Travel: Solicit advice

[godfry n. glad]

Okay, guys...

Here's the deal. I'm juggling three ideas for my next overseas venture.

They each have their attractions. Thing is, I suspect that there are those of you out there who can tell me things about these places. Helpful things. Needful things.

So there are three options:

OPTION A: Motoring the Pyrenees and barging through wine country. This is an arc beginning in Bordeaux, south into Basque country in Spain and then east across the peninsula to Barcelona, passing through Andorra somewhere along the line, and thence to Montpellier, Avignon and Marseille (that being Provence and Langedoc, as I understand). Barging opportunities in Bordeau and Avignon. Bordeau or the Rhone valley. Rent an auto for when not barging. Anybody know anything about the country or perhaps had a barging experience in Europe.

OPTION 2: Cities of Central Europe. This is basically hopping (night train, say) between short 4 to 7 day stays in Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. I'm interested in any other destination recommendations for central Europe. This would primarily be hostelling with occasional nice hotel stays. Culture and food. I understand the world's best collection of central Asian cultural historical material is in Berlin...I need to know more about that. Prague...is Prague.

OPTION #: Greek isles, Turkish Coast. Boating...of some kind, I'm open...around the Cyclades, Rhodes, and so on...islands in the Aegean Sea. I'd probably want to squeeze in Athens and Istanbul.

I'm looking for any recommendations or suggestions about any of these sites. What time of year to go. Specific sites that are worth seeing. Things that should be considered when planning to go there (like the lavendar season in Provence). Any warnings?

godfry n. curious

[JoeP]

Barging in Europe can be great fun. I have only done this in England (narrowboating) & Ireland, and the French canal style is somewhat different, but by all reports a good experience. Prepare to eat out a lot. I don't know if you can barge on the Dordogne but that area is lovely. From Provence consider going north to Savoie/Haut-Savoie, and maybe even to Geneva - areas good for skiing in winter become delightful alpine countryside in summer. Eat cheese.

Central Europe - Prague and Vienna are the places. I'm not sure about Budapest, but I'd try to include Munich as well as Berlin. Bavaria, mmm :tapbeer:

Turkish coast: go to Ephesus (Efes). Go to Izmir. Do not go to Bodrum. Then there's a place on the south coast I went to, a river with amazing tombs carved into the cliffs. Possibly Anatalya?

[godfry n. glad]

THANK YOU! :bow2:

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

The canal barge trip that I've found focuses on stopping at wineries and I think one actually had a chef on board. (It's like 10 couples...like a B&B on board.) I'll have to check again about the food arrangements.


godfry n. grateful

[JoeP]

That's gotta be a monster barge. Narrowboats in England are cramped with one family on board. But the French ones I think are twice as wide (most locks in Britain take two narrowboats abeam but some are genuinely narrow). And with a broader beam you can have higher roofs and so on.

[Shaguar]

No Brainer IMO, get down into the Basque country. Bilbao, the trip from the port might remind you of the opening steelworks scene from "The Deerhunter" (I like industrial sites) but the city is great plus which it has the fantastic guggenheim. San Sebastien along the coast is very high clas if that is what you want. Bilabo has a bit of an edge. Then across to my favourite city Barcelona, the Parc Guell, Sagra Familia, the Boccarea Market, The ramblas, Montjuic, food at los caracoles.

[godfry n. glad]

Thanks, Shaguar.

I was trying to determine whether going to Bilbao and to Barcelona were worth it on the itinerary. From what I'm beginning to hear is that the western Pyranees are more "picturesque" than the central or eastern parts of the mountains.

Another question is, when moving across the isthmus of the peninsula, is it better to stay north of the Pyranees, in France, and go through Toulouse, or stay south of the Pyranees, in Spain, and go through Zaragosa?

And, is it better to do that east to west, or west to east? I'll at least want to set foot in Andorra, too.

And... Is there a best time of year to do this?

godfry

[godfry n. glad]

That's gotta be a monster barge. Narrowboats in England are cramped with one family on board. But the French ones I think are twice as wide (most locks in Britain take two narrowboats abeam but some are genuinely narrow). And with a broader beam you can have higher roofs and so on.

Here's some of the possibilities under consideration:

http://www.francevacations.net/google/barge.cfm?re=google

We'd be considering either the Mirabelle or the two in Provence.

godfry

[JoeP]

Ok, wow. That's not what I imagined, that's a cruise! I was talking about self-drive(-steer), self-catering boats. Anyway, they look pretty good.

[livius drusus]

I spent 2 weeks on a barge meandering down the Saone river in Burgundy and it was an absolute delight. My parents and some family friends rented our own barge, though, unlike the lovely ones you linked to, godfry, so it was considerably smaller. We also found out when we returned to the the rental place that the bilge pump had been overflowing the whole time. Another day on the river and we would have been on the bottom of it. :chuckle:

It was a wonderful trip. We'd dock somewhere (once we had to share a mooring pole with a horse :)), walk to the nearest village or town, buy some bread, cheese and wine, find a cool park or chateau or vinyard or ruin or castle and settle down for a picnic. I also loved the whole procedure of handling locks, which was rather surprising considering what a princess I was at the time.

I adore Vienna. For years it was my favorite city in Europe. People are curteous, there is much to see and do, and they play life-sized chess with actors in costume in the city park. The food is delicious -- okay I pretty much ate Vienerschnitzel wherever we went, but why the hell not? -- and there was this drink I adored which I can't for the life of me describe or even spell, but to my childish ears it sounded like "Ime-doodler". It was yellow and fizzy and the first sip sucked but every one after that was pure ambrosia.

Great shopping too. Them drndls are very cleavage flattering (mine was purple).

I didn't think much of Budapest, I must say, but I was there in the summer of '91 and it was still very much Soviet drab at the time. Many, many Trabants. I've heard great things about Prague and how medieval it is, but I've no personal experience to report.

As for the Greek isles, Turkey plan, it sounds like paradise on earth. Everything from standing on Sounion Point where Aegeus threw himself into the sea because of Theseus' black sail mistake, to Mykonos to Crete to passing through the Dardanelles and visiting Istanbul in Europe and then Istanbul in Asia... To call it resonant doesn't begin to do it justice.

Honestly godfry, I don't see how you could go wrong with any of these plans.

[JoeP]

People are curteous,

I didn't think much of Budapest, I must say, but I was there in the summer of '91 and it was still very much Soviet drab at the time. Many, many Trabants.
True story: after the reunification of East and West Germany, an East German burgher from Magdeburg decided he wanted straightaway to make the trip to the West he'd never been able to before. So he got out his Trabant, bought some petrol for it (not too much), and motored to the border.

Once into the west, he was thrilled, and keen to experience everything about the supposed free life in the West. In particular he'd heard that they didn't have all those shortages in the West, you could generally buy what you needed. The first place he came to had a service station, so he pulled up.

The forecourt attendant approached him courteously and said "Guten tag. Vot can I do for you?"

Herr Ossi said "Ja, it's great to be here. I vould like a new vindscreen viper for my Trabant."

The attendant looked troubled and said "Ja, vell, I don't know. I vill haf to ask ze manager." He went into the office. Herr Ossi looked around taking in the sights, until the manager finally came out.

"So, you vant a vindscreen viper for your Trabant?"

"Ja, bitte..."

The manager looked at the car for a few seconds, and finally said "OK, it's a deal."

[Shaguar]

Godfry, The Zaragosa option is the one I would take but I am bias, I do like France although my Nelsonian heritage means I have to pretend to hate it, but Spain I love, the people are fantastic even when they are trying to be rude, I love the food, the music (Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo - brilliant).

Buuuut I had missed the "Odyssey" plan through the Greek Islands, now that sounds like another plan entirely, make sure that only your dog and your wife recognise you when you get back.

Time of year - Unless you are used to searing heat (36-40 deg C/95-105 deg f) avoid July August for Spainish interior and Greek Mailnald, Coast in Spain and Island hopping should be OK with breeze but for God' sake cover up. The whole of Europe takes it's holiday mainly in August, I would avoid this time as you may run into hordes of my fellow countrymen dresses in nylon soccer shirts soaking up the local culture (beer, and burgers) and fighting all and sundry.

I reckon May/ September is best bet

[livius drusus]

I reckon May/ September is best bet

Very much agreed. I'm partial to the latter, myself.

[godfry n. glad]

Ah...I don't like to travel in hot times. I also don't like to travel when everybody and their brother is also travelling. Of course, I don't care to travel in the middle of the off-season, either. There is generally a reason for the off-season, like bad weather.

I generally love to travel September and October, but since taking on a job punctuated by heavy activity in late September (new academic year), it's been a bit more difficult to arrange the time away that I deem necessary. (I won't travel overseas unless I'm away from home at least three weeks.)

I like the idea of travelling in May (northern hemisphere) and wonder if mid- to late-April would be as good as May.

Domestically, I don't like travelling during the times that the schoolchildren are on break. I just don't like crowds.

godfry

[AspenMama]

Sigh. All your options sound fabulous. I'd of course love to do the first one. Good red wine-- men with real French accents, creme brulee, chocolate and cheese!!! I've heard August is the ideal time to visit France.

I've taken a barge/narrow boat through a bit of England back in '87. A group of us college kids handled the boats and pulled over now and again for beer as necessary. :D During that time I also visited Germany and the Canary Islands in Spain.

More recently I went to Italy where I hiked along the Cinque Terra and visited a few other places. There so many places and so little time!! How wonderful that you are planning these trips. :D That's me green with envy. Where's that lotto ticket???

Have you ever considered South America, Peru or the Gallapagos Islands?

[godfry n. glad]

Godfry, The Zaragosa option is the one I would take but I am bias, I do like France although my Nelsonian heritage means I have to pretend to hate it, but Spain I love, the people are fantastic even when they are trying to be rude, I love the food, the music (Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo - brilliant).

So, I take it your Drakian heritage doesn't hold you back, eh? :wink:

Buuuut I had missed the "Odyssey" plan through the Greek Islands, now that sounds like another plan entirely, make sure that only your dog and your wife recognise you when you get back.


No dog, no wife, no god. I do have a tutored tomcat, but he acts like he doesn't know me much of the time anyway. :catwalk:

It's my girlfriend who's been pushing the Odysseus option...and she's the one waving no-cost round trip tickets to Europe (frequent flyer miles) in my face. As you can see, it's the least developed of the options (not because she mentioned it, but because it's the newest).

She's also the wine drinker (I'm not), so she got real excited when I mentioned the river barges through France. For me, Cognac could well be the starting point.....heh heh...it's only a few miles north of Bordeaux. :friday:

godfry

[godfry n. glad]

Sigh. All your options sound fabulous. I'd of course love to do the first one. Good red wine-- men with real French accents, creme brulee, chocolate and cheese!!! I've heard August is the ideal time to visit France.

So, you'd prefer barging the Garonne over the Rhône? Bordeaux over Chardonnay? As for August, after hearing Shaguar's warning, I'd be tempted to stay away from the crowds and heat....of course, I'd miss the flocks of nubile young women who flock to the beaches of the Mediterranean to expose their mostly nekkid bodies, but then, sacrifices must be made. Plus, arriving in Provence in mid- to late-May should put me there near the lavender season. :sml: Sssssmmmmmmmm.....ahhhhhh.

There so many places and so little time!! How wonderful that you are planning these trips. :D That's me green with envy. Where's that lotto ticket???

Hey...You missed your chance. :wink: I hope you get to realize your goal.

Have you ever considered South America, Peru or the Gallapagos Islands?

Yes, indeed... So little time (and money!) and so many places.

No...I have never considered South America. The biggest barrier is that it's too close to the Equator. But then, high in the Andes of Peru or Chile, or south of Bueno Aires/Santiago might be okay. The thing is, there's not much there that draws me other than Macchu Picchu. I think I'd rather wander Brittany in search of menhirs and standing stones. Or actually go to someplace like Istfahan, Ctesiphon and Tehran in Iran. Or, the antipodes, where I actually know people.

godfry