Europe Favorite Tips by globetrott Top 5 Page for this destination

DENMARK - Dänemark

Favorite thing: Danmark is where my Grandma came from - for that reason we spent plenty of vacations there in all parts of the country.

Aarhus - Roskilde - Copenhagen - Ribe - Egeskov - Odense - Langeland...

All of the country is very flat - great to make tours with the bike...
The milk and all mik-products taste great, obviously as the cows are eating the salty grass nearby the ocean
Try the butter-milk and you will never forget that taste...
Danish Pastries are another of my favorite dishes...
Smörebröd - its similar to an open sandwich, but its the mixture of liver-pate,sausage,fish or meat and salad,mixed pickles and fruits, that makes Smörebröd unique...

Roads that are currantly "under reconstruction" in Danmark

Fondest memory: Denmark is part of the EU + Schengen
BUT: NO €uro

CYPRUS

Favorite thing: Cyprus is a great destination in Europe and it is also the eastern-most country of Europe. Unfortunately it is divided into the turkish north and the greek south with the so-called "green line" as a frontier between them, a front that is under control of UN-troops.

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ALL of Cyprus is part of the EU ! (but reality looks different of course still !)
In the south you have a Schengen-country & the Euro
and for the north you need a visa (without much complication obtainable on the spot, just some paperwork to be done)
Rental-cars are NOT allowed to go across the border !!!

Fondest memory: I had 7 wonderfull days in Cyprus end of 2010, I rented a car and can highly recommend to visit these places:
The Troodos mountains, a great area to escape the heat in Cyprus, and to see some great churches with wonderfull frescoes !
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The tombs of the kings a great area of tombs close to Paphos !
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Kato Paphos with some excellent mosaiques !
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Ayia Napa with a great monastery, sandy beaches and a well-knoen party-scene !

MALTA

Favorite thing: Malta is a rather small island in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is the seat of the Maltese Knights since several centuries.
The population is partly Arabic,Italian and british.
Malta offers large beaches in a great climate and an interesting, unique architecture and prices are quite low in comparison to the rest of Europe.

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Malta is part of the EU + Schengen + €uro and the cars are driving on the LEFT !
They have a good public bus-system, so renting a car is nonsense and there is enough trafic-jam already without you !

Fondest memory: In 2010 I had 5 days in Malta and can highly recommend it for a cheap vacation in warm climate.
I had my hotel in Sliema, a suburb of La Valetta, the capital of Malta.
Some other interesting towns there are :Mdina, the old capital of Malta
Mosta, with the 4th largest cuppola on earth
Rabat, with some great mosaiques in an ancient Roman Villa and there are also some catacombes under the town.

GASOLINE prices in Europe

Favorite thing: Gasoline-prices vary a lot inside of Europe.
And isn't it funny that Great Britain (who have their own oil from North Sea ) and Netherlands ( with the most important oil-refineries in Europe ) - have the highest rates for Gasoline ?
What you should also take into consideration is :
Austria: has highway-toll, at least around 7 euros per 10 days
Germany, Belgium, Danmark, Netherlands: no highway-toll at all
France & Italy: highway-toll per KM that you drive
Czech. Republic, Slowenia, Slowakia and Hungary: highwaytoll as well

Fondest memory: For your orientation:

Click here for Fuel-prices in Europe

You will see a list of countries and first they will list the prices in the local currencies on the left columns and finally in the columns on the very right you will find all prices in euros, so its easy to compare them !
Russia,Moldavia and Ukraine have the cheapest Diesel
Norway, Denmark & Sweden the most expensive

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This pic shows a fake gasoline-station in Ireland, close to a pub, in order to remind you, to fill up your " beer-tank "

SWITZERLAND - Swiss - Schweiz

Favorite thing: Switzerland is well known for its great mountain scenery with plenty of mountains between 3500 and 3900 meters high.
There are great hiking routes inside the Swiss Alps and to the top of many of them cable-cars and trains will take the tourists within a rather short time ( and for a lot of money )
Most of these mountain-trains will NOT be included in the Eurail / Interrail-tickets, but some offer at least 50% reduction.
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Fondest memory: Switzerland is NOT part of the EU BUT they are part of the Schengen-states since 2009 !
They dont have the €uro, but Swiss francs.

Czech Republic

Favorite thing: I still remember all the problems I had travelling to Czechoslovakia in Communiste times...

THAT time is completely OVER now !!
NO severe controlls at the border, friendly people and VERY LOW prices...

a big and tasty Pizza was 3,- euro
gasoline is about 0,75 euro

+ so plenty of old castles and great architecture to explore all over the country

Fondest memory: Czech Republic is a member of the EU and part of the Shengen treaty.

About 32 Czech Krona is 1 euro

AUSTRIA > Graz > Schloss Eggenburg

Favorite thing: Schloss Eggenberg is the most beautiful palace in Graz. It dates back to the year 1623 and its architecture is quite unique :
The 4 seasons ofthe year are symbolized by the 4 towers, 12 gates were built because of the 12 months and 365 windows are all over the building.
The architect was Pietro de Pomis, a pupil of the famous italian Palladio.
The interior of the palace is really wonderful with precious stucco-works, frescos, paintings and chandeliers.

Fondest memory:

A visit in Eggenburg palace is a Must, including the guided tour,
that will be held daily except mondays at
10.00 + 11.00 +12.00p.m. & 02.00 + 03.00 + 04.00p.m.
Photography is NO problem - BUT only without flash !!

Tel : +43 (0)316 583264 9532
fax +43 (0)316 583264 9555

ATM-machines versus Traveller-cheques

Favorite thing: The ONLY good reason to carry Traveller-cheques is to have some spare-money, that will be replaced by the insurance, in case that it is stolen.
For the money you intend to spend in everyday-life abroad, the ATM-card is the very best !
TravellerCheques always have a quite high comission deducted , when you change them in a bank or at your hotel.
In Austria the banks charge you about 10 Euros and sometimes even more for each transaction.
So it could happen that you might want to simply change a TrallerCheques for 20 Euros and you will get cash of only 10 Euros. This might be different, when you go to cash them in an Amexco-bank, BUT there are only a very few of them in Europe.
TravellerCheques were great a few years ago, now they are good only for a safe, seperate amount of money you use only in case of an emergency

Fondest memory: In my picture : Rothenburg ob der Tauber. These streets are rather small and I had to use my 20mm wide-angle-lens to get the whole panorama into the pic...
...so this is why it looks a bit like leaning towers...

Spain - Barcelona

Favorite thing: Visit Barcelona / Spain and the famous church "La Sagrada Familia" (the holy family)

Fondest memory: "La Sagrada Familia" is the church, built by Antonio Gaudi in its very own and unique style.
The construction needed more than 100 years already and is not yet finished, but of cours you may already see a lot of the lovely details, when you take a tour through this oldest "construction-site" in Europe.
Gaudi did not leave any plans, when he died and so plenty of other architects had to finish his plans.

Germany > Bavaria > Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Favorite thing: This is what makes Rothenburg ob der Tauber so unique - it still has the old, medieval town-walls and you may even freely walk around the town that way - free of charge, at any time, day and night

Fondest memory: The town may be entered by several gates - all of them are guarded by a big tower and in the medieval times the guards watched and controlled carefully, who wanted to enter the town.
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Today the main trafic stays outside, a great parking-system provides plenty of parkings outside the walls - just follow the signs...