Eurotrip #2

For those who want to see the most possible in one trip here is my second eurotour itinerary.

My first eurotour was in summer in the south of Europe so I decided to have second one in winter and go to the north (well technically it’s the middle of Europe).

As we have 8 days of vacation in January due to New Year and Christmas (in Russia it’s on 7th of January), I had not so much time. First stop was Frankfurt.

Stop 1. Frankfurt

Can you imagine a scene from the movie after some aliens’ invasion? Empty streets, trash in the streets, some weird creatures passing by – that’s how Frankfurt looked on 1st of January. I can’t blame them – people were celebrating New Year and didn’t care about some Russian crazy traveller who’d come to their city in the very morning of 1st of January.

What can I say about Frankfurt – I didn’t plan to visit it, it was just a place with a cheap fly to and I had only a few hours there till the train to my next destination, but these few hours were enough for me to walk around the city and realize that I don’t like it. I was glad to finally take the train and go.

My next destination was Luxembourg. Not so many people plan to go there because they don’t know much about Luxembourg:

1)      It’s a country the size of a city.

2)      It’s expensive there.

3)      That’s somewhere in the middle of Europe.

That’s it.

That’s pretty much what I knew too and also that they speak French there.  Sounded good to me.

Before describing Luxembourg I can’t avoid mentioning how I got there. So I took the train from Frankfurt and the train goes by the board of the river Rhine. It was so beautiful! And God there are so many castles in Germany! Every time the river was turning I saw a new castle on the hill. I highly recommend taking the train to Luxembourg. Even though it’s not a direct train but the 15 minutes stop and change of platforms are not that bad.

Stop 2. Luxembourg

So I arrived in Luxembourg. It was already evening and dark outside but the whole city was illuminated and I must say it looked like I got into a fairytale. The whole city or to be more precise the city center is on the hill and it’s surrounded by castle walls. My hostel was on the other side of the wall so I had to climb up first and then go down. And while passing by these walls I had a feeling that there are definitely some guards standing on top of that and I’m definitely in some medieval times.

Next days I climbed up again to go to the city center.  I went to one of the most photographed place in Luxembourg – Pont Adolphe or in English Adolphe’s bridge. It’s really impressive and Instagram looking. 

After taking a shot of this bridge and wandering around in the city center I went down to a fortress. It’s a smaller part of the city and it’s really a fortress. And people actually live there. Isn’t it cool?

One day was probably not enough in Luxembourg but I think it was enough for me just to feel the atmosphere of the city and fall in love with its medieval magic.

Next day I took a train to go to France. Next city on the list – Nancy.

Stop 3. Nancy

It’s definitely not the city you always dreamed to go to. It’s not even the city everybody heard of. I went there just to shorten the way and spend the night in bed instead of a bus. And of course to spend more time in France.

Nancy is a very small city. So small that it took me an hour to see everything and walk everywhere. But as it was after New Year’s there were still Christmas decorations everywhere and even this small town looked charming.

But I was already excited about my next destination – the main part of my trip.

Stop 4. Strasbourg

I’ve dreamed of going to Strasbourg since the first time I saw on the photos some cute houses with stripes on them. As usual I was thrilled to explore the city so I dropped my backpack in the hostel and was ready to go. First thing I did and first place I went to was the part of the city called Petite France. That’s where you find a lot of cute houses 

and especially the one which is on every second photo from Strasbourg on Instagram.

After spending a few hours looking at all this beauty I decided to get lost in the web of streets and somehow got to the main square. After having delicious and very high calorie pancakes with a glass of amazingly tasty wine I kept on exploring the city.

I spent two days there and it was more than enough for me. I’m sure there were more things to do than I did but for my trip it was enough. Next day I had an early start.

Stop 5. Colmar

When I think of Colmar I have a feeling that I’ve been to a big gingerbread house. It looks like Strasbourg. I mean the architecture. The spirit of the town is different. Comparing to Strasbourg Colmar looks like an exhibition, like it’s a doll house or as I said before a gingerbread house. You don’t feel that people actually live there although they do. People in the streets are tourists, people in the restaurants – again tourists. I wanted to see the locals.

Though I usually don’t eat a lot during my trips and can easily not eat for a few days, I got really hungry there and was looking for a nice place to eat. Most of restaurants were overcrowded; I didn’t want to go there. And then suddenly I saw a small restaurant which I hardly even noticed at first. I got in and there were no other clients, just the owners and their friends. They told me that they don’t have a lot on the menu as the restaurant was about to be shut down. And it turned out that I was their last client ever. But anyway I had a very tasty pumpkin soup and of course a glass of wine. After I finished my lunch they brought me a glass of champagne and a piece of chocolate cake and that’s how I celebrated the shutting down of some restaurant in Colmar with very nice people.

I was in Colmar only for one day or even less cause I came there early in the morning I left in the late evening. One day is more than enough for Colmar. I even think it’s perfect for a road trip – make a stop for a few hours, take pictures and go.

From Colmar to my last stop I took a night bus. I usually do it while travelling in Europe and really recommend it cause it’s not only a comfortable means of transport (FlixBus has really good buses) but also allows you not to pay for extra accommodation.

Stop 6. Milan

Milan was chosen as a last destination because of a cheap flight back to Moscow. I arrived at 7 or 8 am in Milan. It was too early t do anything there. I took a picture of Duomo (must do there), 

dropped my backpack in the hostel and went out in the city.

Well… what can I say…. There’s absolutely nothing to do and to see in Milan. Do you know the famous opera theatre La Scala in Milan? It looks so boring that I didn’t even find it at first. 

The only thing you can do in Milan and that’s what all Russian people do there – shopping. And as I’m not at all a fan of this activity I had absolutely nothing to do.

And it was so cold in the hostel that I was sleeping in jeans and two sweaters. I was even a bit happy to fly back home the next day. Of course till the plane landed in Moscow. Then I got sad again and started planning my next trip.

So…..

I had eight days for 6 cities. Frankfurt->Luxembourg->Nancy->Strasbourg->Colmar->Milan. As you see these cities are perfect for 1-2 days trip and all together make a good and quite busy week of travelling.