Stained glass, architecture... - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**Majestic58** · 06-07-2006, 01:00 PM

Hi!

I am a 26 y/o female planning my first trip to Europe for summer/autumn of 2007. I plan on going alone, and just kind of general wandering for about 6 months (or more, depending on how much fun im having

) I have cities I want to visit, but no real concrete itinerary... Anyway, my question is this, I love beautiful architecture, stained glass, old churches... That type of thing. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on where (in your opinion) the best places to see beautiful examples of these are... Like I said, my itinerary is super flexible, the countries I'm planning to visit so far are Ireland, Scotland, England, Hungry, Turkey, Greece, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, The Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Wales... *laughs* I know that sounds like a lot, but I'm ambitious!

Let me know any ideas you have.

**space virgin** · 06-07-2006, 01:20 PM

Hey there, welcome!

Are you going over on a work visa or other such arrangement? Because you should know that technically the max amount of time you're allowed to stay in a Schengen Agreement country (most of Europe, excluding the UK and a couple other countries) is 3 months. After those three months are up you have to be gone for 3 months before you can re-enter.

The good thing is that you CAN go to the UK for those three months if you haven't stayed there for more than 3 months already. The UK has a leave to enter policy for 6 months... does that make sense?

Anyway, cathedrals (obviously) are going to be a great place to find lots of lovely stained glass.

I personally love the Ste. Chappelle in Paris. Soooo pretty.

**Majestic58** · 06-07-2006, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by space virgin@Jun 7 2006, 08:20 PM
Hey there, welcome!* * Are you going over on a work visa or other such arrangement?* Because you should know that technically the max amount of time you're allowed to stay in a Schengen Agreement country (most of Europe, excluding the UK and a couple other countries) is 3 months.* After those three months are up you have to be gone for 3 months before you can re-enter.* * The good thing is that you CAN go to the UK for those three months if you haven't stayed there for more than 3 months already.* The UK has a leave to enter policy for 6 months... does that make sense?*

Anyway, cathedrals (obviously) are going to be a great place to find lots of lovely stained glass.* * I personally love the Ste. Chappelle in Paris.* Soooo pretty.*

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Actually, since I am Canadian so plan to use that to my advantage and work in the UK for a while, specifically Ireland... That not only solves my time constraint issues, but that'll help with the money thing too.:D

**space virgin** · 06-07-2006, 02:22 PM

Awesome.

Lucky!!!

**omisan** · 06-07-2006, 02:57 PM

There's incredible architecture all over Europe.. one of the benefits of being more than 200 years old, I guess...

My favorites have been the incredible gothic architecture mixed with color around the Czech Republic, and the surreal architecture of Gaudi that dominates Barcelona. The modern architecture in London and Paris is awesome, as well.

**tumblezweedz** · 06-07-2006, 03:06 PM

Chartres for stained glass. Anywhere for architecture, really. One thing about stained glass in Europe, is that most places were bombed pretty severely during WWII, so even if the cathedrals survived (as they were often the tallest buildings, they frequently didn't) most of the glass didn't. So it's a bit weird, but you'll walk into this incredible 12th C gothic cathedral, and it'll have strange, modern windows in the old arched frames. There's still plenty around, of course, but sometimes it's a bit of a disconnect. I particularly noticed this phenomenon in Poland, but you'll see it in Germany a lot as well.

Hungary is a cool blend of east and west in architecture, and Spain is awesome with the Moorish influence. And there are some great Romanesque churches there too. Prague is an architectural marvel, but so crowded in the summer. Better to go there in the fall, if you can. Depending on how you get to Russia, if you plan to go via Poland, Krakow is a must see, and one of the only cities that wasn't flattened in WWII, so well worth it for that alone. Gdansk is also lovely, and totally different, but was all reconstructed (based on paintings, plans, etc that survived) after the war. Which is interesting to see in itself. And if you can make it to the Baltics, which I highly recommend, Vilnius is an incredible Baroque city, with little splashes of Gothic and Renaissance here and there, and Riga has a Jugendstil (sp) district which is quite unique, while Tallinn is one of the few remaining medieval walled cities, still to be preserved.

**worldwidemike** · 06-08-2006, 04:08 AM

Prague's cool, too. Lots of European cities have an "Old Town" section. However, Prague is pretty much ALL Old Town...

worldwidemike