Where in Europe do you want to go?

No war at the moment; the last one was in Macedonia (2001), but a ceasefire there has been (precariously) holding. Kosovo is very volatile though, with a serious outbreak of violence a year ago; unsafe for regular tourist travel. Albania and Bosnia are also both difficult and not entirely safe to travel around in, although Albania's at least supposed to have significantly improved since when I visited there in '99, when the whole north of the country was off-limits to foreigners. Won't find many tourists in either country, anyway - nor all that many yet in Serbia, I assume, though that's already a level more accessible. Croatia meanwhile has definitely been re-discovered as a tourist country though, with Zagreb a sophisticated capital city and the beaches as beautiful as ever. Bulgaria is very poor, but also very pretty indeed, with famed mountain ranges, picturesque cities, ancient monasteries and Black Sea beaches - and there hasnt been any war there.

good post nimh, and correct info - I can only add that Croatia was chosen as Top1 touristic destination by few british tour-operators for this year.

I can also add that Serbia is actually Serbia/Montenegro - Montenegro is small federative unit on Adriatic, also peacefull and with beautiful seaside. Unlike Serbia, Montenegro/Croatian border can be passed only with ID (I'm not sure if that works for all countries, but generally it's much more open then Serbia) - Belgrade authorities, however, don't consider that act legal, so if you enter Montenegro, stay in it

Shortncute, sure, no war in the Balkans, but you may run into My Own Username.
That's dangerous.

well, yeah, that's true

France,Spain,Greece,Italy,UK,too many

btw,I love the program "CD:UK"

I want to go to Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Austria. :wink:

Ant & Dec were very funny, and Cat Dealey is gorgeous... :wink:

Welcome to a2k upstudio.

In the UK we have just had a whole series of tv programmes on China. The BBC called it "China week".

Very interesting. Our Treasury minister Gordon Brown (official title Chancellor of the Exchequer...and probably next Prime Minister!) has been visiting your country recently as you probably know.

It seems Britain/EU and China will be doing more and more business in future.

Congratulations on your use of English. Better than many in UK!

upstudio

I'll take you to the Tower of London
you take me to Dujiangyan Irrigation System

I want to go to Ibiza

Me too, mate. Looks like a right laugh.

Finland, what an unusual history you seem to have.

Our very good friends came to visit us from Budapest a couple of years ago, and whilst we were walking around London, they got into a conversation with a Finnish couple, because they spoke almost the same language! Absolutely amazing.....I never realised that Hungary and Finland are populated by the same people.....the Magyar. (I know its a bit more complicated than that but you know what I mean).
It would be very interesting to read the history of your "tribes" and how they came to settle in two totally different parts of Europe.
Maybe you could start a new thread on the subject, as I'll bet that there are many more like me out there that know little or nothing regarding your cultural history.

hmmm, can finnish and hungarian actually understand each other? i know it's one branch of languages, ugro-finnish, but i thought they were completely different. only sound similar. i'd love to see finland. and norway - i heard biking around norway is fantastic. one summer i will certainly do that.

Hungarian belongs to the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric, along with the Ob-Ugric languages, Mansi and Khanty, spoken in western Siberia.
It is also related, though more distantly, to Finnish and Estonian.

I suppose, Finns can understand that as good as a German, who never learnt it at school, knows English.

This excellent essay explains it much better :wink:

I know a village about 80km from Saint-Petersburg where live only 100 people and locals there say that they are the last representatives of the people Vod. Some of them still speak at own language of Finno-Ugric group...

I'd like to visit some eastern European countries.
I've only been to Budapest, Hungary and liked the city
very much, quite romantic place actually.
Prag is another interesting city I'd like to explore one day.....


One day, when I have lots of time <sigh>

Not getting updates.

I've been to Finland. It's got to be the cleanest place on the planet: you can eat off the pavement in what looks like the Helsinki warehouse disctrict.

Yeah, Lord Ellpus for a long time I've been wondering about the same exact thing! :wink: (about the ethnic and linguistic similarities between the Finns and Hungarians)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the Huns descended from the Mongols?
Yup it's kind of interesting to see how the Magyar people have spread out on certain parts of the European continent, settling mainly in what is now Finland and Hungary, because like you said Hungary and Finland are nowhere near each other!

I don't think so, although - who knows?
(They appeared from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, before they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga and the Don rivers, and then quickly overthrew the empire of the Ostrogoths between the Don and the Dniester.)


[The Hephthalites, who invaded Iran and India in the 5th and 6th centuries, and the Hsiung-nu, known earlier to the Chinese, are sometimes called Huns, but their relationship to the invaders of Europe is uncertain.]

I think I'd like to visit one of the Baltic countries - apparently the girls there are really attractive.