So if you could go anywhere in *Eastern Europe*...

[Bess]

where would you choose to go? I was noticing the other thread about Western Europe, and now I'm wondering about Eastern. What would be your must-see there?

[Tracey in TX]

Prague--DH will be there next month and I'm wickedly envious!

Would also like to visit Warsaw, Krakow, and Russia. (I've already visited country formerly known as Yugoslavia, and Turkey.)

[Cindy in C-ville]

Well, we'll be in Kiev and in a village called Rivne in a few weeks. I'll let you know!

 

:) Cindy

[Sebastian (a lady)]

where would you choose to go? I was noticing the other thread about Western Europe, and now I'm wondering about Eastern. What would be your must-see there?

Here are some places we visited, in sort of the order I like them. Prague is amazing but also amazingly full of tourists.

 

Ljubjana, Slovenia (a lot like Prague but much less visited)

Budapest (so lovely that after dh went alone, we all went back)

Tallin, Estonia (very nice old town, 14th century Hanseatic league, folk museum with a bus ride)

Krakow (and Auschwitz) Good castle and cathedral complex. Amazing churches all through town. You can ride a bus to Auschwitx for the day - or rent a car with driver.

Kiev (Incredible city but it would be intimidating as a tourist unless you knew someone there.)

Prague (It is just a lovely as all the guides say. But it is within tour bus distance of everywhere in Europe. I would visit in the off season.)

Warsaw (Underrated old town. The National Museum has a nice collection, including surprisingly good Egyptian stuff. The Military Museum next door is overwhelmingly good).

 

And I might also add Dresden in Germany and other sites in the former East Germany that are undervisited.

Of course the trip of a lifetime would be to start in Berlin, drive through Poland (stopping to shop for Polish potter, of course), cross into Ukraine, visit Lviv and Kiev for a week or so and then take a Ukrainian train back to Berlin. If this could be done with four adults and five kids all packed into a vehicle that is so enormous that the border guards call the other guards over to see and people in other cars point and take pictures, it would be even better. (And right now someone needs to stop laughing.)

[Novafan]

I'm itching to see Budapest. And Croatia. And Montenegro. That's where I'd go.

[Jane in NC]

where would you choose to go? I was noticing the other thread about Western Europe, and now I'm wondering about Eastern. What would be your must-see there?

 

We would love to do a castle tour in Slovakia and go to Budapest.

 

I have had the good fortune of visiting Krakow (and a few other places in Poland) as well as Korcula in Croatia (which I tend to view as part of Eastern Europe given that it is part of the former Yugoslavia. Maybe it is more Southern Europe?)

 

Countries not tied to the Euro may be better deals in our current economy.

 

Jane

[Amira]

But some places I'd really like to visit are Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Prague, and Moldova and Romania. And if we're counting the Caucasus in Eastern Europe, I really want to go to Georgia and Azerbaijan.

[Friederike in Persia]

What great suggestions!

 

I have to admit that each time I'm on this forum some of my prejedices :eek: against US Americans are crashing down around me. It's not fair what gets thought about the US in so many places around the world!

 

Friederike in Persia

[Vita Passiva]

Hi, I am living in Eastern Europe near the Adriatic and some of our favorite places are in Croatia-- Dubrovnik and Split are really beautiful. There is also a national park in Croatia about 3 hours from Split which has gorgeous waterfalls. We haven't been there yet, but hope to one day soon. Its called Plitvica Jezero. If you like a little off the beaten path, Sarajevo, Bosnia is really interesting. I know there are travel warnings, but we've been there, with our young kids, and have never felt unsafe. Budapest was also just great. They have a wonderful walking tour which we did when we had a few days there. Anyways, enjoy planning your vacation!

[Colleen in NS]

where would you choose to go? I was noticing the other thread about Western Europe, and now I'm wondering about Eastern. What would be your must-see there?

 

Well, I've been to Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and I'd go back in a heartbeat with my family. I'm also curious about Bulgaria now, since I have a new brother in law from Sofia and last week he taught me the Bulgarian alphabet. :) I'd go anywhere in Eastern Europe that's cheap, too!!!! I LOVE listening to people from that part of the world.

[Jenny in Atl]

Gosh, we would go all over... I would want to see parts of Poland, Czech Rep, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, etc.

[Colleen]

I enjoyed Tajikistan twenty years ago and would love to go back some time.:)

[Colleen]

I traveled in the Soviet Union pre-glasnost ~ back in the days when St. Petersburg was Leningrad ~ and hope very much to go back some day. I think St. Petersburg in particular is a must for anyone who has the opportunity to go there.

 

I was also fortunate enough to spend some time in various Eastern European countries during high school (1986). It is always interesting to make the "then versus now" comparisons. Some of the places I visited were virtually unheard of tourist destinations at the time; now, they attract increasing numbers of vacationers.

 

Croatia is paradise. I so want to get back to Dubrovnik and Split, but I know I'll be kinda bummed by how crowded, comparitively, they are now. We shared the beaches with no other Westerners way back when. The Croatian capital, Zagreb, is a nice city, but I'd rather get up to Ljubljana (in Slovenia) since I've not had a chance yet to go there.

 

I loved Sarajevo, but of course, it was devastated several years after I was there. So sad. I would like to go there again, though. Mostar is another incredible town in Bosnia-Herzegovina; again, deeply affected by the war.

 

Budapest is really nice and from what friends have told me, it's not yet as tourist-riddled as Prague.

[Musical Belle]

Hi, I am living in Eastern Europe near the Adriatic and some of our favorite places are in Croatia-- Dubrovnik and Split are really beautiful. There is also a national park in Croatia about 3 hours from Split which has gorgeous waterfalls. We haven't been there yet, but hope to one day soon.

 

Dh and I just watched a travel program about Croatia and it looks gorgeous! We have added it to our "places to visit at some point in the future" list.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

There are actually too many places in Eastern Europe to name...

 

I guess I would recommend the following:

 

Kyiv (Kiev) Ukraine

Krakow Poland

St Petersburg Russia

Lviv (Lvov) Ukraine

Crimea Ukraine

 

But I really need time to see:

 

Budapest

Moscow

Romania (to just tour the churches and monastaries)

Prague

 

Of course there are so very many more places, some small towns,...how to pick just a few?

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I'd love to go back to Poland. And I'm very sorry we didn't make it to Hungary or the Czech Republic.

 

Someday maybe.

[Hannah]

I was an exchange student in Moscow at the end of 1993/beginning 1994. I'd love to go back to visit the people I met then and to see how things have changed over the last 15 years. I lived with two Russian families, so got a taste of "real" life, rather than the tourist experience I have of St Petersburg. The Hermitage is definitely on my places-to-take-my-children list.

 

A student friend took me around Hungarian countryside in his father's car and I have wonderful memories of exloring Budapest on foot. The best way of seeing a country is definitely to have an enthusiastic local guide.

 

Prague is one of my favourite cities. I was last there in 1994 and would love to go back for a romantic weekend with my husband.

 

My sister has had two fantastic skiing holidays in Bulgaria. When we live in Enland, we'll definitely consider going there as well.

[Myrtle]

Constanta, Romania, where Ovid was exiled by Augustus.

 

I'd take my Ovid with me and read it by the seaside.

 

Monasteries, tulips, and wine tours come to mind also.

[Caroline]

I traveled in the Soviet Union pre-glasnost ~ back in the days when St. Petersburg was Leningrad ~ and hope very much to go back some day. I think St. Petersburg in particular is a must for anyone who has the opportunity to go there.

 

 

Me, too. I loved Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. I was there in 1989. We also visited Tallin and Moscow. I would love to revisit all of those places now that I am older. I would also like to see how they have changed.

[TravelingChris]

I really loved Slovenia including Ljublana (sp) and the wonderful gigantic cave to the south of it. I am always telling my dh I want to go back there. I would have loved more time to explore lots of places in much of Eastern Europe. Krakow was very nice. Dresden has been almost completely restored and is gorgeous. We didn't have much time in Buda-Pest but it did look very interesting. Driving through Slovakia was a real experience. I could tell that the country was not as well off as its neighbors. Rows and Rows of nasty high rises with hardly anyone having a car. That was what was shocking. In other parts of Europe, if you are not in a major city, the middle age adults are mostly in cars. Here, everybody was walking and not for health. It seemed to me the worst casualty of communism out of the countries we visited (Crotia, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, eastern part of Germany). There were beautiful mountains and cool castles in Slovakia but corruption was a turn-off

[Rebecca in TN]

My husband and I went three times for mission work in Estonia in the mid-90s. We love the people and the country. I would love to go back to visit the places where we spent time....Tallinn, Parnu and the countryside around Parnu. We also got to tour St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Helsinki, Finland. St. Petersburg was very interesting and Helsinki was just beautiful.