Madrid-Travel

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Piggy backing the thread, I’d appreciate any feedback on Berlin, Prague, Vienna or Budapest? I’m doing a tour in a couple of months. Cheers in advance

All worth a visit but I've had a problem visiting modern-day Berlin after the incredibly intriguing visit I made there in the late seventies when the wall still stood (and which I became fascinated about). Vienna had the most cultured buskers I had ever come across.
From Budapest you could take the train to Bratislava and return to the former on a boat on the Danube. Prague has become almost too popular.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Went to Berlin five years ago and found prices to be much more reasonable than say London or Paris. The city is surprisingly compact and most of the main sights, Brandenburg gate , Reichstag and checkpoint Charlie are easily walkable. My personal highlights were The Naturkunde museum which housed a large collection of dinosaur skeletons including a T Rex and a very moving visit to The Topography of terror which is built on the site of the former SS HQ and documents Nazi persecution in those terrible times. A large section of The Berlin wall is nearby as well. You can do a city tour in a Trabant if the mood takes you.

Cheers. I must force myself to return there soon and will take your tips on board myself.

[Its been emotional]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Madrid is a great City, go to the Las Ventas bullring, very impressive, did the tour and was blown away and learned a fair bit.
Head to the Plaza Mayor, which is a big square and a nice place to have a drink in the sun, San Miguel Market is a great place for some proper local tapas where you will find all the locals eating and drinking. And of course make sure you go to the Bernabeu and do the tour and watch the game if they are home.
And as for getting around use the Metro buy a 3 day ticket very cheap and easy to get around the City. Enjoy

[OurManFlint II]

Re: Madrid-Travel

same question but for Barcelona, as I'm going there for 3 days end of April

I've been living in Barcelona over 20 years, tourists things speak for themselves but if you have specific's (good food, cocktails, jazz music, getting high etc) i can help. If you let me know your neighborhood maybe can point out some food places or points of interest.

If you have interest in the Spanish War I know an excellent walking tour (same for Madrid) that isn't your typical style of pointing at landmarks and spitting dates.

If you do do tourist things, buy tickets and go early, public transport to move around, and pick pocket are a ****ing scourge, however only seems to be idiots that it happens too!

[Llanishen Bull]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Goya's black paintings in the Prado are simultaneously grim and stunning.
Look up wherever you are, there's always decent architecture above shop level (that applies in many places including Cardiff of course).

[OurManFlint II]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Piggy backing the thread, I’d appreciate any feedback on Berlin, Prague, Vienna or Budapest? I’m doing a tour in a couple of months. Cheers in advance

Did 3 of those 4 last year on an interail, Prague was a ****ing nightmare but i had a great time, THE PEOPLE lol....mind you last time i was there it was -18! We had food by the Castle that we thought would be a tourist trap but we were starving and moaning teenagers. some of the best food of the 3 weeks and pennies (got ripped off the next day by the river but you expect that in these places).
Berlin was really good, but this is such a spread out city (public transport is easy), but great for urban safari and i have to say the best people ever, cannot imagine Londoners or Barcelona folk ever being so open and helpful. Spent time in Kreuzberg.
Vienna was a very short stop but couple of the main museums and easy to find none tourist bars.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Madrid-Travel

I've been living in Barcelona over 20 years, tourists things speak for themselves but if you have specific's (good food, cocktails, jazz music, getting high etc) i can help. If you let me know your neighborhood maybe can point out some food places or points of interest.

If you have interest in the Spanish War I know an excellent walking tour (same for Madrid) that isn't your typical style of pointing at landmarks and spitting dates.

If you do do tourist things, buy tickets and go early, public transport to move around, and pick pocket are a ****ing scourge, however only seems to be idiots that it happens too!

Useful info for many of us. Cheers.

[tpcnw]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Cheers. I must force myself to return there soon and will take your tips on board myself.

Berlin is excellent. It is huge and there is so much to see. It has so many levels of history - Frederick the Great, the Prussians in the 19th century, the Nazi years, post war, rise of East Germany, the wall years and the years since the wall came down.

We have been four times in the last few years and keep finding more places to see. I think Berlin is a 7 or 8 visit place there is that much to see.

Some which may interest you are the Stasi Museum - they were World class at espionage and the building is at it was when the wall came down. Some of the spying equipment is fascinating. Also worth visiting is the Stasi Prison - this is also as it was left when the wall came down. The prisoners were mainly political ones and there were more interrogation rooms than cells.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Berlin is excellent. It is huge and there is so much to see. It has so many levels of history - Frederick the Great, the Prussians in the 19th century, the Nazi years, post war, rise of East Germany, the wall years and the years since the wall came down.

We have been four times in the last few years and keep finding more places to see. I think Berlin is a 7 or 8 visit place there is that much to see.

Some which may interest you are the Stasi Museum - they were World class at espionage and the building is at it was when the wall came down. Some of the spying equipment is fascinating. Also worth visiting is the Stasi Prison - this is also as it was left when the wall came down. The prisoners were mainly political ones and there were more interrogation rooms than cells.

Cheers. I attended a Stasi museum in Leipzig last year and I'm greatly interested in Germany and its history. I've been going there since 1976 and once lived there - but not in Berlin.

[Des Parrot]

Re: Madrid-Travel

From Budapest you could take the train to Bratislava and return to the former on a boat on the Danube. Prague has become almost too popular.

I used to be based in Bratislava for a couple of months but never got chance to do Budapest or Vienna. I’ve been to Prague for a day on business, it was gridlocked & the most tourists I’ve seen in one place. I need to find the right place to stay. I’m going south from Vienna, thru Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, then back thru Hungary, probably my last chance to see some of these countries

[Des Parrot]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Berlin is excellent. It is huge and there is so much to see. It has so many levels of history - Frederick the Great, the Prussians in the 19th century, the Nazi years, post war, rise of East Germany, the wall years and the years since the wall came down.

We have been four times in the last few years and keep finding more places to see. I think Berlin is a 7 or 8 visit place there is that much to see.

Some which may interest you are the Stasi Museum - they were World class at espionage and the building is at it was when the wall came down. Some of the spying equipment is fascinating. Also worth visiting is the Stasi Prison - this is also as it was left when the wall came down. The prisoners were mainly political ones and there were more interrogation rooms than cells.

What do you recommend for a long weekend, i.e must see priorities?

[Des Parrot]

Re: Madrid-Travel

By the way for anyone who hasn’t been, Dresden is a stunning city.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Madrid-Travel

I used to be based in Bratislava for a couple of months but never got chance to do Budapest or Vienna. I’ve been to Prague for a day on business, it was gridlocked & the most tourists I’ve seen in one place. I need to find the right place to stay. I’m going south from Vienna, thru Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, then back thru Hungary, probably my last chance to see some of these countries

Slovenia was an undiscovered gem when I visited it many moons ago. (In fact, I have some entries in the Lonely Planet guide as it poorly covered the NW part of the country at that time). Bosnia is beautiful but still suffers greatly from what is effectively ethnic sectarianism. Everyone knows of the charms of Croatia although it's very touristy, of course.

By the way, if anyone has personal experience of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan I would be grateful for any advice.

[tpcnw]

Re: Madrid-Travel

What do you recommend for a long weekend, i.e must see priorities?

Very much depends on your interests. If the Nazi period is your main interest then Topography of Terror, the Berlin Bunker and a tour of Tempelhof Airport are worth doing. The Holocaust memorial near the Brandenburg Gate is very moving - especially the exhibition underneath.

If it is the Cold War and the wall then the Wall Museum on Bernauer Strasse, the Palace of Tears at Friedrichstrasse Station - this was one of the few places where East Germans could cross in West Germany and you can still see the doors they used to go through. The East Side Gallery is a bit disappointing. It is at one of the few remaining bits of wall left and has the famous painting of Honecker and Brezhnev kissing. Much of where the wall stood is marked by a line of cobbles in the road/pavement - easily seen in front of the Brandenburg Gate and down to Potsdamer Platz. The DDR museum is small, but excellent and shows life as it was in East Germany until the wall came down - it was a planned economy without a real plan. The Checkpoint Charlie museum is a commercial one and pretty good. Checkpoint Charlie itself is a bit disappointing, because it is not the original building.

If you are into technology the German Technical Museum is brilliant. For general German history the national museum is excellent as are all the museums on Museum Island. If you are into Egyptology then the famous bust of Nefertiti is in the Neus museum.

Just wandering round Berlin is good as well - such as walking from the Brandenburg Gate along Unter den Linden to AlexanderPlatz. The city itself is enormous and many of the sites are quite a long way apart. However the public transport is brilliant. One thing that is interesting is that the trams are only in what was old East Berlin. West Berlin ripped them all up. The centre of what was West Berlin is mainly along the Ku'Damm which is a couple of miles from the Brandenburg Gate. Most of the best things to see are in what was East Berlin.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Madrid-Travel

Very much depends on your interests. If the Nazi period is your main interest then Topography of Terror, the Berlin Bunker and a tour of Tempelhof Airport are worth doing. The Holocaust memorial near the Brandenburg Gate is very moving - especially the exhibition underneath.

If it is the Cold War and the wall then the Wall Museum on Bernauer Strasse, the Palace of Tears at Friedrichstrasse Station - this was one of the few places where East Germans could cross in West Germany and you can still see the doors they used to go through. The East Side Gallery is a bit disappointing. It is at one of the few remaining bits of wall left and has the famous painting of Honecker and Brezhnev kissing. Much of where the wall stood is marked by a line of cobbles in the road/pavement - easily seen in front of the Brandenburg Gate and down to Potsdamer Platz. The DDR museum is small, but excellent and shows life as it was in East Germany until the wall came down - it was a planned economy without a real plan. The Checkpoint Charlie museum is a commercial one and pretty good. Checkpoint Charlie itself is a bit disappointing, because it is not the original building.

If you are into technology the German Technical Museum is brilliant. For general German history the national museum is excellent as are all the museums on Museum Island. If you are into Egyptology then the famous bust of Nefertiti is in the Neus museum.

Just wandering round Berlin is good as well - such as walking from the Brandenburg Gate along Unter den Linden to AlexanderPlatz. The city itself is enormous and many of the sites are quite a long way apart. However the public transport is brilliant. One thing that is interesting is that the trams are only in what was old East Berlin. West Berlin ripped them all up. The centre of what was West Berlin is mainly along the Ku'Damm which is a couple of miles from the Brandenburg Gate. Most of the best things to see are in what was East Berlin.

All noted. Cheers.