ignatius wrote:
yeah, i wanted to stop short of not recommending lisbon as it was only a 2 night visit. of places i've been around europe, i'd hit others before lisbon though. could be i missed the better parts. it certainly didn't suck and i'm glad i went.
with the state of economy in portugal, they need more tourism.
While I am glad I went to Lisbon, it would not be in my top 5 if I knew I was just going to have limited time in Europe. It's a great place to visit but there are places I enjoyed more and I had many opportunities living there 11 years so I eventually got around to Portugal. I actually enjoyed the countryside north of Lisbon more than Lisbon itself, a lot of history, interesting scenery, interesting land use and some beautiful cities and towns. I particularly liked Tomar. I also enjoyed partaking in Port Wine. I never liked it until I got to Portugal, go figure.
phuqueue wrote:
Thanks a ton for the info, I'd been kind of looking around on the Icelandic embassy website and their official tourism site and places like that but coming up empty. I googled around a bit but never really know how much to trust random sites that come up so I'm glad to get it from someone who knows from experience.
I HIGHLY recommend getting the most recent version of Lonely Planet. Of all the guidebook, LP has the most relevant practical information and also the widest range of hotel and restaurant suggestions both in cost and genre. Not to sound like an ad but LP was my constant companion everywhere I went in Europe.
Another note about Scandinavia driving, if Iceland is anything like its sister countries, be extremely wary about driving after any alcohol consumption at all. A single beer will put you over the limit in Sweden and Norway and the consequences of getting caught are pretty draconian (jail and 1 months salary for first offense although I am not sure how they would treat a foriegner who did not live there).