This can go in tandem with the thread on northwestern Europe must sees. I’m planning a summer trip from July 3 to Aug 15 to Europe. I plan to start in Frankfurt, go down towards greece, across to Italy and then back up to Frankfurt. Any suggestions on where to go? I will have a eurail pass.
My must visits include:
Salzburg: Mozart’s birthplace, the Ice caves
Berlin: Anything WW2 related
Italy: Collesium
Greece: Parthenon
Germany: Beer halls!
Any other ideas?
I spell good. Me smart.
“Southeastern Europe” Can a mod change the title of my thread? :smack:
Are you going to Croatia? I highly recommend it, although your Eurail pass isn’t going to do you much good, and it might be difficult to get to Greece from there – I have a feeling the easiest route would be via Italy. Anyway, Dubrovnik is stunning. Actually, the whole coast is stunning.
I don’t know if you are headed quite this east, but Romania has quite a few nice places. I myself am anxious to visit the ruins of Dracula’s castle (The old home of Vlad “The Impaler” Tsepes)
I second Dubrovnik. Yugoslavian women are also stunning.
Make sure you hit at least one Greek Island. I’ve only been to Ios (at the time, they said there wasn’t a person on the island older than 30, and as far as I could tell, it was true). Santorini looks terrific.
If you like art, Florence is a must (well, you may as well go to Venice and Rome while you’re at it). In the Michaelangelo thread I was gushing over David. Oh yeah, the Pieta in St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel ain’t so bad either.
Uh, has anyone mentioned Croatia yet?
While Dubrovnik is great, you could consider heading off to the islands. Ferry service is quite good in Croatia, and the island of Hvar is nice. Croatia really has some great coastline. From Croatia you can take a ferry to Bari or Ancona in Italy to continue on the trains. If Venice is on your schedule, then I’d also suggest Istria since it is a hydrolfoil ferry ride away. Maybe to check out the Amphitheate in Pula if Roman monuments are your interest.
I’m planning on going to Bled in Slovenia next time I go, and it’s probably along you route too.
Kyla is in Bulgaria. I’m sure she’d welcome a visitor. She is in the Rose Valley, and I would say she’s on my ‘must-see’ list for sure.
We have just got back from a week’s holiday in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. It’s a fantastic place, a bit like Prague but without all the British stag parties. Wonderful architecture, a cultural hot-spot with lots of music and art, a good cafe culture, and one of the cleanest places I have ever seen. The country is so small that you can use the city as the base to explore elsewhere. This could be the tiny coast (only 30 miles long), the lakes, mountains or caves. Get there before the crowds do.
When did Germany become southern?
I third/fourth/fifth Dubrovnik. I’m not a particular fan of warm-weather island-type places, but Dubrovnik is great. One of the most beautiful spots in the world and an absolute must-see if you’re down in that neck of the woods.
Other spots that can be on your way from Germany to Greece (depending on which route you take) that I highly recommend would include Prague, Cesky Krumlov, and Budapest. I’m not a huge fan of Vienna, but it is truly a regal city and worth popping into if you’ve got some time. Many people love the place. I find it too pristine and stately for my tastes, preferring Salzburg when it comes to things Austrian (which is also fairly pristine and stately, but in a less grandiose way.)
Also, if you’re in Germany, most of my favorite sports are on the western end, but I have a particular fondness for Dresden.
If you start in Frankfurt, Berlin seems to not really fit into your route - I would maybe do it at the very end if you have time left over. Don’t dawdle in Frankfurt, it’s rather boring, mainly a place for German banks to reside in large office buildings. If they offer you Äppelwoi, don’t drink it or you’ll start your trip with a hangover. No, I’m kidding, do drink it, but be careful, the stuff is more potent than it looks and tastes like.
I’d first go to Prague (excellent castle, beer halls, relatively cheap, a bit overrun with tourists, don’t go on that boat trip on the Moldau).
Then down to Vienna (see the spectacular church, drink coffee in Austrian coffee houses, listen to the funny Austrian accent, hang in bars in the 1st district, see the Hundertwasserhaus).
Then maybe over to Budapest (have some Hungarian goulasch, bathe in the warm sulfur springs, have more coffee in Hungarian coffee houses).
Then I millionth Croatia (Dubrovnik and then the coast) - see the old town of Dubrovnik, witness some of the damages the war left, shop fresh vegetables at the Farmer’s market, buy useless hand-made trinkets to bring to your family. At the coast, take some time out to r & r, snorkel around and have some homemade slivovitz.
Then down to Greece…I think Serbia is not that exciting to stopover in - maybe you could veer over to Bulgaria, not only to visit Kyla, but because it’s supposed to be a very good place to spend your holidays. That will cost you time, though, and since you want to go to Italy as well, I’d save some time for that - Italy has so many spectacular places you don’t want to have to hasten through it.
In Greece, I second the notion to visit the islands rather than the mainland (how long did you say your vacation was? 
). The mainland is mostly VERY arid, dusty and smoggy, I don’t know whether the trip to the famous Acropolis is worth it. I went to Crete last summer and visited a small village called Rethimnon, which was really nice, and not too touristy (it’s a small fishing village, but has a university nearby, which makes for a student subculture).
Then go over to Italy via ferry and make your way up. Have pizza in Sicily, then stop in Rome (try not to get run over, visit the colosseo, even if it’s touristy, see the Vatican & Sistine chapel, stay out of the way of Dan Brown aficionados).
Then upwards (maybe stop in Florence as mentioned above), stop in Salzburg (don’t do any of the Sound of music tours, you can do it on your own much quicker and less expensive; go up to the casino, have coffee and overlook the town, visit the spectacular cathedral, buy some Mozartkugeln - the original ones are sold at the little square in front of the cathedral).
By then you’ll probably be out of time (or still in Prague 
), but on your way up to Frankfurt you could stop over in Munich (beer halls! church! castle! Don’t see the Glockenspiel! etc.).
The Acropolis is absolutely worth it. My college class was about 1/3 “beach balls”, 1/3 “broken building people”, 1/3 normal people (well, normal within being geeks, we were all baby engineers). Our first day in Greece was in Athens, “no special plans until we take the boat to Crete tomorrow at dawn” - we all ended up trickling into the Acropolis and we all loved it.
The beach balls needed some convincing to go see the Labyrinth: the argument that worked was “being in Crete and not seeing the Palace is like being in Athens and not going up the hill”
I quite enjoyed the Labyrinth, too (even if it wasn’t all that labyrinthine, and clearly some of it had been reconstructed with modern bricks). I’ll take your word for the Acropolis, I haven’t seen it - people just told me that they were close to melting by the time they reached the hill. Whatever you go look at in Greece, you have to be aware that in August it can get really scorching hot.
However, I’ve also heard people say they’d skip the Colosseum in Rome, and I found that to be absolutely marvelous (also, I remember reading that apparently there’s a trick to getting in quicker if you buy a ticket for something else).
Speaking of scorching, on Crete I also enjoyed hiking through the Samaria Gorge, but that was in June, and it had close to 100 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is).
