Euro Trip tourist help

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Hey guys, this may I'm going to be spending a week in Italy, another week in Spain and a final week in France I just wanted to ask what "cool" tourist spots there are in these countries? No need to limit it to the capitals as I think I'll be travelling in-country a lot

Please keep in mind that I'm a 20-year old testosterone-laden boy and have in mind sites like the Colisseum in Rome and NOT cathedrals and churches (God knows my parents are taking me to enough of those )

I'd appreciate your suggestions guys, thanks

 

Well, in Spain, Salamanca is a nice place to check out. It is a university town and has quite good nightlife. The University buildings and the local Cathedral are pretty interesting architecturally as well.

The Alhambra in Granada is probably the main "must see" building in Spain. It is absolutely amazing.

In terms of a nice beach area, Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol (Spain again) is pretty nice - I liked it a lot better then Nice. Mijas is close by and it is a nice little quaint village. I didn't really do much comparison pricing elsewhere in Spain but it seemed to be a fairly cheap place to attend a bullfight if you are interested in doing so.

In Italy, Florence and Venice were the places that I enjoyed the most. I wasn't all that impressed by Rome although the Coliseum, Forum, and Vatican are must sees.

In France, I wasn't all that impressed except by Paris.

 

I haven't been to Spain but in Italy I agree that Florence and Venice are good. In France I traveled mostly in the country, and I mean country. I liked Paris, its well worth spending some time there.

 

@JSBB

I'm definitely interested in seeing a bullfight, thanks Around how much do they cost on average though? or at least the one that you attended

 

It has been a couple years but if I remember correctly the cheap seats are somewhere in the 10-30 Euro range depending upon how high you sit. You will pay quite a bit more to sit in the shaded section near the President's Box - around 40-70 Euro depending on how high you want to sit.

I paid for one of the best seats (low row, in the shade and right next to the President's box) and I found that a lot of the action was right in front of me. I imagine that the matadors try to do this in order to perform for the occupants of the President's box as well as the patrons who have paid for the expensive tickets.

 

Costa del Sol I found a little too touristy. You can get all the English and German food you want there but you will find it hard to find even paella! Torremolinos is a great place to go and features a large medieval market and festivals. Slightly touristy also but still has lots of Spanish culture.

Be sure to check out the Arabic castles in Spain, and France has some great castles also.

 

In spain, the best place to visit is Barcelona. Really nice city, and I know you said no churches, but you really aught to check out the Sagrada familia.

 

My favourite place in Italy is Tuscany. The countryside has a magical light about it that has inspired so many great artists. And the food! I could spend my life just enjoying the wonderful fresh Italian food there. That's real Italian food, not the vastly inferior versions we get in our own countries.

Taluntain is right about Pompeii - that is awe inspiring.

Place to avoid: Leaning Tower of Pisa. That was a waste of time.

Rome is great. So much ancient history. It's amazing.

But I can't urge you enough to visit as many real Italian restaurants as you can. And make some attempt to speak a little bit of the language. When I was there, I saw some very rude Americans demanding a cup of "corfee" and complaining when they received a short espresso.

 

"corfee"? hmm strange. Most tourists are rude but the locals always apreaciate tourists that learn a little of their local history and language. It always helps.

Try www.hospitalityclub.org Its a good way to make friends with some locals and they can show you all the (interesting) things that tourist guides do not cover. I have had some great trips and made many friends on my travels.

Some churches might actually fit in with the above quote. I do not know of any in Spain or Italy but in Ireland St Michans has crypts that have skeletons (its a spooky crypt that has minimal lighting, large cobwebs and stinks of methane). You can shake the hand of a dead crusader (its supposed to be lucky), look at a nun that still has her fingernails intact, and a skeletal thief that has his right hand missing. Christ Church in Dublin also has crypts (but more commercial) but features legandary Archer Fitzgerald de Clares (Strongbow) tomb. I am sure that Mainland Europe has tons of things like that in their churches.

 

@Cesard

Yeah, that stuff does sound interesting I'll try to look up any similar places in the 3 countries I'm going to

 

Good point. Whilst some churches are boring, and going to too many churches is boring - some of the really big ones are just awe-inspiring. I guess it depends if you have any of that sort thing where you come from. There are no huge 600 year old cathedrals in New Zealand, so I found that stuff to be fascinating.

 

Same here in the Philippines, so I wouldn't mind seeing a couple. I'd like to check out the Church that was described in Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, the one with the statue of "The ecstasy of Saint Agnes" I think it was.

I'll definitely be checking out the Alhambra as JSBB suggested.

 

If you have time before you go you might want to read Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving.

 

Thanks JSBB, I'll do that. I'm guessing that this would more or less be considered a "classic" because it's by the author of Sleepy Hollow, correct? Because if it's an obscure book, I'm pretty sure I wont be able to find it here

 

It is considered a classic and is fairly widely available but certainly no where near as much as Sleepy Hollow or Rip Van Winkle.

If you can't find it before hand they have plenty of copies available for sale at the Alhambra (in a huge selection of different languages).

 

Sleepy Hallow was based on the legend of the Dullahan from ancient Eire the original headless horseman.

Happy crypt hunting in Europe.

 

hey guys, my trip is in around 2 weeks and although I asked this question in RB it didn't really get noticed much so I'll just place it here too as it's related to the trip

I'm on the lookout for a decent pair of aviator (read: Top Gun ) shades. It's hard to find those things here unless I just buy a branded one like Ray-ban and I just don't have that money to spare on shades.

A friend of mine told me that they sell decent aviator shades in the street markets over there in Europe. So my question is for those who have been in or live in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo), Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice) or France (Paris).

Is it true that these shades are a common item in the street markets over there? Around how much Euro should I expect to pay for one? Wouldn't want to be suckered too badly just because I'm a tourist

 

You won't find any quality glasses in street markets, but that doesn't mean they don't look cool. Here you would have to pay maybe €10 or something, but Finland is an expencive country so I personally wouldn't pay over €10, if they aren't super cool. Don't buy the first pair you see, take your time, I'm sure you'll find some cool 'cheap sunglasses' (check out the song by ZZ Top ).

 

ah, but when i refer to "quality" in shades, "looking cool" is the main criteria so that's fine

out of curiousity though sticker, what do you mean by those glasses looking cool but not being "quality"? lack of uv protection or something?