Well, so far I plan to go to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. So it's kinda hard for me to narrow it down.
Just pick any of those countries, I guess, and tell me what there is too see. It's a broad question. There's no need to answer 'go see the Eiffel Tower' or 'Switzerland is nice'. I know that. What largely unknown attractions are their to see that most people wouldn't normally consider seeing? Are there any standout things to do/see in your own country?
Won, that's an... ambitious plan! And you still thing that even with 6 months you'll be able to see the unknown attractions?
Start with southern Europe, April, may or October are good months to travel there. The Summer can be far too hot for tourists to enjoy walking around.
In Portugal most of the tourism is centered in Lisbon. The central/older part of the city is nice enough, but suburbs the usual nondescript/depressing residential areas. Sintra, near Lisbon, is an exception to that, worth seeing.
There are interesting buildings (lots of castles, monasteries, ruined roman cities and villas, etc) and landscapes outside the Lisbon area , but nothing I'd immediately recommend a tourist who wants to visit the most of Europe in 6 months to spend time on. Anyway, all that can be fount in Lisbon too, albeit scattered and sometimes hard to find: the phoenician ruins are under a bank's headquarters (do ignore the sound and the first 60s in the video, it's bad but it's the only one available; the ruins are small but interesting because they actually show the layered growth of the city over some 2500 years), the rather dilapidated roman theater is inside another building, the megalithic remains on the outskirts of the city are not easy to find, etc.
Oh, and the northern area of the Iberian Peninsula (Minho in Portugal, Galicia, Asturias, etc. in Spain) is quite different from the rest.
I can suggest this site for photos of Portugal, check if something interests you. Do keep in mind that photographers tend to pick the best possible angle and lighting - what you see is not necessarily what you get.
Probably yes. Anyway, btw of the environs of Belarus, Wilno (Vilnius), the capital of Lithuania, is said to be a very nice once-polish city. There's an unique church of St Anne, which is a late gothic - baroque mixture
Perhaps I'm wrong... but Lwow used to be richer, more colourful... Kiev was a clearly Ruthenian (Ukrainian) city, probably with many jews, but less anyone else, while Lwow was polish-german-armenian-jewish-ukrainian mixture. There are 3 or 4 cathedrals there, for once (roman-catholic, greek-catholic, armenian-catholic and, probably, orthodox as well)
Well if I have time, I'll try and see both. Problem is that I probably won't have time...
Spoiler:
Sevilla is more beautiful, but due to Gaudi Barcelona is more original, I guess.
I've been only to the very north and very south of Spain, so I can't tell if there's much to see in the middle.
I think I'll go from Lisbon to Madrid, and then either to Barcelona or Sevilla. It's just a matter of which.
Spoiler:
Most cities you can visit in 1-2 days, if you start early. But it always depends if you want to visit museums and how many of them, if you want to go dancing or something, or not. If you want to go to a restaurant to taste local food, or not. If you want to take brakes during sight-seeing, or not. I don't know you, I can't tell. I do recall correctly there was much walking in Brussels, more than usual.
I figured that I could go to a city for 3 or 4 days, and see what is in the city, and then see some things that you can get to and from in a day from the city.
Spoiler:
Haven't been in Bilbao, unfortunatelly, so I can't compare.
When it comes to Athens... It depends. If you're a fan of ancient greek history, it's worthwhile. If you haven't seen too many ancient ruins yet, it's worthwhile. Go there, otherwise once you may regret that you haven't gone there.
and there are some nice paintings in the town hall, if I recall
The entire old city has a similar, warm colour...
Well, I don't know. I just recall it as one of the nicest places I've been to.
Anyway, if you come to Warsaw, I can show you around the city I guess.
But you've really got to ask yourself if you want to spend money on extra flights to see some coastlines? I'm sure theres equally impressive Atlantic coastline elsewhere in Europe.
If you have any interest in Irish culture and history though you will like it. Gaelic sports, Irish language (Galway is really nice), and the Troubles. But unless you have this specific interest I would say that Ireland is very "skippable".
I guess I'm kind of biased against natural attractions too. You just go see them, say "huh, that was nice". Then what? You may not even enjoy the country (vis a vis food culture etc) you're in, but at least you saw a nice cliff.You get a picture and the "I was there" bragging rights but that about it. A bit of a waste IMHO.
Helsinki (well, Finland overall) is most likely better place to live, but I believe Tallinn to be more interesting for a tourist.
In any case, it takes no more than hour and half by fast ship from one to another - and more than a dozen go every day.
@Lillefix - well, I must concede defeat here.
You caught me exactly in the point I have no idea about - transport possibilities. Especially in that direction. I've never gone out of Romania by train/car in that direction, so I really have no idea. I'm not sure what a good halfway point would be - a big city with a railway station? In that case, Odessa is perfect (and from what I hear it's quite nice too), but I can't say anything about that. I was gonna suggest places to see on the way, I'm unfortunately completely unable to talk about the connection possibilities and things like these.
definitely go to the Invalides, like the man said. Also, there are some nice parks, like Buttes Chaumont, Luxembourg or Monceau.
You have surely seen Sainte-Chapelle, right?
It's definitely a big thing.
Hmm then in that case I suggest you just go to Rhodes.
In my experience, Greece is fun once. You can only admire a bunch of ruins so much. Unless you happen to enjoy Ancient Greek Architeture. I enjoyed Rhodes more due to its links with the Templars.
Cyprus - This place is amazing. Absolutely love it. During the winter you can go swimming in the Mediterranean, and an hour later be skiing on the mountains. Not to mention beautiful and ancient greek ruins at Paphos. Cyprus is my favorite place in the world.
Sounds great. Unfortunately it's a bit out of the scope of where I could get too easily. It's still a possibility, I guess, but it may be a bit too much out of the way.
Spoiler:
Romania - Ask Mirc about the place, only been in some place in Transylvania for a few days, it was pretty cool. Tons of castles.
Ukraine - Nothing much here. Like Sqounq said, Lwow and Kiev are only notable places. I was very bored in Ukraine, not to mention political situation is deteriorating.
Belarus - Nothing here.
Lithuania - Likewise, there are some castles and stuff built by Poles that you can see if you are interested.
Baltic States - Riga and Tallinn are pretty cool places. Only go to one though, because they look the same imo. I'd choose Tallinn over Riga because it is cheap to get to Helsinki.
Poland - Only two things you absolutely must see from Poland on a trip to europe that long - Krakow, and Grunwald. I highly recommend Grunwald.
Grunwald sounds interesting. I assume it is fairly easy to get too?
Spoiler:
As for Krakow, see this:
Krakow is the same as Prague. This is a warning.
Here is the second thing, Bratislava and Budapest are the exact same as Prague, but a better experience overall as they aren't as crowded and you won't get ripped off at every opportunity.
The only real reason I would go to Bratislava is that it is pretty much in the dead middle of Prague and Budapest. You can catch a morning train from Prague, be in Bratislava by midday, see a few things, and then hop on a train and be in Budapest the same night. Is it worth a couple of hours?
Definately spend loads of your time in Spain. It's simply a beautiful country with fantastic cities - recommend you visit a couple of the medium sized towns (Salamanca, Sevilla, Valencia ...). Spain is also really cheap, you can get a beer with a snack (pincho) for virtually no money (1,5-2) and it saves you having to get dinner in the evenings!
In Germany you'll definately want to hit Berlin for some days, probably one of the most exciting towns in Europe. Look out for a bar called Dr.Pong!. My hometown Munich is very lovely in Summer, don't come for visiting sites though. Your time would be much better spent lying round in the english garden with a cool drink while watching pretty girls. Remember that in contrast to other places, running around with a bottle of beer at 12 in the afternoon is not considered anti-social but completely acceptable. Make use of this!
Is there a lot to do around Munich? For example, I know you can go to Neuschwanstein for a day. Are there many other things near Munich that you could go to and from in a day?
Spoiler:
Apart from that, avoid the tourist traps in Italy (Venice!) and maybe try going hiking in the alps for a few days if it isn't too hot.
So avoid Venice? I was thinking that, actually. It seems like a bit of a rip off for nothing more than a bunch of canals. Still, I might pop in for a day or two.
First and foremost, don't put all countries on the same level. There are countries that take more time than others to just have barely seen something.
About eastern countries, especially former USSR, be ready to be extorted money in the most curious ways In Russia I would limit my visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I know that they aren't unknown, but you really can't afford going into unknownland places in Russia unless you are taken by Russian friends that you can really trust.
Yeah, I was only really planning to go to St Pete's and Moscow. Anything else would take too long to get to, anyway.
Spoiler:
I found Moscow to be a modern metropolis (modern in the mentality) and St. Petersburg to be still sovietic in this sense. You'll be treated as a rich capitalist no matter what
This said I should speak of Italy of course. Here it really depends on what are you interests, because there's really a lot to see and experience. It depends on the season: summer or winter. It depends if you're interested in visiting cities of art, museums etc, or skiing or trekking on the Alps, eating some local food in a shelter at 2.000m, or spend a week at the beach; or explore geological areas of interest or who knows what... so try to go a bit more into details.
My plan for Italy at the moment was just to go to Venice for a day or two, and then to Rome for three or four days, and then to Florence for a similar amount of time, going to places like Pisa for a day, or something. I'm not terribly interested in Italy, as opposed to, say, Germany, but because there's so much to see, I still want to see a lot of it. A trip to Europe wouldn't be complete without going to Italy. My preferences are mainly to see historical buildings. Pretty coastline, for example, is something that would be nice to see, but it's not my priority. If I wanted to go to a beach, I'd catch a train from my house to Cronulla.
My preference is for historical buildings, pretty much, and any unique and beautiful scenery. I'm into modern history a lot more than ancient history, but sway towards Medieval and Renaissance for tourist attractions, more so than, for example, WWI trenches. I'm a sucker for the grandiose.
Well, Crimea is very beautiful and has lots of interesting history. Also, the girls there...
However, I personally would not dare to venture into Russia, Ukraine or Belarus without some knowledge of Russian.
When I go to eastern Europe, I'll be in a group of 5, minimum, of which none of us know any Russian. How well will English help us survive in those areas? Or perhaps more importantly, how much Russian do you think is possible to learn in 3 months?
I'm curious about Odessa. It seems the obvious stopping point between Kiev and Bucharest, but I have no idea about what is actually there? What is in Odessa?
Are there any particular standouts in northern Italy, or is it just all really good?
Spoiler:
These places were a bit disappointing to me.
The Netherlands. Not that interesting to be honest. Too dense, boring nature and boring architecture.
Ireland. Nice landscape, but if I want to go to a Celtic country I'd rather choose Scotland.
Greece. The weather is good and so is the food. Nice historic buildings, but they don't do much to preserve the stuff, compared to Italy.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO DENMARK:
Most go and see Copenhagen, which is a nice and safe city (don't be afraid of the cab drivers in Denmark), but there are actually other nice places in Denmark too.
Roskilde have a lot of Viking stuff and some nice buildings.
Aarhus (Århus) is the second biggest city and the capital of Jutland. Right in the center of the city we have a huge open air museum for buildings, that's right, not old clothes or stupid paintings, but actual buildings that have been moved here to create a very large open air museum called The Old Town. There are real shops in some of the buildings, where you can still buy old stuff, it's pretty cool.
We also have some other cool museums (both historic and art), a huge forest along the beach, a nice shopping street, a large memorial park, the biggest cathedral in Denmark and a cool festival in september.
So I assume you would recommend Aarhus over Copenhagen?
How is Aarhus in terms of getting there and getting out? One problem I'm finding with Denmark (which I want to go to) is that it's a bit out of the way. At first I'd planned to from Amsterdam to Copenhagen to Berlin, but that takes way to long. You virtually may as well go via Berlin to get to Copenhagen. But I want to end in Berlin. Another option would be Stockholm --> Copenhagen --> Hamburg --> Amsterdam --> Berlin, but even that seems to be wasting a bit of time backtracking. Is Aarhus more convenient for travel in this regards, or do you have any suggestions on how to reduce travel time going to the same places?
Definitely. There's nothing special in Helsinki. Don't get me wrong, it's great town, but not in any way that Tallinn, Stockholm, Paris or Madrid wouldn't be. During a brief stay you probably wouldn't even notice what's worth of noticing in Finnish culture (plainness, no need for endless blabbering etc).
Tallinn on the other hand is much older and has some real history. So to traveler it's certainly better place to go. Cheaper too.
You can cross the gulf in something like 2 hours and for 20 euros, so no matter which you choose, you can easily visit the other one.
I wouldnt share your enthousiasm for London im afraid Some other cities i have visited were far prettier/more interesting. However i did spend the most time in London, so perhaps it became boring for me. Stockholm must have been the prettiest city i have ever seen, but possibly i only remained in the absolute center. Being protected from modern wars kept its historic character intact i guess.
Also London is nice only in the center. Whatever you do, dont go to east London, everything beyond Waterloo seems to be a slum there.
Camikaze, being Australian, would probably find London quite similar to the environs he's leaving. Large chunks of it essentially look like Surry Hills or Darlinghurst. This is cool, but why travel halfway around the world to spend all your time in an anglophone country with a broadly similar culture (says Arwon, as he posts from Leeds)?
My cousins live in London (well, one in Oxford atm, but close enough), so my main reason for basing myself there is that I have relatives to visit and free accommodation. Plus looser visa restrictions. I can stay for 6 months in the UK, but only 3 months in Europe proper. I have been to the UK for almost 2 months, back in 2003, and so I would disagree that there isn't anything to do. And IMO, Paris is probably a bit better than London, but there really isn't much in it. Both are brilliant.
* The best form of transportation within Europe is train. It's cheaper and more convenient than air travel, and you can buy tickets at a moment's notice.
Yeah, I'll definitely be going by train. That's one of the very few things I've figured out so far.
Spoiler:
* Considering nearly all of Europe is integrated into the EU, there's not much to be wary of. I would avoid certain countries that are troublesome, such as Georgia, Belarus, and Serbia.
* Don't go out all the time to eat. There are lots of small cafes, delis, and other eateries that will sell you meals far cheaper. This seemed especially true to me in Italy.
* Accomodations are expensive. Try to stay in cheaper hotels. Some have advocated youth hostels, which I find to have poor conditions, and would not recommend.
I think I'll be staying in hostels pretty much the whole time. But I'll be wary about which ones I go to. hostelworld.com is a useful site, I've found. I hope it's ratings are accurate. And my cousin is an experienced backpacker, so it should be all good. I just simply can't afford to go to hotels, even cheap ones, for the whole 3 months in continental Europe.
Spoiler:
* Places to visit are widespread and extensive. It makes more sense to say where not to go. In my opinion, Slovakia has little of interest. Much of the Balkans is not completely opened to tourism, and except perhaps for the riviera along the Adriatic, not worth visiting. I did recently visit Albania and had a great time, so that may be worth your time. I have also heard that Belgium is very bland and boring, and not worth a look.
Yeah, that's really the true advantage of hostels. I can't afford anything else. They're great in Eastern Europe especially, because most are only around about A$20 a night, although in Western Europe the gap between hotels and hostels is smaller.
I completely and entirely agree with that. It's really an awesome place.
The 19th-century center is intact and well kept, with many pedestrian areas that make for great walks.
The castle/fortress on the Danube is beautiful (I can't believe I forgot its name again, last time I was there I swore I would remember it - Kalemegdan or something like that).
There is a place to have fun everywhere, most people are extraordinarily open-minded and very friendly towards foreigners too, and the girls are probably the best I've ever seen.
I really liked the various churches and cathedrals they have over there, among which the Saint Sava, the biggest orthodox church in the world.
There are lots of hidden gems that you might not hear of, like the Bohemian Street, which has such an unique atmosphere and is easily accessible from the center.
Yeah, I was thinking that if I went to Bulgaria (on the way from Bucharest to Istanbul), I would go to Veliko Tarnovo, simply because it's right on the train line. But do trains actually stop near there on the way from Bucharest to Istanbul, or is much simpler to go direct from Romania to Turkey without that stop in the middle?
Spoiler:
- Croatia has some of the most beautiful coastlines you can possibly imagine, with islands, palm trees, mountains rising up from the sea and old Roman and Byzantine ruins adding color to pretty much every town and city.
- Greece has a lot to be seen, most of it has been already mentioned here though
- Istanbul is a world of its own, one cannot say they have travelled around the world if they haven't seen this tiny little town.
Also, I completely endorse the suggestion with the hostels - they are by far the best accommodation a traveller can hope for. Great people, always interesting stories and people going out every night, discovering the places they are in, lots of things to do and experiences to share, and very, very, very cheap!
@Camikaze:
If you need advice about what to see in Bucharest or in Romania, on your way there, tell me - I'd be glad to provide some more info.
My plan atm is to start in Munich in mid-April, and then go around Austria, Italy and Switzerland, before going back to France for a week in the countryside (with some relatives in a nice little house somewhere). Then I'll be in the UK for a bit over a month, in which time I'll probably want to go to Ireland and Scotland (so hot weather shouldn't be too much of a problem ). And then at the end of June and through July, I'll go all through eastern Europe, ending probably in either Istanbul or Athens, before spending August in western Europe. That would mostly be northern W. Europe, but Spain and Portugal would be included in that. Hot weather may be a bit of a problem then, but I can survive in 40C, so I should be fine.
Spoiler:
In Portugal most of the tourism is centered in Lisbon. The central/older part of the city is nice enough, but suburbs the usual nondescript/depressing residential areas. Sintra, near Lisbon, is an exception to that, worth seeing.
There are interesting buildings (lots of castles, monasteries, ruined roman cities and villas, etc) and landscapes outside the Lisbon area , but nothing I'd immediately recommend a tourist who wants to visit the most of Europe in 6 months to spend time on. Anyway, all that can be fount in Lisbon too, albeit scattered and sometimes hard to find: the phoenician ruins are under a bank's headquarters (do ignore the sound and the first 60s in the video, it's bad but it's the only one available; the ruins are small but interesting because they actually show the layered growth of the city over some 2500 years), the rather dilapidated roman theater is inside another building, the megalithic remains on the outskirts of the city are not easy to find, etc.
Oh, and the northern area of the Iberian Peninsula (Minho in Portugal, Galicia, Asturias, etc. in Spain) is quite different from the rest.
I can suggest this site for photos of Portugal, check if something interests you. Do keep in mind that photographers tend to pick the best possible angle and lighting - what you see is not necessarily what you get.
Sounds great. Unfortunately it's a bit out of the scope of where I could get too easily. It's still a possibility, I guess, but it may be a bit too much out of the way.
Um, by plane I suppose. I got there on a cruise ship.
But I believe Rhodes is worth the trip for simple sightseeing and relaxation. Its great fun just wandering the streets, looking at store goods, haggling for a piece of jewelry, drinking coffee in front of that huge fountain.
Sounds great. Unfortunately it's a bit out of the scope of where I could get too easily. It's still a possibility, I guess, but it may be a bit too much out of the way.
The first time I went to Cyprus was via ferry tour. I went from Athens- Various Greek Islands - Rhodes - Cyprus, spent two weeks in Cyprus - Israel - Alexandria - Pyramids - flight back to Athens, and from there train to Katowice.
Grunwald sounds interesting. I assume it is fairly easy to get too?
I'm not too familiar with public transportation to grunwald as I've went there via car on all occaisions.
You will have to ask Sqounk about it, although a google search will probably get you something.
Only problem I can see is that Grunwald is a Calender event, so you have to make sure your in Poland at that time, and thus center other parts of your vacation around it. Although you should probably plan your vacation if it is one this big anyway.
If you're going that far, you might as well drop into St. Petersburg for a few days. Just make sure you follow your Russian visa dates precisely, or you'll get arrested and have a fiasco on your hands.
It used to be a big commercial city before it was overshadowed by Venice and Genoa.
There's not that much to see, I guess, but this church is very original, and it has sanctuary of St Andrew the Apostle inside. If you were in Naples and wanted to make a 1-day trip, that could be a good choice.
Surprisingly enough I didn't go to Sainte-Chapelle, so that will be a sure thing to go to this time. And those others look worth a visit too.
I don't know if you'll like them, but I did. This if reknown fountain of Medicis in Luxembourg park
this is Buttes Chaumont
this is at Monceau
It's hard for me to advise you something in Poland, because then I'd be afraid you wouldn't like it. Malbork castle is an obvious and good choice:
but Kwidzyn is less besieged by tourists and looks nice, too
Both are near Gdansk city
which I advise you as a nice place to stay on your road to Petersburg.
And when it comes to the road to Peterburg, you could go there through aforementioned Vilnius,
as well as Ryga, the capital of Latvia - which was a very important city once, and while it is not reknown, it surely still bears the signs of past glory
and Tallinn. I think a roadtrip Gdansk - Wilno (Vilnius) - Riga - Tallin - Petersburg - Helsinki is a good choice. You could return via Kiev and Lwow.
While at Gdansk, if you wanted to make a trip from there and didn't like the aforementioned castles, you could go to Oliwa, where you can see one of the biggest organs in the world:
although there are other possibilities, such as Pelplin
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When it comes to other places, there's Lublin for example. It's not a touristic place at all, and I have never been there, to be honest, but it's know for an unique gothic chapen covered with ruthenian-byzantine frescos
Not far away there's a little city called Kazimierz Dolny, which is said to be a charming place
and Zamość, which was built as a completely new, renaissance city
etc
but, in general, I'm afraid cities in Italy or France are nicer: they were always richer and bigger, and weren't as destroyed during world wars.
So I assume you would recommend Aarhus over Copenhagen?
How is Aarhus in terms of getting there and getting out? One problem I'm finding with Denmark (which I want to go to) is that it's a bit out of the way. At first I'd planned to from Amsterdam to Copenhagen to Berlin, but that takes way to long. You virtually may as well go via Berlin to get to Copenhagen. But I want to end in Berlin. Another option would be Stockholm --> Copenhagen --> Hamburg --> Amsterdam --> Berlin, but even that seems to be wasting a bit of time backtracking. Is Aarhus more convenient for travel in this regards, or do you have any suggestions on how to reduce travel time going to the same places?
I don't know, Copenhagen is much bigger and the capital afterall, but if you go to Amsterdam, Stockholm, Hamburg etc. Copenhagen won't be much different. Aarhus is smaller, so how much time do you planning on staying? It would be a waste to stay in Aarhus more than a week I think.
If you go by train, you can reach pretty much all of Denmark from Hamburg. If you go by air, RyanAir fly pretty cheap between the UK and both Aarhus and Copenhagen.
Peter's people are still in the sovietic era compared to Moscow IMHO, that wasn't a really positive comment to be honest. Peter's a beautiful city though (there's the hands of italian architects there ), and the Hermitage is huge (with a huge queue to visit).
On Italy:
Venice isn't a city. It's like an attraction park. I found it very interesting and enjoyable. A coupla days will suffice, same with Rome and Florence. Florence is the most beautiful city in Italy IMHO, and its Cathedral is breathtaking. Hopefully it won't be under restaurations... Pisa could need a day itself, too, or half a day combined with Florence, but it again depends on the season (for sunlight duration). However I would really advice to come to Turin, actually... since you want to visit more than just stereoyped turist locations. Turin is a beautiful city with not just historical buildings but also quite some museums to visit (the Egyptian one is the biggest in Europe. There is also the International Museum of Cinema). There are also a number of royal residences to visit around Turin. I'm not posting pictures because I'm sure you will find them alone, just hinting you to look up for Turin.
@TLO- Grunwald sounds fun, and that's really good timing, actually. My current plans have me in Poland from about the 12th to 18th of July.
@Cheezy- yeah, I'm planning on going from Tallinn/Helsinki to St Pete's, and then to Moscow, for 3-5 days in each. Visas are a problem, but I've got a while to sort that out, so I should be fine.
@Squonk- Gah! So many pretty places to go! Would you think it possible to stay in Florence for, say, 3 nights, and see Florence, Pisa and Siena in that time?
@Yoda Power- I'm only planning on spending 2 or 3 days in Denmark, so either is an option, but not both. I'm leaning towards Aarhus after your post, TBH.
@onedreamer- Turin sounds cool, looks pretty. I guess you could easily spend a couple of days there?
Venice is also hideously expensive as well. Spend 1 or 2 nights there I'd say, it's unique enough to warrant that despite the way it's entirely given over to tourism (honestly the city makes no economic sense otherwise).
Naples is worth a visit, it's got a bad rep for being all dangerous and dirty, but it's still really interesting and you can visit Pompeii from there too.
@Cheezy- yeah, I'm planning on going from Tallinn/Helsinki to St Pete's, and then to Moscow, for 3-5 days in each. Visas are a problem, but I've got a while to sort that out, so I should be fine.
I can recommend a place to stay while you're there.
The "problem" with a Russian visa is that you have to have an invitation into the country. All this really means is that the hotel you're staying at has to say "yeah he's ours alright;" its to help fight illegal immigration, which is such a huge problem there it looks like ours here is a joke. I used Travisa for the whole visa process, they contact your hotel and get the request and everything, its awesome. But it is time consuming, so make sure you do it in plenty of time in advance. And as I said, you cannot exceed the times on your visa, even by a single day, so be precise in your departure time (you can naturally leave before, if you so wish).
@Yoda Power- Thanks for the offer. 2-3 days in Aarhus fits nicely with my schedule.
@Arwon- Yeah, I wouldn't want to spend more than a day or two in Venice. Too expensive, too touristy.
@Penelope- Well, I finished school and am going to defer from uni, and have been saving for a while, so it's not so much a lucky chance to go so much as simply a decision I made. And my parents are going for the first few months, too, which makes things cheaper easier.
@Cheezy- recommendations would be appreciated. Do you know if hostels are as easy to get letters of invitation from as hotels, and do these letters of invitation come with much of an added price?
The Venice touristyness is almost an attraction, though, it's a wonder to behold in-and-of-itself though. It's like going to Disneyland, it's awesome. I spent my time looking for supermarkets and clotheslines and other signs that people actually live there.
When I go to eastern Europe, I'll be in a group of 5, minimum, of which none of us know any Russian. How well will English help us survive in those areas? Or perhaps more importantly, how much Russian do you think is possible to learn in 3 months?
yeah you could. One for museums one for historical buildings, one of which (the basilica where kings were buried - Superga) is on a hill where you can see all the city, a nice view if it's a day without fog.
I agree with Venice, in fact it's what I've said (it's not even a city but an attraction park ) but still interesting. You can visit it in a day though, but sleeping there might be necessary to start from early morning.
What ever you do just don't take a ride on the boats... far too expensive.
I found Naples uninteresting, at least compared to other italian cities. But indeed Pompeii is worth one day. I've been there a whole day and couldn't visit it all, this gives you an idea how big it is. I must say that Pompeii is one of the turist trips that impressed me the most, it's really worth especially for history fans as we are here on Civfanatics. Be sure to take the vocal guide if you go there, it makes a big difference.
@Cheezy- recommendations would be appreciated. Do you know if hostels are as easy to get letters of invitation from as hotels, and do these letters of invitation come with much of an added price?
Yes, the invitations aren't hard, they're just a formality. If you use a service like Travisa that I linked you to, it'll be an afterthought. But FYI, you must keep the documentation for that invitation with you at all times when in-country, and could be asked to produce them by a police officer. And, of course, you must return them when you depart the country.
Start learning. Now. Prepare as if no one you will meet knows a word of English. I started a month before I left and still kept the assumption that I'd meet English-speakers. The result was that I was very nearly stranded in Moscow when I couldn't buy tickets for a new train, because the one I was supposed to take was sol out.
You don't have to be fluent, but learn to read and write the language, and learn the basic words and phrases you'll likely encounter. "Hello, how are you" "i'm fine, thanks" "where is X at?" "I would like to buy X" so on and so forth. There are, of course, people who speak English, usually at establishments like hotels and banks,but you may encounter, especially younger people, on the street who speak English. I had the funny experience of asking a man for directions in Russian who not only spoke perfect English, but was as lost as I was! You may also run into other tourists; I met a New Yorker in my hotel in St. Petersburg.
I was mostly going to suggest cities in the west and center of Romania, but if you plan on coming to Bucharest from the east, you cannot miss Iasi (Jassy). I will come back to this one later. So you could stop there on your way to Bucharest, and then if you're going westwards out of Bucharest, by any chance, you can see those places:
Brasov - old Saxon city, large but situated entirely between mountains, with old architecture, fortifications, churches/monasteries (both Orthodox and Protestant), and hills and mountains to climb on. Probably my favorite (large) city in Romania. To me, it looks like a fairytale town:
Spoiler:
(^ this one is right on the way to Brasov, coming from Bucharest - I know the spot)
The city is also only a few km away from the (in)famous Bran castle, associated with Dracula (although having no historical connection with the real medieval ruler):
Spoiler:
Before reaching Brasov, you have to stop by Sinaia - a tiny mountain town with very, very few permanent inhabitants, but very easily accessible, since it's often full of tourists. Known as the "pearl of the Carpathians", it's got great views, a number of nice old monasteries, and the Peles Palace, the residence of the royal family of Romania (recently given back to the King Michael, after long and difficult disputes). It's by far the most beautiful castle in Romania, IMHO, although "Castelul Huniazilor" comes close.
Some random shots of the mountains in and around Sinaia ("Muntii Bucegi"):
(I have to say that those are not really the best photos - I believe I made hundreds of better ones myself!)
Spoiler:
(^ natural rock formation, not man-made; known as "the Sphynx")
Here's a shot of the "Sinaia monastery", since I mentioned monasteries before:
Spoiler:
Last time I was there it was being restored, but I'm pretty sure it should be finished by now.
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(roman-catholic, greek-catholic, armenian-catholic and, probably, orthodox as well)
In Russia I would limit my visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I know that they aren't unknown, but you really can't afford going into unknownland places in Russia unless you are taken by Russian friends that you can really trust.
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