‘I don’t understand people who travel to Europe in summer’
The prices are sky-high, it is hot, crowded and you risk raising the ire of locals. Why would you go to a destination when everyone else on the entire planet is heading there as well?
I don’t understand people who travel to Europe in summer. I know it has become a thing that Australians do every year to escape our winter but I could not think of anything worse. Why would you go to a destination when everyone else on the entire planet is heading there as well?
The prices are sky-high, it is crowded and you risk raising the ire of locals who have been protesting against the effects of mass tourism (like those unlucky visitors squirted with water pistols while trying to have a nice glass of sangria and some tapas in Barcelona).
And then there is the heat. A friend last year went to Sicily in July and took a photo of the temperature in her car when it reached 50C. Not my idea of fun. I have only ever gone to Europe in the shoulder season, in early spring or autumn. This started out as a cost-saving exercise in my early 20s due to airfares and hotels being so much cheaper in these periods. But there are so many advantages that now I don’t do it any other way.
Some of my clearest memories of holidaying in Europe with my husband have been around the shoulder season. The intoxicating perfume of orange blossoms in late April when we went to Croatia for the first time.
I can still remember meandering back to our tiny hotel in the coastal city of Split after a seafood dinner and walking past dozens of these trees, their buds beginning to open after the cold winter and the warmth of the day’s sun; their scent was extraordinary. I have never come across anything like it since, despite smelling rather a lot of orange trees and orange blossom-scented candles.
In Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, where a 13th century castle is surrounded by a town straight out of fairytale, we drank mulled wine to keep warm as we walked across empty cobblestoned squares and through crowdless museums.
Vienna in the rain meant more excuses to stop for Viennese hot chocolates and slices of sachertorte. And even Parisians seem more amenable to tourists when there are fewer of us around. I was indeed mistaken for a local on the Metro during a visit in late March (one of my proudest moments).
On second thoughts, I take it all back. Everyone should still keep going to Europe in the summer and leave me in peace during the off-season. It truly is wonderful.
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