Most fodorites here are veteran travellers, after visiting some places/countries for couple times, seen most of tourist sites, do you develop sort of themes for travelling afterwards?

I have tried such as: Christopher Wren's London, Caravaggio & Bernini in Rome,Art Deco in vienna,etc., or ongoing ones: gardens in U.K., Romanesque churches in Europe, ete.,

How about yours?

I also love Bernini in Rome, but I also find that I just love the churches, no matter how small. Some of the out-of-the-way churches in Rome are absolutely wonderful. I've been in numerous churches where I was either the only person there, or one of just a few. All that beauty that most tourists never see...

I have always wanted to do a " Gelato Quest" in Italy. I have a book that lists many of the best---might be fun.

I've done trips devoted to spas, to foie gras, to wine, to mills of various kinds (I love mills), to chapels on the Compostela trail, to castles, to Jeanne d'Arc, and to Leonardo da Vinci.

Many thanks for more interesting ideas for future trips.

Any others?

Ancient or traditional roadways.

There's a load of Euroballs about them at www.seecorridors.eu.

But an AWFUL lot of what Europe interesting happened, was transported or built along a surprisingly small number of corridors. Follow (in a car) one of the better known ones, like a Compostella route or the Via Francigena, from where this posting is coming, and you see an extraordinary amount of historical Europe, and a fascinating set of examples of how it's changing.

As this bar's WiFi system, which I have to walk past one of Europe's great Romanesque cathedrals every morning to get to, demonstrates. Almost as well as the DOC wine they're selling me or the olive oil they press from the trees in our garden

I'm more of a generalist, but I like to note links or parallels between places, especially the historical links. This might not be confined to a single trip.

On one ramble in France, without planning it that way, we found ourselves following the footsteps of Joan of Arc (or the hoofprints of her horse). Even when we overnighted in a small village that few people have heard of, we found that she had fought a battle there.

Last year's trip to Italy seemed to concentrate on the churches! I lost count of the number of churches we went into.

I really like the theme idea, and I know someone here who will chime in on a really cool theme...

Old stones, local music and duck.

There's a relatively simple "Piero della Francesca Trail" (if you only go to the Italian locations):
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspect...0Francesca.htm

I did an "early Christian churches" tour of Rome once. There are many more than you would think, and some of them are truly wonderful.

Thanks again.

I forgot to mention the Camino de Santiago, I have been trying to follow the different routes for the last ten years.

Like to idea of trade routes, I followed the Silk Road for two years
once, but most of it in Asia.

The idea of certain food is interesting too, I try to visit most of the well-known tea shops in every city I go.

We like castles, particularly the older ones, so that's been a focus on several trips.

In France, and particularly Paris, it's a quest to find the perfect macaron.

On our last trip to Rome, we focused on visiting lots of churches with mosiacs.

I wouldn't say any of these are a theme, exactly, but definitely things that provide a focus for our trips.

Instead of a theme how about a limitation? Go nowhere that does not grow good wine.

I've done 'prehistoric sites of Wiltshire' once, and a week of 'a different nationality of cuisine every day in London' without trying very hard

This trip to Scotland's theme is 'make sure the 6 people traveling don't kill eachother'

We've done (on our own, of course - no tourist groups):

- U.K. castle trips
- Sound of Music quest in Austria (although much of it was filmed in the U.S.)
- white truffle trip
- On the trail of King Arthur in England/Wales
- Cheeses in Italy
- U.K. Abbeys
- Gastropubs in the U.K.
- James Herriot, Yorkshire
- Ancient Rome
- Michelangelo
- it may sound macabre but we did sort of a Hitler thing for a few days in Germany (Eagle's Nest, some bunkers, etc.). Not glorification but to gain more knowledge.
- Gardens (wherever we go!)

Love that gelato idea! Count me in...

Thanks for more interesting ideas.

There were several years I tried some walks along the westmost coast of western Europe: such as: Pointe Du Raz (France), Cabo Fisterra (Spain), Sintra (Portugel), Pembrokeshire (Wales) and Southwwest Path in England.

I thought my parents were the only ones who did "themes" but obviously not. The last one they did was follow the trail of St. Francis in Italy. Everyone thinks "oh, St. Francis, go to Assisi" but there was so much more than that. My parents ended up having a wonderful, interesting trip because they took the trouble to comb more than the surface. One of the nice things about doing a themed trip.

In 2005, my quest was to see the Marc Chagall museum in Nice (which for a small place, really took my breath away) then last year my goal was to commune with the grand Botticellis at the Uffizi. I just had to sit there for a LONG time!

Quite a few of our trips have been themed: Romanesque churches in Auvergne, looking for the real Anselm Adorne in Bruges, and visiting French battlefields of the Great War.

We plan to be back in France in November to retrace the steps of my wife's great uncle in Flanders and the Somme during the Great War and to follow the trail of Wilfred Owen, the war poet.

Oh, almost forgot the best theme of all: cooking and dining out in France.

Anselm

Tilman Riemenschneider sculpture in Franconia

Gothic cathedrals in France

We definitely want to do one of the pilgrimmage routes to Santiago de Compestela

an ongoing theme: outposts of the Roman Empire (Hadrian's Wall, the Limes in Germany, etc)