Back in 1980 I had a chance to visit Venice. My college roommate and I went to a Frank Zappa concert in Paris on Saturday and then had to be in Rome on Friday to then head for Greece from Brindisi. He wanted to see Vienna and Venice, but that seemed like too long on a train for me, so I chose Milan and Florence (plus Sienna).
It's hard to go too wrong in Europe.
I came up with a good rendezvous place in Rome: Friday at 3pm on the shady side of Egyptian obelisk in Bernini's piazza in front of St. Peter's.
I agree wholeheartedly with that. My wife's thesis for her doctorate in architectural history was about a Venetian building complex, so she's pretty much a Doctor of Venice, and we've been many times. One thing I'd say though is that mass tourism makes Venice a no-go zone in the summer: it's hard to convey how crowded everything gets, and it becomes impossible to experience the city in any meaningful way.
If you can are happy walking on uneven surfaces for hours there is a huge amount to explore away from the tourist hotspots.
A lot of Americans and Asians stick to the main parts with their group but the city is quite intuitive and it’s hard to get lost. The Europeans are better and seeing all of the place.
The towns on the Amalfi peninsula are, in many cases, over 1,000 years old. The roads mostly didn't go in until after WW2, so there are well maintained paths all over connecting those towns. If you like to walk (and you'll walk a lot) something like the Path of the Gods from Agerola to Nocelle is a once-in-a-lifetime hike. From Nocelle you can walk down the hill and mingle with the hordes in Positano. To get to Agerola take the train to Salerno then a ferry to Positano, then catch the local bus.
I don't want to get into an argument about this, but as a simple factual matter it really is way more difficult and unpleasant to move around Venice when it's choked with summer tourists. I'm not talking about the Rialto Bridge or the Piazza San Marco or the Duomo etc.; I mean that it becomes really slow and crowded and kind of awful to walk from Canareggio to Dorsoduro or wherever. And the vaporettos get packed to the point of claustrophobia.
I guess you could limit yourself to the Fondamente Nove e.g. and avoid a lot of it, but that would severely impair your experience of the city. Or to take it to an absurd extreme: you could stay in Mestre on the mainland and avoid absolutely all the crowding and still technically be in Venice, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it.
Much better just to go some other time if you can. That's my advice as someone who's spent months of my life in Venice, over the course of many visits at different times of the year.
> I don't want to get into an argument about this, but as a simple factual matter it really is way more difficult and unpleasant to move around Venice when it's choked with summer tourists. <
Even without direct knowledge I agree. AnotherFamily went to Venice last (early) May. Quick visit and we had a good time. But I would not want to visit with any more people there than that--and certainly not hotter and sweatier. (Unless you're the kind person who enjoys going to Disney World during an April Spring Break week. I'm more a LMTFA kind of guy.)
Seems to me there is plenty of Europe that is more off-the-beaten-track and climatically suited for a mid-summer visit.
Steve and his bride can plan a "shoulder season" trip to Europe sometime and visit Venice then.
Scotland for sure. As a golf/golf course aficionado, you must make the pilgrimage to St. Andrews. Plus Edinburgh is nearby and we enjoyed it back in 2003. Go to the highlands as well.
It's always sounded exciting, figuring I'd stumble upon the next "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead." But, judging by my track record in picking upcoming movies to review, I'd probably by a ticket instead for the next "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star."
I second Scotland given your (Steve's) interests, though I personally have only been to Edinburgh for a relatively short trip. Yes, midges are an issue (as they are here in Ireland), and they may annoy anyone golfing.
Don't go too far south at that time of year, southern Europe is often unbearably warm in summer these days and air conditioning is not as prevalent as in the US. Slovenia is interesting, and it is Alpine enough that the weather may be bearable.
And I’ve been to Slovenia, and it was interesting; very Central European, by which I mean the intellectual curiosity and the drive to education of the German-speaking countries and their close neighbours is very strong in this former Austro-Hungarian country, but also South Slavic, quite good memories of the pre-1990s Yugoslavia (though that may just have been the people I was visiting), strong Italian influence in the sensible areas like food, not particularly expensive. Would recommend it.
St Andrews would have to be the obvious choice for me. I went in 2012 and it was a fantastic experience. The Old Course was crowded, of course, but you could buy a multi-day pass for unlimited golf at all the other courses in town. And they were great courses and not at all crowded. I really like the Castle Course, which isn’t right next to all the others but has quite a dramatic setting. It’s interesting, though, because you could tell the soil was quite different from the older courses and didn’t drain as well. I think I ended up walking 7 or 8 rounds in 4 days.
The downside was the weather; some days it was 50F and rainy, even in June. The last day, when I played the old course, the sun actually came out. And I sank a 20-footer on the 18th and the onlookers applauded. (Sadly it was for a double bogey after slicing my tee shot into the street. But it felt like a par.)
Thanks for reminding me. When I bought my lifetime membership at Ballybunion golf club on the west coast of Ireland in 1987 for $1,000, I expected to be an affluent corporate frequent flier. But, to my surprise, I became instead a bookish intellectual of reduced means. I've only been back once for 45 holes in 1994.
I wonder where I put my Ballybunion membership card guaranteeing me free golf for life?
I sort of suspect that if I showed up in 2025 saying, I misplaced my card, but trust me, I'm on your Free Golf for Life list, they'd reply, Sorry, but that list burned up in the great fire of 2001 along with the club chairman who came up with that offer. I'm sorry to say, but he died in horrible agony, the eejit.
If it were me, it would be in my top drawer with little containers of my kids’ baby teeth and an old HP-15 calculator.
There’s a course up in Donegal that’s been redone fairly recently. My golfing friends speak highly of it and it doesn’t seem to have blown up yet. It’s called the Narin and Portnoo links.
I met an Australian in Switzerland in 1980. He'd just been in Barcelona before it became a mandatory tourist destination. He heard a huge racket and headed toward it. But then it stopped and all sorts of people started walking past him. They explained he'd just missed a free concert by The Clash.
WHAT? My wife and I spent a week in Barcelona a couple years ago, and everyone we met was delightful. And, as foodies and wine people, we had an amazing time. I was introduced to Spanish white wines with the seafood, and they leave California Chardonnay in the dust! Have you ever had White Rioja? Seriously, Barcelona is a beautiful city, and we found people to be overwhelmingly friendly.
I strongly second Krakow; it's one of my favorite places ever, and I've been around Europe and Asia quite a bit. It's got a little of everything that makes Europe great for tourism, it's not too expensive, and the Poles are remarkably attractive people.
I will also stick up for Barcelona. Attractive, interesting place, terrific food. It's popularity is unsurprising. I'll admit that my wife's Spanish fluency is a help.
Speaking from the south coast of the UK (near Portsmouth), Hampshire and West Sussex are varied, beautiful, historic and relatively quiet. Edinburgh is my favourite city but the lovely Highlands are blighted by midges by midsummer. The Norwegian coast is beautiful but expensive and the sun never goes down in July in the top half of Scandinavia.
They are flying insects. Sometimes there are big swarms. You will be pleased to know that only female midges bite, so only half of them will be going for you.
I have a theory that Hadrian's Wall was built to keep out the midges, not the Scots.
Nowadays, there are effective insect repellants, such as 'Smidge'
You have lived a blessed life with a question like that.
In Florida, they can get through ordinary window screens. They are like evil, extremely minature horseflies, or infant ticks, only they swarm you in groups, like ANTIFA.
Seconded, as to Hampshire and West Sussex. Portsmouth Harbour, where you can get a meal probably not much different from that which Nelson himself ate in places that still seem like he might have visited. Then you can visit the Victory (you will need to mind your head), the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior and see various machines that Isambard Kingdom Brunel's father invented. The Tangmere aircraft museum (site of one of the Eleven Group bases) is close by. Petworth House with its Grindling Gibbons carved room and Arundel Castle are also within easy driving distance. Great rail and bus links as well and lots of walking
The Calvinists did a Jane Austen-intensive tour of this area some years ago, and we loved it. Winchester might just be the most perfect city in England. You can also easily carry on from this area to the south and west and visit the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, which we did on another trip. It's also very good.
I'm going to look in to using Google Translate (obviously don't bother for Denmark etc.). The ChatGPT app is said to have similar/better capabilities.
The excellent Chris Arnande (left Wall Street to write about walking and talking to people he meets) recently had a mixed but overall positive experience in using AI to plan itineraries.
Uh, I lived with Chris. He took me to line-ups when we were college kids, because my boyfriend, a Dick Gephardt relative, felt I shouldn't pursue justice against a black, much-released serial killer I survived, and I will be eternally grateful. His father, Charles Arnade, was a bizarre and brilliant political scientist who took down Al-Arian. And his grandfather actually tried to kill Hitler and tried to save China from communism.
But taking pictures of black prostitutes' giant ta-tas in the name of social justice, and getting praised for it, has created let's call a rift. I hope he gets back to being what he used to be.
Meet our friends Mario and Ellen Fantini..American expats who founded The European Conservative. They would love to put together a gathering where you can talk about your work.
Here is the Church...you have to take a tram and then a long walk through a lovely park to get to it. But it is worthwhile. The Church was built for the patients. Sadly, when the Nazis came, the grounds of the asylum were a killing ground for the patients.
Italy runs away with the gold in the tourist decathlon but summer is increasingly brutal. Still, whatever you decide, consider every travel day as a day lost. So take the time to breathe and enjoy your destination rather than trying to snap a maximum number of selfies in exotic locales.
Like when looking around for a book to read, start by figuring out what you are in the mood for. I’m currently in the Greek islands, and it’s exactly what I need right now. But you might arrive in a few weeks and suddenly understand why Agamemnon could sacrifice his daughter for some wind.
I recommend Edinburgh for a couple of days, although it suffers from over-tourism. Walk over Arthur's Seat to Duddingston village and have lunch and a pint or two at the Sheep Heid Inn. It's worth going to the art gallery at Holyrood: The King's Gallery.
Santander is a very pleasant city on the north coast of Spain. From there you might consider going to the Picos de Europa, a beautiful mountain range not far off.
In England. north west Herefordshire is very beautiful and hilly, with dozens of mediaeval castles, and relatively unvisited, but you might find it too quiet. That's my area.
My favourite part of Wales is the Ardudwy district of Merionethshire (Meirionnydd) around Harlech, with a beautiful coastline, Cader Idris and the Mawddach estuary, walking in the Rhinog Mountains, the steam-hauled Welsh Highland Railway, and of course Portmeirion, where The Prisoner was filmed.
But if you haven't been to Scandinavia I think Stockholm ought to be near the top of your list, along with Copenhagen and, in Norway, Trondheim rather than Oslo.
Copenhagen is a great summer destination. I visited a couple summers ago and found everything top notch, save perhaps the cuisine. I went on to Gothenburg (more of the smaller town vibe you appreciate) and then Stockholm. All very much worth visiting. I hope next to visit Oslo and Bergen. There is a scenic train between the two.
Copenhagen is cool - just don’t walk in the bike lanes. I think SAS and Iceland Air both let you do multi-day stopovers in Reykjavik at no additional charge, so you could spend a couple days there, rent a car, and drive the Golden Circle. Gullfoss alone is worth the drive. You’ll half expect the riders of Rohan to come over the horizon.
Copenhagen is representative of Scandinavian cities, and all the main sights can be seen in a few hours on foot; and it's nice to wander around without any aim in view, just enjoying the atmosphere and the architecture.
As for getting a sense of Scandinavia, I've been working on that for fifty years. It's a big subject. Jocularly I'd suggest learning a Scandinavian language, living there for a year, seeing Ibsen and Strindberg plays, watching some films like Det sjunde inseglet, Fanny och Alexander, etc., reading Sult, debating all sorts of things with Scandinavians, and backpacking in the mountains.
Copenhagen has a walkable old town and several world-class museums, such as The National Museum with its prehistoric and Viking Age collections (star exhibit, The Sun Wagon from 1400 B.C.) and The National Gallery.
An often-overlooked gem is David's Collection, named for its founder, a lawyer who used much of his considerable fortune in collecting art of two categories: recent Danish and medieval Islamic. One of the largest collections of Islamic art outside Muslim lands.
A 50 minute train ride north of the city center takes you to Denmark's leading museum of modern art, Lousiana, founded by a cheese magnate in 1958. Check its website for whatever's on, but the permanent collection is strong on Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder.
Once you're that far north of town, a few more miles take you to Elsinore and what is likely the most spectacular castle in Scandinavia, Kronborg.
I don't understand why some respondents here dismiss Danish cuisine. The authentic lunch dishes (smørrebrød) can be spectacular, but CPH also boasts at least one very fine steak house. Write me for recommendations at gressdavid113 [at] gmail.com.
Also, if you do include Copenhagen, as I hope you do, you absolutely must let me know, so I can meet you. I live 3 hours away.
The weather should be tolerable. Right now it's 66F at 6:30 pm, sunny and pleasant. It may be a little warmer when you come, but this is not Southern Europe.
OK, I'll stop babbling, but I do hope to hear from you.
Prague. Spend a week there. If you don't like great beer, maybe not. A terrific place to enjoy all the tourist stuff, museums, castles, churches and such but for me the night life full of jazz, interesting simple food and great beer with some fun locals was the highlight. Italy can be steaming in summer, but they might lend you the one fan everyone shares.
It’s an incredible atmosphere with excellent beer. Far too much ugly tourism; I only lasted a couple days. Smaller Czech towns (i.e. Kutna Hora) are very charming, but I’m more inclined to visit in the off season.
I know what you mean. I try to avoid the tourist spots and seek out the little neighborhoods around town and enjoy the locals. I’m done with most of the tourist places in Europe. The Raphaels and Tintorettos have seen me. The little beerstube where the cabbies hang out was great.
On the other hand, Normandy got its fair share of knocks in WWII, WWI, and yet it has both interesting remnants (Mulberry Harbours) and memorials to the war (Pegasus Bridge) and also just the natural terrain at Utah Beach-which we all know from Saving Private Ryan-which is fairly awe inspiring (one of the 88 bunkers is still there) if you look back from the water's edge and just wonder for a moment. There are also lovely French seaside towns and there is Mont St Michel-it's worth notice.
Spending some time in out-of-the-way, seemingly nondescript places can be as rewarding as ticking off the Eiffel Tower and the British Museum.
You have developed a lot of good will over the years, from a subset of cultured, intellectual people. Some of them live near places that you and your wife might be interested in seeing. Consider building a few such visits into your itinerary (buy 'em dinner in exchange for insights and pointers on What To Do).
Yes Venice is good but it is also a tourist trap place. Urbino in central Italy is wonderful. You would have to drive there. Email me at davidarchibaldperth@gmail.com and I will see if you can stay at my mate's villa 120 km north of Rome. Just wonderful. The Dolomites inland from Venice are wonderful. Prague is the party town of Europe and is good for three days. Vienna is very good. Otherwise hire a car and drive around the Alps in Switzerland.
Venice is the most beautiful man-made environment on the planet and everyone should visit.
High summer is hot and humid but as a native Californian you should cope.
Back in 1980 I had a chance to visit Venice. My college roommate and I went to a Frank Zappa concert in Paris on Saturday and then had to be in Rome on Friday to then head for Greece from Brindisi. He wanted to see Vienna and Venice, but that seemed like too long on a train for me, so I chose Milan and Florence (plus Sienna).
It's hard to go too wrong in Europe.
I came up with a good rendezvous place in Rome: Friday at 3pm on the shady side of Egyptian obelisk in Bernini's piazza in front of St. Peter's.
I agree wholeheartedly with that. My wife's thesis for her doctorate in architectural history was about a Venetian building complex, so she's pretty much a Doctor of Venice, and we've been many times. One thing I'd say though is that mass tourism makes Venice a no-go zone in the summer: it's hard to convey how crowded everything gets, and it becomes impossible to experience the city in any meaningful way.
I disagree.
If you can are happy walking on uneven surfaces for hours there is a huge amount to explore away from the tourist hotspots.
A lot of Americans and Asians stick to the main parts with their group but the city is quite intuitive and it’s hard to get lost. The Europeans are better and seeing all of the place.
Even the worst bits of Venice are incredible.
The towns on the Amalfi peninsula are, in many cases, over 1,000 years old. The roads mostly didn't go in until after WW2, so there are well maintained paths all over connecting those towns. If you like to walk (and you'll walk a lot) something like the Path of the Gods from Agerola to Nocelle is a once-in-a-lifetime hike. From Nocelle you can walk down the hill and mingle with the hordes in Positano. To get to Agerola take the train to Salerno then a ferry to Positano, then catch the local bus.
I don't want to get into an argument about this, but as a simple factual matter it really is way more difficult and unpleasant to move around Venice when it's choked with summer tourists. I'm not talking about the Rialto Bridge or the Piazza San Marco or the Duomo etc.; I mean that it becomes really slow and crowded and kind of awful to walk from Canareggio to Dorsoduro or wherever. And the vaporettos get packed to the point of claustrophobia.
I guess you could limit yourself to the Fondamente Nove e.g. and avoid a lot of it, but that would severely impair your experience of the city. Or to take it to an absurd extreme: you could stay in Mestre on the mainland and avoid absolutely all the crowding and still technically be in Venice, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it.
Much better just to go some other time if you can. That's my advice as someone who's spent months of my life in Venice, over the course of many visits at different times of the year.
That’s useful. I’ve spent a day in February, a weekend in June, and a weekend in October all between 10 and 20 years ago.
> I don't want to get into an argument about this, but as a simple factual matter it really is way more difficult and unpleasant to move around Venice when it's choked with summer tourists. <
Even without direct knowledge I agree. AnotherFamily went to Venice last (early) May. Quick visit and we had a good time. But I would not want to visit with any more people there than that--and certainly not hotter and sweatier. (Unless you're the kind person who enjoys going to Disney World during an April Spring Break week. I'm more a LMTFA kind of guy.)
Seems to me there is plenty of Europe that is more off-the-beaten-track and climatically suited for a mid-summer visit.
Steve and his bride can plan a "shoulder season" trip to Europe sometime and visit Venice then.
Yes. I've been in October and November. Weather is a matter of luck. When it is good, it is great.
Southern California is hot?
If you're not on the coast, it's very hot. But southern California is not humid.
Slovenia. Alps, Mediterranean, nice people. All the European cuisines except British and Nordic.
The dudes are tall and the women are pretty.
Scotland for sure. As a golf/golf course aficionado, you must make the pilgrimage to St. Andrews. Plus Edinburgh is nearby and we enjoyed it back in 2003. Go to the highlands as well.
Edinburgh during the Festival is amazing, but expensive. It is hard to get a hotel room.
Which month is the Edinburgh Theater Festival?
It's always sounded exciting, figuring I'd stumble upon the next "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead." But, judging by my track record in picking upcoming movies to review, I'd probably by a ticket instead for the next "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star."
August 1 to August 25 are this years dates.
It's light until 10:30 pm.
The festival is full of awful stand-up and student theatricals.
Avoid.
I second Scotland given your (Steve's) interests, though I personally have only been to Edinburgh for a relatively short trip. Yes, midges are an issue (as they are here in Ireland), and they may annoy anyone golfing.
Don't go too far south at that time of year, southern Europe is often unbearably warm in summer these days and air conditioning is not as prevalent as in the US. Slovenia is interesting, and it is Alpine enough that the weather may be bearable.
And I’ve been to Slovenia, and it was interesting; very Central European, by which I mean the intellectual curiosity and the drive to education of the German-speaking countries and their close neighbours is very strong in this former Austro-Hungarian country, but also South Slavic, quite good memories of the pre-1990s Yugoslavia (though that may just have been the people I was visiting), strong Italian influence in the sensible areas like food, not particularly expensive. Would recommend it.
St Andrews would have to be the obvious choice for me. I went in 2012 and it was a fantastic experience. The Old Course was crowded, of course, but you could buy a multi-day pass for unlimited golf at all the other courses in town. And they were great courses and not at all crowded. I really like the Castle Course, which isn’t right next to all the others but has quite a dramatic setting. It’s interesting, though, because you could tell the soil was quite different from the older courses and didn’t drain as well. I think I ended up walking 7 or 8 rounds in 4 days.
The downside was the weather; some days it was 50F and rainy, even in June. The last day, when I played the old course, the sun actually came out. And I sank a 20-footer on the 18th and the onlookers applauded. (Sadly it was for a double bogey after slicing my tee shot into the street. But it felt like a par.)
If you go to Scotland, read this: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/6018
Don’t you have a lifetime membership to Ballybunion that you need to take advantage of?
I honeymooned in Venice, but reports of the crowds there have soured me on returning.
Scotland seems a natural fit for your interests.
But definitely stay away from third world airlines!
Thanks for reminding me. When I bought my lifetime membership at Ballybunion golf club on the west coast of Ireland in 1987 for $1,000, I expected to be an affluent corporate frequent flier. But, to my surprise, I became instead a bookish intellectual of reduced means. I've only been back once for 45 holes in 1994.
A round, a couple of drinks, and a sweater will likely cost 1,000.00 now.
I wonder where I put my Ballybunion membership card guaranteeing me free golf for life?
I sort of suspect that if I showed up in 2025 saying, I misplaced my card, but trust me, I'm on your Free Golf for Life list, they'd reply, Sorry, but that list burned up in the great fire of 2001 along with the club chairman who came up with that offer. I'm sorry to say, but he died in horrible agony, the eejit.
If it were me, it would be in my top drawer with little containers of my kids’ baby teeth and an old HP-15 calculator.
There’s a course up in Donegal that’s been redone fairly recently. My golfing friends speak highly of it and it doesn’t seem to have blown up yet. It’s called the Narin and Portnoo links.
Stonehenge in Wiltshire
Thanks. I've been to Avebury on a summer evening. That was great.
You can stay with us in a Saxon village nearby, 17th century cottage
I didn't realize there was a road right next to it. That and the crowd were off-putting. We left without getting close.
The obvious suggestions are Krakow, Wroclaw and Warsaw.
My sister did not like Barcelona. Of course, tastes vary.
Son was just at a biotech convention in Barcelona. He said reports of the locals' lack-of-enthusiasm for visitors of all stripes were borne out.
I met an Australian in Switzerland in 1980. He'd just been in Barcelona before it became a mandatory tourist destination. He heard a huge racket and headed toward it. But then it stopped and all sorts of people started walking past him. They explained he'd just missed a free concert by The Clash.
Krakow is much more worth visiting then Warsaw. Copenhagen snd especially Vienna are worth it too
WHAT? My wife and I spent a week in Barcelona a couple years ago, and everyone we met was delightful. And, as foodies and wine people, we had an amazing time. I was introduced to Spanish white wines with the seafood, and they leave California Chardonnay in the dust! Have you ever had White Rioja? Seriously, Barcelona is a beautiful city, and we found people to be overwhelmingly friendly.
> WHAT?
Sagrada Familia is alas still on my to-see list. But here's a typical story -- https://nypost.com/2025/06/08/lifestyle/europeans-shooting-attractions-tour-buses-with-water-guns-to-protest-touristification-of-cities/
I strongly second Krakow; it's one of my favorite places ever, and I've been around Europe and Asia quite a bit. It's got a little of everything that makes Europe great for tourism, it's not too expensive, and the Poles are remarkably attractive people.
If you go to Krakow, Steve, just avoid going to the strip clubs that lots of young people on the street are hawking (really)
https://krakowcrawl.com/blog/krakow-strip-clubs/
I will also stick up for Barcelona. Attractive, interesting place, terrific food. It's popularity is unsurprising. I'll admit that my wife's Spanish fluency is a help.
If you’re going Balkans pass by Lake Ohrid Macedonia, strong Byzantine vibes, beautiful nature, most medieval Churches per capita
Speaking from the south coast of the UK (near Portsmouth), Hampshire and West Sussex are varied, beautiful, historic and relatively quiet. Edinburgh is my favourite city but the lovely Highlands are blighted by midges by midsummer. The Norwegian coast is beautiful but expensive and the sun never goes down in July in the top half of Scandinavia.
What are midges?
Very small and numerous biting flies.
They are flying insects. Sometimes there are big swarms. You will be pleased to know that only female midges bite, so only half of them will be going for you.
I have a theory that Hadrian's Wall was built to keep out the midges, not the Scots.
Nowadays, there are effective insect repellants, such as 'Smidge'
You have lived a blessed life with a question like that.
In Florida, they can get through ordinary window screens. They are like evil, extremely minature horseflies, or infant ticks, only they swarm you in groups, like ANTIFA.
Seconded, as to Hampshire and West Sussex. Portsmouth Harbour, where you can get a meal probably not much different from that which Nelson himself ate in places that still seem like he might have visited. Then you can visit the Victory (you will need to mind your head), the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior and see various machines that Isambard Kingdom Brunel's father invented. The Tangmere aircraft museum (site of one of the Eleven Group bases) is close by. Petworth House with its Grindling Gibbons carved room and Arundel Castle are also within easy driving distance. Great rail and bus links as well and lots of walking
The Calvinists did a Jane Austen-intensive tour of this area some years ago, and we loved it. Winchester might just be the most perfect city in England. You can also easily carry on from this area to the south and west and visit the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, which we did on another trip. It's also very good.
> What do you think I should visit?
Italy is great, northern different vibe from southern. But so are lots of other countries.
A very experienced traveler offers advice, some of it practical -- https://kk.org/thetechnium/50-years-of-travel-tips/
I'm going to look in to using Google Translate (obviously don't bother for Denmark etc.). The ChatGPT app is said to have similar/better capabilities.
The excellent Chris Arnande (left Wall Street to write about walking and talking to people he meets) recently had a mixed but overall positive experience in using AI to plan itineraries.
Uh, I lived with Chris. He took me to line-ups when we were college kids, because my boyfriend, a Dick Gephardt relative, felt I shouldn't pursue justice against a black, much-released serial killer I survived, and I will be eternally grateful. His father, Charles Arnade, was a bizarre and brilliant political scientist who took down Al-Arian. And his grandfather actually tried to kill Hitler and tried to save China from communism.
But taking pictures of black prostitutes' giant ta-tas in the name of social justice, and getting praised for it, has created let's call a rift. I hope he gets back to being what he used to be.
Vienna is so very special. Stay just outside the Ringstrasse..it will be very quiet...go see the church on the grounds of the insane asylum.
Meet our friends Mario and Ellen Fantini..American expats who founded The European Conservative. They would love to put together a gathering where you can talk about your work.
Here is the Church...you have to take a tram and then a long walk through a lovely park to get to it. But it is worthwhile. The Church was built for the patients. Sadly, when the Nazis came, the grounds of the asylum were a killing ground for the patients.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirche_am_Steinhof
Italy runs away with the gold in the tourist decathlon but summer is increasingly brutal. Still, whatever you decide, consider every travel day as a day lost. So take the time to breathe and enjoy your destination rather than trying to snap a maximum number of selfies in exotic locales.
Right, every place is pretty great, so don't kill myself rushing from one to another.
Like when looking around for a book to read, start by figuring out what you are in the mood for. I’m currently in the Greek islands, and it’s exactly what I need right now. But you might arrive in a few weeks and suddenly understand why Agamemnon could sacrifice his daughter for some wind.
I recommend Edinburgh for a couple of days, although it suffers from over-tourism. Walk over Arthur's Seat to Duddingston village and have lunch and a pint or two at the Sheep Heid Inn. It's worth going to the art gallery at Holyrood: The King's Gallery.
Santander is a very pleasant city on the north coast of Spain. From there you might consider going to the Picos de Europa, a beautiful mountain range not far off.
In England. north west Herefordshire is very beautiful and hilly, with dozens of mediaeval castles, and relatively unvisited, but you might find it too quiet. That's my area.
My favourite part of Wales is the Ardudwy district of Merionethshire (Meirionnydd) around Harlech, with a beautiful coastline, Cader Idris and the Mawddach estuary, walking in the Rhinog Mountains, the steam-hauled Welsh Highland Railway, and of course Portmeirion, where The Prisoner was filmed.
But if you haven't been to Scandinavia I think Stockholm ought to be near the top of your list, along with Copenhagen and, in Norway, Trondheim rather than Oslo.
I write a lot about Scandinavia but I've never been there.
Is Copenhagen a reasonable stand-in to get a sense of Scandinavia? It's a little less out of the way.
Copenhagen is a great summer destination. I visited a couple summers ago and found everything top notch, save perhaps the cuisine. I went on to Gothenburg (more of the smaller town vibe you appreciate) and then Stockholm. All very much worth visiting. I hope next to visit Oslo and Bergen. There is a scenic train between the two.
Copenhagen felt a lot like Boston
Copenhagen is cool - just don’t walk in the bike lanes. I think SAS and Iceland Air both let you do multi-day stopovers in Reykjavik at no additional charge, so you could spend a couple days there, rent a car, and drive the Golden Circle. Gullfoss alone is worth the drive. You’ll half expect the riders of Rohan to come over the horizon.
About to say the same thing. Don’t walk in the bike lanes.
Copenhagen is representative of Scandinavian cities, and all the main sights can be seen in a few hours on foot; and it's nice to wander around without any aim in view, just enjoying the atmosphere and the architecture.
As for getting a sense of Scandinavia, I've been working on that for fifty years. It's a big subject. Jocularly I'd suggest learning a Scandinavian language, living there for a year, seeing Ibsen and Strindberg plays, watching some films like Det sjunde inseglet, Fanny och Alexander, etc., reading Sult, debating all sorts of things with Scandinavians, and backpacking in the mountains.
Copenhagen has a walkable old town and several world-class museums, such as The National Museum with its prehistoric and Viking Age collections (star exhibit, The Sun Wagon from 1400 B.C.) and The National Gallery.
An often-overlooked gem is David's Collection, named for its founder, a lawyer who used much of his considerable fortune in collecting art of two categories: recent Danish and medieval Islamic. One of the largest collections of Islamic art outside Muslim lands.
A 50 minute train ride north of the city center takes you to Denmark's leading museum of modern art, Lousiana, founded by a cheese magnate in 1958. Check its website for whatever's on, but the permanent collection is strong on Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder.
Once you're that far north of town, a few more miles take you to Elsinore and what is likely the most spectacular castle in Scandinavia, Kronborg.
I don't understand why some respondents here dismiss Danish cuisine. The authentic lunch dishes (smørrebrød) can be spectacular, but CPH also boasts at least one very fine steak house. Write me for recommendations at gressdavid113 [at] gmail.com.
Also, if you do include Copenhagen, as I hope you do, you absolutely must let me know, so I can meet you. I live 3 hours away.
The weather should be tolerable. Right now it's 66F at 6:30 pm, sunny and pleasant. It may be a little warmer when you come, but this is not Southern Europe.
OK, I'll stop babbling, but I do hope to hear from you.
Copenhagen is a good sampler. Haute cuisine is fabulous. Booze expensive! Canals and small side-street cafes delightful.
Tell them you’re from Canada.😀
“I’m not particularly well traveled”
Yeah, sure.
Very well travelled for an American!
Prague. Spend a week there. If you don't like great beer, maybe not. A terrific place to enjoy all the tourist stuff, museums, castles, churches and such but for me the night life full of jazz, interesting simple food and great beer with some fun locals was the highlight. Italy can be steaming in summer, but they might lend you the one fan everyone shares.
Prague didn't get blown up in WWII, so it sounds good.
It’s an incredible atmosphere with excellent beer. Far too much ugly tourism; I only lasted a couple days. Smaller Czech towns (i.e. Kutna Hora) are very charming, but I’m more inclined to visit in the off season.
I know what you mean. I try to avoid the tourist spots and seek out the little neighborhoods around town and enjoy the locals. I’m done with most of the tourist places in Europe. The Raphaels and Tintorettos have seen me. The little beerstube where the cabbies hang out was great.
On the other hand, Normandy got its fair share of knocks in WWII, WWI, and yet it has both interesting remnants (Mulberry Harbours) and memorials to the war (Pegasus Bridge) and also just the natural terrain at Utah Beach-which we all know from Saving Private Ryan-which is fairly awe inspiring (one of the 88 bunkers is still there) if you look back from the water's edge and just wonder for a moment. There are also lovely French seaside towns and there is Mont St Michel-it's worth notice.
It’s great. If you’re longing for some remnants of the Soviets there are still some apartments near the the airport that are really ugly.
Spending some time in out-of-the-way, seemingly nondescript places can be as rewarding as ticking off the Eiffel Tower and the British Museum.
You have developed a lot of good will over the years, from a subset of cultured, intellectual people. Some of them live near places that you and your wife might be interested in seeing. Consider building a few such visits into your itinerary (buy 'em dinner in exchange for insights and pointers on What To Do).
Yes Venice is good but it is also a tourist trap place. Urbino in central Italy is wonderful. You would have to drive there. Email me at davidarchibaldperth@gmail.com and I will see if you can stay at my mate's villa 120 km north of Rome. Just wonderful. The Dolomites inland from Venice are wonderful. Prague is the party town of Europe and is good for three days. Vienna is very good. Otherwise hire a car and drive around the Alps in Switzerland.
I suspect that there are a dozen small cities in Italy like Sienna and Urbino that are great.
And Lucca in Tuscany. Tiny, beautiful, relaxing. It brings you back to Renaissance for sure.
Even a third-tier Italian city like Ravenna is still amazing.
The Cinque Terre might have become overly popular but it's beautiful and unique. Kind of a smaller, lower key Amalfi Coast with a charm all its own.