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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
OT - Traveling to Europe & looking for recommendations
Mark McIntyre, Photographer
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Greensboro | NC | USA | Posted: 9:59 AM on 05.02.10 |
| ->> My son & I will be backpacking through Barcelona Spain, Paris & southern France and finally Brussels Belgium in a few weeks. I was wondering if anyone could offer travel advice and how to prepare for the trip. Thanks. |
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Peyton Williams, Photographer
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Chapel Hill | NC | USA | Posted: 10:23 AM on 05.02.10 |
| ->> My advice would be to take me as your assistant. I'd need all expenses paid though. |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 12:30 PM on 05.02.10 |
->> There are many hiking trails in Southern France and Nothern Spain, many of which are connected to a pilgrimage to the Cathedeal of Saitn James in the northern Spanish town of Compostella (see http://www.santiago-compostela.net/). The routes have extensive facilities for cheap/free overnight stays but you have to be a registered pilgrim (with a special book to get stamped along the way) to really take advantage of the free/cheap part.
France has a huge selection of hiking trails in a national system called Sentiers de Grandé Randonnée with marked routes and numbers. Check out http://www.franceonfoot.com/overview.htm for some basics or the French hikering association at http://www.ffrandonnee.fr/.
If your going to be in Southern France in the Pyrenees then the town of Lourdes is something not to miss. If you're religious then you'll like it for one reason but even if you're not it's fascinating as it's a town where religion is the reason for the town's existence and the continuing on-rush of pilgrims from all over the world is mind-boggling. There are hotels to cater to every budget and it'd be worth spend a day or two (IMO) taking pictures.
Europe's rail system is great and if you're not in a great hurry you can often save some money by taking regular trains instead of the high speed TGVs. For French rail go to http://www.voyages-sncf.com/, for Beligium it's http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/ and for Spain go to http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html. Some times they'll try and dirct you to the US ticketing agency http://www.raileurope.com/index.html but you'll usually pay more for the ticket than you will at the national website. You can usually book and pay for the tickets in the US with pick-up being at the station in France, etc.
Have some lambic beer when in Belgium and if you want to know some great places (and cheap places) to eat/stay in Paris drop me an email. |
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Max Waugh, Photographer
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Bothell | WA | USA | Posted: 1:51 PM on 05.02.10 |
->> Agreed on the rail system. I love traveling through Europe by train. Brussels itself is not terribly exciting, so it would make some sense to explore some other spots in Belgium after you get Grande Place and Mannekin Pis out of the way. The best chocolate I've ever had was at Dumon Chocolates in Bruges. You can also rent bikes there and take a ride along the canals. It's a great way to spend an afternoon.
As far as other trip prep, check Lonely Planet's (lonelyplanet.com) Thorn Tree forum. There's tons of good info from other travelers there. You may also want to check your local library and see if they carry any of Rick Steves' videos. Not everyone likes his style, but it's one way to get an overview of some of the highlights you may want to see. |
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Adam Heller, Photographer
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Grafenwöhr | DE | | Posted: 2:53 PM on 05.02.10 |
->> Mark,
I visited Brussels not too long ago. It was awesome. I really enjoyed it there.
If your into WWII history at all...Be sure to try and steal away to Bastogne. Now that is an awesome place.
Any chance you make it over to Germany, let me know.
-Adam |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:33 PM on 05.02.10 |
->> Max, I had the same impression of Brussels when I visited as a tourist. But I loved living in Brussels when I was working for UPI there. So if you know a local, you can have a great time there.
--Mark |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 9:14 AM on 05.03.10 |
->> A great article on rail travel in Europe in today's Daily Telegraph:
http://tinyurl.com/4l6 |
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John Howley, Photographer
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Circleville | OH | USA | Posted: 10:19 AM on 05.03.10 |
->> When I tried Jim's link, it didn't work but I think this is the article he was referring to.
http://tinyurl.com/24dpqh9 |
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Thomas Meredith, Photographer, Assistant
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Austin | TX | | Posted: 11:16 AM on 05.03.10 |
->> Jim's right about the Camino routes. In fact, you should just scrap going anywhere else and skip the trains. Riding trains isn't backpacking, its riding trains.
I would just do the Camino! Being out on the road, hiking everyday as far or as short as you want at your own pace, no phones, no internet (unless you choose to go to a internet cafe) nothing but the Spanish countryside, your thoughts, and the companions you make along the way
You get to meet other pilgrims from all over the world, and see parts of the country you wouldn't get to experience any other way. Plus it could be a great father/son experience.
It takes 4 to 5 weeks to walk from the Spanish/French border 500 miles over to the Atlantic Ocean, but if you don't have that much time, you just go as far as you can.
If you can't do it this time, I'd suggest you do someday, its an experience thats hard to put into words, but you won't forget it.
As someone who has done it, the most accurate summary is this trailer for a documentary: http://www.caminodocumentary.org/
There are some photos of mine on my site: http://www.tmeredithphoto.com/
and 3 audio slide shows (same pics) http://www.youtube.com/tmeredithphoto |
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Jon Wright, Photographer
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Wayzata | MN | USA | Posted: 1:50 PM on 05.03.10 |
| ->> If you don't mind climbing in hills I'd try the Vernazza on the west coast of Italy. |
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Mark McIntyre, Photographer
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Greensboro | NC | USA | Posted: 7:08 AM on 05.04.10 |
| ->> Thanks for all the assistance. Not sure how much hiking we will do, but now that my son is 21 I think he will want to see many of the pubs in Europe. |
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