Advertisement
Published: October 2nd 2010
If you're in the Alps
...the view has to be good.Western Europe has always been on our travel agenda, of course. But other places have always been higher. It has a reputation for being very expensive. The cost just of getting here from Australia can pay for a lot of time in Asia. It also has to be said that the list of 'must see' items in Western Europe is dominated by museums and churches - which can be great but can also become tiresome. So, apart from a quick trip to London to sort out some visas for central Asia a few years ago, we have never really had a proper look at Western Europe. That hole in our travel experience has now been addressed. We have spent 5 months there and, even though we have put up posts on the countries we have visited, the place as a whole probably deserves a wrap up we think.
The basic statistics are reasonably straightforward. We spent 147 days in Western Europe, drove just under 20,000 kilometers, visited 8 countries and still missed a couple that have now been added the Comeback List. We did get to visit, and to enjoy very much, our fair share of museums and art galleries
Still useful
Even museum pieces have multiple uses. and a reasonable number of churches, along with other spectacular buildings. And, yes, it could have been pretty expensive but we were able to manage it so that it didn't break the budget.
We had no fixed itinerary. There were places that we definitely wanted to get to, and which we agreed on, but settling on a detailed itinerary is very difficult for us. Generally, our most effective strategy is to pick out a few special things we want to get to, lock in any necessary dates and then fill in the rest as we go along. We had investigated the different forms of travel and opted to lease a vehicle. We were able to get a lease on a brand new Citroen C3 at a cost that averaged out at about A$34 a day. This was slightly more than we might have spent on some other options, but its real value was that it allowed us to camp and to self cater more easily, thus allowing us to live much more cheaply and comfortably than would have been possible in hostels/hotels. It was this arrangement more than anything else we did or didn't do that kept our costs
This old woman
does not look happy with the the additions to the Uffizi Gallery. low and gave us the flexibility to travel the way that most suits us.
If we were to sum it all up Western Europe is really all about difference. It is an ever-changing environment. There are the obvious things: the driving, which is different in each country; the architecture and house design which changes, subtly sometimes, with each region; language, of course, which can be a damned nuisance; style, the villages, campgrounds, roads and, of course the people.
The posts we have put up over the last six months or so probably cover most of the things we found interesting, so this one will just deal with the place as a job lot, picking out what was good and what was possibly not. And because these are our personal impressions, there is also a lot of generalisation.
The award for the best drivers, or perhaps most interesting is a better term, goes to the Italians. Perhaps due to different laws in each country, but also, we think, flowing from differing cultures, drivers in each country have their own style and their own characteristics. When we first drove out into the French traffic after a gentle little run
Wildflowes
A feature in the countryside, not always with green lizards though. around South Africa we were a little taken aback. They seemed not to be able to be bear being behind anyone, were quick, sure, competent and aggressive. But when we hit Italy we realised that the French in fact were gentle, reasonable drivers who really don't drive to the limit.
They often have white lines on the road in Italy. They are there as some sort of guide. Drivers don't pay a lot of attention to them. You straddle them when you are on the autovia and ignore them completely if the traffic is heavy. Why, after all, stick to 3 lanes when you can reasonably fit 5 or perhaps 6. This style of driving requires a high level of skill and, it must be said, the acceptance that things will scrape occasionally. Where in other countries drivers will back off and wait if there is perhaps not enough room for 2 vehicles, Italians will always try to keep going. Backing off is not in their nature. This characteristic can be viewed very clearly whenever there is a vehicle in front. You must get past. No ifs or buts. An Englishman towing a caravan told me that the most
hair raising experience for him was the cars trying to squeeze between the van and his car. Very believable.
The Portuguese are not far behind the Italians but they have also taken on some Spanish characteristics. We drove for 7 weeks in Italy. I probably breached as many of the protocols there as I did everywhere else but never was a horn blasted. Wrong way up a one way street, people might wave or give a quick flash of the lights but, hey, it could be them next time. They just shrug and wait till you are out of the road. Not in Portugal and Spain though. The rules are the rules there, even if they aren't actually rules as such. Just the protocols. You will quickly get a blast of a horn there for doing the wrong thing and probably some gesticulation if you have really mucked things up. The Spanish and Portuguese also pay a bit more attention to the speed limits so we concluded that perhaps there is a little more enforcement there.
All European drivers like their speed on the motorways. The outside lane is always for going as fast as you possibly can.
The Spanish bull
Not just a sticker on cars. The Germans seem to take this closer to the limit than anyone else. After a while we gave up paying too much attention to those numbers on signs on the side of the road. 130 only applies to the inside lanes after all. But, be aware, that in all other respects you must follow the rules.
Of course, driving is often a matter of style and this leads us to another award. It is very close this one and obviously comes down to taste and preference. The French probably have it won we think, although the preponderance of grey and black in all clothing becomes a little monochromatic, can we say. Stylishly worn and hung on bodies that are more lean than others around but they could use a little colour occasionally. There are Desigual shops around, which have clothes with masses of colour but perhaps the French only wear those in the privacy of their own homes.
The Italians go for colour more than the French and are not so much into the wasted verging on scrawny look. But it is the Spaniards who we considered were the most likely to go for colour and spectacle and
French countryside
Canold fields in early Spring. make it look good.
Style is important here, for everyone. In Russia and Eastern Europe Pat used to bemoan the fact that the women would go to great lengths to do themselves up and dress really well while the men were, not to put to fine a point on it, slobs. It is different in this bit of Europe. The men dress well and look after themselves. If their hair looks a particular way, then that is how it is supposed to look. A lot carry handbags, stylish ones of course, probably so that their wallets and cigarette packs don't confuse the line of their shirts and trousers which, again, fit just right. It goes without saying I suppose that tourists such as us stick out a little.
And we now understand why Poms and Europeans generally wear socks with sandals. Australians tend to have a quiet giggle at this tendency when exhibited in their country but there really are times when it seems to make good sense to pop on a pair of socks under the sandals. You don't want to give up the pretty rare chance to wear sandals but, at the same time, you don't
Countryside in northern Spain
Not as lush as others but spectacular. really want your feet to freeze do you? I tried it once to see how it felt - on a trip across the camp ground to the ablutions block - but my lovely wife laughed so hard that I gave up on the idea. Since then, though, both of us have been known to adopt this style when the sun has disappeared.
Food. More difficult to pick a winner here. We tended not to eat in the flasher restaurants, although on the occasions we did the food was excellent. The most interesting meal we had was probably in Venice. It was also the most expensive. But we were more often in the supermarkets with occasional feeds in bars and cafes. The supermarket winner, without much doubt, is France, if only for the aisle upon aisle of cheeses, processed meats, freshly baked breads, fresh fish and cheap but good wine. We tried hard to eat local wherever we moved and tried anything that came along. The simplicity of the food in Puglia was welcome and we enjoyed it. Sicily was good but we had expected a little more spice and fire. And the Italians may have invented pizzas but, while
Harvest is in
...for this farm their traditional ones are OK, in my view - not necessarily an opinion shared by my partner here - others have taken the art form to a higher level.
The food in bars was better in Spain, not the least because tapas were always available - and in Granada the tapas came with the drinks. San Sebastian had the best tapas, although there they are called pinxtos. But cafe food generally was a mixed bag. You had to be lucky to strike good cafe food anywhere in a tourist area but, away from the main tourist areas, you had to be unlucky to strike anything that was not enjoyable - and that is a terrible generalisation.
We should make a special mention of bacalhau. We did talk about it in another post but the sight of racks and racks of bacalhau of varying quality covering most of the length of a supermarket in Portugal is one that will live on. It was also good to eat and sufficiently simple that we were able to prepare it ourselves and have some excellent meals. The dried cod - under variations of the name bacalhau - was also readily available in
Spain and Italy - but not in the profusion of Portugal.
For us, the Musee D'Orsay in Paris was the pick of the bunch in the art galleries and museums but honourable mentions have to go to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seville, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lisbon and the Caravaggio exhibition in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. But we could add many more.
The built environment here is definitely a highlight. We found the constantly changing house designs intriguing. Roof lines, window treatments, building materials are all available for change, at times quite subtle change, as you move through regions. We didn't look inside private houses much but those we did visit don't necessarily conform to the governing style, although that is not the case for the exteriors. There seems to be an acceptance that the default style will be the one used as much as possible. The non-conformists use colour to achieve change sometimes but most still keep the overall lines. This type of standardisation looks good when it is done well most of the time. There are occasions when it is not really pleasing to the eye. Parts of Belgium
comes to mind.
For us, the pick of the built environment, the best of the best was the Alhambra at Granada. There are a lot of other buildings that could be selected - the Guggenheim in Bilbao was just one - but we liked the Alhambra for its open feeling, marble carved walls, position and style.
Villages were for us a major source of interest. For Australians, villages in Europe are different. Our 'villages' tend to be a long way from anywhere else and are normally very small. European villages are small too but these things are clearly relative with European villages, at times, having a couple of thousand people. In Germany it seemed to us that farmers would tend to live in their village and travel to their farm to work. The French do a bit of both with farm houses being common but with others travelling. German villages are very neat, well organised and look easy to live in. Italian villages are a little more chaotic but still beautiful. Portugal and Spain do villages well. They are places with a clear feeling of community and you get the impression that they would be good places to
The Collegiata at Bolea
One of the many spectacular old churches. live.
Our pick for the country for the prettiest villages was France. There are the picture post card ones such as Sarlat in the Dordogne but we were also impressed with places like Mortain in Normandie. The French have achieved a nice mix between the maintenance of the old and charming and the new so that there is not quite so much as the living museum thing going on and more of the just plain living.
And living is what the French have well organised. They seem to have the work-life balance better worked out than most, with plenty of time for relaxation. They clearly work hard but there is plenty of time to enjoy yourself. Perhaps not so much in France as there is in Spain though. The life there is very seductive. We very quickly became used to the change in eating times and the more relaxed way of operating on hot days. Australians could learn a lot from the Spanish.
The 'un-built' environment is also a highlight. Not so much of it is actually 'natural' but it is still definitely beautiful in a lot of areas. Switzerland is the most spectacular but then the
Recognisable architecture
Not the Sagrada Familia but a Gaudi designed apartment in Barcelona. Alps run through a few countries and the beauty is shared around. There are competitors to the Alps though, the Dordogne, the Pyrenees, the plains of Spain, the Puglia Coast, the Amalfi Coast., the northern coast of Sicily We could go on.
We enjoyed the agricultural land as much as the rest, partly because I had a lot of fun trying to work out how farmers were able to afford, or perhaps justify, the equipment we spotted on such apparently small farms. There is little evidence here of too much change in farming practices. No-dig cultivation doesn't seem to be used much but there is clearly a lot of attention given to organic practices given the amount of organic produce available in the shops.
Campgrounds in Europe are generally very good. The French and Spanish grounds were of a high standard and are impossible for us to split. Of course, we were not looking for the big flash areas where they provide restaurants, play areas, discos and shops. Basic was fine but we did appreciate hot water, a reasonably flat pitch and clean facilities. Price was something to watch but most were in the zone of A$20 to
Burano buildings
Altogether more colourful than the neighbours in Murano and Venice. A$30. In more rural areas you could find excellent places for a lot less. The grounds in Southern Italy were not quite so flash but, in most cases, often more comfortable and relaxed. After a lot of consideration we will give La Bañera tucked under the Pyrenees in central northern Spain the tick as about the best overall that we found.
You realise pretty quickly as you travel around anywhere that those of us who speak English are pretty lucky. The language is spoken to some extent in most areas of the world. I will admit that it would be nice sometimes if a few more people spoke the language. A pretty much one-currency Europe makes travel really easy. Imagine what a one-language Europe would be like. But then we would lose all of the connections that exist between language and culture and that would be a disaster for the diversity of the world so you just have to get on with it.
I will say that it easier to pick up or get along in most of the European languages than it is with those in Asia and Africa, obviously due to their close connections with English
Ostuni is just one village on a hill
but is still one of the more spectacular. but each language has developed its own special attributes and this keeps things interesting. The French, for instance, use lots of letters in their words but often only use a few. The Italians are at the other end of the scale with lots of letters in their words and with each one lovingly articulated, often with accompanying hand movement. The Germans are economical. They gather their words together, and together, and together. The Portuguese seem keen to keep their language separate and different from their big neighbour. The Swiss keep their languages but seem to make sure that they learn English as a back up.
We will come back to Europe. We want to have a better look through Holland, Germany, Poland, Austria and Greece. We may also pop back to Spain and Italy to have a little relax … and maybe even duck back to France for a stay in one of their lovely villages. Need to check out camper vans for the next time though. The tent, well it did the job, but maybe next time a little more luxury.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 14; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0476s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
alex
non-member comment
great stuff
shame you never made it to the mother country. posh bev and deaf bird were looking forward to seeing you again (as was I of course). enjoy the americas. in a million to one chance, if you bump into the drago truck in south america say hello to michael glover for me. alex