Holgatewall
Well-known member
Iona and Staffa.
Name a place that once you visited exceeded your perception
- Thread starter ForssAwakens
- Start date
changingman
Well-known member
Could be, think we're going there on Sunday for a few hours too.
Andy_W
Well-known member
Not really any specific place, but the tube/ underground, anywhere.
I always expected any tube/ underground to be horrendous, everywhere, but it's so easy, quick and often cheap and efficient.
I think Thailand is my favourite place, I expected it to be good, but it's beautiful, brilliant, cheap and the people are great.
Any Scandinavian country too (Finland, Sweden, Norway is my current order fo favourites), they're all brilliant, just wish the weather was better than here (or less worse) and I'd have moved to one of them a long time ago.
I like San Diego in the US too, but there are just too many Americans
, and even in California they're still a bit mental, albeit not as mental as the hardcore republican states,
I always expected any tube/ underground to be horrendous, everywhere, but it's so easy, quick and often cheap and efficient.
I think Thailand is my favourite place, I expected it to be good, but it's beautiful, brilliant, cheap and the people are great.
Any Scandinavian country too (Finland, Sweden, Norway is my current order fo favourites), they're all brilliant, just wish the weather was better than here (or less worse) and I'd have moved to one of them a long time ago.
I like San Diego in the US too, but there are just too many Americans
, and even in California they're still a bit mental, albeit not as mental as the hardcore republican states,
Andy_W
Well-known member
To be fiar, every time I've had visitors to Teesside they've loved it here, and all of them have said it's miles better than they imagined. Yeah the town (Boro or Stockton) is a bit rough in places (like most towns), but as tour guide it's simple to avoid the worse areas and there is a lot of good/ nice places around on the outskirts of each.
I lived in Central Sweden before going to Copenhagen, Just SE of Karlstad.
In winter it didn’t get light until after 9am and got dark again at 3pm.
Mind where ‘borolad 259’ is up north. In winter I doubt it really gets light all day and in Summer it never gets dark. Blackout curtains needed
I lived in Central Sweden before going to Copenhagen, Just SE of Karlstad.
In winter it didn’t get light until after 9am and got dark again at 3pm.
Mind where ‘borolad 259’ is up north. In winter I doubt it really gets light all day and in Summer it never gets dark. Blackout curtains needed
This is what it's like at exactly this time of the year. It's the first day that the sun can be seen between the hills behind my gaff. It's not dark though because the snow is a good reflector of what light is available and by April the days are longer than in the UK.
I will write a bit about Swedish Lapland because, it's fair to say, when I booked to go up there for the first time, I had no intention of buying a place and making it a second home.
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Sweden for me - visited on the off-chance a few years and fell in love with the place. Spent a while working out there (now unfortunately ended) but we did buy a little Summer place so we'll always have a reason to go back.
One for the future - we're off to Halifax for the night in a few weeks. Hoping it lives up to the "Shoreditch of the North" tag.
@changingman Halifax is great now. Especially the Piece Hall and up through Westgate. There's a lot going on that will make it even bettwer in about 18 months. A couple of things to note, Christmas aside, the best time for the Piece Hall is through summer when it's like a European plaza, people chilling, eating and drinking outside the bars and mooching the small shops etc. It's not so cracky when it's cold and wet. The cool bars are places like The Grayston Unity, Meandering Bear, Kobenhaven and the new Vocation Brewery place. Decent food at the Trading Rooms in the Piece Hall, but for Jan and Feb the whole place is closed on Mondays for works. It was indeed labelled the Shoreditch of the North by the Guardian although, it was noted, without the twatty clothes and hair. For top food, book yourself into Engine Social in Sowerby Bridge. Small plates. Plenty of Veg options. Superb quality. Excellent vibe and value. If there are just two of you, perch at the servery for dinner and a show. Thank me later.
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MickaelDebevePhenomenal
Well-known member
Came to say pretty much this, couldn't have put it better myself.Berlin. Best city I’ve ever been to, fascinating in every single way. Exceeded my expectations even when returning, theres so much more to see as well. It also has amazing S-Bahn and U-Bhan transport infrastructure.
weallhateleeds
Member
Sarajevo/Mostar
Ljubljana/ Lake Bled
Kotor bay
Jerusalem
Tblisi
Athens
Berlin/Munich/Bamberg/Nuremberg
Kiev/Lviv
Moscow/St Petersburg
Faroe Islands.
Vilnius
The worst - Paris.
Never understood the appeal of Dubai and similar plastic places.
Ljubljana/ Lake Bled
Kotor bay
Jerusalem
Tblisi
Athens
Berlin/Munich/Bamberg/Nuremberg
Kiev/Lviv
Moscow/St Petersburg
Faroe Islands.
Vilnius
The worst - Paris.
Never understood the appeal of Dubai and similar plastic places.
Redlips
Well-known member
Tell me a bit about Sarajevo would love to go.
Redlips
Well-known member
A great reverse to my thread.
Israel, especially Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Argentina. Best place I have ever been to. Buenos Aires.
A close second is Uruguay. Every one is liek
Leo and the meat is amazing.
In the UK, I absolutely loved Bristol. I was expecting a city like Leeds, it is just brill.
Honourable mentions for Belfast and Rotterdam.
Israel, especially Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Argentina. Best place I have ever been to. Buenos Aires.
A close second is Uruguay. Every one is liek
Leo and the meat is amazing.
In the UK, I absolutely loved Bristol. I was expecting a city like Leeds, it is just brill.
Honourable mentions for Belfast and Rotterdam.
I'll elaborate here more than most posts in this thread.
When we first went to Swedish Lapland (2002) it was for a wedding (the couple that we now share the house above with). I had no idea what to expect beyond Saabs, Volvos, blondes, trees and lakes. We stopped in Stockholm before driving up. The check out girl on the desk at the Hilton said "Where are you going?" I replied that we were heading for Arvidsjaur. She said "What for? There's nothing there except flying tigers" ... meaning huge mosquitos.
We had a rented car and set off on the long journey. The first real wow was somewhere a couple of hours north of Stockholm. A roadside picnic area with cafe. It was on a lake. There were beaches with people swimming. The car parking spaces were plentiful. There was no litter. There were communal firepits dotted around in amongst the lakeside trees with families having bbq. The cafe was clean and the toilets were immaculate and very modern. This was all, it would turn out, to be representative of Sweden as a whole.
The roads were great and, when we finally got up north and left the main E4 I found myself driving on a good, long, straight road with no other traffic. We started timing the intervals between cars and the longest was about 20 mins. Just trees. The occasional lake. And BIG skies.
Arriving in Arvidsjaur we stayed in the only Hotel ... Lapponia. It was, to us, really cool. 70s leather furniture, weird wall hangings, a stuffed reindeer and the vibe of Northern Exposure.
After the wedding, on a glorious summer day, in a small village, by a lake, we stayed for a 2 week family holiday. Most of which was spent travelling around, learning about the Sami people and culture, spotting reindeer and spending lazy days by stunning forest rivers ... fishing, enjoying the tranquility of it all. My preconceptions that there would be nothing but basics in the shops were shattered. The bigger supermarkets were better than anything we have ... chainsaw? No problem. Smoked moose? How much would you like? Canoe? Would that be inflatable or aluminium sir? And, whereas the peope in the South were as stand-offish and reserved as was expected, the people of Northern Sweden were like those of Northern England ... welcoming, warm, friendly ... if you lock the doors on your house you'd be considered a weirdo. Suffice to say, when we left, we realised that we had fallen madly in love with the place.
A series of unfortunate events led to the happy accident of us buying a share of the place we now love a couple of years later. Just about everything up there has exceeded my expectations since. What do I love most? Lazy summer days by the lake, eating, drinking, swimming, fishing. The endless sunsets. The fact that you can walk out of the door and find yourself facing a reindeer, a huge moose, a red squirrel (not had a bear ... yet) and you might have a Golden Eagle swoop across your path, or an Osprey diving for fish 20 metres away. Above all, the silence (hard to describe) and tranquility. Standing on the porch looking at the Northern lights. And the absolute, total absence of any cares, stress, worries.
When we first went to Swedish Lapland (2002) it was for a wedding (the couple that we now share the house above with). I had no idea what to expect beyond Saabs, Volvos, blondes, trees and lakes. We stopped in Stockholm before driving up. The check out girl on the desk at the Hilton said "Where are you going?" I replied that we were heading for Arvidsjaur. She said "What for? There's nothing there except flying tigers" ... meaning huge mosquitos.
We had a rented car and set off on the long journey. The first real wow was somewhere a couple of hours north of Stockholm. A roadside picnic area with cafe. It was on a lake. There were beaches with people swimming. The car parking spaces were plentiful. There was no litter. There were communal firepits dotted around in amongst the lakeside trees with families having bbq. The cafe was clean and the toilets were immaculate and very modern. This was all, it would turn out, to be representative of Sweden as a whole.
The roads were great and, when we finally got up north and left the main E4 I found myself driving on a good, long, straight road with no other traffic. We started timing the intervals between cars and the longest was about 20 mins. Just trees. The occasional lake. And BIG skies.
Arriving in Arvidsjaur we stayed in the only Hotel ... Lapponia. It was, to us, really cool. 70s leather furniture, weird wall hangings, a stuffed reindeer and the vibe of Northern Exposure.
After the wedding, on a glorious summer day, in a small village, by a lake, we stayed for a 2 week family holiday. Most of which was spent travelling around, learning about the Sami people and culture, spotting reindeer and spending lazy days by stunning forest rivers ... fishing, enjoying the tranquility of it all. My preconceptions that there would be nothing but basics in the shops were shattered. The bigger supermarkets were better than anything we have ... chainsaw? No problem. Smoked moose? How much would you like? Canoe? Would that be inflatable or aluminium sir? And, whereas the peope in the South were as stand-offish and reserved as was expected, the people of Northern Sweden were like those of Northern England ... welcoming, warm, friendly ... if you lock the doors on your house you'd be considered a weirdo. Suffice to say, when we left, we realised that we had fallen madly in love with the place.
A series of unfortunate events led to the happy accident of us buying a share of the place we now love a couple of years later. Just about everything up there has exceeded my expectations since. What do I love most? Lazy summer days by the lake, eating, drinking, swimming, fishing. The endless sunsets. The fact that you can walk out of the door and find yourself facing a reindeer, a huge moose, a red squirrel (not had a bear ... yet) and you might have a Golden Eagle swoop across your path, or an Osprey diving for fish 20 metres away. Above all, the silence (hard to describe) and tranquility. Standing on the porch looking at the Northern lights. And the absolute, total absence of any cares, stress, worries.
changingman
Well-known member
Absolutely stunning isn't it (although I've yet to venture that far North - it's on the list though!)
Not spotted any large mammals at our place yet but did see a Deer last year and watched a couple of Ospreys hunting over the lake - marvellous.
The sense of "order" and efficiency is what really draws me to Sweden - everything just works by and large and the quality of services is much higher than most other places I've been to. I'm fairly introverted myself so the Swede's natural "standoffishness" is a bit a draw ha! It's nice that people are generally free to get on with whatever they're doing without interruption.
Re: Halifax - thanks for that. Those bars are definitely on the list. Engine Social looks fantastic too but I'll need to look into public transport as we won't have our own wheels. Will get there if I can though!
weallhateleeds
Member
F.A.O Red Lips.
Sarajevo - where to start!
I went in 2014 via Munich, but there may be direct flights from London nowadays.
Start right at the airport with the tunnel museum - kept the city supplied during the Balkan war.
Stand on the spot where WW1 started. The museum has the gun on display.
It really is where East meets West, you're walking down a street from the Ottoman empire then you turn a corner straight into something from Austria-Hungary era.
Go to the central market, the names of the dead are displayed at the back when it was shelled during the Balkan war.
The thousands and thousands of Muslim graves on the hillsides from the war - you cant miss them.
Slightly out of town is the remains of the Winter Olympics of 84 - Torvil & Dean?
Quite a bit of nightlife. Watched the first Madrid derby champions league final in a bar, got talking to a guy who told me which side he was on during the war, I decided to move on at half time!
Ah, the Sarajevo brewery tap.
Visit Mostar. Can be done in day, its about 2.5 hours each way.
It's small so you can soon get around on foot - obviously the bridge is the main thing.
Loads of buses go - proper modern coaches. Train service is limited but the line in spectacular.
I caught the bus there and got the train back.
Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovenia all worth a visit
Enjoy!
Sarajevo - where to start!
I went in 2014 via Munich, but there may be direct flights from London nowadays.
Start right at the airport with the tunnel museum - kept the city supplied during the Balkan war.
Stand on the spot where WW1 started. The museum has the gun on display.
It really is where East meets West, you're walking down a street from the Ottoman empire then you turn a corner straight into something from Austria-Hungary era.
Go to the central market, the names of the dead are displayed at the back when it was shelled during the Balkan war.
The thousands and thousands of Muslim graves on the hillsides from the war - you cant miss them.
Slightly out of town is the remains of the Winter Olympics of 84 - Torvil & Dean?
Quite a bit of nightlife. Watched the first Madrid derby champions league final in a bar, got talking to a guy who told me which side he was on during the war, I decided to move on at half time!
Ah, the Sarajevo brewery tap.
Visit Mostar. Can be done in day, its about 2.5 hours each way.
It's small so you can soon get around on foot - obviously the bridge is the main thing.
Loads of buses go - proper modern coaches. Train service is limited but the line in spectacular.
I caught the bus there and got the train back.
Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovenia all worth a visit
Enjoy!
alanmoodysdog
Well-known member
Rome - collusium ... Ex-wifey wanted to go for 3 nights and wasnt really expecting much ... saw pics of the collusium and expecting a ruin. The size and tour blew me away... also Auschwitz was not what I expected and very humbling ... amazed how quiet the place is... even the birds are silent
Specifically for me Gaul.
Watched the world elephant polo championships there, on ground between the fort and cricket ground.
Shame the island seems to self distruct every 10 or so years.
The Ruthsayer
Well-known member
We didn’t explore that but on the last for later. We headed North to Jaffna. Still some military presence, but the locals were hugely welcoming as tourists were quite rare.