the duration. But that probably won't ever get to happen, so you make sure you have fun for me, ok?

Andorbal.

[Virlomi]

Aww, I bet it's more attainable than you think. I'm sure you can make it happen! In the mean time, I'll take lots of pictures.

[Claire]

I did a trip through Europe this summer- we stopped in Cophenhagen, Paris, Limoges, Berlin, Cologne, Geneva, and the Austrian countryside. I wish we could have gone hostel hopping but it was cheaper to just go where I had friends. It was basically the time of my life!

[Andorbal]

You'd better take lots of pictures!

And I don't think it's as attainable as you think, because I'm married now and my wife doesn't really like the idea of hostels (which I don't understand). So I fully believe that I will get to Europe one day, I don't believe that it will be the trip that I'd do on my own.

Claire, do you think you would have enjoyed it more if you would have stayed in any one city for most of the trip? I personally think that doing what you did would be the most fun for me.

Andorbal.

[Virlomi]

So, I'm finally off to Europe! If all goes well I'll be in the air by eight, on my way to Spain. I'll be back and around on the 4th of August, so until then, have a great summer! If you want to follow along with this crazy trip of mine, I've set up a blog here. http://janimeetsworld.blogspot.com/

(yes, Josh, I promise I'll update it this time )

Bye, y'all!

[Rei]

Have fun!

[Virlomi]

Just wanted to say hey! I just came from Rotterdam, which made me ridiculously happy for reasons only you guys will understand. Hope everyone's having a great summer!

[steph]

Hi Jani!! I've been loving seeing your pictures and such. You're making quite the memories, and it's making me miss being there. I'm glad you're having such a fabulous time! Love you!