Visiting Europe this winter (Dec 16-Jan 16) with a friend. This is a superset of places we want to visit, minus small trips to neighboring towns/cities. Any suggestions to add/remove?
Our interests:
-art (Siena, Florence, Vatican, also some architecture -- German cathedrals, Mantua, Pienza, etc),
-history (everywhere)
-philosophy/logic (Vienna, Gottingen, Ljubljana (ayyy zizek), Athens/Delphi/etc)
-literature (not sure about this one)
-computer science/math (maybe visit some universities in Athens?)
or a more direct question:
Is it possible to drive for most of this journey? I'd like to experience more of the non-major attractions, plus maybe stop at random towns along the roads.
>>1131619
I enjoyed architecture in prague
>>1131627
No sorry we didn't invent roads in Europe yet
I think you have way to many destinations on your map (24 if I counted correct). So you have like a day in most cities, plus you will spend a lot of time in your car. I would cut it down to maybe a third.
Are you aware that the weather can be pretty shitty in december and january in europe (even the most southern parts)?
>>1131619
Lol do you think Europe is some kind of magical place where everyone wears fashionable clothes and sits in cafés talking about philosophy, art and literature all day? Because you're way off if you believe that you'll be able to inhale the spirit of education just by visiting a city where some writer used to work. I studied at the same university as Nietzsche, Goethe, Leibnitz and Wagner and the people studying philosophy and arts there are probably the same kind of hipsters as in Denver or something.
Anyway, since you're into visiting off the track small cities with some kind of academic history, maybe I can talk you into visiting my home state, Thurinigia, in central Germany. Jena is a cosy student city where Hegel developed his theory. Weimar is basically where Aufklärung (enlightenment) took place and modern German literature developed. Erfurt has a cathedral. They're all 20km apart from each other and their city centers are walkable in a couple of hours.
I also think it's weird that you're skipping Dresden and Prague, but then again as the other guy said you already have waaay to many destinations. I think you should skip Berlin, it's amazing in terms of modern cosmopolitan life and nightlife, but it doesn't seem to be what you're looking for and it's also pretty ugly in winter. Bratislava isn't very interesting.
Thinking about it, maybe what you should do is
>whatever you want to do in Germany
>drive to Vienna via Prague, maybe with a Side trip to Budapest
>Italy via Slovenia
>fly/boat over to Greece
I mean South East Europe is VERY interesting, but if you only have a few of weeks for a rough roundup of European art history, you should probably skip out on countries like Serbia, Bosnia and H., Kosovo etc. etc.
>>1131692
>Lol do you think Europe is some kind of magical place where everyone wears fashionable clothes and sits in cafés talking about philosophy, art and literature all day?
That's kind of what I was hoping for. At my university there are a lot of small philosophy/math/cs events where people from other universities come and talk about their research, I was hoping to go to some of those and meet some people there.
But you're right I definitely need to spend more time in less places. Most of SE Europe is for my friend who's into the history there, but I think we could cut out a decent portion of it. I was also thinking about visiting Istanbul, but that's probably better left off to another time.
Thanks for the route plan, we'll probably do something like that or the reverse. And I'll make sure to visit Thurinigia.
>>1131683
Yeah, this is just a list of all the places we might potentially visit. I'll try planning out for a third, thanks.
>>1131619
As the others have said, there are too many cities on your list for one month. Travelling around and changing accomodation takes time and is tiring.
I went to Florence last year (with a day trip to Siena) and, as an art/history lover who rushed to see everything, I felt one week was not enough. I am going to Sicily for one week this summer and I'm leaving out a lot of stuff that can be seen/done there. I'm planning to go to Rome next year and spend about two weeks. You need to take your time and let it soak in - passing through cities for a short time just to check them on a list doesn't sound fun.
I would cut it down to about 4-5 cities. Maybe Rome, Florence, Prague and Vienna, but it's all up to you. Eastern Europe can be interesting, but I would keep it for another trip.
