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TraderStav posted:Skip the islands and go to the Peloponnese. Amazing beaches there, ruins, villages, and beautiful cities. Stay in Nafplio and use that as your home base for day trips to the rest of the region. It's incredible there. Thanks for the recommendation! I will need to run the idea by her, knowing that she has her heart set on seeing at least one of the islands as she's never been to Greece at all. I was looking for options to spend a few days in Nafplio and then hopping to an island but it looks pretty inconvenient, with the need to head back to Athens before being able to catch a ferry elsewhere.
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Jan 1, 2024 16:33
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Kwagga posted:Thanks for the recommendation! Rent a car, take the drive to Lefkada on the Ionian side of things and it has a land bridge you cross over to it. You will not regret it, it's one of the most beautiful places in the world.
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Jan 1, 2024 18:59
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I enjoyed my time on Milos, which is at the end of the Cyclades. It's a mining island and not so tourist heavy/dependent, but it's sort of out of the way.
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Jan 1, 2024 20:15
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I enjoyed Crete, although I was there in January so I couldn't speak to the summer climate. But the poster above who suggested sticking to the mainland has a decent idea too. And if you don't end up out in the islands, see if you can fit a couple days up at Meteora! It's a really beautiful spot, and I believe it stays cool. At the very least, the terrain shades most of the paths, and there's lots of trees.
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Jan 2, 2024 11:37
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Akratic Method posted:I enjoyed Crete, although I was there in January so I couldn't speak to the summer climate. But the poster above who suggested sticking to the mainland has a decent idea too. And if you don't end up out in the islands, see if you can fit a couple days up at Meteora! It's a really beautiful spot, and I believe it stays cool. At the very least, the terrain shades most of the paths, and there's lots of trees. If OP plans to enter the monasteries make sure to look up what appropriate dress is to do so. Something like women in dresses and men in pants and closed shoes. Not 100% sure though but would be a shame to get there and not be able to go the full way. Rent a car at the airport, Greece is SUPER accessible for the English speaker. Google maps will take care of all of your needs. Eating delicious feasts in the villages for 20 Euro a person is an experience to be had that I am happy most tourists have not discovered yet.
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Jan 2, 2024 15:22
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Having done more reading on it, I am now really leaning towards spending the whole week in the Peloponnese. I just need to get the wife onboard now.
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Jan 2, 2024 18:32
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Kwagga posted:Having done more reading on it, I am now really leaning towards spending the whole week in the Peloponnese. I just need to get the wife onboard now. Amazing! My father lives in the region and we visit every summer. Do not hesitate to PM me for details. I can gush for hours on locations and ideas on things to do. Not that I'd advocate doing so, but we may bump into each other there as we are planning to be in the area the first two weeks of July after a week in Italy. Of which I will need to get some input from SA to balance out my Italian friends ideas.
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Jan 2, 2024 21:13
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I'm going to be in Europe at the end of June and am trying to get from Amsterdam to Barcelona via train. If I tried to do this tomorrow it looks like it would be pretty simple (Amsterdam to Paris, and then a direct TGV from Paris to Barcelona). But for some reason this set of trains stops existing on website timetables sometime in February, so obviously I can't buy a ticket for June. Is this just because they usually don't post tickets for sale that far in advance?
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Jan 5, 2024 06:54
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Works for me in march on The Trainline, so maybe one of them is temporarily out of order? (Or try different websites)
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Jan 5, 2024 08:59
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Badger of Basra posted:I'm going to be in Europe at the end of June and am trying to get from Amsterdam to Barcelona via train. SNCF often only posts trains 3 months in advance (sometimes a bit less). Keep an eye out for when they start becoming available because early tickets are way cheaper. Like half price or better. e: or just book on Trainline if they are there!
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Jan 5, 2024 10:20
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Badger of Basra posted:I'm going to be in Europe at the end of June and am trying to get from Amsterdam to Barcelona via train. Remember that in Paris you need to transfer to another station (train from Amsterdam arrives in Gare du Nord, and it looks like trains to Barcelona leave from Gare de Lyon). That's a relatively quick metro ride, but in Paris you will need to navigate two large stations, buy a metro ticket (I think you can actually buy one in the Amsterdam - Paris train restaurant car btw), get through the metro gates, etc. One time when I needed a Paris connection the metro wasn't going because of construction work and I had to really quickly get an uber to even make my connection. The connections suggested by train booking sites for Paris are way too tight in my opinion, and they specifically say they can't be held responsible if you miss your connection in Paris. I would strongly suggest you plan some extra time there just to be safe. Especially if you have heavy luggage. Carbon dioxide fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jan 6, 2024 |
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Jan 5, 2024 21:21
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Carbon dioxide posted:(I think you can actually buy one in the Amsterdam - Paris train restaurant car btw) The parenthetical is theoretically true, however, they don’t tend to stock that many so you’re not guaranteed to be able to buy one. So, tying in to your second point, there are often horrendous metro lines at Gare de Nord or Gare de Lyon since most folks on the trains didn’t get one. But indeed, give yourself a nice chunk of time to cross Paris. Or just book a morning train and then an afternoon train and have a lovely lunch on the way.
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Jan 5, 2024 22:18
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Can you pay by tapping with your phone on the Paris Metro? I've gotten used to that in Chicago and NYC.
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Jan 5, 2024 23:01
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Badger of Basra posted:Can you pay by tapping with your phone on the Paris Metro? I've gotten used to that in Chicago and NYC. Nope. Best they have is an app in which you can purchase tickets and use that. App is called Bonjour RATP, and it can do individual tickets or various forms of passes and stored value, which are all called Navigo something or other and you’ll forgive me for not remembering which sub-thing is which.
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Jan 6, 2024 09:55
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SWISS TRAINS UPDATE: international trips are getting fucky Here's an article (in German) with a summary: https://www.watson.ch/schweiz/sbb/309237206-die-sbb-verkaufen-fuer-viele-europaeische-laender-bald-keine-tickets-mehr Basically, it's a pain in the rear end to interface with all the other countries' ticketing backends, so the SBB (Swiss rail) has just said gently caress it. As of 1 January 2024, they will no longer sell tickets from Switzerland to any other destinations further than France, Germany, Italy or Austria (with a couple of exceptions). We found this out today when my wife was booking a train from Bern to Barcelona and couldn't buy the tickets. The connection showed up on the SBB website but she couldn't buy it. No dice on SNCF or Renfe either. She called SBB and they said yeah we don't do that anymore. trainline wouldn't show the connection she wanted either but maybe there's a different reason for that*. It's very frustrating and I don't know how this affects people booking trains through Switzerland. We did manage to buy the tickets eventually, buying individual trips from Geneva to Lyon and then from Lyon to Barcelona, but it's so loving annoying. I guess check train routes through Switzerland very carefully and be prepared to get creative if you want to go through here and cross your fingers that the new EU-wide system mentioned in the article will actually arrive in 2025 and solve the problem. *maybe they have some kind of maximum transfer time they won't show tickets for, her preferred route left later and has a 1 hour wait in Lyon and theirs had a few <20-minute connections along the way.
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Jan 7, 2024 13:29
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Sounds like a headache, but I’m not surprised at the Swiss just throwing up their hands and telling the rest of Europe “come back to us when you’ve figured this mess out,” it’s kind of their standard play. Also, two pieces of advice: 1) make sure that the trains in to and out of Lyon are from the same station - Part Dieu is the big station in town, and the high speed trains most often serve it, but there are still a few services out of Perrache, which would require a metro trip to get to. If you do have a long connection at Part Dieu, you’re right by the big food hall, which Lyon has named after Paul Boucuse. 2) SNCF sells a discount card called a “Carte Advantage,” which is only like 50€ for a year, and often offers deep enough discounts that you’ll more than make that back even if you’re only buying one or two long-distance tickets.
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Jan 7, 2024 15:23
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Jean-Paul Shartre posted:Anyone have general advice for Athens? Will likely be doing a long weekend there early next year, as the last time I was in town was before the new Parthenon Museum opened. We’re gonna do a lot of the old poo poo, so less looking for museum recs and more restaurants, bars, hotels/neighbourhoods to stay in or avoid, if anyone has recommendations? If it's still relevant to you, I got to Athens today. We're in a nice hotel in the Exarcheia neighborhood. It looks rough in the evening. Stores have metal shutters, every inch of everything has graffiti, potholes and smell of urine, cars are cheap, there are panhandlers, police look like they mean business. And we were told not to go in a certain direction since it's even worse there. OTOH it's not actively dangerous, there are many alternative / leftist / student / punk joints. Plenty of young people having fun, eating out late. Our friends bought a flat and moved here from Serbia because they are a leftist gay couple and they love it here.
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Jan 17, 2024 00:47
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Doctor Malaver posted:If it's still relevant to you, I got to Athens today. We're in a nice hotel in the Exarcheia neighborhood. It looks rough in the evening. Stores have metal shutters, every inch of everything has graffiti, potholes and smell of urine, cars are cheap, there are panhandlers, police look like they mean business. And we were told not to go in a certain direction since it's even worse there. Greece in general LOOKS sketchy to an average American, I have found. Once you get in there you realize it's not at all and part of the charm. That being said, it's a major city, be street smart. Enjoy the time there! I am SUPER jealous.
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Jan 17, 2024 01:31
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I was recommended this place in Athens by a local and really enjoyed it: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xuvkkFLZtgeV31y76
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Jan 17, 2024 07:04
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Awesome, thanks all! Looks like we’re staying at a small hotel in Exarcheia, but will keep my wits about me still.
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Jan 17, 2024 07:54
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Doctor Malaver posted:If it's still relevant to you, I got to Athens today. We're in a nice hotel in the Exarcheia neighborhood. It looks rough in the evening. Stores have metal shutters, every inch of everything has graffiti, potholes and smell of urine, cars are cheap, there are panhandlers, police look like they mean business. And we were told not to go in a certain direction since it's even worse there. Exarcheia is a rather unique place though because of its history. It is not exactly representative for Athens or random European neighborhoods. Stores having metal shutters is perfectly normal throughout Europe, but it often scares Americans because they have graffiti on them. You don't see any of it during the day when the shutters are open. The police is there because it is a leftist neighborhood and some people of colour live there and authorities love to suppress that, not because there is anything dangerous. Especially with the extremely right wing government Greece currently has. Entropist fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Jan 17, 2024 |
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Jan 17, 2024 21:10
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Entropist posted:they have graffiti on them. That’s the best part 
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Jan 18, 2024 00:48
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Jean-Paul Shartre posted:Awesome, thanks all! Looks like we’re staying at a small hotel in Exarcheia, but will keep my wits about me still. If it's Polis Grand, watch out, they are renovating a floor and it gets very loud after 9 am. Speaking of the hotel... When we booked the room, the confirmation email said that it will be either a double bed or twin beds. We were specific about wanting the double. They said they'll do their best. WTF, we are booking months in advance, it's off-season, how can this be an issue?! A friend called them and pressured them from "We'll do our best" to "It will probably be a double" to "Yes, we'll give them a double". W.T.F. I'm told this kind of trick serves to get a fat tip when you get there and complain about the room and they pretend to work hard to get you what you wanted. Entropist posted:Exarcheia is a rather unique place though because of its history. It is not exactly representative for Athens or random European neighborhoods. I'm not American and it's not normal or at least common in ex-Yu countries. I don't remember seeing much of them in Stockholm or Amsterdam either. Maybe one or two here and there, but over here it's entire blocks in shutters. It's actually hard to tell at night for many buildings (both residential and office) if they are occupied or vacant. Doctor Malaver fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Jan 18, 2024 |
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Jan 18, 2024 10:23
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A lot of the heavy shutters are also to keep the heat out.
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Jan 18, 2024 12:39
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Doctor Malaver posted:W.T.F. I'm told this kind of trick serves to get a fat tip when you get there and complain about the room and they pretend to work hard to get you what you wanted. Wait... people tip hotel staff in Europe? Especially front desk staff? I think I've occasionally tipped bellhops when they help with heavy luggage (very rare for my travelling style) but I've never even thought about tipping someone at the front desk for doing something nice, and definitely not for switching between a double vs. two twins. And yeah, solid shutters definitely aren't ubiquitous across Europe. I get the impression that it's usually only in older shops/buildings (I guess insurance and/or non-physical security is better than it used to be?) or areas that get more petty vandalism. Tag graffiti is definitely way more common in Europe though, unlike the US where tag-style graffiti tends to be predominately in sketchy areas. You definitely don't see full outer metal shutters commonly in Switzerland -- usually the security shutters are either inside the glass doors, or they're the see-through metal "grill" shutters. I still get mildly sketched out when I'm in a place at night where all of the shops have solid metal shutters hiding the glass, and I've now spent like half my life living in Europe. E: Maybe it's a heat thing too, although since they're usually up during the day and down at night I'm not sure that tracks so much. Usually places affected by heat have an awning. Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Jan 18, 2024 |
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Jan 18, 2024 13:39
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You'll find a lot closed midday during July/August. Could be a double benefit, heat mitigation during those months and security improvement year round.
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Jan 18, 2024 15:11
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Saladman posted:Wait... people tip hotel staff in Europe? Especially front desk staff? I think I've occasionally tipped bellhops when they help with heavy luggage (very rare for my travelling style) but I've never even thought about tipping someone at the front desk for doing something nice, and definitely not for switching between a double vs. two twins. We didn't have to tip because we got the bed like we wanted to. Maybe the person telling me this is full of it. It still leaves unexplained why the hotel was struggling to reserve a double bed in January two months in advance. BTW I was in the National archaeological museum today (a bit disappointed with it actually) and a friend calls me that there's riots two streets away and that I should pay extra care. They actually had tear gas get into their flat. There's two types of police in Exarchia, heavily-armed and very-heavily-armed. They patrol the square where the metro is getting built. Looks a bit surreal, people chatting in cafes, with police in full riot gear, shields and all, meters away. I haven't seen that even in South America.
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Jan 18, 2024 23:17
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Just booked a flight into Lisbon and then out 3 weeks later; late June to mid July. Everything still needs to be filled in beyond that. Thinking of a few days in Porto, then heading south along the coast through to Faro. Probably train from Porto to Lisbon, and then maybe rent a car for the rest of it? How's driving in Portugal? I'm happy to take any advice on poo poo to see/do/avoid. The wife and I have open minds to do whatever, though I'm biased towards hanging out near the water. I'd like to dip into Cadiz and Gibraltar but we'll see. Flights throughout Europe are cheap too so we could always visit friends and family for a weekend in Poland/Germany if 3 weeks is too much in Portugal.
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Jan 18, 2024 23:19
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Driving in Portugal is fine. Don’t drive in Lisbon (obviously?) and just get the car when you leave, but traffic is generally civilized unlike say, Italy. Roads can be very narrow in some places like near Sintra, but nothing unusual by European standards. YMMV for driving, but I think Italy is the only country I’d tell people to really be wary of renting in, also since most credit card rental insurances explicitly don’t cover Italy and because Italy is packed with ZTLs, hidden camera fines, and comically low posted speed limits that occasionally do actually have speed cameras on them that have not yet been vandalized. There’s quite a bit on the way between Porto and Lisbon that you’d miss by train, but depends what you like. For instance, Obidos and Nazare. Nazare waves are not that striking in summer but it’s still a neat spot worth a detour - but not worth an entire day trip out of your way. Sintra is worth at least 2 full days. Pena Palace is cool but even when we went at the height of COVID it was busy, and it looks like it can be hell in summer. Fortunately you’re there before summer starts (generally mid July) but it might still be kinda busy since it’s already American summer time.
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Jan 18, 2024 23:30
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Italy's added a new layer of road user bullshit now too: Free Flow. North of Milan there are sections of the autostrada that don't use toll booths but they collect tolls from Telepass or other devices. If you don't have one, it's super easy! Just notice the signs that say "this is a toll road" and then you'll naturally figure out that you should pull over to one of their partner filling stations somewhere around and tell them your licence plate and they will let you pay the tolls there. I can promise you, it's all clearly marked and explained on the road and you don't just get bullshit tickets in the post months later with extra fines and fees.
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Jan 19, 2024 00:22
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CmdrSmirnoff posted:Just booked a flight into Lisbon and then out 3 weeks later; late June to mid July. Everything still needs to be filled in beyond that. Thinking of a few days in Porto, then heading south along the coast through to Faro. Probably train from Porto to Lisbon, and then maybe rent a car for the rest of it? How's driving in Portugal? Seconding Sintra, I wish I had more than one day there. The Moorish castle is very cool, a short but steep walk up and its crazy how its just barely balancing on the very top of the mountain. Quinta da Regaleira is a super bizarre garden with caves, secret tunnels and a bunch of references to masons/knights templar, built by an eccentric rich dude around 1900. If you're into modern art museums, MAAT in Lisbon is one of the best I've been to. You can take a ferry out to the beaches from Faro or Olhão (15ish minutes East by car), which is pretty neat. I stayed in Tavira, a little further East. It's a good spot for day trip, a lot of the old architecture has been preserved and the canal going through the town is really pretty, with lots of places to eat. North of Faro, you can visit Castelo de Loulé which contains the charmingly named Castle Torture Museum. The castle itself is OK . The museum has a decidedly ren fair vibe (apparently there's a huge one there every year) and there's a restaurant on the walk up to the castle that's basically the Portuguese equivalent of Medieval Times, except the swords and chainmail it sells are actually made of metal. I thought the experience was really goofy and entertaining but I can't recommend it in good faith  E: confused my directions Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Jan 19, 2024 |
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Jan 19, 2024 00:37
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CmdrSmirnoff posted:I'd like to dip into Cadiz and Gibraltar but we'll see. Cadiz is nice but for me Seville is really a top tier visit with a lot more to offer. Maybe because I'm British but Gibraltar is somewhere I struggle to recommend to anyone. The town is just like any large English town with nothing particular worth seeing (especially if driving from Portugal). You could easily spend three weeks in Portugal but if you do decide to drive to Spain then double check your car rental allows it. Most do but the last thing you want is to get a flat tyre or breakdown and find out your insurance wont cover it.
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Jan 19, 2024 09:19
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greazeball posted:Italy's added a new layer of road user bullshit now too: Free Flow. North of Milan there are sections of the autostrada that don't use toll booths but they collect tolls from Telepass or other devices. If you don't have one, it's super easy! Just notice the signs that say "this is a toll road" and then you'll naturally figure out that you should pull over to one of their partner filling stations somewhere around and tell them your licence plate and they will let you pay the tolls there. I can promise you, it's all clearly marked and explained on the road and you don't just get bullshit tickets in the post months later with extra fines and fees. You can also pay those online within 24? 48? hours of passing through it. You just have to navigate to some lovely Italian website and spend like half an hour figuring it out. But yeah it's total bullshit. I think the toll road indication might only be in Italian too? In any case it is extremely discrete as you never actually pass through a toll-booth-like-structure, it's just some nondescript cameras at various locations, like normal traffic control / safety cameras.
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Jan 19, 2024 10:42
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Stupid Decisions posted:Maybe because I'm British but Gibraltar is somewhere I struggle to recommend to anyone. The town is just like any large English town with nothing particular worth seeing (especially if driving from Portugal). Gibraltar I just want to see on a day trip because I'm a naval history dork and read too much Patrick O'Brian. Same thing with Port Mahon but i'm saving that for when I'm sailing.
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Jan 19, 2024 15:07
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I wanted to go just for the novelty of seeing a large English town while in Spain but at the time I only had a Schengen visa so they told me to gently caress off lol.
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Jan 20, 2024 14:38
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what's driving like on Malta? is it as bad as Italy or do people actually obey laws and things
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Jan 23, 2024 00:45
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How much do you enjoy parallel parking on hilly narrow roads.
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Jan 23, 2024 09:48
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Julio Cruz posted:what's driving like on Malta? is it as bad as Italy or do people actually obey laws and things Pretty much the same as driving around small towns in Italy. Streets are quite narrow and traffic is moderately chaotic. Public transport is OK but renting a car could be a good way of getting around. I usually rent and we took PT when we went because we stayed in Valetta, so almost everywhere had a direct bus.
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Jan 23, 2024 13:04
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Just booked a trip to Europe for my wife and I along with her friend and her friend's husband. We are going to end up outside of Split to visit in-laws for a couple days. We are flying into Istanbul and spending a couple days each there and in Vienna, then make our way to Croatia (probably by train) through Ljubljana and/or Zagreb. Any must-see or must-do or must-stay recommendations would be appreciated, as well as any easily avoided pitfalls. None of us speaks anything besides English and Spanish but I presume this won't be too big of a deal in the larger/more populated areas. Thanks.
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Jan 23, 2024 21:41
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Sharparoni posted:Just booked a trip to Europe for my wife and I along with her friend and her friend's husband. We are going to end up outside of Split to visit in-laws for a couple days. We are flying into Istanbul and spending a couple days each there and in Vienna, then make our way to Croatia (probably by train) through Ljubljana and/or Zagreb. Any must-see or must-do or must-stay recommendations would be appreciated, as well as any easily avoided pitfalls. None of us speaks anything besides English and Spanish but I presume this won't be too big of a deal in the larger/more populated areas. Thanks. How much time do you have for getting from Vienna to Split? What season? Ljubljana is quaint and cute, not sure it has anything going for it besides a nice general atmosphere. In season, Lake Bled would be the normal go-to day trip from Ljubljana, although both times I've been in the area we didn't visit because it looks beautiful but also pretty much what we can see much closer to where we live. (I will go if we ever had time to hike in the area, but we just would have had time to gawk at a lake and go back.) Zagreb is not a particularly nice or interesting city. It's fine, but not worth a stop if you don't have to. We did an overnight (±22 hours) a couple years ago which was the perfect amount of time, and I'm someone who vastly prefers 3N first-time-visit stays in any city I go to that has over like 100k people. The train from Zagreb to Split sucks (like 2 departures a day, tiny, no services on board, possibly quite crowded), but it is direct and it will eventually get you there. Plitvice Lakes are also on the train route from Zagreb to Split, and the train stops somewhere around there -- but I'm not sure how viable it is to get around once there by public transport. The rest of the Croatian highlands that the train passes through is amazingly depressing, just ruined village after ruined village, with the train stopping in dozens of train stations that are in towns with population = 1 person who is over 80 (and five chickens), and the station houses haven't seen so much as a coat of paint since 1988. Unless you want to reduce time with your in-laws, I would maybe just go directly from Vienna to Split, although you may not be able to do that in one day by train. Alternately, if you can get from Ljubljana to Split in one day, then that would be a good spot for a 2 (or even 3) night stay. Alternately alternately, go direct to Zagreb from Vienna, then rent a car and drive down the coast and make a mini-roadtrip out of it. One way international drop-offs are lol expensive, but getting in Zagreb and dropping off in Split probably won't be too much of a surcharge. With 4 people this would probably be more convenient than taking buses, unless you really just do one single stop and then go direct to Split. I don't think there are any major pitfalls, besides keeping in mind that there are only like 2 trains a day from Zagreb to Split. English is extremely widely spoken in Croatia and Slovenia. There's lots of neat stuff around Split like Trogir, and Split itself is also neat for at least 2-3 full days.
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Jan 23, 2024 22:12
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