What's your favorite country in Europe?

[slammer 888]

2 hours ago, jeba said:

Before that it had already fallen into the hands of Italians (or Romans as they were called at the time) who completely deforested it as they needed the wood for their galleys. That resulted in erosion so that no trees can grow anymore. I haven´t seen a single tree in Malta, much less a forest. That spoiled it for me. Plus the air pollution caused by their ancient cars. Disclaimer: that was more than 20 years ago. Maybe it has changed.

A lot has changed, ancient cars are no longer around and the old busses now convey tourists and are up to standard again. Air quality is much better and hundreds trees have been planted... only to be ripped out again by so-called "hunters" wanting birds to land on "their" trees.

Actually I´m driving there today.

[murphaph 9,814]

On 29/11/2021, 08:07:18, slammer said:

Sadly Malta has fallen into the hands of developers, and boy do they develop. Old townhouses; gone, replaced by highrise flats that nobody can afford! Beautiful art deco buildings along the Sliema seafront; gone. Ancient temples, gone by a "whoopsie" from an excavator. The list is endless.

Injured immigrant workers dumped on the side of the road for someone else to take care of, knife gangs in Qawra. Unemployed and very aggressive "immigrants" roaming the streets. The skyline dotted with cranes and corruption in the highest levels of government.

Sounds sad. I was there just once for a week, 28 years ago. It was a charming place. I always wanted to go back but I suppose it will have changed massively from what I remember.

[bytex 25]

On 11/29/2021, 9:07:18, slammer said:

Sadly Malta has fallen into the hands of developers, and boy do they develop. Old townhouses; gone, replaced by highrise flats that nobody can afford! Beautiful art deco buildings along the Sliema seafront; gone. Ancient temples, gone by a "whoopsie" from an excavator. The list is endless.

Injured immigrant workers dumped on the side of the road for someone else to take care of, knife gangs in Qawra. Unemployed and very aggressive "immigrants" roaming the streets. The skyline dotted with cranes and corruption in the highest levels of government.

Too bad. Gibraltar being even tinier it is mostly high-rise already. I generally prefer houses anyday over flats, but it makes sense there and I strangely like the place. Malta is not as dense and small as Gibraltar. I also like Spain but their high-rises are of poorer quality than even many ex Socialist countries. They look so cheap, haphazardly built to capitalize on the tourist/expat boom. Thank God that period seems to be over as I see lots of houses built in the Spanish areas from Cadiz all the way up to Marbella. And many of these are terraces, so more space efficient and lower priced than detached houses. I think the best thing about Gib is it's not an island so one can escape when fed up with the high rises and all the cabin fever tightly packed places have and go to a low-rise, less dense area in nearby Spain. That's what many now do as the property prices in Gib are crazy. I just wish some of those terraces in Spain were of the British Victorian style. Maybe I can convert one to it if I get a permission lol

[optimista 5,885]

Gib a bit too seismic for my liking.

[bytex 25]

^It's much better than Greece and most of Italy in that respect though. Quakes and summer heat are my main concerns of moving to Athens.

 

I totally forgot Slovakia - some very nice old towns there. Bratislava seems to be developing fast. It is becoming a skyscraper type of city.

After living in both Prague and Bratislava and visiting Vienna a lot I think I'd chose Bratislava for living although it's less exciting for visiting. It's a city with a small town feel, very walkable and yet an IT/services hub with so many flats and offices of 15-20-25 floors.

Most of the places I like in Germany seem to be smaller size like Cham in the Oberpfalz, Regensburg, or Altenburg in Thuringia as I am not fan of any city that saw lots of destruction in the wars or post-war drabness.

I'd also like to plug Graz and the Styria in Austria, Bari/Lecce/Brindisi, well whole of Puglia/Apulia in Italy, Visby/Gotland island in Sweden, Ljublana, Celje and Maribor in Slovenia - all underrated.

https://cdn-blob.austria.info/cms-uploads-prod/default/0001/47/thumb_46857_default_header_big.jpeg

[Anna66 2,691]

I now prefer the South of France

It is beautiful. We visited Croatia too. Dubrovnik was spectacular but the food and drink was not as good as it was in the south of France.

[LukeSkywalker 7,631]

If you like South of France, you should change your profile picture into a glass of rosé 👻.

[Anna66 2,691]

On 26.12.2022, 11:25:23, LukeSkywalker said:

If you like South of France, you should change your profile picture into a glass of rosé 👻.

 

Oh no. Never ever. Red wine is my favourite tipple.

The red wine from the south of France is simply scrumptious.

 

 

[Fietsrad 412]

On 26.7.2018 17:27:14, zwiebelfisch said:

 

Quite so, it seems really weird that us people who almost exclusively moved to germany from elsewhere would say we prefer other countries.  Maybe Im lucky, but Im here by choice.

Germany is the best place to live and work IMHO.

 

Deutschland: einfach kompliziert😉

[Anna66 2,691]

24 minutes ago, Fietsrad said:

Germany is the best place to live and work IMHO.

 

Deutschland: einfach kompliziert😉

On 26.7.2018, 16:29:15, Alexnf said:

I love Germany and it is the main reason we came. Hamburg and suburbs are great to live, and very green for such a big city, visit the north for more mountains, so many National parks, little old towns in Harz, we alwas travel around Germany even for day trips.

i also like Denmark a lot.

 

I moved to Germany by choice too, but for holidays it's not that great.

I do have to admit, Berlin is my favourite place to visit for a holiday. München too.

 

Otherwise I prefer the South of France