Trying to find an interesting way towns to stop at from Paris to Barcelona using rail and bus that does not include places I've been to before such as Bordeaux or the Dordogne or Provence. December 27 to New Years Day
Any ideas? thanks
Posted by
Washington DC
28083 posts
Just looking at a map--not getting into rail lines--I see Orleans, Bourges, Limoges and Toulouse in the west or Troyes-Dijon-Lyon in the east. The DB website is sending me through Bordeaux and I have no idea how really awkward it will be to avoid that TGV line.
Caveat: I do not travel to Europe in the winter and have no idea what any of those places will be like in December. I'd think Lyon and Toulouse would be reasonably lively.
Posted by
OP
Chicago
8166 posts
Hi acraven
I have been to Western Europe in all seasons ( and this will be my sixth straight European New Years, including France Italy Netherlands Belgium and Spain).
The weather has never been a factor, since it is mild compared to what we know winter in Chicago.
We find we are sweating in Europe in the winter in the day wearing the winter gear that we wear in Chicago.
It was 70 in Cadiz last year New Years Day 2019 for example.
It was 50 in the Dordogne New Years 2018
Posted by
Washington DC
28083 posts
Sorry. This is the rare occasion on which I wasn't referring to weather! I know you often make winter trips and are prepared for what you will experience. I just meant that a city might feel different in the winter, or look less attractive on gray days. I spend a lot of my time walking around outdoors, so it matters a lot to me that a city be physically attractive unless it is blessed with a wealth of museums I'm interested in. If a major part of the liveliness in a city is due to a large student population, absence of all those students over the holidays might change the atmosphere considerably.
By the way, when I was in Barcelona in 2016 I saw posted announcements about small, weekly, jazz concerts at two venues. I think they were both churches; one definitely was, just south of Placa de Catalunya, maybe on Carrer de Santa Anna. I never got around to going to either place.