The Auswine Forum

Ok this is a bit of a unique question.

There’s a high probability that I will be leaving my employer in a few months and I will be forced into a 3-month paid gardening leave.

Now, I can’t remember any time in my life where I’ve had this amount of time without work or study responaibilities. I am thinking that it would make sense to use the time wisely and I’m thinking that I’d like to spend one and a half months in Europe just “soaking up culture”.

You may be asking why I’m putting this in the Auswine forum and my simple answer is that I’d like to spend a decent amount of time exploring and consuming wines. So I ask... where would you go?

My preference is away from a big city, not Italy (been a few times already) and would you make side trips for a day or two here and there - and where (?).

Your thoughts/ideas highly welcome!

Hard to go past Lyon which gives you a very handy pivot point to every single region of France, and fair pieces of Italy and Germany.

Another logic might suggest Nth Portugal to give access to both the finest parts of Portugal, and a fair chunk of Spain.

Good times ahead whatever you do I suspect.

Hi Dragz
A few questions to try and tailor suggestions:

What time of year?
If peak summer, then in general I'd lean north e.g. UK, Scandinavia, Holland, etc.. If away from peak summer, then more south - Spain, Portugal, Southern France. However depending on where you are in Aus, Central Spain in peak summer might not be as horrific a thought as it would be for me!

Do any big sporting events appeal, e.g. Test match cricket, one of cycling's Grand Tour events, French Open or Wimbledon?

Would you like to do some cycling, hire a boat to cruise up a river, walking, etc.? Would you want a car, or seek the greater immersion of using public transport to get around?

Do you have any languages that would help, or you fancy refreshing? Any countries which you really want to see?

Is wine a factor - or perhaps beer, whisky, etc.?

Would you rather a single country, a pair, or maybe 3. In general I preach reducing transfers to allow more actual holiday time, and what you wrote seems to suggest a similar mentality.

Is great food an influence? There is good food everywhere, but in some countries the basic/local is taken more seriously than others.

What are likely entry / exit points? Often good to fly in/out of different airports, but if you're looking for more of an embedding experience, then the same airport may not be a problem.

I also post on this travel forum, which might be of use - a similar number of posters to this forum, and generally well-clued up and with a strong lean towards taking enough time to understand the place/culture, rather than a steady stream of 'famous sites'. Also a few who have done something very similar.
https://www.sloweurope.com/community/ Plenty of resources on the site as well.

_____________

In answer to the side trips question, we've generally settled on the approach of 5-7 days in each location, with 3-4 day trip options sketched out... but in the expectation that we'll only ever do 1 or 2. The key to this is the flexibility it gives you to make a decision the night before, or even in the morning. If you're loving where you are, then there may never be any day trips, if you fancy breaking things up, then you might have a day trip every other day.

Another alternative, best with a car, is to slot a 'road trip' into the middle of the break. This might not appear to be 'slow' but is a great way to meander through a region, taking in different experiences, and stopping in the afternoon if you like the look of a place, or moving on till you find somewhere that feels right. It's been many years since I've done one of these, but the South coast of UK, from Brighton (Sussex) to Looe (Cornwall) was a good one. A variant on this would be to hire a boat for a week e.g. the network of UK canals, Norfolk broads, French rivers (Loire is popular for this). One advantage is you're seeing different places every day, but not having to pack/unpack - the travel time is all 'holiday time'.

Regards
Ian

Since you have already done europe,
I have always wanted to go to NZ. Food and wine mecca!

The Netherlands is a good place to start - Amsterdam and Rotterdam give you all you want in terms of food, culture and drink and you wont have any language problems. Plane, rail and road links to all of europe as well.

If you are on a budget, then Spain offers great QPR.

Thanks for the replies, really appreciate the thoughts and suggestions.

To answer a few questions - I will likely be going in May so before the peak summer and arguably the best month to visit Europe in temperature terms. I’m not so focused on sports events but something nearby coincidentally would indeed be nice. I think I’d prefer to stay in the countryside as I like to go running and walking and it would be easier to do the former out of a major town (though not impossible). Food is definitely a key influence.

Putting this all together I think Portugal, Spain and France have to be the obvious candidates... and maybe Ian’s suggestion of road trip allows me to visit all of them at a leisurely pace. Wine is a key factor, I’d love to swing by some vineyards though I don’t have any one particular wine maker or region in mind. I live in Singapore so I’m pretty used to 30 degree and extreme humidity l.

Hi Dragz
May (along with October) is a favourite time of year for us to hit Italy, but the same would go for the warmer climate areas of Spain, Greece, Portugal. It allows for countryside plus city and is good for both. The primavera fruit can be exceptional and finding a place with good wildflowers can really make a countryside walk. May has decently long daylight as well. We've found it recently variable, from mixed to seriously hot. The advantage October seems to have is being slightly more settled / predictable.

If food is a focus, then Spain, Portugal (seriously under-rated still, but the basic standard is high and mid-range wonderful), and of course France.

Doing Portugal as the core might be good, from the wilds of the north, through the history and culture of Lisbon, the warm Douro/Port region through to the warmth of the south, newly re-emerging as a wine area, but with some great (and not so great) places along the coast. Tack a couple of locations on in Spain... or do this in reverse of trying the diverse elements of Spain and then adding a little Portugal on to compare and contrast. Spain + South-west France might also be a good pairing.

I agree with Mychurch on how accessible Holland can be, and I always find the country and its people (and their attitudes) very interesting. Maybe a little cool vs. Singapore, but it's a country where the weather seems a minor consideration. That said, the tulip celebration at Keukenhof near Amsterdam is always impressive (and that's in April?May IIRC)

Regards
Ian

I've done this a number of times due the GFC and I get 10 weeks annual leave. May was our choice month- always some good weather and no tourists.When my daughter arrived, I refused to give up exotic travels so we would just fly to Europe and camp in wine regions for 3-4 weeks in one spot. I recommend wine regions as they go hand in hand with rich culture, cuisine and heritage. Also, by not moving around in Europe it was very cheap- no more expensive than a Bendigo getaway back home say.

Off the top of head my long term village stays were-

-Beaune. Amazing insight to Burgundy and we hired a wonderful apartment above a little bakery. Day trips amazing. Not too expensive except when you hook into Grand Cru.

- Southern Styria, Austria. Wow! Amazing. Beautiful Austria. Day trips to Slovenia, Hungary, etc. Exploring new wine regions such as Jeruzalem in Slovenia. Amazing wines and farmer foods. Fresh produce mind blowing.

- Wachau, Austria. Wonderful place for a few weeks.

- Mikulov, Moravia, Czech Republic. Another cool wine region. Really off-beat.

- Middle-Mosel. Great few weeks. Underrated is Germany though bring a case of heavy reds! Too much riesling.

- Northern Rhone is cool. Im sure a few weeks would be aa joy though probably the south?

If I was you, of course, I'd just camp in the Langhe.

But seriously, this is the best way to travel with family or to really enjoy life at your chosen region's pace. I'd go a little known wine region and you will become a bit of an expert and have this amazing vinous experience for the rest of your life.

This year I'm planning Stellanbosch or Georgia ( ah the one with some culture ) as a bit of a wine holiday and bluffing the family that it isn't as there are so many other adventures. Next year, Israel.

via collins wrote:Hard to go past Lyon which gives you a very handy pivot point to every single region of France, and fair pieces of Italy and Germany.

Another logic might suggest Nth Portugal to give access to both the finest parts of Portugal, and a fair chunk of Spain.

Good times ahead whatever you do I suspect.

pretty good call
I would probably go north of Lyon closer to burgundy and cruise around for food and wine in the country from a rental
gite
I have spent a week in an apartment in Lyon across from the Paul Bocouse markets and reckon it is a slightly busy city- great to do day trips in but stay in the rural area with a lovely view imo

If you restrict yourself to just a few central locations you might end up spending both ends of the day travelling, whereas if you stay shorter times in the (sub?) regions you want to visit you can enjoy evenings/more than one day. Booking ahead is a piece of cake these days. Of course you will have to travel light and do laundry more often.

Everyone has a different style travelling (and possibly thinks any other way is quite bonkers! )

Strasbourg...
Close to Alsace and German wine regions, three hours to Champagne. Close enough to lots of northern and Western European tourist areas as well.

Yes, Alsace. Also Mosel & Rheingau. All of which I've visited and would recommend heartily.
And probably Burgundy too, which I'm yet to experience.
cheers,
Graeme

Thanks everyone . Really appreciate the suggestions, places like Strasbourg hadn’t even really crossed my mind! That is certainly an interesting one and I have spent some time googling it.

Whatever the outcome I’ll let you all know how it goes with a few photos as well..!

And happy new year to everyone.

With the French train network being centred around Paris, if you wanted travel (by train) to lots of places, Paris would be ideal. For example, if you want to get from A to B you often need to travel via Paris.

You mentioned running - would you contemplate a marathon? A chap who sits next to me at work has taken them up and enjoys the chance to see other countries / cities https://adamlarner.wordpress.com/ scroll down for the marathon write-ups. I'm sure he'd be happy to talk through the logistics if it's not covered in the blogs.

Jamie's suggestion of Austria ties in with some very positive comments from a UK wine forumite (I think he's spent time in the Wachau), with walking and cycling very good he said.

In terms of locations, should you choose 2-3 different countries, then flights can be cheap if booked 2-3 months in advance, and you're prepared to choose a cheaper time of day. It's often no frills though, something of a cattle crush and hold baggage often incurs an additional fee. Arguably much better to choose places within reasonable train distance, so a 4-5 hour Eurostar / TGV etc. journey is a pleasurable event in itself, without the cattle herding of plane travel. Prices aren't bad at all on the whole, so do price up 1st class as well. Of course if you're trying to keep bases & travel down to a minimum, I very much support that. Every transfer involves sh*tty time: packing, checking out, waiting for taxi/train/etc, then after the journey, lugging bags to a cab, checking in, unpacking, getting your bearings again. Of the above, it's only the actual journey I'd ever consider enjoyable, and then usually only when travelling by train.