Macedonia has been celebrating its Independence Day, and I wish it and its people a very happy one and a great future. In my visits to all (40+) European capitals with significant other over the past seven years (we finished in June this year in Montenegro) there were some delights (Helsinki, Lisbon, Dublin), some pleasant surprises (Sarajevo, Bratislava), some disappointments (Warsaw, Tallinn, Madrid) and some utter horrors (Bucharest, The Hague). The visits were to cities not countries, but it was south-east Europe as a region that delighted us. Especially Macedonia and Montenegro. The former has democratic institutions to be proud of, only 17 years after emerging from Yugoslavia, and the food and wine are just great. Oh and doesn't it have the coolest flag?
9 comments:
What didn't you like about Madrid?
too cold, pavements too narrow, roads too wide, creating thundering traffic noise and fumes wherever you were
I did not like Dublin.
Extremely expensive and couldn't get a reasonably priced emal anywhere. Could nto find a happy mean between 'fine dining' and irish stew.
Budapest is the one I've always loathed. Glad to hear you liked Lisbon, one of my very favorite cities.
I thought Lisbon was pants. The only good thing about it was that it had a cinema in a supermarket showing English language films.
Budapest is superb and both Buda and Pest are excellent, Mr London Street.
You missed out. Lisbon has port, pastels de nata, glorious old streets, the steep beauty of the Bairro Alto and the delights of the 28 tram.
Each to their own though. There are no words for how much I hated Budapest. Awful, awful food too.
Well, I liked Budapest, especially the food and drink, though it wasn't my top favourite.
and Dublin, Helsinki and Stockholm were the most expensive - Oslo was surprisingly affordable so long as you didn't try to drink any wine. Chisinau (Moldova) was the cheapest, but the whole of the Balkans was affordable
Actually, Warsaw has a certain brave charm - even the enormous 'socialist realist' sculptures.
And ther ia a grotesque beauty about the old part -- 'new-made' after the bombing.
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