what places would you say are a must to stop off at, and which ones aren't worth the bother?
im on my gap year and want to see all different views of europe, and master as many languages as poss!
any tips are very much appreciated :)
2006-10-12 09:59:04 · 7 answers · asked by *sophie* 2 in Travel ➔ Europe (Continental) ➔ Other - Europe
You know if you want to see some neat little places try traveling around the Bodensee (Lake Constance) is Southern Germany. Not a lot of people seem to make it down there and it is just beautiful. The small towns are so well preserved and just old. The countryside is also very beautiful. If you stay in Friedrichshafen you can take a bus to Meersburg which is an old Midievel town on the lake and has one of the oldest castles is Europe. On the other side Friedrichshafen is a town called Lindau. It is a pedestrian only zone and it a perfect, bright and colourful Reniecance town. Some other towns near there are Weingarten (beautiful basilic with hot monks), Ravensburg (old walled city). Friedrichshafen it self is interesting and pretty. It has a beautiful promanade along the lake and is the home of the Zepeline. It was very badly bombed during the war because of this. You can take a ferry from Friedrichshafen to Constance, which is an old, old University town that was very lucky to survive the war. The Constance Cathedral is the location of the historical Concil of Constance where the Bohemian martyr Jan Hus was tried and burned. The Czech governement has built a museum about him there which is worth seeing if you are planing to go to Prague where you will enivitably see the Jan Hus Square and maybe visit his church, the Bethlehem Chapel. Across the Lake from Germany is Austria and Switzerland. It is only a couple hours to Zurich and I even went on a Saturday once to Lichtenstein.
It is also just a charming area. The people are kind and friendly but don't speak as much english as maybe other places so you might learn some Swabish (the local dialect of German). You spend enough time in Germany and you realize that there is no such thing as "German". There is Swabish, Frankish, Badish, Bavarian, etc.
I also highly recommend Budapest. If you are interested in languages you try figuring that one out. I am a pretty good communicator but that language is strange.
2006-10-12 22:53:01 · answer #1 · answered by Constant_Traveler 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I pretty much covered Western Europe about 15 years ago back when you could only buy a single month long ticket for Western Europe. I had a brilliant time, albeit tiring (8 countries in 30 days).
Personally, if I was a gap year now, I would a month long ticket for one zone and then buy another month long ticket for another zone once the first has expired. I reckon I could quite easily spend a year or so doing this. If you like a place, just stay there to work - if you are an EU citizen, you can pick up work legally in any EU country without needing a visa.
2006-10-12 18:01:15 · answer #2 · answered by Penfold 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you want to master the 2nd most difficulta language in the world, Finland. But otherwise you could do your basic Amsterdam, Paris, South of France, Venice, Florence, Rome thingy. The countries that used to be behind the iron curtain are also interesting so maybe Prague, Budapest and so on.
2006-10-12 17:24:33 · answer #3 · answered by Cold Bird 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends what you are looking for.
If you want to master a language, inter-railing is perhaps not the best course of action. To really master a language, you must live amongst it. Simply stopping off and moving on cannot give you the full bredth of linguistic and cultural knowledge required.
2006-10-15 06:56:49 · answer #4 · answered by cocoshitnick 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends wich month you want to visit because in August everything's crowded, specially in southern Europe. In north Europe, you should visit London, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and then Stockolm. Then, you can go till Narvik (Norway) in the end of the line and come back by Norway and then start your journey south to Munich, Prague, Vienna. Then, Venice, Florence and Rome, then southern France and Barcelona and then Portugal, the frendliest and warmest country in Europe!!!
2006-10-16 09:15:44 · answer #5 · answered by nunocountry 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to Eastern Europe. Poland and the Czech Republic are cool. As for Western Europe , go to Paris, as cliche as it sounds, I think it is simply amazing. I love the entire country of the Netherlands (Go to Amsterdam and Maastricht), Shoot, I love all of Europe! Have fun. I wish I was going back.
2006-10-12 17:50:29 · answer #6 · answered by CbopXB 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
South of France, best weather in the world and the women go topless.
2006-10-12 17:07:31 · answer #7 · answered by bush_is_an_idot 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋