No Place Like Rome?

What about London? Full of history, great museums, and, in spite of the old stereotype, great food.

Istanbul.

Right now our flight home is booked out of AMS but that could be changed.

Amsterdam would be a good choice - plenty of history and much to see - especially when you consider the surrounding region. Plus a good intro to Europe for your husband.

London also fits the bill in a number of ways.

But as for "...a city with similar historical attractions as Rome..." if you mean ancient history, that would suggest Athens. For more recent history, perhaps Vienna or Budapest - both also easy to navigate.

A friend of mine son just took a 2 week spring break in Turkey and just loved it. His interest is in art, archeology and architecture. Also, having a good time! He didn't want to come back!

A second vote for Istanbul. In addition, I would get out of the city to see additional sites in western Turkey.

In October, I was in Turkey for two weeks. What a fascinating and rich culture! The Muslim and Christian sites in Istanbul are wonderful (Blue Mosque, Chora Church and others). In addition, there's a never-ending series of sites worth visiting and things to do, like Topkapi Palace, a cruise on the Bosphorus, the Bazaar, the Spice Market and Istiklal Street, which is as modern and cosmopolitan as anything in London, New York or Paris.

It sounds like you like antiquities like I do. In western Turkey outside Istanbul, I visited four Greco, Greco-Roman, Roman and-or Christian ruin sites: Heliopolis, Ephesus (where St. Paul preached and where legend says Mary the mother of Jesus retired), Aphrodisias (the best) and Aspendos. I wish we could have visited the ruins of Troy, too.

Athens for the antiquities and museums.

Istanbul, except your flight home is out of Amsterdam.

Vienna/Budapest pretty different cities, so one might impress and are well connected to AMS.

Maybe go really out of the box and do Sofia and the Black Sea coast (Nessebar)

Oh, I know, Malta.

To be honest, Rome is hard to beat.

my husband has never been or wanted to go Europe ...

Many excellent suggestions so far, but your statement above stuck with me. Perhaps pick a place more likely to be enjoyed by your husband, in the hope he will actually want to return in the future. London, along with any number of possible day trips can be a great introduction to Europe, and still be crammed with "historical attractions".

Perhaps pick a place more likely to be enjoyed by your husband,

Great idea.

So what does he enjoy?

Or he can meet up with me in Bosnia and we go fishing while you go to ..... where ever.

Normally, I would suggest Paris. In this case my suggestions are London and Vienna. Logistically, London is easier.

Rome is my favorite city to visit.
Places like it would include:
Istanbul, Athens, Jerusalem,

Farther away
Kyoto, Japan
The country of Egypt
St. Petersburg, Russia
Beijing, China

St. Petersburg, Russia
Beijing, China

Ah, yes. Wonderful places for a first time visitor, especially in the current world political situation.

These are all excellent suggestions! And I agree, I need to find someplace my husband would enjoy. It would probably be that fishing trip! He has not wanted to travel because he doesn't like crowds, shopping, museums or traffic. Late summer in Europe will be perfect...haha. But we have done the beach vacations a million times. He does like adventure and is afraid he will be bored just seeing the sites. I am sure he would enjoy an Amsterdam canal cruise, a beautiful hike, a fun bar or restaurant, or an interesting historical site like the Colosseum.

After reading your second post- what about Scotland and Northern England? Fly fishing? Golf at St Andrew's? Ancient battle fields and castles? Hadrians Wall? The Vikings in York? Just need to beware of midges in August.

Ancient battlefields and castles would be amazing!

I always think of weather. In late August, somewhere like London/the UK or Amsterdam/the Netherlands would be more appealing to me than southern Europe--or even central Europe, based on my time in that area last year.

Norway has beautiful scenery and is overrun only if you hit a town like Bergen the same day as a large cruise ship. It's expensive, but it shouldn't cost a fortune on a short trip.

Another vote for Istanbul or western Turkey. Think of it as the eastern Roman Empire with a wonderful mix of ancient and not-so-ancient historical sites. Istanbul has the Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, a Roman aqueduct, the Bosporus, and much more. Your husband might even be able to try his hand at fishing off the Galata bridge. If your husband is really intent on avoiding crowds, there are all sorts of incredible ancient sites in western Turkey with minimal crowds. A few that come to mind include Aphrodisias, Termessos, and Sagalassos.

Istanbul if you can change your return and go home from Istanbul. But since hubby might like fishing Scotland was an excellent idea and fishing in Scotland is excellent but way expensive. Well, Scotland in general is expensive but if it works for you, hard to argue. Great place, except for the language issues.

Another area that has a very broad collection of things to see and do would be from Dubrovnik to Ulcinj and inland to the high country. Not for the beaches so much but for the ancient walled towns (3 come to mind) and for the nature and outdoor activiites (like my fishing) and for stops to wineries and olive orchards for tastings. It also hits the "no crowds" catagory (outside of Dubrovnik). Because it pretty economical you can do more, see more, travel a little better for the same $$ as in Western Europe. This is very much the RS definition of a back door .... the definition he used 30 years ago.

I am very visual. I watch a 1000 videos to decide where to go and another 1000 in the planning.

For the destinations and hotels look for the list of videos in this forum post (that way this doesnt get too long) https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/montenegro/podgorica-to-dubrovnik-by-car

Here are some Montenegro activities he might enjoy.
• Rafting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh4KPo8HtZY
• Zip Line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwnHZC4Ss08
• Parasailing https://youtu.be/uqiL_8ivwLI?si=N4hyIe0q7Ht6vrXc
• Paragliding https://youtu.be/NNylrIdiVlQ?si=-VXkfFU3CQqwoevi
• Kayaking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMBOCFp0-fg
• Fly Fishing https://youtu.be/MpnDIoqvfbo?si=4N-_ez7vaGsdFQm-
• Blue Cave Swimming https://youtu.be/XcB7DY06xsw?si=KbID1h7vVaZRcEMt
• Boat Tour https://youtu.be/WBQclglIeyk?si=k_ehPIpZwnqxKoMH
• Rakia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-rTt8hUNY
• Wine https://www.instagram.com/winery.garnet/

In Western Europe you will do busses and trains. Here you will hire drivers ... and still less exepensive. In the bus you see it out the window, here you tell the driver to pull over and you get out and explore. Thats what I meant about traveling better for the same $$. But putting a trip to a place like this together does take some knowledge. I go to the area once or twice most years and I still call on an expert: Dijana Krkotic, +382 69 277 749 (whatsapp), [email protected], www.docleatravel.com

Okay a serious suggestion.

Fly from Barcelona Vueling Airline flies non-stop to Dubrovnik everyday and the price for 1 September is very reasonable.

1. Dubrovnik arrive in the morning.

2. Dubrovnik

3. Dubrovnik to Herzeg Novi for lunch and a tour https://youtu.be/nNtT4Mh2ZTc?si=E8XAPiylEc7xlH0m
On to Perast for a tour and check into hotel. https://youtu.be/q2nckBnc7_M?si=CohK_4nsI6l7chEB
AND Hotel Conte: https://youtu.be/zYJcm2zlXA8?si=w7VstV-oLoVEQLr7
Dinner on Kotor Bay https://youtube.com/shorts/JBSxZdeJTg8?si=eCcC4HNisjrf6edY

4. Perast with half day trip to Kotor https://youtu.be/G7QgBl7XNKU?si=pK1etsEr8UcAlofr
and then up the P1 Mountain Road https://youtu.be/QSz5hZVNxQ8?si=kAUpMBWDbSSztzt5
for Prosciutto https://youtu.be/08il6EXog3o?si=PkQ6Rrueu6c_-U98

5. Perast a day trip out on the bay (caves, submarine base, islands) https://youtu.be/XcB7DY06xsw?si=KbID1h7vVaZRcEMt and https://youtu.be/WBQclglIeyk?si=k_ehPIpZwnqxKoMH

6. Day trip to the Ostrog Monestery https://youtu.be/ixrJu6qv46M?si=WML9Hs2hOQCsKZwE and Restaurant Sokoline: https://youtu.be/miNV1FVK7qI?si=iZC_lViMUEk6JGI

7. Depart Podgorica to US.

PLAN B.

You and your son do Plan A. Hubby joins me for a few days of fly fishing at the Tara River Canyon: https://youtu.be/9aGMZB8hB5Y?si=NFKsf6YtGAX2uVCa
AND Motel Tara MB: https://youtu.be/wGuRybkymEI?si=TGgevmpFSCGTghPq