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Coming up with European destinations that my parents can visit. They like pretty places and good food. Somewhere not too difficult to get to, ie one plane journey or one train journey, maybe up to four hours or so of travel time.

So far we've been thinking about Porto and Seville. Of course Venice is nice too...

Any recommendations please?

[edit] AWESOME IDEAS GUYS. I'm throwing them at my parents right now. ♥;;;; Keep them coming!

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Venice would be totally amazing at this time of year. It was in March that I originally went I think and it was way better than in summer. Might also want to think about somewhere in the south of France; I don't know where you can fly to but if there's somewhere vaguely near the Dourdoigne region, well, it's completely stunning and the food is amazing. Lots of little old towns and villages and amazing forests.

Verona is also fantastic and not actually that far from Venice so combining a trip to both is probably manageable! There is a train across. It's one of those cities with a really touristy reputation which somehow still manages to be genuinely worth visiting.

ALSO a bit further away but still a single flight, other parts of italy can be really worth visiting! Tuscany is full of amazing cities. Piza is obviously the easiest to get to but Firenze and Sienna are wonderful (not sure how easily accessed they are but probably fairly? I'm just throwing out ideas, anyway). I would say the Amalfi Coast but you have to fly to Naples, which I honestly don't consider worth visiting, and then it's a fair way to the actual wonderful bits. Maybe not for this time. XD

Prague is also a really interesting old city which should have a lot of flights over to it, and I think if you hired a car then Zagreb and its surrounding countryside might have a lot to see. We were a bit frustrated when we were there because though the city was cool in its own right we wanted to go to SO many places a little way outside and couldn't easily get there without a car. Croatia in general has a reputation for being really pretty actually, though the food is a bit less good maybe. XDDDD

Istanbul?

*keeps editing as more thoughts occur*

Edited 2009-03-10 19:34 (UTC)

Also, Dear Pez,

If you go to Venice, you have to buy me a mask.

Love,
Liz

What about Turkey? I think it's four hours journey.

Oooh, yeah - we went to Istanbul recently and it is very pretty.

I went to Istanbul when I was in high school, and to a couple of smaller places along the coast. So amazing. Wish I had seen more! *_*

See, they don't call it no.1 holiday destination for nothing! ;D

Yes. Well. PEOPLE KEEP TRYING TO SELL TURKEY ON GROUNDS OF AWESOME WEATHER. That totally doesn't work as a way of selling holiday destinations to me. It's incredibly culturally interesting and it has such a fascinating history, though. That got me. Also, beautiful.

Hah well tbh, for me, I hate the weather there just because its TOO HOT! (except if you're in the sea all day and you can't feel it) If you went there July/August time, you'll just end up cooking. You'll find you've never wished for rain so much but it won't come until maybe October if you're lucky. But yeah I agree, it's the scenery and culture, and just the general atmosphere, it's such a magical place. Regardless of the heat, the air smells so much cleaner and fresher, and even the heat is a different kind of heat but the country is built for it so at least it's more comfortable in that sense.

Ahhh I should stop, I get very patriotic about my homeland, I just can't help pimpin' it to people >D

Yeah seriously! I was there in May/June and that was totally hot enough for me (though I went on from there to Israel and Egypt, which, err, provided a belated sense of perspective XDDD).

Well, it's a really wonderful homeland. *g* I can completely understand enthusing about it!

Genoa is very pretty and has good food; I also recommend Strasbourg for both of those.

I also love love love Reykjavik--but the food is variable, it takes a little while to get used to the smell of the sulphur in the water, and visiting before the vernal equinox might not be the best of plans. But it is awesome.

Madrid! The city itself is lovely, a BIG European city with lots of nice architecture, shopping, food and my favourite: The Prado Museum, right up there in the Top 3 art musems together with The Louvre in France and the Winter Palace in Russia. It's bloody amazing, and I've only been to a small section of it. Yes, it is also bloody huge. Bring VERY good shoes, because the stone floors are killers. Oh, and the Renia Sofia, at the bottom of the same street, holds the modern art collections - lots of Picasso and Dali, etc.

From Madrid, it's an hour by train to Toledo, which is the old capital of Spain and home, sort of, of Don Quixote. Beautiful old hilltop city with architecture that clearly shows the influences of Jewish, Moslem and European rulers. Narrow, winding streets, walls, great view from the walls, fan-bloody-tastic cathedral.... And that's just one of the historic towns within an hour on the train from Madrid. :)

ETA: WORDY MCWORD on Granada/Alhambra!!!

ETA2: Keeping with Spain, there's also Barcelona. Another city famous for its beauty & cathedral. The food & wine is brill, especially if you like the tapas. But really, it's on the coast so the sea food there is said to be tres nifty.

Edited 2009-03-10 20:21 (UTC)

Ore-sama has travelled in his bunch!fic persona to Granada (Spain), Florence, Verona and Pompeii and would highly recommend all four locations as being pretty, quite romantic, and likely to have good food! There's also the Greek islands - I liked Rhodes for all the historic interest, and they can take lots of boat trips to the smaller islands (and Marmaris in Turkey).

If I was picking one place, it would be Granada for the medieval quarter and the Alhambra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

There's always of course Paris, Bruges, Madrid... Madrid's a nice city and the Prado is very cool. They could also take the local train services to places like Toledo and El Escorial. Lots and lots to do there, especially if your interests lean towards the historical!

Can you give me a bit more info on Pompeii? It's creating a lot of interests. 8D Are there direct flights there, or is it plane to a nearby city and then local transport?

It's Naples again; we stayed on the Amalfi Coast when we were visiting Pompeii and despite it being further I would recommend it much more highly as a place to spend time. (Still fly into Naples and then bus out. IMO Naples itself is a bit of a dump though others may disagree I suppose. It didn't make a good impression on me at all though.) ALSO if Pompeii is on the agenda then I recommend visiting Herculaneum too; it's nearby but a little less famous and still completely amazing, by all accounts. I didn't go and sincerely regret it. Pompeii, though, is a really amazing experience. We spent two days just looking around the ruins and didn't see nearly everything there was to be seen.

Seconds that! I was interrailing at the time and travelled from Naples to Pompeii via (I think) Sorrento. I still have vague aspirations to do the "package" deal of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Capri.

I'm still not sure I'd do the day trip to Vesuvius...

Naples would also be interesting, but not for a whole load of good reasons. It was the location for the book/film Gomorrah (and last I heard, had a refuse disposal problem)!

It seems Naples is going to be a problem... doesn't sound like the kind of place my mum'd be fond of. =/

I'm pitching all these ideas at them, but knowing my dad, he'd decide on one place and then when he goes to book, decide on somewhere else entirely!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii

XD Yeah well. Wikipedia ftw. orz

And at the bottom of that article is the link to the erotic art from those same sites... ;P

Lisbon is very beautiful as well, and Portugese food is very yummy.

Vienna is nice, lots of history if that's of interest and things like the famous opera to go to see.

Lisbon is way better than Porto. And the fact that I live near it doesn't influence my statement.

Pretty places makes me think of Paris :D

*pops head in*

Lucerne, Switzerland! :D Awesome mountains and the weather is super nice in the spring/summer months

or Santorini, Greece. Amazing blue water and while buildings~~

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