I spent a couple of weeks in Italy and Slovenia recently. Slovenia is a beautiful country, I recommend you go there before the big tourist-rush that's likely at some point...

Sunset in Piran, Slovenia:




(cue post from Nick about not being technical enough to post photos ;) )

(And Alex...why no photos of South America on your website?)

Damn, I forgot about the flood-control...

Bohinj Jezero

Oooops, I should have mentioned something about this thread not being for dial-up users in the title...

View of Lake Bled from its castle:

And I'll stick one in of Italy too...

Saint Antonio's Basilica, Padova


And a few words about Slovenia...it's not massively geared up for tourists at all (which I find a good thing, though a main bus station we went to was just a few bays in a side-street, and we had to ask four bus drivers to find out how to get to the airport - language barrier!). We arrived in the capital, Ljubljana, at the weekend - and struggled to find an open shop to buy essentials like water!

The culture over there is completely different, and it's so relaxing to go out at night for a couple of drinks in the outdoor bars, complete opposite (and much better for it) than the 'drink yourself legless' mentality in the UK. The Julian Alps were gorgeous and it was great to cycle through tiny Slovenian towns who look as if they're still largely reliant on subsistence farming. Lake Bled was probably the most touristy place we went to, but there's still plenty of places to escape to there.

Dan and I went to Slovenia a couple of years ago, and stayed in Bled. Ohhh it was completely packed with tourists. It was a really lovely, beautiful place, but the weather was so hot that we could barely cope. Managed to cycle up massive hills with nowhere to hide from the sun, but then I got sunstroke pottering round the shops in Ljubljana.

I'll post something slightly more serious later on, but none of my pictures of Barcelona are on Photobucket as yet...

Those are beautiful photos, Alex.

Hehe. I wondered how you'd posted two pictures in one post for a moment.

We thought Bled would be packed with tourists but there weren't many people around at all. Perhaps the second week in September is the ideal time to go to beat the tourist rush.

Too technical for me. If you want to tell me how, I've got some great photos. I'm sure I could find one for y'all.

And Alex goes to Argentina at the end of this month. He's just updated his website with photos from the Truck Festival.

Check them out!!!

Get an account on Photobucket.com (free), then upload pictures to there. It then even gives you the message board code to paste in direct...

I still haven't put any of mine up, although they're not as good as Alex's. Will do something about this shortly.

Why, what are you going to do with my photos?! :o
;)

Are there any must-sees for a weekend in Barcelona apart from the Sag...erm...I can't remember what it's called Cathedral and the Nou Camp?

The Sagrada Familia, sure. The Nou Camp - if you're into football, but it's hardly up the beauty scale there.

Parc Guell, for sure. Go up one or both mountains. Visit some museums and galleries, if you're so inclined (which I am). Take a long stroll through the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter). Go to the Aquarium at the port (not strictly a Barcelona sight but you really ought to see it). Up the Pedrera and walk on the roof.

Best thing of all, get one or two days on the Bus Turistic (not the rival Barcelona Tours) and although it's a fair old initial outlay (19 Euros one day, 23 for two), it stops at every single attraction and you get discounts for them, plus you can see the whole city across a few hours from the upper deck of an open top bus. And get more ideas of places to visit.

I think I'm going back there in January, although nothing's sorted yet.

I'd definitely recommend the open top bus tours. We saw a lot of the Miro museum, and I'd recomment the Museum of Contemporary art. It's hard to find, near the Chinese quarter, but will challenge your conceptions of Art. I loved it! (get me a lapel pin badge if you go please! I'll pay) We enjoyed the cable car across the harbour, but you can just walk, enjoy the atmosphere and the tapas!

Yes to both of those. I've been in the Miro Foundation (which is where that daft picture on my Facebook profile was taken), and I went in the Museum of Contemporary Art for the first time when I was there last month. There was some... interesting things in there. I've got some pictures of it. Right. I'll get them Photobucket-ed and onto this thread later...

Thanks guys. There does look to be some rather amazing stuff in the aquarium:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=barcelona+...rium&ss=2&s=int

As for the Nou Camp, my friend is a massive football fan, so he's hoping we can get tickets for the match against Atletico Madrid. It should be good if we can. :)

I usually avoid bus tours because I think they're a bit of a rip-off, and most cities I've been to are quite compact. Everyone I've spoken to about Barcelona has recommended the bus tour though.

Yes. I can't emphasise highly enough that the Barcelona one is well worth doing, especially if a) it's your first time there and b) you don't have that long.

I went to the Nou Camp to watch Leeds vs Barcelona in the Champions League. The trip wasn't for that purpose, I just happened to be there at the time. We had an amazing view at the front of one of the tiers. Unfortunately, just after we got there, some obnoxious Leeds fans who had obviously bought their tickets at the same time as us arrived and sat, as we did, amongst Barca fans. Their goading got a bit much for people in the lower tier eventually and I got a free souvenir Barcelona lighter to take home with me. After it hit me.

Barcelona won 4-0. I was glad.

You also have to eat in, or at least visit. Placa Real, a beautiful square in the heart of somewhere or other (Damian????) The street theatre is great, but have handfuls of small denomination coins available, or pretend to be German!

(Which isn't strictly true, or fair, but I've got to say that cos Beth is going out with a great guy from Frankfurt, and I don't want to offend him)

(But Spanish street entertainers do seem to steer clear of....and I think I'll stop there, cos the chasm is yawning, and I can feel myself falling!!!!)

(and I still haven't managed to find the link, despite having as fledgling photobucket account. Where exactly do I look, guys???) :blink:

Near the Ramblas. Nice place indeed:

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/...eial/index.html

Anyhow, if you've put pictures in Photobucket, log into your account on there and there are three links below each picture. It's the third one down you want, the one that starts and ends with IMG tags. Just copy that text wholesale and paste it into a post on here and bingo!