Re: OT : railway recommendations

On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:27:11 +0100, Arthur Figgis
<afiggis@example.com.invalid> wrote:

>Paul Corfield wrote:
>> Apologies for a slightly off topic post.
>>
>> I am considering "doing an Inter Rail" - probably September time. 
I've
>> done them before but many years ago and much has changed in Europe since
>> then in terms of the rail network and the accessibility of many
>> countries. For example the Iron Curtain still existed, Berlin had a
>> wall, Yugoslavia was a country and only France had a high speed line!
>>
>> I know from having read posts on here that there are many well travelled
>> posters. I'm looking for some suggestions as to good routes to travel on
>> or towns and cities that you'd recommend.  I'm not looking to "bash"
>> routes for the sake of it - more to enjoy rail travel at its best, see
>> some excellent scenery and stay in places with good architecture, good
>> food and hopefully friendly people.
>
>(I've not checked inter-rail validity on the lines in question)
>
>The metre-gauge lines right across the top of Spain are good, and seem
>relatively unknown compared to central European ones.
>
>Bilbao - Leon fits your specification on all counts. ISTR it was dirt
>cheap, and takes an awful lot of the day, so perhaps not the best use of
>an inter-rail day.
>
>> I'm not averse to revisiting places but the following countries I've
>> never visited - Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland.
>> Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania.
>>
>> Suggest away!
>
>Prague and Krakow have to be seen (unless they have been laid waste by
>stag parties by now). Much of Poland isn't the greatest for scenery, but
>some of the towns are nice. Warsaw is interesting, and I'm amazed no-one
>seems to have heard of Torun. There is Wolsztyn, of course, if the steam
>is running when you are travelling.
>
>I didn't think Bratislava was particularly exciting compared to Vienna
>and Budapest, but haven't done Slovakia beyond that.
>
>In my limited experience Finland is mile after mile of identical trees,
>relieved only by lakes and the vodka bottle. There are more exciting
>places to go.
>
>I'd echo the Harz recommendations, and the narrow gauge lines in Saxony.
>
>For scenery you can't go far wrong in Switzerland, at least until they
>hollow the whole county out to make one huge base tunnel. Zermatt - St
>Moritz (- Italy) has to be done. Austria is similar to Switzerland, but
>less, well, Swiss. I particularly like the Tauren route.
>
>Septemvri - Dobrinshte in Bulgaria is good, a bit of a "get it while it
>and its world are still there" narrow gauge line.
>
>Sarajevo - Ploce, stopping for night in Mostar, ought to be better
>known, but you then get a bit stuck for rail transport (I did a ferry -
>bus - ferry move to Korcula and ferry from there).

I concur with most of the above posts (apart from the bits I haven't
done llike the Harz and Poland - they're on my list).

Some further recommendations:

Perpignan-Villefranche-Latour de Carol in the French Pyrenees (or
Northern Catalonia to the Catalan nationalists).  Fantastic scenery
and a great narrow-gauge electric train ride. Then either down to
Barcelona for a bit of culture and nightlife (even though
part-bustituted at the moment from Latour to Ripoll), or up to
Toulouse and back through France.

If you're in Portugal, Porto is worth a visit for the scenic Old Town
(UNESCO), the bridges over the Douro and the heritage trams (among
other things), and possibly a trip up the Douro to Mirandela or
Pocinho.

The Koeln [Cologne] Frankfurt new line is a fantastic rollercoaster
ride. Try and get a seat with a forward view!  Return, of course, by
the classic Rhine-side line via Koblenz.

I agree that the Stresa/Brig/Interlaken axis as worth exploring, also
the Centovalli line from Domodossola to Locarno is worth doing, then
to Bellinzona and either via Chiasso (lake scenery) to Milan (culture,
nightlife and trams) or over the Brenner to Innsbruck (very scenic).
I've stayed in a hotel in Stresa (no sea view, near the station) that
was comfortable and reasonably priced. Novara - Domodossola is another
scenic line at its northern end by the lakes.

A bit further away is Belgrade (Serbia)-Podgorica-Bar (Montenegro)
which is a stunning run through mountain gorges.  There are ferries
from Bar to Bari in Italy to save doubling back.  You can even do what
I did and do Bari-Podgorica via ferry to Durres (Albania), taxi to
Tirana, train to Shkoder, minibus taxi ("furgon") to the border and
taxi to Podgorica.  NOT recommended for much apart from a trip on the
most decrepit train I've ever been on (no glass in half the windows)!

Ljubljana in Slovenia is a beautiful small city, reachable from
Austria or Italy (there is only an overnight train pair to/from Venice
however  now that the day trains have been withdrawn).

--
Ken
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