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webmeister posted:We used a muzzle for our mini dachshund when we travelled around Italy by train. It's typically required but as other people have commented, Italy is a pretty lax place in general with regard to rules. Most likely if your dog isn't wearing one when it should, it'll either be ignored, a conductor will ask you to put on one, or at worst they'll ask you to leave the train. I think getting fined (particularly in somewhere like Italy) is pretty unlikely. That's an awesome article. Interesting that muzzles are super-required in some countries (e.g. Czech Republic). My Swiss housemate for a year had a German Shepherd and I was friends with him for the next 3 years living nearby, and I never saw the dog muzzled or heard of any issue. Bigger dogs do need a special training certificate / owner license in Switzerland though. That's wild that in Vienna they expect dogs to be muzzled even when out and about. On the very rare occasions I see dogs outside and muzzled I get worried about them trying to bite me or that they'll freak out or something. Saladman fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 10:36
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Any recommendations for Brussels? Planning on staying there for an extended weekend in a few months and have a few places I want to visit in the city but also considering a day trip to Ghent and Bruges. There are Ghent and Bruges day trip tours for around $50 but I'm also considering booking train tickets for around that same price and going at my own pace.
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Jun 14, 2023 08:40
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I was there two weeks ago. In my opinion it's still one of those cities that's better as a local, with many tourist traps to avoid and no single top attraction. There's good food if you can find it from many cuisines, and if you are a beer nerd it's paradise (along with the Zenne valley). Apart from that I don't have many touristy experiences there. I went to the European Parliament museum thing which was nice but a bit heavy on stuff that I learned in high school. The main square is quite pretty too. There are quite a few nice museums like the Magritte Museum. We had a good atypical city tour from Brukselbinnenstebuiten and there is indeed a lot of interesting local history. But that company mostly do things in Dutch. The St Gilles district is apparently nice for coffee and bars and all your gentrified hipster stuff. It's very easy to get to other cities from there by train and it's all close, you really don't need a tour or whatever. Consider Leuven too.
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Jun 14, 2023 18:22
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How much cash should I have on hand for 4.5 days in Madrid, 4.5 days in Ibiza, and 4.5 days in London? Would 100 EUR and 100 GBP be fine if I'm planning to use credit cards for everything? I asked earlier about where to get cash. It was recommended that I would get the best exchange rate by using my debit card at a bank-attached ATM in Madrid and London, but Chase charges extra fees for using international ATMs, plus the fee from the ATM for using a non-bank card, plus the spread they'll charge, so it's probably cheaper and definitely simpler to just do the exchange at my local Chase branch.
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Jun 14, 2023 20:41
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Speaking as a Brit; I've just checked my bank records and I've withdrawn a total of £30 of cash in 2023; it's now contactless debit for just about everything.
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Jun 14, 2023 20:55
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What do you plan on doing in London? The answer may be “zero cash”.Josh Lyman posted:I asked earlier about where to get cash. It was recommended that I would get the best exchange rate by using my debit card at a bank-attached ATM in Madrid and London, but Chase charges extra fees for using international ATMs, plus the fee from the ATM for using a non-bank card, plus the spread they'll charge, so it's probably cheaper and definitely simpler to just do the exchange at my local Chase branch. I did the same thing you’re doing, but a few months go. No one wants to spend unnecessary money. But I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about optimizing cash flow and in the end what I did saved us a whopping $41. For a three-week overseas trip for two. Wasn’t worth it in hindsight.
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Jun 14, 2023 22:25
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:What do you plan on doing in London? The answer may be “zero cash”. In Ibiza, it's mainly going to clubs but also a boat trip to Formentera. Also some local food. In London, it'll be Wimbledon and sightseeing (museums). Plus visiting pubs. I may buy some souvenirs but I'm not a big souvenir person.
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Jun 14, 2023 23:15
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All I can say is what happened to us this spring. Every place I went to in London that you’d expect to see a tourist took credit cards. The Underground took tap-able credit cards. Every restaurant and pub we went to took credit cards. Every souvenir shop, even the little kiosks in the street, had at least a guy with a phone and Square reader. The one taxi we used took credit cards, and he could add a tip to the total. (Since you mentioned Chase, I almost exclusively used our Chase Visa).
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Jun 14, 2023 23:22
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Busy Bee posted:Any recommendations for Brussels? Planning on staying there for an extended weekend in a few months and have a few places I want to visit in the city but also considering a day trip to Ghent and Bruges. I did go on this chocolate & beer themed walking tour and enjoyed it quite a bit, and it's a good way to see the nicer parts of the inner city. The Atomium was actually a bit more interesting than I'd expected, and they're having a really neat sound & light exhibit until the end of September that was a highlight of the trip. I also drank quite a lot of beer at one of the Delirium bars, which I recommend. The Comic Strip Center is obviously worth a visit if you're into that. I went a bit out of the inner city to sample the moules & frites at Le Zinneke and didn't regret it. I've also seen Chez Leon mentioned; variously dismissive as "it's a tourist place" and from our tour guide as "sure it's a tourist place but they serve enough mussels every day that they have to be fresh".
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Jun 15, 2023 07:17
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Busy Bee posted:Any recommendations for Brussels? Planning on staying there for an extended weekend in a few months and have a few places I want to visit in the city but also considering a day trip to Ghent and Bruges. The Royal Museum for Central Africa is new (well - recently redone) and in an old palace and it’s pretty good and unique. Pretty far out of Brussels though. The view of the city from the Palace of Justice plateau is neat. The hulking dying behemoth of the Palace of Justice is also neat by itself, and a wonderful symbol of the incompetent decades-long mismanagement of the nation of Belgium. The city is kind of interesting in that it is the only (afaik) major European city not on either a river or a body of water. Unfortunately that distinction takes away one of the most lovely parts of nearly any European city, the river walk or seaside. (There is a body of water you will see on google maps but it’s a manmade canal and utterly lacking in any charm; it doesn’t even have a decayed industrial charm, it just is a long line of car parking). There’s a lot of good food, eg Nenu is a fantastic fusion place (book it 2+ weeks in advance, prices reasonably though), East@West is a fantastic Lebanese place for quick-ish and cheap-ish eats, Quick is a Belgian fast-food chain that serves the most disgusting burgers ever discovered by mankind, etc. Depends on your tastes and budget but it has a good food scene at all levels. I thought the comic book museum was kind of neat even though Tintin is the only comic I’ve read in my entire life. I vaguely remember some of it being French-only but that might have just been the special exhibit as everything in museums should be in French+Dutch and typically also English. The musical instrument museum is pretty unique and the building it is in is cool too. The Saint-Gilles area is lively, if you like just hanging out at some outside bar / restaurant. Bois de la Cambre is a popular park with families if you’re travelling with kids. Schaerbeek is ugly and sucks and over-recommended by hipsters I guess because it’s an ugly lower-middle class area that has a bad reputation but is not actually nearly as bad as its reputation - but that still doesn’t make it exactly tourist-relevant. I’ve spent a lot of time in Brussels the last couple years, it’s fine and has a nice atmosphere, just probably nothing that will make you go "wow" except the place de l’hôtel de ville and thé palais de justice + view of the city from the palais de justice.
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Jun 15, 2023 09:07
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Saladman posted:Schaerbeek is ugly and sucks and over-recommended by hipsters I guess because it’s an ugly lower-middle class area that has a bad reputation but is not actually nearly as bad as its reputation - but that still doesn’t make it exactly tourist-relevant. So, Brooklyn
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Jun 15, 2023 14:24
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Josh Lyman posted:How much cash should I have on hand for 4.5 days in Madrid, 4.5 days in Ibiza, and 4.5 days in London? Would 100 EUR and 100 GBP be fine if I'm planning to use credit cards for everything? I would budget $150 EUR for misc expenses and another $100 EUR for emergency fund, $100GBP emergency fund if you're in london. That's way more than you'll need but $100 will immediately generally solve any problem you'll run across as a tourist. Strong agree most everything went touchless card a while back. We were in Madrid and Toledo over new years and I don't recall using cash. Actually, there was a single pub in Toledo that was cash only that we stumbled in to and I think we paid $7-9 EUR total for two large cervesas.
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Jun 15, 2023 19:29
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Dr. Fraiser Chain posted:Looking to spend some time in Croatia and could use some advice for a trip. I have the better part of two weeks and I really don't know much about the country. Looking to bum around, see some old ruins, and maybe visit the beach and any cultural spots that I happen to walk by. Rent a car at least for most of it. Go to Plitvice Lakes, and since you have the freedom stay in a hotel in the area and get there right when they open; you'll have a couple hours of it being phenomenal and fairly empty until all the tour groups arrive.
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Jun 16, 2023 05:43
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The Atomium is fun, go to the Atomium E: Ghent is fun too, go to Ghent. These have been my Belgium recs
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Jun 17, 2023 16:23
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Comic book museum in Brussels has a good gift shop if you just want to check it out for free. For some forgotten reason, we went to the musical instrument museum which was a really cool old building with a ton of instruments with about half labelled in English.
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Jun 18, 2023 15:48
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Busy Bee posted:Has anyone here ever done a road trip in the Balkans? Specifically, Albania, Kosovo and/or North Macedonia? I've traveled to the Croatia, Bosnia, and soon to Montenegro but I'm curious about the other places I mentioned. mobby_6kl posted:Not been to Kosovo yet Just got back from 3 days in Pristina. It was such a short trip we didn't get to e.g. Prizren or anywhere far from the city. We stayed at an apartment right off one of the main squares and were able to walk easily to everything we wanted to do in the city. We visited the Kosovo Museum, which was interesting but had little context for the exhibits. We also went to the Ethnographic Museum, but it was mostly being renovated - however, a guy did show us round the 18th Century house that was open. There are lots of little monuments and things to see for yourself as you wander around. Like Bill Clinton  Or the Kosovo War Memorial and Martyrs Cemetery   This is a random satellite art and a church that was built but never finished, and which now sits empty and overgrown in the middle of a small park   The views from the tower at the Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa were awesome and we got up there in time for the 5pm bells   On our last day, we got a taxi to take us to Four Paws Bear Sanctuary, had the driver wait for us whilst we got a tour (90mins), then got driven to Gërmia Park - which all in all cost €30. We then got the bus back to Pristina for 50 cents. The bear sanctuary was awesome   And we didn't have much time in the park, but did manage to explore a ruined old police HQ   Three days was about right to take it at an easy pace and do lots of wandering, eating and drinking. Beer was about €1.50, a glass of wine €3, and a main course €4-13 depending on whether it was a well-filled sandwich or a meaty mixed grill. We went to Bubble Pub, the only 'official' gay bar in the country, and loads of really cool cafes and bars generally.  I would definitely recommend it for a short trip, or as an add-on to a wider trip to that bit of the world. Previously I'd only been as far as Slovenia, and it was really cool seeing a country with such a mix of funky businesses and local history. Interestingly, McDonald's isn't in Kosovo yet, however KFC and Burger King are. Not that you need them - the food was all really decent, and the quality of independent businesses in the city centre was great. I am sure it's different further away from Pristina, but we were really surprised by how hip and trendy so many places are.
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Jun 19, 2023 15:36
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Catching up on something like 500 posts since the start of the year, so apologies if this has already been discussed recently. I'll be doing about 8 days in Berlin at the end of September/early October. Planning on making one of those days an easy, light-stress, minimal itinerary day trip without a super-long train ride. Was thinking of Brandenburg an der Havel, as it's supposedly old-old German, fairly tourist-free, has cool buildings, etc. And it's an hour away. Other people keep shouting from the rooftops that Potsdam is the place to be. Palaces! An even shorter train ride! As a 3rd option, I've been toying with the depression of Oranienburg and seeing Sachsenhousen, too. I'm in Munich after my time in Berlin and plan to go to Dachau, so maybe this might be too much for my trip? What's the goon perspective on this? Any top choices? Any hidden-gem day trips I haven't mentioned? (I don't plan on spending more than 2 hours on the train each way)
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Jun 19, 2023 21:43
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Off the top of my head I would recommend Potsdam, Wansee (House of the Wannsee Conference) and Pfaueninsel are all nearby. There's also Teufelsberg, an old spy station and now covered in cool graffiti which is on the way to Potsdam and would be convenient if you have a car. Otherwise you can go kayaking at Lübbenau(Spreewald). Baumkronenpfad Beelitz Tree & Time is really cool and is in an old Sanatorium. Might be a little farther away on the train though.
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Jun 19, 2023 22:19
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HELP! I’m going to Slovakia, what do I do? My dad has an old friend who just made an exciting offer: he wants to visit his family’s Slovakian roots in August and wants my dad and I to go with him! He’ll pay for flights and a rental van and tour guide. My dad and his pal are in their 80s so I have a feeling I’ll be passing lots of stuff I’d like to do but can’t, and under the circumstances I’m ok with that. All I know so far is we’ll be going east to Košice, Prešov, and Kapušany. If anyone has tips for good stuff to do there with a couple old guys I’d love to hear them. After searching the thread I’ve learned about Spiš castle, ice caves, and how popular hiking is there, though I doubt I’ll be doing any. I’m probably posting this too early since I don’t know my itinerary yet and if I’ll be able to take off for a while on my own but I’m excited to go somewhere unexpected. If I get time to myself I might try to hang out in Bratislava and take a quickish boat tour to Budapest and/or Vienna but I don’t know if that’ll be possible. Also, and this might be more of a long shot, I’d love to check out any cool underground music and art. I like noise, metal, punk, and any weird wonderful local stuff.
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Jun 20, 2023 16:05
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Bollock Monkey posted:Just got back from 3 days in Pristina. It was such a short trip we didn't get to e.g. Prizren or anywhere far from the city. Neat, thanks. No one ever posts photos in this thread. I was curious as to which other forgotten European countries there are, and I was somewhat surprised that Kosovo was by far the bottom of the list for TripAdvisor activity for non-microstates, along with Moldova (less surprising): https://www.tripadvisor.com/ListForums-g4-i11-Europe.html I don't think I've ever talked to someone who has been to Albania or North Macedonia either, other than a N Macedonian colleague I had a few years ago. Also RIP for Azerbaijan, not being part of TA's Europe while Georgia is. That's a new categorical definition of Europe for me: neither by Eurovision rules nor by textbook geography.
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Jun 20, 2023 16:12
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Snowy posted:HELP! I’m going to Slovakia, what do I do? I can’t help you with much, but I know that if you’re lactose intolerant bring lactaid tablets with you. 
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Jun 20, 2023 18:56
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I'm certain that this is covered somewhere in the thread, but I'm going to Florence for a week in August (gently caress me it'll be hot, this wasn't my idea) and I'm looking for any suggestions for places to eat or things I absolutely *must* do. So far I've made a map and I'm including most of the really popular stuff - Uffizi, Duomo, Boboli Gardens - and I will make a reservation time in the morning for the most popular places. Any thoughts on what other sights I should see, or what things I absolutely must eat? I have a few restaurant suggestions as well, and I took note of some bars and the only brewery I saw in downtown Florence. I also might have time for a day trip, if anyone has strong feelings about that. I was booked for a daytrip to Cinque Terra, but that's the only place I have covered so far... ....gently caress it's going to be hot.
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Jun 20, 2023 21:23
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Saladman posted:I don't think I've ever talked to someone who has been to Albania or North Macedonia either, other than a N Macedonian colleague I had a few years ago. Albania is getting popular among the Dutch young backpackers. When I was in Croatia last month there were a bunch of them just following the coast to Montenegro and Albania, citing it as an up and coming destination and they wanted to go there before everyone. North Macedonia a bit less so. I have a friend who is from there who went there, as well as some people doing serious Balkan backpacking. It still seems more popular than Kosovo though. Kosovo of course has some people with genocidal tendencies living up north and there have been some occasional clashes up there recently. MEIN RAVEN posted:I'm certain that this is covered somewhere in the thread, but I'm going to Florence for a week in August (gently caress me it'll be hot, this wasn't my idea) and I'm looking for any suggestions for places to eat or things I absolutely *must* do. So far I've made a map and I'm including most of the really popular stuff - Uffizi, Duomo, Boboli Gardens - and I will make a reservation time in the morning for the most popular places. Any thoughts on what other sights I should see, or what things I absolutely must eat? I have a few restaurant suggestions as well, and I took note of some bars and the only brewery I saw in downtown Florence. I also might have time for a day trip, if anyone has strong feelings about that. I was booked for a daytrip to Cinque Terra, but that's the only place I have covered so far... I did this in 2019 (also not my choice, it was for work) and I've probably posted about it previously in this thread. Although I think the best pizza place I found back then has closed. Even in August weather can vary a bit in the range of warm to hot, and in my case it wasn't that bad, about 25-28C. It was during the northern European heatwave when it was 40C in Germany so it was an improvement for me. Entropist fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Jun 20, 2023 |
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Jun 20, 2023 22:07
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MEIN RAVEN posted:I'm certain that this is covered somewhere in the thread, but I'm going to Florence for a week in August (gently caress me it'll be hot, this wasn't my idea) and I'm looking for any suggestions for places to eat or things I absolutely *must* do. So far I've made a map and I'm including most of the really popular stuff - Uffizi, Duomo, Boboli Gardens - and I will make a reservation time in the morning for the most popular places. Any thoughts on what other sights I should see, or what things I absolutely must eat? I have a few restaurant suggestions as well, and I took note of some bars and the only brewery I saw in downtown Florence. I also might have time for a day trip, if anyone has strong feelings about that. I was booked for a daytrip to Cinque Terra, but that's the only place I have covered so far... I recommend taking a day trip to Lucca and walk around the walled part of the city, it's an hour long train drive one way and it's a very nice and chill.
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Jun 22, 2023 08:08
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MEIN RAVEN posted:I also might have time for a day trip, if anyone has strong feelings about that. I was booked for a daytrip to Cinque Terra, but that's the only place I have covered so far... I have strong feelings that doing Cinque Terre for a daytrip in August from Florence is going to be awful. I would 100% back out of that and instead do something in Tuscany that doesn't require 6 hours of roundtrip travel in a single day. Cinque Terre is best in the super early morning or after 5pm, when the massive fuckoff crowds of tourists have thinned. Whatever you do, don't go to Vernazza if you're doing Cinque Terre as a daytrip. It is the cutest but it is like South Korean Halloween levels of crowded during the day. Corniglia is OK even in daytime in summer, because it's up like 200 stairs from the station. Manarola also, and for pretty much the same reason. I've been to Cinque Terre in August for a long weekend (2013?) and in May for an overnight stay (2017?), both times it was crazy crowded, to the extent that I would never organize another visit unless there's another Turkey-circa-2021-style COVID lockdown that locks down everyone except me. I would also never even go to Cinque Terre as a daytrip, even if someone else organized it and paid for it. Staying overnight is fine as even in August it was nice from like 7am-10:30am and then nice again from 6pm-bedtime. There's so much nice stuff near Florence, go to Volterra or even San Gimignano or do a winery tour instead or visit Sienna. (Pisa sucks, except for the main piazza with the tower and cathedral.) Make sure your lodging has air conditioning, they don't always. The place we rented in Cinque Terre didn't, it just had a fan, although tbh I don't really mind heat up to 30°C, so I wasn't looking for it. The personal issue I have with Italy in August is with the ubiquitous mosquitos.
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Jun 22, 2023 12:36
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mmkay posted:I recommend taking a day trip to Lucca and walk around the walled part of the city, it's an hour long train drive one way and it's a very nice and chill. This except rent a bike to ride around on top of the wall.
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Jun 22, 2023 12:38
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There are lots of beautiful small towns around Tuscany, many of them closer than Cinque Terra. I can second Volterra.
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Jun 22, 2023 16:10
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Saladman posted:
Worst mosquitos I've experienced in my life were in Florence in late summer. They would stream in if you left a window open for even a second and there was no AC. It would honestly make me want to move out if I lived there.
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Jun 22, 2023 16:43
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Oh god if there’s mosquitos that means you get giant roaches too  gross
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Jun 22, 2023 17:01
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I've never actually noticed any cockroaches indoors in Europe. Plenty of spiders/flies/mosquitos/ants and the occasional mouse or lost beetle, but I don't think cockroaches are very common
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Jun 23, 2023 09:09
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They're pretty common in Barcelona  One crawled in through our mini split once, and I hear they're everywhere in the denser parts of town.
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Jun 24, 2023 14:01
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If you like hiking, check out the trails at Cinque Terre - we walked from Levanto to Monterosso and hardly saw any people on the trail. (It was also super duper hot so I recommend plenty of water.) There's also a cool 'secret' beach in Monterosso behind Statua del Gigante that was really nice and peaceful. The actual town centres/beaches are pretty terrible. I third Lucca! We stayed there for a week last year and did day trips from there. It's a lovely town, and walking or biking on the wall is very chill evening activity. Wonton posted:Oh god if there’s mosquitos that means you get giant roaches too Wait, what's the connection between mosquitos and roaches? I've never seen a roach here and we get plenty of mosquitos. Doll House Ghost fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Jun 24, 2023 |
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Jun 24, 2023 19:40
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Entropist posted:Albania is getting popular among the Dutch young backpackers. When I was in Croatia last month there were a bunch of them just following the coast to Montenegro and Albania, citing it as an up and coming destination and they wanted to go there before everyone. Travel + Leisure US has a full-length feature on Albania as an emerging agritourism and gastronomy destination in next month's issue, so the Dutch kids are definitely timing it right. Looked good, too. I'd eat the hell out of Albanian food.
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Jun 26, 2023 04:09
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Are there any "hidden gem" or off-the-beaten-path or not-super-popular-with-tourist places that go over Cold War and WW2 history in Berlin? I feel like that's an insane question to ask, but maybe there's something out there that's below the radar.
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Jun 26, 2023 19:43
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Completely opposite to that, but the DDR Museum is genuinely great and shouldn't be knocked because it's so popular. Definitely popular for a reason!
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Jun 26, 2023 19:49
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The secret police jail/museum is also good. IIRC, our guide was detained there.
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Jun 26, 2023 20:46
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Sadly not Berlin but Rostock has a tiny out of the way museum filled with all sorts of insane home-made submarines and contraptions that people used to cross over the channel to Denmark and Sweden.
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Jun 26, 2023 20:53
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Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think Lucca and Volterra look awesome and are definitely going on the list. I'm beginning to regret the Cinque Terra day trip, but this is what it's like traveling with my father: you have to go do all the poo poo, in the most touristy way possible. There's a big reason we don't travel together anymore... The apartment we're renting supposedly has AC, but if it doesn't I'm just going to flip all the loving tables. Then I'll find the coldest bar and just stay there...
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Jun 26, 2023 22:51
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The podcast Cold War Conversations recently had an episode called “the ultimate guide to Cold War Berlin”. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode296/ I haven’t listened to it yet but here’s the guy they talk to https://www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com/
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Jun 26, 2023 23:09
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any recommendations for early-mid October with lots of history and good food, ideally warm but not so beach-focused that everywhere will be closed? thinking something like Sicily, Malta or Crete
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Jun 27, 2023 22:54
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