Tentative Itinerary
Updated!
Flight to Turkey:
Delta Air Lines 5852
Pittsburgh to New York JFK
3:07pm to 4:37pm (Sept 7)
British Airways 114
New York to London
8:30pm to 8:35 am (Sept 7-8)
British Airways 676
London to Istanbul
9:50 am to 3:40 pm (Sept 8)
Countries/Cities/Recommendations and Attractions
Turkey- Istanbul (1 week)
clubs-Reina, Laila
Greece-Athens, Corinth, Olympia, Greek Isles off Turkish coast (>1 week)
Italy-Rome, Florence, Venice (>1 week)
Boticelli Salon at the Ufizi in Florence
Spain-Granada, Madrid, Barcelona (1 week)
France-Paris, Tours, Rennes (1 week)
Musee D'Orsay in Paris
Netherlands-Amsterdam (2-3 days)
Germany-Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich (1 week)
Hofbrauhaus (L of beer and big pretzel), Oktoberfest (9/17-10/3?) in Munich
Spargel soup, Riesling "Ice Wine," boat down Danube to Weltenburg Monastary (1000 yr old beer),
Czech Republic-Prague (4 days)
club-Lavka
Turkey-Istanbul, Kapadokya, Pamukkale, Ephesus (1 week)
cut out:
Austria-Vienna, Staatsoper, Hofburg (3 days)
Hungary- Budapest (1 day -if time)
Bulgaria-Sofia (1 day -if time)
**If you have any other suggestions for must-see cities, please send them my way. I'll be updating this section as I do more planning. I also need to fine-tune the amount of time spent in each city and include travel time.
Flight to Pittsburgh:
British Airways 675
Istanbul to London
8:55am to 11:05am (Nov 7)
British Airways 297
London to Chicago
12:40pm to 3:15pm (Nov 7)
American Airlines 4345
Chicago to Pittsburgh
7:57pm to 10:27pm (Nov 7)
posted by Leslie @ 12:47 PM
6 Comments:
The trip sounds jam-packed and most likely exhausting. It took us 16 months to do almost the same thing! Of course you are a lot younger! Hopefully you are good at sleeping on trains, as it is best to ride overnight to the next destination. Spain is a very large country, so I hope there will be enough time to see something. Sleep on top of your valuables-always!
A few words of advice:
Southern Europe is quite dicey – never split up....NEVER.
Wear your valuables(passport, money, credit card(Visa is by far the best) on your person ALL the time, around the waist or neck and concealed. If you must sport a fanny pack, keep fake stuff in it so if you are robbed, you can give that to them and flee before they know. Pepper spray would be good too, but you have to buy it there.
NO favors from strangers however nice they seem.
Visa card at ATM’s will give you the best rate anywhere. Traveler’s checks are not that welcome.
New shoes are a No-No. Ask your stepmother. There is no time to break them in.
Be careful in Greece. They are sick of the tourists by now and can be rude. Turkey is SO much nicer. Capadoccia is out of this world(we were there for a week alone), and Pamulkaale is magical but very remote if I recall. I would think Ephesus would be more logistically placed.
Everyone speaks English and they much prefer that to broken French, German, etc.
We have a friend fin Istanbul, Deny Caouki, owner of Egimetal. Maybe your roommate’s family knows him.
Cities we love: Florence, Paris, Granada, Venice(when the tourists are gone it is magic)
Cities we were not impressed by: Amsterdam, Vienna
My parents were just in Prague and liked it very much.
Must go to Musee D’Orsay in Paris. The Boticelli Salon at the Ufizi in Florence blew me away.
So, rest up, keep your eyes open and alert always and have fun! Bon Voyage!
I am so jealous of the trip. I spent a month in England and parts of France. I learned SOO much
about myself it was almost scary. I can just imagine what 2 months will inspire. You are the perfect age to do something like this. Not only will youth hostels be a fun and VERY exciting adventure you will meet so many people.
Did I ever tell you about showering with boys? ;) Hmm...that may have been a story I kept to myself as your SAC advisor. Hee! Hee! And....I have to admit. I am making it sound "juicer" than it really was!!! :) You know me and stories
So good to hear from you. I will check the blog every chance I get!
Check out a club called Lavka in Prague. In Istanbul, there is a club called Reina. I would check it out. The only other place I have been to is France, but I dont have much to say about it. I was in Germany the entire month of March and was in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Darmstadt, Regensburg, and some other small towns. Let me know where u will be at in Germany and I'll be better able to tell you some stuff about it. Im assuming you are flying over then take the ICE train across Europe. Make sure you get a sleeping car if you do. Have you ever been top Europe before? If not, i can let you know some things to expect.
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As far as France goes, it was somewhere I could see taking my girlfriend, but even then I wouldnt want to saty there long. Its ok in other aspects, but compared to the other countries I just rank it lower.
Germany is an amazing country. There are things that not many people know about that are good and I only found out through a few friends that are German. Berlin is a great city. It is pretty much the most American-like city in Europe due to WWII. It might be a good starting point to adjust. In Munich, there is a place called the hofbrauhaus. Go there and have a liter of beer and a huge pretzel. Its a pretty famous place so you can probably look it up on the net. Just to let you know, but Octoberfest is held in Munich. But some tourists dont know this, but it actually is not the entire month of october. I think this years octoberfest goes from 9/17 to 10/3.
Heidelberg is a good city to see also.
Omen is a great club in Frankfurt.
Some stupid food things. All though you are not going during Spargel season, you can probably find it restaurants. Spargel is this white artichoke that only grows in germany during the month of May. They make Spargel soup and it is just amazing. Try it out. Also see if you can get a glass of Riesling "Ice Wine". Its really good. IF you have time, buy a boat ticket for a short ride down the Danube to the Weltenburg Monastery. You will see a ton of palaces and castles on the cliff tops. When you get to the monastery, they have a beer made over 1000 years ago. Very good.
Mostly I noted some food things because if you have a travel book, then you are good on the historical points. If you want any ideas for these, fell free to write me back. I took a tour at the Dachua death camp. Very humbling and something that really gives you a piece of history that is different than the palaces, churchs (amazing, def see them), and castles.
I might be heading home on Friday to grab some stuff from home that I forgot to bring back to our house at school. If I do, maybe i'll call your house and stop over and try to think some more over it, because I know I am not mentioning a good many because I was in Germany for an entire month and some of it is lke and afterthought to me. Let me know.
We had breakfast with Mete yesterday. Showed him your itinerary. Here are his suggestions:1)Don't bother with Bularia. He questions the safety. 2) Do see the Bazaar in Turkey. 3)Add Liaz, and Salzburg to Austria. 4)Add Sevilla to Spain.
Roger says to be sure to go to the most beautiful city he has seen. It is in Czech Republic...KalaVary (that is how it sounds but I question the spelling.) We are excited for you. Bon Voyage!!
in venice it'd be worth seeing saint marks and the library, but i do caution about the smell of the place. milan is cleaner and you can buy cheap designer stuff and more importantly, it houses the most famous opera house in the world by far. in barcelona, as an artist you'd appreciate the sagrada familia cathedral and gaudi's park and his apartment building that lacks right angles. dali's actual house isn't far from there either. also in spain, clearly in madrid you must go to the plaza and also see some of the moorish mosques that are about. since you'll be in spain, salamanca is a nice place to go with a very, very old university. toledo is a city also quite famous for art and artists (el greco, vasquez etc). granada has alot of moorish stuff in it also (the tower, etc).
you will not be able to see everything in paris.
in munich, you should stop and see the clock tower at 5 o'clock pm. it is amazing and once you see it you'll understand. also in germany, i mentioned the walled city of rotenburg as being quite picturesque. at least you're stopping at the beer hall. have a putsch on me! and drink some dunkles bier.
and i can't believe you would skip vienna! you must go. its the nicest city in europe. i'll put more stuff down as it comes to me. keep in touch at the email stations over there!
Final itinerary:
Turkey:
Istanbul
Pamukkale
Kusadesi
ferry to Samos, Greece
Greece:
Samos
Mykonos
Athens
train to Patras, Greece
ferry to Ancona, Italy
Italy:
Rome
Florence
Venice
Germany:
Munich
Czech Republic:
Prague
Austria:
Vienna
Germany:
Berlin
Netherlands/Holland:
Amsterdam
France:
Paris
Lacoste
Aix en Provence
train to Port Bou, Spain
Spain:
Madrid
Carmona
Seville
Granada
Barcelona
Turkey:
Istanbul
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