Driving in Europe

LuciusArt said:
Hi, if you are looking for nice places for photography, i would change your way through Switzerland:
From Zurich i wouldn't drive to Geneva, but use a more direct way to Italy (best reason for that new way, there are at least two nice locations for capturing great pictures). My route would guide you from Zurich over the St. Gotthard ( first location) to Ticino, where there are a lot of nice places for shootings. But my hottest advice is to go to Valley Verzasca above Locarno. Verzasca is well known for the great river, the waterfalls, the wildwater, the amazing stones, and at the entrance of the Valley, an impressiv dam, well known from one of the James Bond Movies. On google pictures you will find a lot of exaples that show you what woderfull motifs are waiting to be captured.
Click to expand...
Thank you Sir
 
Nod said:
D some European drivers are (shall we say) a little erratic - especially rural French and most Italians!
Click to expand...
The rural french drivers are fine where I live it's the visiting brits that cause the problems!
 
LuciusArt said:
Hi, if you are looking for nice places for photography, i would change your way through Switzerland:
From Zurich i wouldn't drive to Geneva, but use a more direct way to Italy (best reason for that new way, there are at least two nice locations for capturing great pictures). My route would guide you from Zurich over the St. Gotthard ( first location) to Ticino, where there are a lot of nice places for shootings. But my hottest advice is to go to Valley Verzasca above Locarno. Verzasca is well known for the great river, the waterfalls, the wildwater, the amazing stones, and at the entrance of the Valley, an impressiv dam, well known from one of the James Bond Movies. On google pictures you will find a lot of exaples that show you what woderfull motifs are waiting to be captured.
Click to expand...
Like Thishttps://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Paris,+France&daddr=Nancy,+France+to:confused:trasbourg,+France+to:Zurich,+Switzerland+to:confused:aint+Gotthard+Pass,+Airolo,+Switzerland+to:ticino+to:Verzasca,+Locarno,+Svizzera+to:Lausanne,+Switzerland+to:Geneva,+Switzerland+to:Milan,+Italy+to:Trieste,+Italy+to:Florence,+Bologna,+Italy+to:Venice,+Venezia,+Italy+to:Rome,+Province+of+Rome,+Italy&hl=en&sll=45.37951,8.063505&sspn=11.09505,26.982422&geocode=FSZ-6QIdXuQjACkPt-IGH27mRzFglIxow4ILBA%3BFVb75gId4V1eACnNkqYXbpiURzGNSYINsXHWTg%3BFexR5QIdKjl2ACnBshheSciWRzEfJOcYMUgalw%3BFcrJ0gIdLkyCACkZor5JlwuQRzED3B_n8Y1u5g%3BFYqkxgId5KCCACkdTjQexnaFRzGhOdmA0NKCJA%3BFVb3wgIdxUiGACmD3jou2peFRzG43lg5Gto-DA%3BFZJ7wAIdUCqHACmpsClv_LWFRzFPlkBLqUKpWA%3BFZrWxQIdfThlACnlp4nNPimMRzFe7uLKyT8X6w%3BFXjuwAIdWLldACnr4tCTBmWMRzE5vAt7NZW2oA%3BFW6_tQId1CyMACnndRI_ScGGRzGNDnTGE83_PA%3BFX-OuAIdNDzSACkz9e3kBmt7RzFQK93UhCRqZg%3BFTxTpwIdMFesACFUYLpRbfyvsCnLoUfA-tN_RzFUYLpRbfyvsA%3BFU9ftQIde-u7ACmJPdbx2rF-RzEvEJK98Majew%3BFcpdfwId5iK-ACm7jpL5lmEvEzE4bmWTBncPuQ&oq=geneva&mra=ls&t=m&z=6
 
I've done several 3 and 6 month driving trips in Europe and Scandinavia. One of them took in part of your route in Tuscany. I fell in love with this area and ended up staying for several months. There are so many walled towns/villages to see, Siena is a gem as is Val d'Orcia. I've got itchy wheels again now.
 
OneTen said:
I've done several 3 and 6 month driving trips in Europe and Scandinavia. One of them took in part of your route in Tuscany. I fell in love with this area and ended up staying for several months. There are so many walled towns/villages to see, Siena is a gem as is Val d'Orcia. I've got itchy wheels again now.
Click to expand...

You lucky so and so Richard, a trip lasting between 3 and 6 months is my idea of heaven. Did you ever come across a place called Castillo di Monteriggioni? If I had spent that long, then I would have died from Chianti or Brunello consumption.;)
 
Graulges said:
The rural french drivers are fine where I live it's the visiting brits that cause the problems!
Click to expand...

Most of my French driving has been in Brittany, well off the beaten tourist trails and when you get Jean-Phillippe driving his tractor home from the bar after a night on the pastis, believe me, he's erratic! His wife's little better, although sober, she only drives once a week, when JP is too legless to find his keys...

I have done thousands of KM in Crete. Not even had a parking scrape. Rules of the road there seem to be that coaches own the road, taxis believe they own the road, private cars take their chances and stinkwheels/proper bikes go wherever they want (pavements, wrong way up one ways etc!). Sounds like a recipe for disaster but keeping my eyes, ears etc open, so far I've managed to avoid everything. Seen the aftermath of a few smashes - one rather too fresh for comfort (on the way from the airport to our first destination - a sobering sight.) and a couple that had been made into road safety messages - the wrecked cars up on scaffolding with "Kalo Taxidi" (Good Driving) daubed on the side!
 
Nod said:
Sounds like a recipe for disaster but keeping my eyes, ears etc open, so far I've managed to avoid everything. Seen the aftermath of a few smashes - one rather too fresh for comfort (on the way from the airport to our first destination - a sobering sight.) and a couple that had been made into road safety messages - the wrecked cars up on scaffolding with "Kalo Taxidi" (Good Driving) daubed on the side!
Click to expand...

The worst place I have experienced so far regarding driving standards, has to be Portugal. Like you Nod, the worst crash I say, was ten minutes after picking up the hire car at Faro airport, and then driving on the main road towards Alvor. There had been a serious accident, but it didn't stop other motorists from totally ignoring the fact, and overtaking on the wrong side of the road, despite the oncoming traffic.
Towards the end of the holiday, we came back from lunch to get our car from the car park (broad daylight, loads of people around), to find that the drivers side had been totally mangled. The car was still driveable, but nobody had stopped to admit liability or anything like that.:(
 
My advice would be to budget for the insurance excess in your plans, there's a fairly high chance of dropping it off with a dent in it so that €1700 could go up quite a bit
 
wack61 said:
My advice would be to budget for the insurance excess in your plans, there's a fairly high chance of dropping it off with a dent in it so that €1700 could go up quite a bit
Click to expand...
I am taking the Full insurance with zero waver
 
Guys
I have another question regarding safety in Europe. I will be traveling with a bunch of expensive camera equipment and just wondered what it is like walking most of these towns during both the daytime and nighttime? I have lived in Asia for the past 20 years and would consider myself streetwise, being 6’3” and covered in tattoos will also help but I figured it would be better to get as much info as possible before we go. Below are a few more questions that I have;
1/. What would you reckon would be a reasonable price for accommodation while on this trip (per day)
2/. Do you have to or would you recommend driving on toll roads in Europe ( I am thinking back roads as better photo opportunities)
3/. Can someone recommend the best GPS to have for a trip like this?

Thanks in advance
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top