Over the last few years we’ve actually managed to get to quite a few of the places on our priority list: lots of Andalucia; mainland Greece and a couple of islands; Türkiye; Alsace.
There’s a couple of places I really wish I had been sent when I was working - India and particularly Japan. I wouldn’t pay to go because I don’t think I would enjoy the experience, but I imagine it would be…interesting.
The wish list? Likely - Lyon in France (driven past it several times, never stopped - it’s an easy city break for us); Unlikely - New Zealand (I have family connections, but I don’t think I can justify the flight).
I want to comment on this apparent feeling - I hear and see this a lot - Yes, some places are very crowded, and that is for good reason - many of them are simply awesome. Will there be teaming hordes there? Yes. Will it be worth your while? Most likely yes! For example: I visited Machu Picchu a few years ago and it was beyond my expectation - pictures do not do it justice - being there was incredible. There is a town built nearby with the sole purpose of catering to visitors. Getting in at the entry gate was like a line as Disney, on steroids. But once inside and present in the moment and listening to our guide tell the story with the citadel in view, all that annoyance went away. Don’t let the fact that something is popular steer you away - if it’s something you really want to see and/or do - just do it! You’ll regret not doing it more than being annoyed by the crowd - regret lasts longer than annoyance.
This reminded me of my first trip to Istanbul. We drove there from Sofia, and the sight of the city when we rounded a final corner was jaw-dropping. It was like stepping back in time several hundred years, seeing the Blue Mosque and others on that hillside.
Also, I really enjoyed driving around Andalucia. I was in the military in Rota at the time, but on our Sundays off we would drive to outlying cities like Seville to see the sights.
My time in eastern Europe was during the cold war of the 80s, so it was pretty grim in most areas. Except for Prague. The old town area and Charles Bridge were beautiful. Parts of Budapest were also interesting. Warsaw was a hellhole, as was Moscow. But that’s all changed. And the nicer places like Prague are overrun with tourists and grifters nowadays.
Yeah that’s my impression too. I do plan on going one day but I get the impression it’s not that different to any western European tourist destination (not saying all western European tourist destinations are the same but there is definitely a similar vibe in my experience). I think visiting in 1997/8 when I had the chance would have been a very different experience to anything else, including visiting.today.
Yeah, a while back while driving from easternmost Germany to Munich we swung down through Prague, and it was May, and I found myself really disliking how crowded with tourists it was. And I don’t mind crowds in principle - Mumbai and Bangkok are crowded, but it’s a kind of regular crowdedness, instead of the cafes and streets full of tourists & absurd wait for museums and other sites that we experienced in Prague.
My trips to Prague in the 80s and early 90s were a joy. I was there in 1990 with a couple of other guys doing some work at the embassy. Every morning we’d walk across the Charles Bridge, stop at a store to buy some ham and cheese for lunch, and make our way to the embassy up the cobblestone streets. No crowds, no grifters.
A fair concern, and I mostly agree. But I was leaning more towards places that the locals no longer want outsiders to visit, to the point that I/we are ruining their lives by doing so.
So slightly more nuanced. I mean, I would like to see Venice, as a pointed example. I’d like to follow the paths of a number of poets, such as Lord Byron (the former English Major in me shrieks) but all evidence is that I’d be part of the problem, and should avoid it.
I -won’t- deny myself out only out of overcrowding or “rude” locals but there’s a lot more going on these days in some locations. And no, I’m not worried about being “attacked” by justifiably frustrated locals.
That is the most delightful kind of stay. We had family stuff to take care of in Istanbul back in the 90s, and stayed for two weeks in a far eastern neighborhood (about an hour outside the center of town by car) and it was wonderful. Everyone was friendly, the restaurants/cafes were accessible & tourist-free, there was a lot to see, and it was all very leisurely.
In 1975, when I was seven years old, we (father, mother, brother, sister, and me) hopped in the conversion van and drove from Dayton, Ohio to Colorado Springs, CO. My Uncle and his family were in another van. Spent at least a week out there, driving around and sightseeing. I don’t recall much, but I do remember visiting the Garden of the Gods, the Royal Gorge Bridge, and Cripple Creek. We also rented a Jeep for a day and visited some ghost towns. I really want to go back, but am guessing a lot has changed.
Lots of tourists at the national parks. Many fewer at the old pueblos. We picked a time of year when kids were in school and tried to shoot for weekdays instead of weekends to reduce the logjams.
Yeah, we homeschooled, so the second/third week of September was our sweet spot for a two-week family vacation ever year. School kids were all still back in school, but a lot of touristy things were still open, and rental prices really dropped.
Colorado Springs resident. Garden of the Gods is still magnificent and the roads through have actually probably improved, but is very crowded most of the season. Royal Gorge Bridge is still breathtaking, if you tolerate heights well, which I do not. Cripple Creek… IMHO now that there is legalized gambling there, that aspect has largely taken over it and several similar areas, give it a pass.
There are fewer safely accessible ghost towns, and personally, I’d avoid them, mostly due to the safety concerns of poorly covered mine-shafts in and around, but that’s me not you.
Otherwise, there’s still Cave of the Winds, Sand Dunes, and countless small towns throughout Colorado that aren’t 100% converted into tourist traps. Colorado Springs does have the advantage of being more or less central without being Denver, but outside of Garden of the Gods, there’s not much more to recommend it. Still a bit too insular and conservative to have the variety of events, culture, and activities of Denver and a lot of the coolest tiny shops and places have been pushed out by the (strange to me) popularity and increasing prices in the area.
In the 1970’s Mrs. Cretin and I backpacked a lot in the high Sierras (southern part of the range, close to the crest). I’ve always regretted not scrambling to the summit of Mount Sill. Always figured we’d get back to it someday. Nope.
It’s still absolutely possible to do this, and in fact we’ve thought about it. Cunard’s ships leave from New York and you can go to Southampton (which is by far their main destination), Hamburg, or LeHavre. They are also doing a round trip from New York to the Norwegian fjords and back.
I have never been there but I remember enjoying the Olympic broadcasts from there. One speed skater, the champion Johann Olaf klos,(spelling on that last name is wrong I think) auctioned off the skates he won with and donated the money to a relief fund for Sarajevo.
That reminded me that I was able to go to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. My military boss was given free tickets and he passed them on to me. Stayed in a really nice hotel and got to see a few events, including seeing Carl Lewis.
I actually visited Lillehammer about 10 years ago. I didn’t spend much time there; it was pretty much just a short stop while traveling through Norway. But I did get to ride down the bobsled track in a wheeled bobsled. The experience was not unlike riding a roller coaster. You experience some noticeable G forces, and we were going way slower than the speeds an Olympic bobsledder would be going.
We’re actually in Prague right now, staying at a hotel about 100 metres away from the US Embassy.
During the day the Charles Bridge was quite packed, but not unmanoeuvrable. In the evening it was sparsely populated. On our side (US Embassy side) of the bridge it’s fairly crowded but it dissipates a lot going up the hill towards the embassy.
Restaurants generally haven’t been zoos so I suspect that many of the crowds are organized tour groups.
