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Lonely Planet‘s Best in Europe list-your thoughts please

Lonely Planet‘s Best in Europe list-your thoughts please

Old May 26th, 2017, 03:47 AM
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Weisser

Fan also. With family roots in N. Germany, I've spent much time in the Detmold area. I like to see beloved Hamburg mentioned but I know too that Hamburg doesn't much care. It does quite nicely without the mass tourist influx.
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Old May 26th, 2017, 12:55 PM
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I spend about half the year in Hamburg. Everybody who lives here, loves it, despite the weather. So much green, so many great places to eat & drink, can get on the bike and ride all day and every block is different and interesting. Americans don't come here at all, probably because it doesn't have a Disney castle or cuckoo clocks or stupid beer halls.

The 2nd-tier cities in Europe are better because they 1) they are overwhelmingly actually populated by locals, as opposed to tourists; 2) people working in restaurants/bars/sites are not cynical and jaded; and 3) nowadays they have they charm, character, conveniences, and quality that the major cities once had a monopoly on without the Disney or the trodden-ness.

LOVED Leeds. Went in December and the arcades were all gorgeous. Can I name a better city to visit in England? Actually not, though Manchester and Liverpool come to mind. London is not English; York is a tourist trap. Here's me Leeds piccies: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougla...57662399266892
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Old May 26th, 2017, 01:19 PM
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About Hamburg . . . .sshhhhhhh ..................keep it a secret.
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Old May 26th, 2017, 01:33 PM
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I actually do think Hamburg is hard for tourists to enjoy (except for the throngs of Omas and Opas coming from the dorfs for the musicals) because there is nothing spoon-fed about it. People tend to go places with Louvres and Colisseums and gelato in their eyes - - the glamour of the attraction is, for a great majority, the satisfying thing. They've achieved something epic by taking a gondola ride. They've become suave and debonair by going to Paris.

Just like when the same wine is put in two separate glasses - - and one is labelled a $5 wine and the other labelled a $100 wine - - the pleasure center in people's brains actually lights up way more when they drink the (same) wine labelled $100.

People have their glamour expectations - - and it is physiologically more satisfying to have the glamour fulfilled, than it is to go somewhere that may actually have more quality, substance, flavor, and character.

That said I do think Zagreb is pretty bland. But it is SUPER cheap. $35/night for a huge apartment. Trams are cheap. So-so food. OK place. But no great shakes.
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