Andrew

A few people above have mentioned Luxembourg, without saying whether they meant the country of Luxembourg or the capitol Luxembourg City. Yes, the country is tiny, but there is a difference.

I agree that Luxembourg City isn't very exciting. I would have no desire to return, either. However, I visited a couple of little towns in Luxembourg and found the hilly countryside very beautiful and the towns adorable. Vianden has a cute castle above the town. I imagine it's touristy in good weather in season (I went in May in the rain) but it seems like the kind of quaint town many would enjoy for a chill vacation. I hope to return to Luxembourg someday to see more of the towns - in better weather!

Leely2

I'll try anything twice. Really I will.

But not Cesky Krumlov.

travelingaunta

I can't really think of a place where I had such a bad time that I'd never go again. I do have places that I wouldn't feel the need to revisit- Olympia and Delphi in Greece; Hadrians wall (or at least the portion I saw), Alnwick, probably not Sorrento area, or the areas of Germany Ive already been (Cologne, Heidelberg, Baden Baden). Most of the places i dont feel the need to revisit are on the smaller side and I felt like I saw what I wanted. On the other hand, I love big, busy cities and would love to revisit London, Rome, Madrid, and even Athens.

Annaandlulu

Lourdes, France. I found the sight of all the pilgrims depressing. We couldn't leave fast enough!

BigAleinstein

We had a similiar experience at Fatima, where pilgrims crawled on their knees seeking what I guess is a cure, forgiveness, or a sign of devotion.

HappyTrvlr

Big Al..we had a disastrous experience in one of the two paradors in Santillana del Mar, obviously made the wrong choice. Terrible room and meals. It's the only bad parador experience we've ever had, the others have been wonderful.

ParisAmsterdam

Without a doubt Blackpool, England tops my list.

Ludicrous lights shaped into teapot shapes on the lamp posts, cold tourists huddled in anoraks and blankets upon the wet sand, forlorn donkeys standing on the beach, a pathetic attempt at an Eiffel Tower (Why? It's already been done and 100 years before too!) and of course the TV show we'd seen the night before in our hotel in Chester about how the main sewage discharge pipe for Blackpool was... you have probably guessed it... right off the main beach.

I wouldn't even stop the car but fled town in horror and headed to the Lake District. My wife really wanted me to stop so she could buy a gag "Kiss Me Quick" hat but she had to go without!

iris1745

HappyTrvlr; What Parador in Santillana del Mar? We are in the Gill Blas for one night.

irishface

Madrid--I was a chaperone on a high school trip there. Half the kids, one other chaperone and I got food poisoning. The hotel staff gave some people polite treatment and others condescending. They accused a room of quiet girls of breaking a doorknob and refused to let us go until we paid $95 in damage fees. (This was over forty years ago so $95 was a hefty fee.) My memory of the city was of a sterile place.

I might go back if someone else were paying the freight, and I've learned to never say, "Never." But I would not choose to go back.

There are a few other places that are low on my list of want to return. But I have found something wonderful about every place I've been. Of course there are so many places I haven't been that I am sort of selective about where I return.

Vicky

I research like crazy so don't have any major disappointments. That being said:
Siena was larger than I expected and once was enough
carmel - lovely but again, been there, done that
Rome - great sites but just not my town; however, I have to fly there and back on my upcoming trip to Tuscany so we will be spending our last night there
Brussels - I'd always wanted to go there and the Grand Place was beautiful, the fries and waffles great but it had a weird vibe that made me uncomfortable
New Orleans - twice was enough

danon

It is interesting that some of us have has not visited a country or a city in years (even decades,)'and still have the
same image of the place....
Madrid ( Barcelona, Bilbao) under Franco ,Berlin( Dresden, Leipzig , Potsdam) before the unification,
Eastern Europe, former Yugoslavi a, parts of Italy .....etc come to mind.

boom_boom

There's no place in Europe I wouldn't go back to if the trip were free. However, I wouldn't pay to return to:
Amsterdam
Gdansk
Bruges
Holyhead
Bristol
Copenhagen
Stockholm
Frankfurt

willit

I love the references to Kilmarnock because I've never been, but have to visit for work on Friday.

I am really enjoying this thread. I know everybody is different but when I see Naples, Lucca, Pisa, Florence and Rome on a such a list I shake my head in wonder.

I can quite understand Croydon and Slough, although I doubt you'd find either on any "places to see before you die" list.

annhig

anyone going to quarrel if I say Croydon?

can't say I'd cry if I never saw Reading again, either. nor Southend. and the Isle of Sheppey does not have a great deal to recommend it.

willit - please do come back and give us a warts and all critique of Kilmarnock.

Peter_S_Aus

Anne, I'll see your Croydon, and raise you a Slough

Micheline

"there's no place In Europe I wouldn't go back to if if the trip were free"

I wouldn't go back to Gibraltor if you paid me!

Micheline

And I would not go back to GibraltAr either!

raincitygirl

Is Slough horrible? I ask because after my recent trip to England I asked DH if he could get a transfer to England for a year or two, and it MIGHT be possible, but the office is in Slough!
Is there anywhere nearby that is nice?

Peter_S_Aus

Slough

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.

It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.

raincitygirl

My goodness Peter, that is quite the poem! Thank you. I Googled it and read all about the author and how he eventually regretted writing it.
I also learned that the original show "The Office" is set in Slough.
My husband got a good laugh out of the poem as well.

Hmmm...well I guess if he gets the transfer we'd have to live somewhere else and he could commute !