Travel!

[mrph]

I'm considering a long weekend (or two) away somewhere - so... where should I go...?

(I do have opinions of my own, you understand, but it's always fun to ask the interweb...)

Comments

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Fowey in Cornwall.
Or Malta for a look at some ancient temples.
Or Iceland.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Cornwall and Iceland were already on the shortlist. Malta... hmm... hadn't really considered Malta. Temples, you say...?

[zotz]

My parents certainly recommended Malta highly. Fortresses, too. They have lots of fortresses.

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Temples, walled citadels, and, for the lager swilling hordes, crap holiday resorts. Malta has it all.

It's a pretty interesting place for such a small island. We saw the temples at Tarxien (A suburb of Valetta, really) but the real star is a thing called the Hypogeum - it's a three level underground temple that was discovered by a chap who was building houses in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, he built the houses and THEN told the authorities what he had found. So they demolished his houses. You have to book to see it, and the whole place is sealed in a protective atmosphere. You can still see the original (Faded) wall paintings in one part. No one know what it was used for, but it's from 3000BC or thereabouts, and mirrors the structure of the temples above ground. (It's in the middle of a built up area that looks not unlike inner city Coventry!)

http://www.heritagemalta.org/hypogeum.html

There's also catacombs up in Rabat (Next to the walled Citadel of Mdina) which were used by the Phoenicians, Romans and probably anyone else. This is a huge network of chambers, only bits of which are open.

There are others on Malta itself, and some more on Gozo, the other main island in the group.

And to add to the fun, you get to zip around the island on ancient British and US buses! The capital, Valetta, is a spectacular walled city that's really part of a fairly large urban area that also contains a number of other walled towns.

http://martinnike.fotopic.net/c1317906.html


Malta is a place I would never have considered visiting, until I saw a TV show about Mdina (I have a walled City fetish:-)) and decided to go for a week. We went in January, and the island was deserted - we had all these attractions to ourselves.

[souldier-blue.livejournal.com]

I was going to say, if your budget stretches to it, I'd definitely recommend Reykjavic.

[pope-ant.livejournal.com]

Yes, Reykjavic is not cheap - but you get a lot of hours in your day right now - so good value :-).

I think I should go to Malta :-).

[the_axel]

Canada.
But wait 'til after Labour Day (1st Monday in September) 'cos the cost of flights drops considerably after the school holidays.

[queex.livejournal.com]

Probably not the sort of thing you are looking for and almost certainly already booked up but I'll mention it anyway:

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~mikegadd/madwolf/test/tower/

Handy for some castles and Port Merion- plus Cob Records in Porthmadog.

[ragnvaeig.livejournal.com]

Bruges.

No, really.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

I would suggest Seville, but not at this time of year (it'll probably be 40+ degrees during the day right now).

Palma de Mallorca - Mallorca's capital city - is very cheap and really nice. There are a couple of modern art museums, and very few tourists visit the cafe in the main modern art museum Es Baluard so you can sit overlooking the sea, enjoying laid-back music and an affordable drink feeling like something out of a glossy mag. (That's fun to do for a little while!) There's a fab round castle, spiky old cathedral, Moorish palace, gothic trading exchange (La Llotja) and more museums. There's a good chunk of Modernista (Spanish art nouveau) architecture and a crazy little place called Poble Espanyol, where they've recreated bits of buildings from around Spain.
http://petegettins.smugmug.com/photos/199273094_iP4eK-L.jpg
http://petegettins.smugmug.com/gallery/3525501_Wm4t7#199272153_G4vBL-A-LB
http://petegettins.smugmug.com/gallery/3525501_Wm4t7#199284231_Y2q2x-A-LB
The trick with Palma is to get the location right. At the edge of the city, where the cruise ships pull in, is where the big hotels, mass tourism and burger joints start. We stayed at the Almudaina, which is smack bang in the centre. Turn right for el Corte Ingles and the tourist bus stop (hop on there to see the Castle and Poble Espanyol), left and keep going for the theatre and a fab art nouveau cafe that serves the local pastries, ensaimadas, for breakfast, or left then right to find the main good restaurant area, the cathedral, Es Baluard and the waterfront. Almost every tourist attraction beside the castle and Poble Espanyol are accessible on foot from there. (And you would LOVE the food market. Stalls selling nothing but fine, fine jamon!)

Meh, can you tell I liked Palma? I hadn't expected to enjoy it nearly as much as I did, but I'd definitely go back.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

Note: The Almudaina is in the city centre, not the centre of the tourist area!

[jorune.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in Scandinavia, Helsinki perhaps though I can be persuaded to go to Tallinn in Estonia.

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Mera Luna =;-)

[mrph.livejournal.com]

We've had this conversation. :-)

Been there, done that - five or six times. And it's a mildly inconvenient weekend. :-)

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Mildly inconvienient...Say your taking her on Holiday for her Birthday, what better place than Mera Luna....problem solved.

Was the band line up as good though....NMA, FOTN, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Christian Death, Front 242 ???

[rosenkavalier.livejournal.com]

Hardly an exciting weekend away, but if you do find yourself back in Southampton at any point, let me know if you fancy meeting up for a drink.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

I do keep meaning to, and I have been down a few times - but if I'm visiting Hampshire, that usually means spending the entire weekend with my parents. Especially if they're not doing so well.

Hopefully this situation will change for the better at some point soonish. That much-postponed drink is sounding like a very good idea.

[mister-jack.livejournal.com]

Findlater castle - everyone should visit it at least once.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I was going to say Dorset for a UK break, but you're from around there, aren't you?

The countryside around Aberdeen is full to bursting with castles and stone circles, if that's your sort of thing.

I also thoroughly enjoyed County Galway earlier this year, but be warned: Ireland is even more expensive than here!

[spikeydemon.livejournal.com]

Go to Scotland! It is the win. Ignore Edinburgh, everyone goes there, unless you've never been in which case, go to Edinburgh. Otherwise go to Stirling. *nods*

Also, I have been to Bruges, s'alright...especially if you like Tintin.