Help Eddie plan his European vacation

Well, like a number of other posters, I too am heading to Europe this spring. However, I know many of the things that I like to do, I just don’t know as many places in Europe.

First things first, I will be coming from around May 26 to June 23. Those are only about dates and I haven’t gotten my tickets just yet. I thought leaving on Wednesdays was the cheapest so that’s what I did. I will be coming into London as I am borrowing a motorcycle for my trip.

Now for the meat and bones of the trip. There is a World Masters swim meet that I am trying to qualify for in Italy. After that I am a free man. I don’t like museums, nor art so I"m not interested in seeing such things. Well unless it happens to be something really famous, but just a straight art museum is not my thing.

After I pick up the motorcycle I plan on heading to Holland, a place called Mijdrecht, for a Golden Earring concert on the 30 May. So I guess that’s for you Coldie. I know you know some good roads and places to get a good beer.

From there I have until the 4th at the latest to make it to Milan, Italy for the swim meet. I would like to make it there before then so I can get some rest though, and get some swimming in. My last day there would probably be the 9th. After that I am a free man. Of course until I have to come back and drop off the motorcycle and come home. :frowning:

So now what I’d like to see, what I have seen, and what I like so people can give some good suggestions.

I have already been to London, Paris, Berlin, and most of Ireland. That doesn’t mean I will not go back, as I plan on seeing Ireland for 4-5 days anyway, but Paris and Berlin can be skipped. I also love archaeological sites, especially the Megalithic sites like Stonehenge, Newgrange etc. I will probably stop by Stonehenge again, but I really want to see Brittiany. After that though I don’t know that many places on the mainland to see in old world sites.

I also want to see Rome, probably take a day from Milan to do that, Athens for all the old Greek temples etc, and Prague. I also want to make my way through the Alps a bit. I don’t know of any other cities I’d like to see, unless Romania is an EU country now and I can get in without a visa.

I’m also just a traveler. I do not sit around much and just look, I like to be on the move, especially on the bike. I mean yeah I like to see castles and all, but after awhile I can look at them for a few minutes and be on my way. I enjoy just watching things go by, which is why I can have fun zipping from one country to the next, one city to another.

I’m also up for any places that have good metal shows. I will probably try and see a few shows here and there. I saw that Rush is thinking about playing in Europe at the same time.

So fire away, give me some good places to see, some good roads to explore, some good people to meet up with, which means we can have all sorts of Dopefests along the way! :smiley:

Oops, almost forgot to add, I will most likely be camping and staying in Hostels along the way. I maybe able to get off for a long time, but I can’t afford to be staying in 5 stars every night, so anyone that wouldn’t mind putting me up for the night will be bought dinner.

Sounds like you should vaguly aim for Bavaria…that’ll put you within spitting distance of Prague and should be a bearable journey from Holland (I presume you don’t bike sedately :wink: )…and from the sounds of it, you’ve seen enough of southern England to take your fill. I hear that the best trans-Alpine crossing is the one from Innsbruck, apparently the most expensive piece of road ever built, just viaduct-tunnel-viaduct-tunnel-…naturally doesn’t place you anywhere near Milan, but hey, it’s Italy, chill out!!

You won’t stand a chance of seeing Rome ‘in a day’ from Milan - they’re several hours apart, so maybe find a night in a Rome hotel/hostel (start looking now, they’re likely to be busy).

Actually, now that I look at the map, I made a huge mistake. For some dumb reason I thought Greece was just to the east of Italy. I will now probably wait until I leave Milan, go through Rome and then take a boat to Greece.

I guess for the time I’m in Milan I’ll explore the sourthern parts of France etc. Still looking for other places to see though.

You might consider taking the Napoleon road down through to the south of France, then cut across the cote d’Azur (via Monaco) to Italy. It’s a very scenic drive and lots of nice, twisty roads. It does add a good bit of time on the way south, though.

Since you’re going to be in Milano, I’d head north to the lakes region, Lake Como being the first lake you’d hit. Really, really nice little villages there, including Bellagio.

You can even see where Mussolini and his mistress were shot in 1945: at Giulino di Mezzegra, a village on the western shore of lake Como.