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I've been to Prague and Brno. Very fine.

Creta is also way too large for a random exploration inside a week or two you have for a typical vacation. Planning by just googling around without context can also completely sway you into popular tourist spots which you might want to avoid. If you can, like Perun, decide exactly what you're going to do there then it becomes easy for planning.

Also Judas, if you were bored on Creta you could've always climbed the biggest mountain in white socks flip flops with a 0.5L water on you at dead noon. Or perhaps sail out towards Cyprus on a T-Com inflatable pillow later in the evening when winds turn around :D

Czech tourists are notorius for this shit at least on the Adriatic
 
If you can, like Perun, decide exactly what you're going to do there then it becomes easy for planning.

In my case, I went the middle way between planning and spontaneity. I expected that I would be doing a day trip on my own and had a few locations researched in advance, but didn't know exactly how to get there (Internet info on Cretan public transit is pretty shitty). So I figured I could get to a bus hub and see what destinations are available from there. Lucky for me, my top choice was, but hadn't it been I had other ideas.
Really, the philosophy behind this is not to obsess about seeing everything or have a checklist. Have some priorities and see what can be done otherwise. I was there for relaxation most of all.
 
Hey, I just wanted to say that yes, my patriotism be damned, Czechia really is wonderful. You can virtually... heck literally throw a dart at a map and you'll find a region where you can spend a week just discovering the moderate type of nature, cultural countryside, centuries of history set in stone, because there's a 700 years old castle or humongous church or something, watch vineyards in the sunset, listen to the whispers of the cool stream, go in the mountains where lives something that lives actually only there and so on.

It's just so dense. In fact, we've been travelling only around Czechia the past 7 years and we've always had a blast. Now, I admit, we might be specific, because we like pretty much everything, but it's really mindblowing how loveable the country is.

I know that you could probably say that about a lot of other countries as well, but considering how small and (currently) insignificant we are and the specific combination of history back to Medieval times, both wild and cultivated nature, the mild climate and everything is just something I can't get over it.

And some places are just ridiculously unique.

I first had a longer version of this post prepared, with information, photos and shit, but I don't have the time to put it all here.

But just as an example, take Jáchymov. It's a very old city that actually used to be the second most populous in Medieval times, when silver was mined there.

Then a lot of people left, it became a spa city (there are írradiated springs that are good for certain maladies) and the Communist regime actually turned the surrounding area where uranium was mined - it was actually used for political prisoners ("Has a sister living in Vienna") who sometimes managed to survive only about 3 weeks or so. There's also the infamous Red Tower of Death:

http://www.montanregion.cz/en/czech-component-parts/the-red-tower-of-death.html

However, nowadays the city is a dying town, it has a population of about 2000 or so and there is a lot of wonderful and historically important buildings that have been left for rot and ruin.

Like this

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(this house is from 1520, IIRC)


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but also so many nice places which I can't upload because of the file limit-



And there's also an education route called the Hell of Jáchymov around the surrounding nature that talks about the bloody history.

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For example this is me standing in front of the memorial dedicated to all the Boy Scouts that have been imprisoned and died there

View attachment 15728

Looks depressing, right? Well, it isn't. There's just so much beauty and implied beauty and calm, it is one of the most unique places I've ever been to. Very unknown. Very special.


This is freakin Znojmo and Mikulov

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This is the town hall in Liberec, I guess just because you can

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Also, this is a dam. Just a fucking dam, nothing more. Near to where we live

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And that's not even the best stuff, just the first that came to mind and loaded on my FB profile.
 
I know that you could probably say that about a lot of other countries as well, but considering how small and (currently) insignificant we are and the specific combination of history back to Medieval times, both wild and cultivated nature, the mild climate and everything is just something I can't get over it.

Czech Republic is similar to northwestern Croatia, which in turn is a lot like Slovenia, history, geography, etc.

Croatia draws it's tourist $ from massive diversity it has, because it has nothing to offer in calibre of Prague. However it's also a country of 56 thousand square km that lies in 4 distinct biozones, which is the most for European countries overall, shared with big countries like France. The zones are mediterannean/alpine-dinaric/continental and panonnian, each having all the characteristics.

But I digress here. I wanted to specifically tell you, that I walk to work (before the new normal) about 7-8 minutes. I take a shortcut through one 'underdeveloped' area, like bush, macadam roads and wild parking. And I pass by this :

split-crkva-svete-trojice-001.jpg

First mentioned in 1060. It's possibly a lot older.
 
Anyway, considering the talk about the Maiden news in the appropriate thread, I've been on the re-listen of their most recent work.

Man, I actually just now realised I even love Mother of Mercy. That's a new one.

Also, hot take: The Red and the Black is the reunion era SSOASS [song]. A bit of bloat, a stupid, repetitive chorus, stupid gimmicky voices (Casio ones in SSOASS, whoahs in TRATB) but the ending 4 (3 in SSOASS) minutes are just beyond splendid, guitar-wise and are totally worth the rest of it.

In fact, I like TBOS much more than I remembered. Then again, I skipped Man of Sorrow and Empire of the Clouds, so that might be it. :ninja:
 
Czech Republic is similar to northwestern Croatia, which in turn is a lot like Slovenia, history, geography, etc.

Croatia draws it's tourist $ from massive diversity it has, because it has nothing to offer in calibre of Prague. However it's also a country of 56 thousand square km that lies in 4 distinct biozones, which is the most for European countries overall, shared with big countries like France. The zones are mediterannean/alpine-dinaric/continental and panonnian, each having all the characteristics.

But I digress here. I wanted to specifically tell you, that I walk to work (before the new normal) about 7-8 minutes. I take a shortcut through one 'underdeveloped' area, like bush, macadam roads and wild parking. And I pass by this :

split-crkva-svete-trojice-001.jpg

First mentioned in 1060. It's possibly a lot older.

Yeah, you're probably right. Let's just say it's the region. Don't want to take anything from other countries, these corners of Europe are just fucking awesome is what I wanted to say. I'm just amazed that I can spend so much time in my homeland and still get all my needs fulfilled. Overfilled.

Also, that one you posted is beautiful.

... Heh, I know there's not Croatia proper, but couldn't we say "general places where Charles IV. used to be a thing"?

1626289554581.png
 
Czech Republic is similar to northwestern Croatia, which in turn is a lot like Slovenia, history, geography, etc.

Croatia draws it's tourist $ from massive diversity it has, because it has nothing to offer in calibre of Prague. However it's also a country of 56 thousand square km that lies in 4 distinct biozones, which is the most for European countries overall, shared with big countries like France. The zones are mediterannean/alpine-dinaric/continental and panonnian, each having all the characteristics.

But I digress here. I wanted to specifically tell you, that I walk to work (before the new normal) about 7-8 minutes. I take a shortcut through one 'underdeveloped' area, like bush, macadam roads and wild parking. And I pass by this :

split-crkva-svete-trojice-001.jpg

First mentioned in 1060. It's possibly a lot older.
I know it's a different place but it looks a lot like the St. Nicholas church in Nin.
Nin is lovely btw.
 
Okay, motherfuckers, combine it with the greatest ratio of "beer quality" / "beer price" on Earth (somewhere still cheaper than water) and some actually excellent (and also rather cheap, though not as cheap as the Moldovan) wine as well that can stand up to the greats, okay?

I win.

:ninja:
 
Man, I actually just now realised I even love Mother of Mercy. That's a new one.

I always liked it but it has a weird flow. Bruce's too into character the singing suffers. The end is magnificent probably the heavist moment for them

Yeah, you're probably right. Let's just say it's the region. Don't want to take anything from other countries, these corners of Europe are just fucking awesome is what I wanted to say. I'm just amazed that I can spend so much time in my homeland and still get all my needs fulfilled. Overfilled.

... Heh, I know there's not Croatia proper, but couldn't we say "general places where Charles IV. used to be a thing"?

View attachment 15746

Sort of yes,

Northwestern Croatia was in the Holy Roman Empire from 16th century on. The cities developed from church/ruler estates into cities proper, a bit later on, when Ottoman threat was waning. You know the military frontier and stuff. So they are the same 'part' of european politics as Bohemia was back then
 
When I was in Jakarta, people would drive their own car to work, and then they would call in at 11 am to report that they're still miles away in a traffic jam and need to turn around in order to get back home while it's still daylight. And of course it would be multiple people cause everyone is living everywhere because the city is everywhere.

In my country, the rest of us roll eyes at people from Zagreb that have 1+ h of daily commute as normalcy. In reality considering the surface size of Zagreb that's really ok and the road infrastructure is somewhat dense and modern.

A six hour drive? That's nothing. I'm casually planning a 14 hour drive for August. One way. And then back.

My max is about 6h in one direction. However I can see the appeal if the scenery is good and or novel and you have some nice spots along the road to stop and refresh.
 
My max is about 6h in one direction. However I can see the appeal if the scenery is good and or novel and you have some nice spots along the road to stop and refresh.
I can do 13-15 hour days. Ideally, you have someone to drive with.
 
What's the northernmost you've been, did you ever go to artic circle? Seventh Son scenery is one of my tourist wishes.
 
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