Monday, September 3, 2012

So naive it hurts

Whenever people seem to think I travel a lot, I always tell them: Nah, just Europe mostly. Sure, I had my periods of more intense travelling but I wouldn't go as far as to say I did a whole lot of it. 

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However, I must have somehow got caught up with all those praises and in my naïvety, I too started thinking I was well travelled in Europe. So when a couple of days ago a thought of I-know-what-I-should-do-next-year came to mind taking the form of I'll finish visiting all the European capitals, I had the notion of it being an easy task.
Then I went back to the map.
And almost shouted out in shock.

If I'm so well travelled, why are there more capitals I haven't been to than the ones I have??

Out of the 47 recognized ones (incl. Ankara and Baku) on Wikipedia, I've visited 21, with one coming up in 2,5 weeks (Oslo). However, among those 22 there are 5 that I'd like to revisit, as my memories from those places are very vague or I haven't spent enough time in there to get a feel of them (Rome, Ljubljana, Monako, Amsterdam, Zagreb).
So that kind of leaves me with 17 out of 47 capitals.
Well travelled my ass, I tell ya.

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Long story short, if anyone's thinking about visiting any of the below next year (or till Oct 23rd this year) and would like some company, or can give some vital advice about and is willing to share, please step up. 

1. Ankara, Turkey
2. Moscow, Russia
3. Baku, Azerbaijan
4. Podgorica, Montenegro
5. Kiev, Ukraine
6. Tbilisi, Georgia
7. Skopje, Macedonia
8. Vilnius, Lithuania
9. Belgrade, Serbia
10. Riga, Latvia
11. Minsk, Belarus
12. Bucharest, Romania
13. Yerevan, Armenia
14. Helsinki, Finland
15. Tallinn, Estonia
16. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
17. Chişinău, Moldova
18. Copenhagen, Denmark
19. Lisbon, Portugal
20. Bern, Switzerland
21. Tirana, Albania
22. Athens, Greece
23. Vaduz, Liechtenstein
24. City of San Marino, San Marino
25. Valletta, Malta
26. Vatican City

 and I'd also add

27. Edinburgh
28. Cardiff

plus the ones I want to revisit

29. Rome 
30. Ljubljana
31. Monako
32. Amsterdam
33. Zagreb

Damn', that would have to be some intense capital sight-seeing! (pun intended)




2 komentarze:

Giba said...

May be interested in Copenhagen and Kiev.
But really I prefer to not plan, I will better follow your plans and try to draw mine according to them. :)

Magu Bee said...

Hey Giba!

Hah, planning is a thing I'm beginning to learn:)
You can come over to the fb fan page, some friends are suggesting cool trips to cover some of the places from the list above, though nobody's mentioned Conpenhagen and Kiev yet!

www.facebook.com/MaguBee