Off the Beaten Track

[Hedgecutter]

On 08/07/2024 at 16:36, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Cumbernauld city centre.

Best to get there quick mind you.

... before the evil trinket market takes over.

[houston_bud]

On 08/07/2024 at 04:46, yabass said:

I did that flight from Ed-Bilbao before it got pulled. Bilbao is a tremendous city

Flight to Santander then bus or slow train looks like the best bet these days.

For other off-the-beaten-track suggestions, wholeheartedly second Albania, Puglia, Thessaloniki and Belgium (Antwerp, Ghent etc.)  

Another shout for Bilbao. It's a great city. I spent a couple of days in Zaragoza a few years back and enjoyed that, the old town (casco antiguo) is beautiful and loads of great places to eat and drink.

Sticking with Spain; rural Andalucia is great. So cheap and really beautiful. You could almost throw a dart at a map and go to the nearest village and I'm confident you could spend a couple of good days eating, drinking and milling about. I loved a tiny place called Porcuna. Everywhere from the larger cities to the tiny villages have fairs on throughout the year, with a great atmosphere. The Jaen feria in October was an amazing couple of days.

Edited July 18 by houston_bud

[flyingscot]

2 hours ago, houston_bud said:

Another shout for Bilbao. It's a great city. I spent a couple of days in Zaragoza a few years back and enjoyed that, the old town (casco antiguo) is beautiful and loads of great places to eat and drink.

I thought the old town in Zaragoza was lovely. It's slightly touristy, but on a decent scale. 

[Turkmenbashi]

On 08/07/2024 at 10:51, GordonS said:

We spent a week in the Belgian Ardennes on the way back from Germany and really enjoyed it. Had great days in places I'd never heard of before like Dinant (a wee bit touristy but still a real town) and Bouillon, with its ancient castle on a spectacular ridge above a bend in the river. Didn't hear another English speaker in either town.

I am sorry to say but this isn't the correct shout. The Belgian Ardennes are ridiculously touristic, especially Dinant (which is lovely tbf). Only thing is that the tourists are Dutch/Flemish and not Brits.

My current shout is also Albania (currently in Shkodër - which is great) although I get the feeling that it is not long until that changes and it does become overly touristic.

Edited July 25 by Turkmenbashi

[Sugar_Army]

I like back packing. Off to Tunisia in Sept (it will be the 58th country I have seen) but will be avoiding most of the touristy stuff.

Went to Macedonia and Albania (as well as Bulgaria and Greece) and they are very underrated.

Unfortunately, wherever you go there will always be touristy/trinket places but as some have showed, there are still hidden gems to be found.

Edited July 26 by Sugar_Army

[O_Kahn]

On 07/07/2024 at 14:50, Hedgecutter said:

I've lost the love for travelling to the point I've not booked any holiday this year despite having plenty of opportunities to do so.  My last two trips to Lisbon and Morocco appear to have broken me. 

I'm sick of being amongst people happy to stand in an hour long queue to walk up a tower.  I'm sick of seeing interesting landmarks being ruined by endless lines of trinket shops all selling exactly the same thing. I'm sick of having to bypass most cafes/bars because the giant menus with more pictures of dishes than the entirety of Instagram screams tourist trap.  I'm quite frankly absolutely sick and tired of feeling like a walking wallet there to be manipulated.

What I'd ideally like is the foreign equivalent of Dunfermline's historic quarter with Culross instead of the Royal Mile. The NE250 instead of the NC500.  St Monans instead of St Andrews.  Dunnottar instead of Urquhart Castle.  Mull instead of Skye.  A steak bridie instead of haggis neeps & tatties.

Brno instead of Prague.  Nova Scotia instead of Niagara Falls. Haarlem instead of Amsterdam.  Botswana instead of the Serengeti.  The Gaza Strip instead of Cairo (there are no words to describe my disdain for Cairo).

So help me P&B, you're my only hope.  Where can I visit that is averagey enough for UNESCO to file in the bin, but interesting enough to  keep one occupied much of the time? A nice enough place to wander around and stop for some typical traditional fare? Somewhere to give me a genuine flavour of a country without hating myself for being another bloody tourist further clogging up a tram? 

Ljubljana or Rovinj come to mind (the latter is busy but nothing like Venice or Dubrovnik).  Nantes maybe?  Le Mans was also pleasantly faded but interesting enough.  Basel has decent museums, nice city centre and direct flights from Edinburgh.