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Charlies popped up a few years ago as a sort of fast food Chinese restaurant and there are now three or four of them about the centre of town. The food is standard Dublin prices, or in other words a bit more than it should be, and is all right if you get it when the place is quiet. Other than that stay the hell away from them. It's a magnet for the drunk and serves up the vilest food when it gets busy. I've been ill the last two times I've eaten there, and won't be returning.
The main problem is that for the same money you could get a decent enough meal elsewhere.
Around Temple Bar
Avoid the scruffy and dangerous streets in Grenoble city centre which stretch from the cable car station on the quayside beside the Isere river to
the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. Thiefs loiter here - especially at night, so women don't walk alone in this area!
Beware some of the tango shows in Buenos Aires that are recommended by your hotel. Bar Sur in San Telmo and Mandera Tango in the port area of BA are a rip off and are tourist traps.
For example, they will try and give you a poor seat with a bad view for you to upgrade to the 'VIP' area. They include a poor dinner with horrible house wine then con you to have a photo taken with two of the tango dancers who they say appear in the show then you never see them again.
They'll also offer you a cocktail for 40 pesos which is three times the price of any cocktail anywhere else. Bar Sur charges 210 pesos per person for the dinner and show in one of the tightest floor spaces in BA. Then the drinks are double the price of anywhere else in BA. If you want to see tango choose very carefully.
A place to remember for the wrong reasons! A lesson learned... don't always trust your guide! This is the sole reason I decided to add a profile to the Been there travel site.
Where to start? Imagine, it's the final night of your holiday and you have an early flight the following morning...
What you want is preferably quiet accommodation with easy access to your chosen airport transport (in this case the shuttle bus). Something simple and clean is fine as it's only an overnighter.
We booked on the phone the night before from Cordoba based on the above needs following the review in the usually trustworthy TimeOut guide.
True, as most of these things are indeed facts, but in my mind this place should never have been recommended.
This is what they wrote...
"A friendly hostel with cheap, cheerful rooms. The best is number 15, with windows giving fine views over the port. There's also a communal balcony."
It should read...
"A friendly-ish hostel (on the 4th floor of an office block, with nighttime skinhead bouncer for the night shift who locks everyone in the hotel over night... eek), very cheap, cheerless rooms with paper-thin walls. The worst would be number 15, with windows giving fine views over the noisy/busy road. There's also a communal balcony (and lounge which stinks of fag smoke)."
What you get...
Communal toilets (communal showers if you're on a stupidly tight budget and really can't afford one in your room) - all complete with 80s plastic concertina doors. Super thin walls - chatty neighbours optional. McDonalds - on the corner full of local teens until the early hours with obligatory noisy Vespa.
Don't waste your cash... it should be turned into a museum; it's exactly what I imagine early 90s Malaga was like (which is perhaps when the review was written).
Frustratingly it's probably always fully booked in high season due to the volume of holidaymakers in the city, and therefore will never clean up its act.
Hostal Derby - "Don't forget your ear plugs, nose plugs..."
I went to Marrakech for a girls' holiday last weekend, for four days and it was terrible. I had been before with my husband and really enjoyed it, but this time the annoying experiences outweighed the good ones. We were harassed to the point of being sworn at in Djemaa el Fna’s souks, especially the shops near to the square. We had a good idea of how to bargain; they quote a price, you quarter it, and the haggling begins. This was possible in the souks further inside, but the shopkeepers nearer the square were so hot tempered and arrogant that we couldn't be bothered to explore half the time.
Also, at the weekends, medicine is impossible to find. I fell ill and every pharmacy I walked past was closed. When I asked the hotel where I could find one that was open, they directed me to a pharmacist (a short walk away) and told me to read the sign showing which pharmacies were open. But not knowing French made it impossible to decipher this list. I walked 20 minutes in one direction with a hotel bellboy (who I requested to come with), only to find the pharmacy had closed down. And shops and supermarkets sell everything from TVs to nappies, but no aspirin or paracetamol! Our hotel was useless in this situation and showed no sympathy or support.
On our last night one of my friends was robbed as we were waiting for a taxi. Two young boys came up to her and with a knife while she was holding her camera, she gave it immediately. We tried to call for help but we didn't know who to trust. After making our way back to the hotel, the receptionist couldn't even call the police and ask them to come to the hotel to take a report (for insurance). Instead we were advised to get a taxi to the police station (bear in mind we didn't want to go back out because we all felt angry and upset). Having spent an hour in the police station we couldn’t wait to get back to London. We know robberies take place everywhere but the lack of support, care and sympathy in Marrakech was outrageous!
Mugged by three men in 4x4 in broad daylight on the AP7. Forced on to hard shoulder. Lost £3k, passports, driving licences, Euro health cards, cheque books, credit cards - the lot. Had 93-year-old woman in the car at the time. Left totally stranded.
Beware - motorway mugging is very common around Barcelona, Alicante etc. Do not stop your car for any reason.
Although Alghero airport is modern, the toilets are just a hole in the floor, two footprints and no handrail, try and go before you get to the airport if you can. Sardinia has great beaches, by the way.
So-called restaurant in Placa Reial. Rude service, hardly any Spanish staff or proper food, below-average food quality (pork undercooked, veg swimming in grease), not worth the minimum 40-minute wait. Such a shame as a great location. Avoid this place if you want service with a smile and decent Spanish/Catalan food. Never before not left a tip anywhere. Here was a very sad first, but well-deserved.
6 Placa Reial, Barri Gotic
If you are planning on going to Zavala or Sveti Nedelja beach, don't go by scooter. Nothing can prepare you for the long, dark tunnel you have to pass through to get to them.
Scooters aren't meant to use it, although they didn't tell us this in the rental shop. There are literally no lights, so it is pitch black as the scooter lights are not designed to light up the road but just to be seen.
We had to follow the car in front very closely to see by his tail lights, and the tunnel was damp so we were afraid of slipping. On the way back it was worse as there was a car behind us and we were able to see the road which was not properly surfaced, full of ruts and pot holes, and very narrow. We were both shaking when we finally got to the end!
on way to Zavala beach
A bit of a hidden gem, the grim street-level entrance belies the splendid interior, and an atmosphere which is reminiscent of the belle epoch.
The service is quite superb, which really stands out after a couple of days of Czech service, which can be surly. Have the Czech breakfast, which includes delicious apple cake. The English breakfast - toast and marmalade, baked beans and chopped up frankfurters, is only worth ordering for its comedy value.
As to Prague, being careful crossing the roads cannot be stressed enough. The drivers only stop on red lights (in theory) or if a pedestrian's corpse jams their wheels. Beware the trams, which are quiet and easily missed above the hubbub.
Try to get off the main streets at night, as the pimps, drug dealers, strip club and bar advertisers are utterly persistent and will follow you for long distances. Unless, of course, you are there for "sucky sucky" or the half price attentions of a lesbian midget.
One more thing: Large numbers of British stag groups are absolutely running riot there, and you can feel the resentment, even hatred, of many of the locals. If you are Prague-bound, start practising your Canadian accent now.
Narodni Trida 20, in the New Town.
Please beware of people trying to overcharge you for taxi fares from the airport. I booked an apartment through the website www.feelhomeinrome.com and they booked me a taxi for 65 Euros. I only found out later, when the taxi didn't turn up for the return journey and I had to hail a cab from one of the main streets, that the official charge is 30 Euros to the inner city. You can also get a bus for eight Euros to termini.
By the way, even though the apartment was good, I wouldn't recommend feelhomeinrome.com as they apply hidden charges for cleaning the apartment and work with a dodgy taxi company that is charging more than double the official fare.
At the base of the funicular in Montmartre, if a man carrying some bits of coloured string approaches you and asks you to hold out your hand, he is about to (albeit pretty skilfully) weave you a “good luck” bracelet, indulge in some tired patter - “You got boyfriend?” “You and your boyfriend make jiggy jiggy, yeah?” - and charge you ten, yes ten, flipping Euros for about two minutes' work.
“But just ‘cause you’re English, and I like English. Americans and Italians, I charge them 20."
I encountered them near the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, but wouldn't be surprised if they were elsewhere.
Traffic in Manila is probably the worst in the world - it is hell. If anyone complains about traffic in New York, Los Angeles, Rome etc, he or she should visit Manila because nothing compares to Manila traffic.
The reason why is simply because of the population almost doubling in the past 20 years. As a result, there are more drivers and more vehicles fighting for space on mostly old-narrow roads and highways. The saying "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere" applies if one were to drive in Manila.
Old and dilapidated vehicles such as jeeps, buses and tricycles add to the problems of congestion and pollution. Also, undisciplined drivers cause gridlock - U-turns on main thoroughfares make no sense. A modernization plan is needed where drivers can easily exit, cross a bridge over the freeway/highway and enter the other way. You'll know what I'm talking about once you're in Manila.
Pollution, such as smog, is a major issue in the city. Old vehicles belch fumes and smoke so avoid taking old public transport without air-conditioning and windows. Community efforts are gaining momentum to clean up so as to beautify the city. Streets are generally clean although certain sections in, around and outside Manila seem neglected, such as railroad tracks, rivers and, of course, the squatter areas in certain districts of Metro Manila.
Just returned from a four-night boys’ adventure and found Bratislava a really miserable, rude and racist place. It is dirty, graffiti was visible everywhere once you step five minutes outside of the old town and, as I travelled with a number of black guys, found the general friendliness of people awkward.
Our hotel was run by shaven-headed thugs after dark who talked and looked at us in disgust, which was carried on in the bars and clubs in town. Every taxi driver offered us sex and they make up prices from one day to the next! Wouldn't recommend to anyone, go to Poland or the Czech Republic!
Please ensure that ladies and men are tatooed all over and make sure that you have an abundance of England football regalia, hats, shirts, shorts and the omnipresent towel with Wayne Rooney's ugly mug on.
More McGonagall than Wordsworth, only one hotel in Grasmere seems happy to drag the latter poet's name through the sheep dip. Somehow awarded four stars (unless those are bullet holes in the signs), the Wordsworth manages to capture the essence of tired, floral hell in one of Cumbria's most beautiful villages.
Snootier than an English butler, the hotel keeps its Steptoe disdain for all but its most blue-rinsed guests. One can only hope it has aspirations to one day growing into a retirement home.
In its favour, the hotel does manage to incentivize even the laziest of walkers.
Get to Grasmere and you will only avoid it with great skill.
Amsterdam is undoubtedly one of Europe's most romantic cities, but if you only have the time and money for one mushy weekend break in 2007, I'd have to recommend somewhere else.
The amount of roadworks and construction going on in the city centre at the moment is phenomenal, and I'm afraid that it does spoil things quite a bit. The Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum are being refurbished; an area from Centraal Station to Muntplein has been excavated for a new Metro facility; and several of the old streets and buildings are currently wearing an ugly shroud of scaffolding.
Of course there are still many photogenic pockets of Je Oude Amsterdam to be found, but right now they are fewer and further between. Let's hope the Herculean effort being put into the city is enough to preserve it for generations to come.
Then again, if all you're after is girls, beer, clubs and 'coffee' it's business as usual.
There's a helpful website which indicates the extent of the disruption here:
www.werkaandeweg.amsterdam.nl/index/emaps
The local council in Valpo decided to increase the price of a ticket by 150% on the main access funicular lift to Cerro Concepcion, the most heavily visited area of the city by foreign and Chilean tourists.
The price hike is aimed squarely at tourists and there are many petitions being organised by local residents. If possible, do not use the lift and please sign any petition that might come your way.
You'll notice anti-increase posters in the windows of almost every home in the area. The council's decision is an embarrassment to the people who live in Valparaiso as price gouging is not something they want to be a part of.
Please read and please support the petition:
www.boycottconcepcion.blogspot.com
There are better beaches and cheaper hotels elsewhere in Thailand. We were on a liveaboard in the Similan Islands for three days, which was just awesome. But staying in Phuket was a comedown.
Kata is ok, Patong is just awful - I couldn't find a single redeeming feature. Other parts of Phuket are doubtless interesting, but not the beaches in the south.
Avoid Perssia and Fira. Fira is overcrowded, overhyped and feels more like Ibiza than an exclusive Greek island.
Perssia is just plain tacky with an awful beach, and caters only to the British package tour of a certain demographic - as witnessed by ubiquitous signs for 'full English breakfasts' and the Sun and Fredrick Forsyth novels in the newsagents. Whilst Oia is also overcrowded (especially when cruiseships dock), it is indescribably pretty, with better beaches, and with the best views on the island.
Oia doens't have the nightlife of Fira, but the atmosphere is much much nicer, and you can always pop over to Fira to go clubbing.
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