Travel videos

Yes this Dennis Callan does a good job. He does not shoot those based on whether or not there is sunny weather and goes off season a lot it seems. I have been to both Provence and the Dordogne and nothing seemed run down when recalling Edinburgh. Also Provence has Roman ruins and Sarlat prehistoric caves some of the oldest man made stuff.

Thanks Jazz & Travels! Good to know, because I have not been to Provence or Dordogne.

Think anything filmed in November will look somewhat rundown....Grey skies, no leaves on the trees, no sunshine....

I spent some time in the Dordogne and the Lot this June. The weather was often overcast, and it poured rain the entire day I was in Sarlat. On another day I had hail. So I didn't have the benefit of the sort of weather that makes everything look good. Plus I'm one of those people who has a physical need for sunshine else I feel sort of lethargic. This was a set-up for disappointment, but I still really liked the area. I don't remember thinking things were run-down, but I have a lot of experience walking around the historic districts of old European cities, and I guess I'm used to what those areas look like. Certainly old stone, if unpainted, will show its age, and corners are likely to be crumbling away. If you walked through all the (open) closes off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, as I did, you'd have seen some much grimmer-looking stuff there.

From the standpoint of atmosphere, it sounds as if Provence might be more pleasing to you. I suppose I wouldn't be too happy to spend an entire vacation looking at crumbling stone buildings. I confess that if I randomly imagine a favorite type of urban view in Europe, what I see is more along the lines of a Greek island: bright whitewashed houses with window boxes full of flowers, and sunshine 100% of the time. Or multi-colored buildings. I don't dream of nothing-but-unpainted-stone.

There is more-colorful, varied architecture in at least some (maybe all) of the larger towns in the Dordogne.

Thanks acraven! Looking for Georgetown in France or England ;) ... which leads me to Richmond outside London! Haha!

OK, back to France! Yes, Dennis' videos are in the late fall and winter months so I'm sure that had something to do with it. My latest thoughts are St. Remy, Uzes, Aix, or Isle-sur-la-Sourge... I may just throw a dart!

Research and gathering opinions is half the fun for me. Thank God! :)

I haven't been to Uzes; check public transportation in and out. I suspect it's limited.

Go to Romania. You want "run down" - Romania has a lot of that. France has much less. Same pretty much goes for most of the ex-commie countries.

However, Romania has a lot of really interesting places, and the visual condition is part of the whole thing.

I think his videos are good to get "another" view of places but should be used in addition to Rick's and others. I just looked at the Marseille one since I was just there a couple months ago. If his video had been the main thing I was using to decide if I wanted to go there I probably would not have gone (in fact I did put off Marseille in three other trips to the region because I'd heard it was 'very rundown'). My memory of it is really quite different from what is in his video. The rain of course was a major factor but it does seem he spends an inordinate amount of time shooting the most run down things. I do appreciate his showing/mentioning how to get around by public transportation but maybe he could spend a slightly less percent of the videos doing that. He spent a long time showing the outside of that museum but didn't show the other parts of the fort that you can visit on the way to the museum, he showed some of the most run down parts of the "old town" (Le Panier) but walked right by one of the most amazing example of architecture (Vieille Charité) and didn't even show it. Just saying, I wouldn't use his videos as an example of what you will actually see.

Anyway - I don't have fancy equipment or lighting either but look at my photos of Marseille and his video to see the difference. https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/p586639410

Thanks all! Isabel, your photos are beautiful. I hope it's okay that I PM you with a few questions.

Thank you, a wonderful find. Other approaches are often very useful.

Travel safe,

One Fast Bob