which countries/cities have u been to?

[adebisi]

Just came back from SLOVENIA, Koper. Cheap and good food, nice people, very good place to stay for few nights...

[Levenspiel]

Gotta mention that I spent a week in Portugal recently... couldn't meet up with Rik, though. Hopefully next time, maybe somewhere else...

We rented a car and made a circuit with Lisbon - Cascais (+Cabo de Roca, on foot, about 15km) - Setubal - Portimao - Lagos - Sintra - Lisbon. A lot more to see, but not enough time, unfortunately.

I'd say Sintra was my favorite, and it is really really nice. Awesome gardens and scenery... still a few places left to see (capuchos, montserrat)...

I don't know if it's the time of the year, but the water was too cold to swim (it was actually freezing) both around Lisbon and in the south. Only Porto de Mos was warmer a little... Otherwise, the beaches are amazing, but I guess nobody from a Mediterranean country would be content in Portugal seaside... Maybe, it's the wrong month, again.

Very friendly, quite helpful people... acceptable prices (except for highway; 20 euros for about 300km distance), good food (lots of fish), good drinks (lots of sangria)... I wanted to try snails, which is obviously popular, but couldn't collect enough courage to do so.

[rikhardur]

Gotta mention that I spent a week in Portugal recently... couldn't meet up with Rik, though. Hopefully next time, maybe somewhere else...

I do hope there's a next time

I'd say Sintra was my favorite, and it is really really nice. Awesome gardens and scenery... still a few places left to see (capuchos, montserrat)...

Lord Byron once said that Sintra was so beautiful that Portuguese didn't deserve it He had some problems here. I do recommend Monserrate and Quinta da Regaleira.

I don't know if it's the time of the year, but the water was too cold to swim (it was actually freezing) both around Lisbon and in the south. Only Porto de Mos was warmer a little... Otherwise, the beaches are amazing, but I guess nobody from a Mediterranean country would be content in Portugal seaside... Maybe, it's the wrong month, again.

Maybe it was some current or something. In the south the water is usually not very cold (unless I'm already used to it ). Up north you'd freeze!

I wanted to try snails, which is obviously popular, but couldn't collect enough courage to do so.

Some people really don't like it. I do, it's a delicacy with toasted bread with butter and a beer

[Terrorizer]

Discovering Russia and Moscow for the next months. Will be nice!

And what's about your impressions? Moscow and surroundings are very rich on architectural and historical wealth. And we have nice woody landscapes here.

I've spent some time in late July in Spain: stayed in Benidorm for 10 days and visited Valencia for 2 days. Benidorm is nice but rather boring beach resort with tons of skyscrapers but, except one small church, nothing really interesting from the historical viewpoint or originally Spanish (aside from some decent cafees which were sadly overwhelmed by British pubs and chain fast-food restaurants like Burger King). Nice beach, nice hilly landscapes surrounding the town and quality amusement parks of which Terra Mitica stands out for its atmosphere and great location but nothing more - it was all pretty standardized. On the other hand, Valencia is astoundingly beautiful - I was there 16 years ago when I was a school-boy and was shocked by the city's baroque splendour. Obviously I feared that I would be kinda disappointed now when I've grown up and have seen some very interesting cities but that wasn't the case. The city is magnificent - tons of beautifully decorated baroque palacios, very interesting art nouveau (here in Russia we call this architectural style 'modern') buildings and some peculiar Gothic gems like Llonja de la seda, Cathedral and two medieval gates. Even the fact that the city is sorta dirty and messy can't spoil my hugely positive impression. I must add that this city is now officially in my Top 4 of non-Russian cities visited - alongside Dresden, Cairo and Alexandria and over, say, Paris and Prague.

[JGX]

Headed to Tokyo on Sunday. Learning Japanese in two days is no problem, right?

[adebisi]

Need to add Barcelona. Barca - Rytas game. Sad we lost it, but Rytas played really nice ball for 3qtrs. Btw, A.C.A.B. All robocops are so dumb, unpolite and agresive in Spain?
Tmorrow night going to Malta for the first time. Heard some good words bout this tiny island.