What would u rather go? Russia or spain?
Jun 20th, 2019, 10:45 AM
#22
I have been to both.
The Hermitage is really something to see.
I absolutely could not abide Russian cuisine. I thought the food was horrid.
People were extremely warm and gracious.
As for Spain, I have to say that I adored Toledo. What a beautiful city.
To this day I can't even look at flan. 😂 No more flan! Please, no more flan.
The Spanish people are very beautiful.
The Alhambra is really something to see.
Thin🤷*♂️
The Hermitage is really something to see.
I absolutely could not abide Russian cuisine. I thought the food was horrid.
People were extremely warm and gracious.
As for Spain, I have to say that I adored Toledo. What a beautiful city.
To this day I can't even look at flan. 😂 No more flan! Please, no more flan.
The Spanish people are very beautiful.
The Alhambra is really something to see.
Thin🤷*♂️
Jul 20th, 2019, 09:32 AM
#24
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Spain. IN fact, I used to have a phase when I was fascinated with Russia, read tons of Russian novels, etc (Tolstoy, etc). And I like ballet and classical music so appreciate their contributions in those arts.
But I'm not that interested in visiting the place, to be honest, nor a fan of a lot of their current culture. Logistics-wise, too much trouble for me also when there are plenty of places closer I'd rather see. I find it bizarre that they make it so difficult to visit, also, as if the rest of the world is dying to illegally emigrate to Russia or something. IN general, not a fan of any place with that many visitor restrictions and trouble. Not a fan of their cuisine that much, either. They ought to be glad if tourists want to visit them.
If you had family reasons or a special festival to go to in Russia, that would make it more attractive to you, of course.
But I'm not that interested in visiting the place, to be honest, nor a fan of a lot of their current culture. Logistics-wise, too much trouble for me also when there are plenty of places closer I'd rather see. I find it bizarre that they make it so difficult to visit, also, as if the rest of the world is dying to illegally emigrate to Russia or something. IN general, not a fan of any place with that many visitor restrictions and trouble. Not a fan of their cuisine that much, either. They ought to be glad if tourists want to visit them.
If you had family reasons or a special festival to go to in Russia, that would make it more attractive to you, of course.
Those who o fill out the online form and convenient application process are rewarded by a beautiful, diverse highly cultured country that is very open and fun, plus low-cost-to-stay. Americans can get a 3-year multiple re-entry visa for the same simple process and cost of a 72-hour transit visa. St Petersburg and Moscow are on a shortlist of more return visits by tourists, higher rates than France or Italy. Obviously, it has a lot of people finding it to be very interesting. Since the World Cup in 2018 when so many first time visitors came for games in 12 different cities that were not often mentioned in travel forums, return visits to those regional capitals has tripled because all of them were beautiful, friendly and interesting. As the FIFA officale repeated often, that is was the best organized, more fun World Cup in history.A million fans came and no arrests or fights and all I heard from people who had come from games in Kazan or Volgograd or others was that knew nothing of the cities before coming but loved every minute. From those rave reviews, the tourism from South America has topped the totals so far from North America. China supplies the most visitors but they are also the greatest number of visitors to most countries now.
Your comment about no one wanting to emigrate to Russia seems like an attempt at a joke since the second most popular destination for immigrants in Russia, and they are welcome, there are jobs free university, and medical care, pair famil leave up to 4 years and even a program for free land in rural areas. Hundreds of thousands of Europeans and Americans have moved to Russia for the opportunitues and excellent education and family services.
Jul 20th, 2019, 09:36 AM
#25
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So is Russia. There are 14 major parties and many smaller ones covering a very wild range of policies and philosophies and in the last federal election, 67 ran for president. Who told you it wasn't? Maybe you should be more selective about who tells you what to believe.
Jul 20th, 2019, 09:52 AM
#26
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The political system of a country is mostly irrelevant for a traveller.
You can find boring, expensive and unsafe democracies, but you can also find exciting, cheap and safe dictatorships.
If anything, dictatorships tend to be safe to very safe countries, since the draconian laws and heavy police presence deters not only the resistance, but also the criminals.
The 4th most visited country on Earth is a dictatorship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings
You can find boring, expensive and unsafe democracies, but you can also find exciting, cheap and safe dictatorships.
If anything, dictatorships tend to be safe to very safe countries, since the draconian laws and heavy police presence deters not only the resistance, but also the criminals.
The 4th most visited country on Earth is a dictatorship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings
Jul 21st, 2019, 08:10 AM
#28
The trouble is that Russia has never seen democracy so does not recognise it. They think it is all about holding elections, rather than free press, strong independent institutions, an independent judiciary, rights of ownership, transparency of decision making and the secret ballot.
Since Russian press is less free than Iran's, only the central bank is a true independent institution and we all saw the ballot stuffing in the last election when opposition leaders were arrested it is more of a hybrid dictatorship Republic.
Everyone makes their own decisions on where to spend their tourist dollar. The OP asks and I would spend it in a democracy, in this case that is Spain.
Since Russian press is less free than Iran's, only the central bank is a true independent institution and we all saw the ballot stuffing in the last election when opposition leaders were arrested it is more of a hybrid dictatorship Republic.
Everyone makes their own decisions on where to spend their tourist dollar. The OP asks and I would spend it in a democracy, in this case that is Spain.
Jul 21st, 2019, 08:21 AM
#29
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Given that Russia has just refused to allow 30 opposition candidates to register for the September polls, despite them meeting the eligibility requirements to run, I'd have to posit that democracy is hardly the foundation of the Russian political system.
It's true that one needn't limit one's travels to democracies, but weather and food do figure into a lot of travel decisions, and Russia comes up short on both accounts compared to Spain.
It's true that one needn't limit one's travels to democracies, but weather and food do figure into a lot of travel decisions, and Russia comes up short on both accounts compared to Spain.
Jul 21st, 2019, 01:05 PM
#30
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Everyone makes their own decisions on where to spend their tourist dollar. The OP asks and I would spend it in a democracy,
Jul 21st, 2019, 02:02 PM
#31
Jul 22nd, 2019, 10:49 AM
#34
Well I don't really do beach holidays but if I had to I'd go to the Netherlands.
You seem to think that tourists don't have hearts or souls. We have seen Putin attack the political status in a variety of countries and actually attack people in Salisbury and frankly, I don't want to give his regime a sous. I have worked with Russians and I have some Russian friends but your gangster leadership is too much to stomach.
You seem to think that tourists don't have hearts or souls. We have seen Putin attack the political status in a variety of countries and actually attack people in Salisbury and frankly, I don't want to give his regime a sous. I have worked with Russians and I have some Russian friends but your gangster leadership is too much to stomach.
