@pratik Hey @johnphilpin, this is why I asked for your post a few weeks ago. Just got around to publishing it.
@pratik looks like I have 7 to do on your list. I would add Lake Bled in Slovenia and Trieste in Italy 🇮🇹
@pratik It's very grim but my visit holds a place in my brain decades later. May I suggest Dachau concentration camp or one of the others?
@pratik heartily recommend a road trip through Slovenia (predjama castle and bled) and Croatia (plitvice lakes, the coastal drive and the Istrian peninsula, kind of like a mini Italy with quaint hilltop villages). very beautiful, historic, inexpensive but also the food. ah the food. Vienna is a good starting point.
@Miraz I definitely was thinking about visiting especially after reading Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder. I had Treblinka on my list. Will add.
@wrenman Awesome. I did notice Eastern Europe not as well represented so thanks for the tip. Will add.
@pratik I will. It’s time to bed around here, but I’m getting back to you tomorrow, with a couple of places that might persuade you to visit the country 🙂
@maique Haha! Don’t worry, we’re not traveling any time soon. I’ve heard good things about Lisbon but nothing specific hence doesn’t pop into my mind.
@pratik Started thinking about this, so sleep was delayed a bit.
Places where you'll be pleasantly surprised.
There are SO many more, and I have left out Lisbon, which has plenty to offer (Belém Tower, Jerónimos, the Castle, Alfama district,...)
Hope you find at least one that interests you 🙂
@pratik Also, I adored Batalha cathedral in Portugal. Given your architecture interest I imagine you'd enjoy it too. See miraz.me/2019/06/0...
@odd Awesome! Will check them out. Not sure when we will visit Norway though. My FiL spent a year in Norway in the late 70s so he often talks about it.
@maique Whoa! Definitely gonna check these out and add to the list. If global warming doesn’t make it inhospitable by then.
@Miraz Great one! So many things I missed, and this is one of them. Also agree with your assessment of Fatima, it’s an awful place.
@Miraz @pratik I visited there during the month I was living in Munich. It's a stop on the regional train network, and I would see it on the map every day. There were even ads in the train car for businesses there ("McDonalds in Dachau") that made it impossible to overlook. So on my last day, I went. It is sobering and stays with me.
@Miraz Dachau is a town and it is their address. You’d see that for other mundane businesses too, like dry cleaners or auto shops. It don’t think it’s trying to capitalize on the location. That was the unsettling realization for me, it’s a place, a stop on the train, and more than the name of a camp.
On the other hand, I specifically did not “check in” on FB. That felt wrong.
@Miraz I had the opportunity to visit years ago in high school. While virtually none of high school German stuck, visiting Dachau and just thinking about the horrors of that place (and others like it) - that stuck with me.
@Miraz My mother’s uncle Arnt was held there for a while. He didn’t make it back. I’m thinking about visiting Dachau.
@pratik thanks for the shout - clearly I have a lot to do. I have got more than half of this list - BUT - getting to the first is going to be harder - particularly as I can see by the thread that there are many more places I need to add!
Never done with traveling!
@JohnPhilpin Of course! It's a process and am not even thinking that I might get to it all. There may be places that I'm sure I'm missing.
@odd My parents took us there when we were very little, and I have no memories from that day. The only thing my mother keeps saying is that I refused, for the first (and last) time to be photographed. My mother was surprised that I reacted like that to the energy of the place, at that age.
I’m very sorry about your mother’s uncle.
@maique @odd @jean @Miraz @pratik yes a very sobering place and sorry to hear about your family @odd. This has reminded me of a trip to Auschwitz. I totally had forgotten that I went 17 years ago. This thought reminded me of the smell of the canteen next door and the feeling when sitting in the huts on site. Such a sad past that man kind has created.
@pratik the Hagia Sophia is one of my favorite places I've been, an incredible space. If you make it to Turkey I also recommend taking a hopper flight out to Cappadocia, really awesome geology and interesting history. Pamukkale was really cool too but time-consuming to get to.