Travel 'B-Sides' - Side Two
Travelling to a country is different when you’ve got emotional ties to the land you’re visiting. Most of my wife’s family emigrated from Greece to Australia back in the day.
Greece is spectacular; there was not one part of Greece we didn’t enjoy (bar the twisty windy roads of Crete). In our few weeks there we managed to visit Athens (its history is simply exceptional), The Peloponnese, Kythira, Crete, Santorini, Ios, Naxos, Paros, Cephalonia and Zakynthos. As expected the islands were the stars of the show but the mainland was interesting in its own right.
Highlights: Too many to mention.
Indonesia, specifically Bali, was our first trip aboard together. My memories of Bali are now a bit hazy as the trip was in 2012. Kuta was a bit of a hell-hole; there seemed to be more tourists there than locals, and the locals that were there seemed to be hell-bent on flogging you every ware under the sun. However, we really enjoyed our visits to the Ubud Monkey Forest, Seminyak and Ubud.
Highlights:
So we've been to Aachen and Munich and we will visit Berlin this summer but from what we've seen of Germany we've really liked. Aachen is your typical old European town full of baroque and gothic architecture. Munich was a real standout for us after the damp squib that was Austria. Our walking guide in Munich was full of fascinating facts about the city and its colourful past.
Highlights: Our walking tour of Munich, Hofbräuhaus, the local ice cream
outside of Aachen.
It’s my home; so any retelling of our various trips in Ireland are going to be biased. What I now love about going back home on trips is noticing the things I took for granted beforehand. The natural beauty of the place, the green countryside, the stories, the people, the daft local stories in the news etc.
Ireland is beautiful and we love going back when we can. The biggest kick for us is to get in the car and head off on a road trip to explore parts yet unvisited.
Highlights: It’s home, road trips, Ireland.
The Netherlands is another compact, loveable and industrious place. It’s that European mix of old traditional melded with a future-looking drive.
So far, we’ve visited Amsterdam, Landgraaf and Maastricht. Amsterdam is great fun. For me, it’s very much like Copenhagen (with added red light district and more canals). Anytime we’ve been to the Netherlands we’ve really enjoyed it.
Highlights: The vibrant mix that is Amsterdam, Anne Frank House, the Dutch lifestyle.
Malaysia
Outside of Kuala Lumpur, which is really boring and overrated, Malaysia is a beautiful country full of extremely friendly locals and great sights.
My advice is go to KL and see the sights but don’t delay there, unless you have a passion for bland new super-cities, outside of KL is where it’s at. We loved Malacca as it was just the right mix of interesting. Malacca felt more traditional and the city was a reflection of all it various historical influences over time.
Highlights: The food, Malacca, the Malaysian countryside.
Qatar
I can’t speak for Qatar as a whole as we only visited its capital, Doha.
Doha was fine, I’d put it in the modern gleaming-all bells-and whistles-impressive at first-dig a little deeper and there’s not much to do-modern cities with the likes of Dubai, KL and Singapore. IMO, worth a short visit but not much incentive for a return trip.
Doha was fine, I’d put it in the modern gleaming-all bells-and whistles-impressive at first-dig a little deeper and there’s not much to do-modern cities with the likes of Dubai, KL and Singapore. IMO, worth a short visit but not much incentive for a return trip.
Highlights: The modern architecture, the Museum of Islamic Art, the Souq Waqif.
Comments
Post a Comment