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Julio Cruz posted: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? Yes. But more seriously most things are open in Greece and Sicily until end of October. Some things only open Jul-Sep but Easter through late October is fine, enough remains open it’s not a weird ghost town. Not sure I’d do Malta for more than like five or six days although it is less seasonal as it’s also a winter destination. What’s your timeline? We spent 5 days there in Dec a few years ago and covered the islands pretty comprehensively. I think after 8 days you’d be scraping bottom of the barrel, unless you’re just looking to eat and chill somewhere sunny and nice for most of your stay, in which case you could easily spend 10 days there. For good food I’d definitely pick Italy over Greece. Or really Italy over literally anywhere else. There’s not a lot of variety in Italian restaurants and I’d get bored with the cuisine if I lived anywhere in Italy except maybe Milan, but god drat they do what they do so well. I’ve found cuisine in many parts of Greece to be rather lacking, like the outdated stereotypes of finding food in England. Saladman fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Jun 27, 2023 |
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Jun 27, 2023 23:25
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We did Malta for... 4 days? Got an airbnb on the west side of St. Luke's hospital facing the marina. The old city NE of triton fountain is ~1.5 days of activity, rented a car did blue lagoon, azure window (collapsed in 2019?), also st. peter (st. paul?) got run out of jerusalem because... not sure why, didn't sound like he was a very popular dude, they would have executed him but he was a roman citizen and sent him home instead. shipwrecked in malta on the way to rome, so there's a bunch of st. ___ stuff on the island where he stayed etc pretty neat. The whole island is made from this ultra soft sandstone so there's a billion crypts carved througout the island. Comino you can skip, particularly in the off season. Gozo was ok. Not sure it was worth burning up a whole day. Cool ferry ride at least Malta is famous for their "valetta glass" but it's all made in a workshop out in the country, we visited the workshop, prices were about a quarter that of the gift shops in valetta proper If you're in malta make drat sure your rental car has windshield wipers.
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Jun 28, 2023 01:46
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That's definitely Paul
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Jun 28, 2023 15:18
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Any breakfast recommendations for Barcelona?
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Jun 28, 2023 20:48
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*clears throat* someone mentioned Barcelona? I assume you mean brunch or something along those lines. If you want a true Catalan breakfast, go to the nearest cafe or bar and get a pastry or bocadillo. Of the chains, SantaGloria is by far the best imo. Can't go wrong with a bocadillo de jamon on good bread with a little tomato spread. Anyways this list skews towards my side of town and may be out of the way for you, but the top two do have other locations. The Egg Lab - my top choice, interesting Benedicts EatMyTrip - stellar despite the embarrassing name El Garden - limited menu but quality food and a great outdoor space. I've been taking my family nearly every other weekend recently. The place next door (Oxid) is great too (but doesn't have breakfast). Fat Schmuck's - haven't been but want to try. A spin off of Two Schmucks up the street, a fantastic cocktail bar. The hot spots with several locations are Billy Brunch, and Brunch and Cake but it's been a while, whenever we tried recently I couldn't get a table. I want to say Billy Brunch is better.
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Jun 28, 2023 23:28
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Thank you so much, SurgicalOntologist!
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Jun 29, 2023 17:32
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This is great reading all the thread to dream about future trips! In the meantime we have tickets to the louvre tomorrow with a 5pm entry. Is carrousel de louvre still considered the easiest and fastest entry?
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Jun 29, 2023 21:34
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Easiest or best? If you've never gone before, Pyramid seems like the best option unless it's a multi-hour wait.
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Jun 29, 2023 21:39
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Hadlock posted:Easiest or best? Last day of a long trip, so probably easiest this time. Thanks!
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Jun 29, 2023 22:05
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brunch with yr parents posted:This is great reading all the thread to dream about future trips! If you read this in time, do some research about what you want to see. You may know the Louvre is big, but you really don’t grasp it until you’re inside. Nothing wrong with hitting up the “big 3” if you want, but two of the three are pretty underwhelming to me. I suggest choosing one collection and going as deep in it as you are able, otherwise you’re going to feel rushed trying to see “everything” (which would take several days to actually do). Also, if it’s the last day of a trip, spare yourself some energy during the day—again, big museum, lot of walking.
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Jun 30, 2023 03:14
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Agree, the louvre is massive
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Jun 30, 2023 04:25
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Rick Steves has a good itenerary that hits the classical highlights, with explanations. It's truly insane how big the place is.
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Jun 30, 2023 05:13
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Has anyone been around the Cotswolds or around the general Bristol-Bath region? I'm headed there for five days in mid-July with a car and the WikiVoyage and other sites are extremely dense with "what to do" in the area, although when I look it seems like long lists of nearly indistinguishable (but all very cute) tiny villages and prehistoric menhirs. I like little old countryside villages so that's fine, I'm just having a hard time figuring out if there's anything particularly noteworthy. I nearly always prefer a site that is half as majestic but that gets 1/100th as many visitors, so the places I do see on many lists like Chipping Campden I am wondering if they will just be swarmed with tour buses, or if it's pretty chill. What I've read and looked at so far kind of reminds me of the Ardennes- Eifel region, in that it's kind of nice if you're living nearby but not really nice enough to warrant a trip for anyone living more than an hour or two away. I don't see the European "B-list" areas come up very often in this thread. I've been to Oxford and Stonehenge before, a long time ago but I have no interest in ever going back to Stonehenge and not really any particular in seeing Oxford again. I've never been anywhere else in that general area. Generally not interested in bigger cities although Bristol does look like it might be kind of neat and I have my flight back from there. We already booked two nights in Cirencester, two nights outside Bath, and one night outside Bristol - surprisingly hard to find lodging even though the school holidays haven't started yet.
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Jun 30, 2023 13:14
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Saladman posted:Has anyone been around the Cotswolds or around the general Bristol-Bath region? I'm headed there for five days in mid-July with a car and the WikiVoyage and other sites are extremely dense with "what to do" in the area, although when I look it seems like long lists of nearly indistinguishable (but all very cute) tiny villages and prehistoric menhirs. I like little old countryside villages so that's fine, I'm just having a hard time figuring out if there's anything particularly noteworthy. I nearly always prefer a site that is half as majestic but that gets 1/100th as many visitors, so the places I do see on many lists like Chipping Campden I am wondering if they will just be swarmed with tour buses, or if it's pretty chill. Bath is nice, check out Prior Park and Lacock/the Fox Talbot Museum, I enjoyed the small photography museum and astrophotography exhibition when we visited. Bristol is OK too but takes more effort to enjoy. The camera obscura is cool if you've never done one before. Cheddar Gorge is dramatic geography for England (i.e. barely at all in any other country) but can be busy. Otherwise I'd just check out the most convenient National Trust properties and plan out some nice looking walks on an OS map of the are, we're staying in Somerset soon and that's all our plans consist of!
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Jun 30, 2023 14:13
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Thanks for the help and suggestions, everyone. Appreciate it. 
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Jun 30, 2023 15:35
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Saladman posted:Has anyone been around the Cotswolds or around the general Bristol-Bath region? I'm headed there for five days in mid-July with a car and the WikiVoyage and other sites are extremely dense with "what to do" in the area, although when I look it seems like long lists of nearly indistinguishable (but all very cute) tiny villages and prehistoric menhirs. I like little old countryside villages so that's fine, I'm just having a hard time figuring out if there's anything particularly noteworthy. I nearly always prefer a site that is half as majestic but that gets 1/100th as many visitors, so the places I do see on many lists like Chipping Campden I am wondering if they will just be swarmed with tour buses, or if it's pretty chill. I spent a week in Chipping Camden maybe 15 years ago, I don't think we did anything besides take walks in the countryside between villages. Which was nice, mind you, I remember that trip positively, but I don't know if anything was particularly noteworthy. It wasn't crowded with tour buses but it was a long time ago and also Christmas week, so who knows.
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Jun 30, 2023 16:07
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I liked Bath, I don’t remember going to anything the baths but the architecture is very fancy.
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Jun 30, 2023 23:25
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Reading other people’s trip reports of their Italian vacations helped organize mine, so here’s my favorite things from spending most of May traveling around. Rome - I flew in and out of Rome, and stayed in two different hotels. The first one was Hotel Portoghesi near the Pantheon, which was a fantastic hotel in a fantastic location. They had my room ready well before official checkin, so I could take a 2 hour power nap before the Roma-Inter game. I’m a big enough sports fan that while I didn’t plan my cities around matches, I did try lining things up so I’d be in a city with a home game when possible. Roma was a hell of an experience to start my vacation, and absolutely ruled. For monuments, I thought the Vatican was the most impressive, to a hilarious degree. Like, gently caress you other churches, we’re just going to out-opulent you. I wish I spent a little more time in there, but bought a timed reservation lunch at the Vatican Museums which ended up being a coupon for the cafeteria - very dumb do not do this. That place is gigantic and I got overwhelmed by the end of it. Still incredibly worth seeing, but just be prepared to slog. The second leg in Rome was Baths of Caracalla, Circo Massimo, Palatine Hill and the Coliseum. I thought Circo’s AR headset describing how the land had changed over time, up to and including WWI/II was fantastic. Palatine Hill was gorgeous to walk though, and the Coliseum is a big place with a lot of school trips. I can’t say “don’t see a world landmark” but walking up to it was way cooler than being inside. It’s an old stadium! Baths of Caracalla had a lot of the same “wow, this is gigantic” feeling but with maybe two dozen people in the entire place, plus there was a high school track meet next to it. Seeing kids sprinting next to a historical building helped me really appreciate the history/modern living of Rome, coming from America. Loved Travi fountain, and spent a lot of time just admiring it with a gelato or drink in hand. The views from Via Garabaldi and the top of the Spanish Steps are also amazing. Rome also had my favorite meal at Bottega Tredici, Via deli Falegnami 14. The app was a light cheese broth with eggs cracked in and the main was cod ravioli. I went to Da Enzo in Trastavere for dinner that same day and it didn’t really compare. Cinque Terre - I want to go back and spend a week there, hiking the trails in the morning and spending all afternoon plastered on good wine while looking at the sea. I only stayed two nights, but the weather was either cold and sunny or raining. I toughed out the rain and took the train to other towns and explored, and as soon as the sun came out hiked the Monterosso-Vernazza trail. Coming down that hill to the Vernazza view that was on every postcard and magnet I saw hawked was special. Then I proved a point to nobody by laying on a rocky beach and finishing a bottle of wine in a light drizzle. Pisa is very much a “oh, you went to Italy and didn’t go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa?” Stop. Looking at everything else in the Field of Miracles, I can’t remember a drat other thing that stuck out. I didn’t stay long, just a stop between Cinque Terre and Florence - Another football match (at least the home team won!) Saw three different statues of David, with the one in the Museum being the least favorite. Best was the one in the Piazza Michelangelo. I lucked out and had a night with a fantastic sunset, and the crowd of people going up to hang out and watch it reminded me of a big event, where you notice a lot of people moving in the same direction as you. Gorgeous views there. On a Monday I did a Chianti wine tour, where I was the only one that whoo-hoo’ed the tour guide saying “and at 10:30 we’ll have our first wine!” That was one of the highlights, both for the wine education but also having the same group of people traveling together that day. Walking around the grounds after lunch I asked a guy “Did you get that leather jacket in Florence, I’m thinking about getting one.” Two minutes later I’m trying his on, he’s taking the style photos for me, and it gave me the confidence to buy the one I had my eye on. Venice If Cinque Terre was the one I wanted to spend a week in, Venice was the spot I wanted to have a 3 or 6 month job thing. There was something about Venice’s organization that appealed to the logistical side of me - how wide some of the sidewalks were compared to their location, how deliveries worked, how the boat bus worked. I stayed at a B&B, Corte Campana, and the hosts were absolutely delightful. Only 3 rooms so worth looking at booking early. Definitely stay in Venice, because the huge crowds coming in made for a completely different day to night. Got to see the Barber of Seville at the Musica Palazzo, and that was one of my favorite events. It’s a smart concept done with a lot of love, all the actors absolutely killed it, just so much fun. I saw a Vivaldi concert the next night, and if I went back I’d do Musica Palazzo again in a heartbeat over another concert. Naples Going from Venice to a Saturday night in Naples on Via del Tribunali was cultural whiplash, and hanging out near the stadium for the match solidified that place as wild in my mind. I didn’t get a ticket, but seeing grocery carts of beer being hawked and a 13 year old selling airplane bottles of booze was awesome, along with a goddamn cannon firing an hour before kickoff. I didn’t realize Pompeii’s ruins were so gigantic, and wish I had planned that better. Part of me thinks Naples and Pompeii could be a long day trip from Rome, but spending a couple nights in Naples made me appreciate how absolutely crazy that town is for football and Maradona. A month later, I realized a lot of the museums and cultural exhibits ran together for me. I wish I found a fun niche museum like the Irish Whiskey Museum in Dublin, instead of historical artifacts over and over.
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Jul 2, 2023 15:07
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I got back from Sicily. Three towns, three very different experiences. Palermo - Palermo is a city. It's busy. It's historic. The traffic is terrifying. But I really enjoyed the culture. La Vuccheria - Of the three markets, this one is the one you want. It's busy. There's all the street food you're looking for, including the spleen sandwich and the frittula. Osteria Mercede was incredible. Just shellfish upon shellfish upon shellfish. Absurd. Streaty Food Tour - I'm not a tour guy. I don't normally like tours. I liked this one a lot. Some of the food they got us, including the arancina, was the best street food I had while I was there. And I had a lot. Taormina - Taormina is heartbreakingly gorgeous. We'd find ourselves staggered by the view. And being able to see Mount Etna puff out smoke was incredible. Siracusa - is probably the most touristy. But there's a ton of ancient ruins there. My wife and I wandered around, found a huge building we had no clue what it was. UNESCO heritage site, Catholic church built on top of the ruins of the Temple of Athena. Incredible. Caseificio Borderi is a place I have no qualms about calling the best sandwich shop in the world. It's that good. IT'S THAT GOOD. There's a little place on the mainland called Officina 77 that I found because we kinda got tired of seafood. It's roman food. It's some of the best roman food I've ever had and I've been to rome. It's a locals only kind of takeaway place and I can't recommend it enough.
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Jul 2, 2023 17:27
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G-Mawwwwwww posted:I got back from Sicily. Three towns, three very different experiences. Quoting this post because we can't bookmark posts. That's some quality info and I want sandwiches and streetfood now
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Jul 3, 2023 01:16
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Hey thread, I will be going to Utrecht later this year for a business trip, but will also have some free time to explore. Have some questions:
Thanks!
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Jul 6, 2023 14:26
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I really enjoyed this tour: https://freewalkingtourutrecht.com/ Everything is card, but bring some cash for the tour guide. Rojkir fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Jul 6, 2023 |
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Jul 6, 2023 15:10
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professor muthafukkah posted:
All normal contactless cards work (Visa, Master). Probably not like, AmEx, and definitely not Diner's Club International or Discover if either of those even still exists. You must have not been to Europe in quite a bit, although it really accelerated post-COVID. It's now frequent that you cannot pay by cash, especially in certain countries like NL and Denmark. Occasionally you need a stupid payment app used only within the country (e.g. TWINT in Switzerland), but that's usually for niche things like public markets and remote popup shops. For normal fixed shops, it's more likely that they will accept only card than it is they will accept only cash. I always carry around a €50/$50/CHF50 bill with me (depending on whatever country's currency) but often that money sits unused for a long, long time.
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Jul 6, 2023 15:53
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I went to Amsterdam in September of last year and there were definitely a lot more places insisting on card over cash than there were when I last went pre-covid. It wasn't everywhere, but it was enough for me to notice it. Unfortunately, due to The Thing and other various bollocks, transaction fees are quite a bit higher than they used to be for Brits on the continent, though I believe they're still supposed to be capped if that's an issue. I went to Copenhagen in October and paying with cash there was a bit easier, though I imagine that might change elsewhere in Denmark. Notably, public transport in Amsterdam went card only sometime before covid, and I imagine a lot of Dutch cities have since followed suit, especially under the circumstances.
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Jul 6, 2023 16:02
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professor muthafukkah posted:
You must have been in Germany, there is no other explanation. For years I've basically never used cash except when going to Germany, rural France or shady squats/dive bar punk shows. professor muthafukkah posted:
professor muthafukkah posted:
I don't know about coffeeshops but there was some (house)boat thing in the center canal ring that my friends were going to. So that's probably that one. Beer: Kafé België for Belgian beer. Also Olivier. General beer bar with a large selection: De Drie Dorstige Herten. DeRat also looks good, never been there yet. There are also a bunch of local breweries but none are in the center. Maximus is the best one that I see that actually has a brewpub (vandeStreek is good but they only have a store). De Leckere is good too and at least somewhat close to the center. Restaurants: I don't know too much here. I liked Sunshine, the Ethiopian restaurant. I also have De Zakkendrager saved but I don't remember why. It looks like a generic Dutch place with stuff Dutch people like (so not necessarily traditional things). It doesn't seem like there is any place particularly specialized in Dutch food. Perhaps Hagenouw is good. Generally you'll want to try 1. the Indonesian food (should be various options) and 2. the Surinamese food (Pomo seems good) and perhaps 3. Dutch food as things you can't get in other places easily. Entropist fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jul 6, 2023 |
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Jul 6, 2023 16:51
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Rojkir posted:I really enjoyed this tour: Nice, thanks, gonna check it out. Saladman posted:All normal contactless cards work (Visa, Master). Probably not like, AmEx, and definitely not Diner's Club International or Discover if either of those even still exists. Entropist posted:You must have been in Germany, there is no other explanation. For years I've basically never used cash except when going to Germany, rural France or shady squats/dive bar punk shows. Last time I went was 18/19 I think? Went to Spain, Netherlands and Portugal and remember paying basically everywhere with cash. Thanks for the info though, it definitely seems like cash has lost its relevance. Entropist posted:This is still a relatively new option but I think it is rolled out in Utrecht. Any Visa/Mastercard stuff should work. Nice, I'll be bringing both a visa and mastercard so I think I'm covered. Entropist posted:I don't know about coffeeshops but there was some (house)boat thing in the center canal ring that my friends were going to. So that's probably that one. Thanks for the suggestions, will add them to my list!
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Jul 6, 2023 17:15
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Judgy Fucker posted:If you read this in time, do some research about what you want to see. You may know the Louvre is big, but you really don’t grasp it until you’re inside. Nothing wrong with hitting up the “big 3” if you want, but two of the three are pretty underwhelming to me. I suggest choosing one collection and going as deep in it as you are able, otherwise you’re going to feel rushed trying to see “everything” (which would take several days to actually do). Also, if it’s the last day of a trip, spare yourself some energy during the day—again, big museum, lot of walking. Yeah, I gave myself two full days to see the Louvre and I still felt like I didn't give some things the attention I wanted to.
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Jul 6, 2023 17:35
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Entropist posted:Beer: Kafé België for Belgian beer. Also Olivier. Olivier is the one in a church. It has a much smaller selection than Kafe België but the latter is tiny and fills up quickly. Olivier is a good alternative. Note that last time I visited (years ago) the Drie Dorstige Herten tried to keep out people looking to quickly get drunk, and called itself a "beer tasting bar". You got to ring the door bell and announce you come to taste beer and they'll let you in. Also for Dutch food, De Oude Muntkelder which you can reach by taking the steep steps down to the canal side has a good selection of Dutch pancakes (which are hearty enough to make a good lunch or dinner). Get an outside table if the weather is nice and you can watch the canal boats with drunk tourists pass by.
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Jul 6, 2023 17:54
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Kapsalon for every meal. I am not accepting notes
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Jul 6, 2023 17:54
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Thomamelas posted:Yeah, I gave myself two full days to see the Louvre and I still felt like I didn't give some things the attention I wanted to. My wife and I have half-seriously talked about a “louvre only” trip for ~5 days, but it feels silly even talking about it ‘cause Paris just has so much to see and do, spending 40 hours in just one building seems absurd. Thing is, the louvre is an absurd building.
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Jul 6, 2023 17:57
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professor muthafukkah posted:Last time I went was 18/19 I think? Went to Spain, Netherlands and Portugal and remember paying basically everywhere with cash. Thanks for the info though, it definitely seems like cash has lost its relevance. It will not be so different from 18/19 except for public transport where you can now only pay with contactless. In 2019 it would have been extremely exceptional to find a place in NL that did not take card, so if you were still using cash then by requirement and not choice, then it’s because your non-EU card had some issue like it wasn’t chipped or NFC. Cash only places probably haven’t existed in NL since like 2015. I was in Utrecht last month, it has the same NFC payment system as Amsterdam for public transport. Even in Switzerland I now see some places that are card only, which is a massive difference from 10 years ago. I honestly don’t remember the last time in Europe that I *had* to use cash, except for flea markets with older sellers. Even buying/selling stuff on Facebook it’s often electronic now with anyone under like 60 years old. The more "people to people" style transactions tend to require stupid local apps like TWINT and PayConiq (or cash) but unless you’re a big flea market person then I doubt it will even come up. E: It looks like PayConiq was discontinued in NL last year (but not in Belgium and Luxembourg) and now they use "iDEAL" that doesn’t work in Be or Lux. All of those payment apps are the absolute worst, every goddamn country in Europe has their own system and occasionally you come across some twit who only accepts the stupid app payments, like some mountain hofladens in Switzerland, or last weekend for me at a festival in Luxembourg that was PayConiq ONLY. Like no I don’t remember the PIN I used to set up a PayConiq account 2 years ago, can’t you just take cash or card like a normal human being (answer in the Luxembourg case: no). I am really looking forward to a monopoly taking over and destroying competition for those myriad awful competing electronic transfer apps in Europe. Last weekend was only the second time ever though that I have been not permitted to pay by either cash or card, but only some stupid loving country specific app. Saladman fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Jul 6, 2023 |
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Jul 6, 2023 21:57
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lol I took a six hour train in Sweden last year and the restaurant car's card machines were broken and Sweden is the most anti-cash country in the world, so the only option was Swish. Which I don't have, because Finland also has it's own country specific system, MobilePay (although that one is developed by DanskeBank so maybe, just maybe, it could also work in Denmark)
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Jul 6, 2023 22:18
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I remember going to Czech Republic by train from Austria, and the ticket machines for the subway only taking Czech coins and who has Czech coins when they first get there? I had to buy a coke or something just to get change. Has that gotten any better? I feel like Czech was still pretty cash focused at the time but this was ten years ago.
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Jul 6, 2023 22:59
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professor muthafukkah posted:Hey thread, I will be going to Utrecht later this year professor muthafukkah posted:I read somewhere about a bar built inside an old church, but it sort of sounded too much like a tourist trap, any thoughts? That's Olivier. Nice enough place and worth having at least one beer just to see it. Note that the high ceiling with tons of arches diffuses sound like crazy. There is this constant humming, where you hear dozens of conversations mixed together into one continuous sound. Most people like how it feels alive, but I've had a few walk out because it got on their nerves. Random tips; Behind Bars if you are looking for great cocktails and a knowledgeable host. Place is tiny and fills up quick. I like Lebowski for beers, which despite being right next to the Dom is not a touristy place but crowded with mostly young eccentrics. Meneer Smakers for great burgers. Dogma for great hot dogs. Sanju Ramen for best ramen I've had outside Japan. Place is packed, but tables clear quite fast. Kaasbar for conveyer belt cheese (yes, really!). Can't imagine having a full meal there, but love walking in and trying a few instead of dessert at whatever place I was before. De Nijverheid is a an art cafe and meeting place for local artists about 10 minutes outside the city centre. Harbor area with studios, expositions, workshops and more. It is quite big and you can expect lots of people enjoying drinks outdoors. Check the calendar if they have a theme night. Boot 122 is right next to De Nijverheid and has a great beer selection. Carbon dioxide posted:Note that last time I visited (years ago) the Drie Dorstige Herten tried to keep out people looking to quickly get drunk, and called itself a "beer tasting bar". You got to ring the door bell and announce you come to taste beer and they'll let you in. They changed owners somewhere in the last 2 years. Still formal, but not as uptight as it used to be. In the past ordering the same beer for a third time got you kicked out, since you weren't tasting but just drinking. That no longer happens. Entropist posted:De Leckere is good too and at least somewhat close to the center. De Leckere brewery went bankrupt a few weeks back. De Leckere bar next to it is still open, but this could change at any moment. Check right before you go.
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Jul 7, 2023 07:53
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I think I heard something somewhere about payment method companies in the EU planning a merger to a single app. I don't know if I understood it correctly or how many years this will take.
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Jul 7, 2023 12:01
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Carbon dioxide posted:I think I heard something somewhere about payment method companies in the EU planning a merger to a single app. I don't know if I understood it correctly or how many years this will take. God I hope so. Cell phones are so much better now too, and soon charging. Sweet dreams in hell, micro USB. And I guess like... purgatory for you lightning, you were OK. professor muthafukkah posted:
I missed this before. There are a lot of those in NL so I don't think any given one would be especially tourist trappy. Also foreign tourists don't tend go to Utrecht unless they get lost on the way to Amsterdam... nor do they really go anywhere else in NL except Amsterdam, even though places like Den Haag are just as cute as Amsterdam and with 1/10th as much trash and chaos. Potentially unpopular opinion: Amsterdam is grossly overrated, so enjoy Utrecht! Haarlem also has a church-turned-bar ( Jopenkerk ) and Maastricht has a cafe-bookshop ( Dominicanen ). It looks like the one in Utrecht is called "Cafe Olivier" and it looks quite a bit smaller than the other two. There's even a mosque in an old church in Amsterdam (Fatih Mosque). A striking number of other churches have been turned into museums/cultural centers. I am sure it gets every red blooded Dutch person living in their Bible Belt furious.
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Jul 7, 2023 12:14
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Saladman posted:Haarlem also has a church-turned-bar ( Jopenkerk ) and Maastricht has a cafe-bookshop ( Dominicanen ). It looks like the one in Utrecht is called "Cafe Olivier" and it looks quite a bit smaller than the other two. There's even a mosque in an old church in Amsterdam (Fatih Mosque). A striking number of other churches have been turned into museums/cultural centers. I am sure it gets every red blooded Dutch person living in their Bible Belt furious. No furious bible belters, since these are all catholic churches, so super heathen anyway. To add Antwerp has a star restaurant in an old Chapel (The Jane) and Arnhem has a fancy hotel/restaurant in an old church, aptly called The Church. Zwolle also has a church converted to a bookstore (van der Velde boeken), I like it better than the Maastricht one, it's more spacious and light. The famous Paradiso concert hall in Amsterdam is a converted church as well. If you like churches and Amsterdam (which I agree is slightly overrated) there's also Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder. A church hidden insite a block of old buildings smack in the middle of the center from a time that Roman Catholic churches we're outlawed and they solved that by just hiding a complete church. It's a pretty cool museum.
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Jul 7, 2023 12:44
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Saladman posted:It will not be so different from 18/19 except for public transport where you can now only pay with contactless. In 2019 it would have been extremely exceptional to find a place in NL that did not take card, so if you were still using cash then by requirement and not choice, then it’s because your non-EU card had some issue like it wasn’t chipped or NFC. Cash only places probably haven’t existed in NL since like 2015. I was in Utrecht last month, it has the same NFC payment system as Amsterdam for public transport. Maybe I expressed myself poorly, but yeah we used cash by choice. I don't know how it is in other countries, but I'm from Brazil and we get crazy fees and absurd conversion rates when we use our normal credit cards abroad. It used to be better, and cheaper, to actually buy Euros back in Brazil to use while in Europe. I'm not sure if that is still the case, since so much has changed, but I'm probably going to talk to my bank and see if there are any international card options or something similar, since it seems a lot of places just don't take cash anymore. BioTech posted:That's Olivier. Nice enough place and worth having at least one beer just to see it. Note that the high ceiling with tons of arches diffuses sound like crazy. There is this constant humming, where you hear dozens of conversations mixed Ahh ok gotcha. It's pretty close to where I'll be staying so I'll probably pop in at least once. BioTech posted:Random tips; And thanks! My wife and I loving LOVE cheese, so we will definitely check out Kaasbar. On that note, we were thinking of hitting up the Vredenburg markets, would that be a good place to get (more) cheese and hollandse niewe haring (I think that's what its called? The raw pickled herring with onions?).
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Jul 7, 2023 13:20
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professor muthafukkah posted:Maybe I expressed myself poorly, but yeah we used cash by choice. Ahh, yeah. Then things will have changed post-COVID. Especially annoying will be public transport where you can only use contactless (or go through incredibly convoluted ways to go to a local transport office, get a local transport cards, which probably requires a deposit + a minimum amount to load, etc etc etc) but also a number of cafes and bars, especially trendier ones. Rojkir posted:Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder. A church hidden insite a block of old buildings smack in the middle of the center from a time that Roman Catholic churches we're outlawed and they solved that by just hiding a complete church. It's a pretty cool museum. Yeah I went there in May. It was pretty neat! Only found out about it in May. Amsterdam does have a lot of cool stuff, it is just so crowded, and all the new rules plastered on every street corner to keep British people from behaving like dogs give it an even worse impression than before, imo. Needing to book tickets 6 weeks in advance to go to the Anne Frank house is also annoying. Not on the part of the organizers - they are doing the best they can - but the fact that even there are so many people going to the same place instead of spreading out even just the tiniest bit. The Hague, Delft, Leiden, Utrecht - all also beautiful cities. We went to Amsterdam in May for the Vermeer and also hit a bunch of other museums that I had avoided for years because of the ridiculous pre-planning time required. The exhibits were neat though. Anything within the ring-canals of Amsterdam, plus Museumsplein, just feels like Disneyland to me, i.e. fake and overcrowded, and every time I see a wax museum I die a little inside. We went to Amsterdam couple times during the COVID lockdowns and I really liked it, then went there this April-May (including over King's Day) and then again in June, and it was just awful and I now refuse to go back by choice and be a part of contributing to that mess, at least until the next pandemic causes mass reductions in tourist arrivals. Our friends living there can meet us in Rotterdam or Amstelveen or something. E: Going for King's Day -- largely accidentally, we had already booked the Vermeer show tickets for the day before, months before -- probably also contributed to my newfound dislike for Amsterdam. King's Day was the absolute worst as a tourist. I was expecting some mix of Zurich Street Parade and July 4th, but it was like all the worst parts of Street Parade with none of the organized music or cool costumes, and without any fireworks or parade or anything even remotely family-and-child friendly... and hotels were all double the price. King's Day, at least in central Amsterdam, also had a strict age limit of 16-34 and without kids. I've never seen a more child-unsafe event except like a Lollapalooza mosh pit. Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Jul 7, 2023 |
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Jul 7, 2023 13:31
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I accidentally ended up in Amsterdam on King's Day once. I actually really enjoyed it, though I wasn't staying in a hotel that night and I got some beers the night before to just sit and people-watch with. It was kind of just a chill city-wide party. We don't have a national day in the UK (one of the few countries that doesn't) but if we did I imagine it would be so much worse. King's Day wasn't organised but I liked how on one street you'd have local musicians playing, the next was Pride-themed, etc. Pretty much every Dutch person I've ever met hates Amsterdam, much in the same way that a lot of Brits dislike London. I like it, but idiots treat it like a theme park for adults, and the strip from Dam Square to the RLD is undeniably tacky to accommodate that. I went to The Hague for the first time last year and I quite liked it, it's just that some of the more central sterile areas left me cold (Amsterdam has bits like this too but they're far beyond where most tourists go). I'm always happy to go to the Netherlands, so I'll probably try to get a trip to Rotterdam or Utrecht in sometime. 🙂
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Jul 7, 2023 14:17
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