Cities you'd never return to

Olive8585 · 27-04-2014 09:29PM

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

Belgium is interesting enough to have an argument about?

I spent my first 10 years there and for some reason returned for a bit as an adult. The Flemish/Walloon bickering is the most interesting thing it has going for it.

losthorizon · 27-04-2014 09:49PM

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

Belgium is interesting enough to have an argument about?

Just been there on day trips but never been there properly but there is stacks of history going on in that small nation. Having been to most nations in europe its funny I never got to get to go there really.

Diane Selwyn · 27-04-2014 10:10PM

Duck's hoop wrote: »

It's like most other spots, follow the locals. Though it can be laughably expensive, like any massive city!

My first time there I was 17 and we headed to the some café near the Trocadero. It was 50 francs for a coke. And 75 for tea. That was about 6 and 8 odd quid.

More than 20 years ago. Such decadence.

I spent most my late teens ratting about in the streets and metro stations, trying to be punk, avoiding skins and cops, drinking cheapest beer known to man and I fcuking love that town!

Trying to be punk and paying over the odds for cups of tea I like. J'aime Paris.

Cienciano · 27-04-2014 10:15PM

retalivity wrote: »

I must be in the minority by thinking paris was not expensive at all. Was able to get fabulous food every night for 10-15euro, along with a cheap bottle of plonk.

I found it to be good value too. Suppose it depends where you go, i know some friends had pints for €15. Next day we were drinking them for €3 in another bar.

BuilderPlumber · 28-04-2014 07:10AM

At the moment, Kiev too for obvious reasons. I remember doing the Eastern Europe tour back in the day and found the further East you went, the poorer it got. I started off in Vienna and Prague (both rich), then Bratislava (still, quite rich), then Eastern Slovakia (poorer) and then Ukraine (very poor). Kiev was then a nice place but there was obvious poverty and deprivation around the place but no war or upheavel like now.

Duck's hoop · 28-04-2014 07:25AM

Diane Selwyn wrote: »

Trying to be punk and paying over the odds for cups of tea I like. J'aime Paris.

Positively Wildean put down. Though I simply reported the prices, not that I imbibed.

And if I had, I was 17 ya miserable git.

28-04-2014 07:25AM

Broome, Western Australia, absolute dump, full of alcoholic natives and box jelly fish in unbearable fly infested heat.

thrashmetalfan · 28-04-2014 09:40AM

Mega City 1. the city itself is waaay to big too noisy and overcrowded. the gulf between rich and poor in the city is vast and the local police force locally known as Judges are the most vicious and sadistic cops I have ever seen. never again!!

Blitzkrieger · 28-04-2014 10:11AM

Blingy wrote: »

Montevideo, Uruguay.
The weirdest, oddest place I have ever been. Can't put my finger on any one aspect but just got an awful dark, sinister feeling the whole time I was there. Felt like we were in danger most of the time yet had no obvious reason to feel like that.

I loved Montevideo. Granted before we left the hotel we asked the receptionist (Diego - legend

) where we should go, and the places he said we shouldn't go ended up covering half the map, but we had a great time. Good food, friendly (attractive) locals and we somehow ended up down by the port in the small hours watching street races. Great craic!

Celly Smunt · 28-04-2014 10:23AM

Im going to put Dubai down. I used to pretty much live in the place working over that side.

It's like being in a set of a show, nothing but false impressions, rich business men doing what they can to out do their other rich friends while workers faint in the heat after being whipped to work harder through the 2 o'clock sun.

The english that inhabit the place are by far the worst, trying to live up to the "Dubai lifestyle" arrogany twats the lot of them.The happiest day of my life was finding my assignment in dubai was finsihed. How anybody could considee even holidaying there is beyond me

crockholm · 28-04-2014 05:27PM

Olive8585 wrote: »

Eh...it's a discussion forum where people have, you know, opinions. I found it strange that you said you were posting the names in French when one of them was actually in English and another is FAR better known by its Flemish name. Google 'louvain belgium' and see what comes up. Most pages refer to 'Leuven' and the page which does come up about Université catholique de Louvain is actually about a university in Louvain-la-Neuve. In my experience, only French speakers call Leuven Louvain. But OK, you're the world's leading authority on Belgium.

Not the Worlds leading authority on Belgium,just an expert- an ex, meaning a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure. That's me to a tee:o:p

I am pie · 28-04-2014 05:32PM

Blitzkrieger wrote: »

I loved Montevideo. Granted before we left the hotel we asked the receptionist (Diego - legend ) where we should go, and the places he said we shouldn't go ended up covering half the map, but we had a great time. Good food, friendly (attractive) locals and we somehow ended up down by the port in the small hours watching street races. Great craic!

Montevideo is safe (by regional standards), the locals are generally regarded as some of the nicest most affable people in South America and the standard of living is probably only higher in Santiago (unless you don't like smog...) in terms of the economy, safety and general law & order stuff.

That said, Santiago & Montevideo are fairly boring!

ms.sunnyb · 28-04-2014 05:56PM

Calgary.

suicide_circus · 28-04-2014 06:08PM

Celly Smunt wrote: »

Im going to put Dubai down. I used to pretty much live in the place working over that side.

It's like being in a set of a show, nothing but false impressions, rich business men doing what they can to out do their other rich friends while workers faint in the heat after being whipped to work harder through the 2 o'clock sun.

The english that inhabit the place are by far the worst, trying to live up to the "Dubai lifestyle" arrogany twats the lot of them.The happiest day of my life was finding my assignment in dubai was finsihed. How anybody could considee even holidaying there is beyond me

I have found that a holiday in dubai is a pretty good kunt-o-meter. Pretty safe bet that who enjoys that kind of environment is an utter prick.

The King of Moo · 28-04-2014 06:13PM

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

Belgium is interesting enough to have an argument about?

I don't know where the stereotype in Anglophone countries of Belgium being boring comes from.
It's an amazingly complicated little country, the young people love "having the craic" Irish-style and there are plenty of things to do and interesting sites to see.
You could have a great time just by spending some a while in Liège, then getting a train to Bruges for a completely different experience.

ThunbergsAreGo · 28-04-2014 06:20PM

Celly Smunt wrote: »

Im going to put Dubai down. I used to pretty much live in the place working over that side.

It's like being in a set of a show, nothing but false impressions, rich business men doing what they can to out do their other rich friends while workers faint in the heat after being whipped to work harder through the 2 o'clock sun.

The english that inhabit the place are by far the worst, trying to live up to the "Dubai lifestyle" arrogany twats the lot of them.The happiest day of my life was finding my assignment in dubai was finsihed. How anybody could considee even holidaying there is beyond me

Agree with this Dubai and Abu Dhabi, utterly utterly soulless

Stayed in both on the way back from holidays last year, no character at all

sigmundv · 28-04-2014 06:52PM

Waterford (Port Láirge), Esbjerg in Denmark, Goslar in Germany and Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Maybe a stretch to call these cities, but fairly boring places.

NSAman · 28-04-2014 08:09PM

sigmundv wrote: »

Waterford (Port Láirge), Esbjerg in Denmark, Goslar in Germany and Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Maybe a stretch to call these cities, but fairly boring places.

Eindhoven is indeed, the most boring place I have ever been to. Literally nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

BuilderPlumber · 28-04-2014 08:13PM

naughtb4 wrote: »

Agree with this Dubai and Abu Dhabi, utterly utterly soulless

Stayed in both on the way back from holidays last year, no character at all

Dubai and Lagos are the two worst places EVER. Period.

Olive8585 · 28-04-2014 08:40PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

I have found that a holiday in dubai is a pretty good kunt-o-meter. Pretty safe bet that who enjoys that kind of environment is an utter prick.

Hahaha, I do think that too, which is unfair as I've never even been to Dubai. I have to say I'm curious about seeing the fakeness and whatever, as I think that in itself will be an experience, but I also wouldn't want to support a place that uses so many badly treated and massively underpaid workers.

Oops69 · 28-04-2014 08:49PM

First visited Paris in 1984 as a young teenager , I thought the champs élysées was a ****hole then , considering ireland was a complete ****hole back then , it must have been pretty bad , I had been considering going back recently convincing myself those were just stupid teenage impressions of the city , after reading this thread it looks like nothing's changed in 30 years !

Olive8585 · 28-04-2014 08:54PM

Oops69 wrote: »

First visited Paris in 1984 as a young teenager , I thought the champs élysées was a ****hole then , considering ireland was a complete ****hole back then , it must have been pretty bad , I had been considering going back recently convincing myself those were just stupid teenage impressions of the city , after reading this thread it looks like nothing's changed in 30 years !

It's not a sh1thole. There are some negative aspects, but loads of positives too. There is so much to see and I love just wondering around the Latin Quarter and other spots, taking in the bookshop, little cafes etc....I love it.

fathead82 · 28-04-2014 08:55PM

Pretoria.im there now & its a hole.cant wait to get home.

Oops69 · 28-04-2014 08:56PM

Olive8585 wrote: »

It's not a sh1thole. There are some negative aspects, but loads of positives too. There is so much to see and I love just wondering around the Latin Quarter and other spots, taking in the bookshop, little cafes etc....I love it.

More convincing please , I heard the Montmartre area was good ??

Olive8585 · 28-04-2014 09:05PM

Oops69 wrote: »

More convincing please , I heard the Montmartre area was good ??

It's not my job to convince you. I can't explain exactly why I love it, I just do. I love the atmosphere, the way it feels. I go over for a weekend every now and again on my own and just potter about. My idea of a sh1thole is somewhere you wouldn't want to spend any time, and Paris isn't like that at all to me.

crockholm · 28-04-2014 09:06PM

Oops69 wrote: »

More convincing please , I heard the Montmartre area was good ??

Yup, you're only a 5 minute walk from the Sexodrome.

robbieVan · 28-04-2014 09:10PM

Every American city I've been to has been great when you're in the parts they want you to see and then you step outside those areas and it's either a really wealthy closed off neighbourhood(usually situated on higher ground or near water) or you see poverty, really bad poverty, homelessness, everything is run down and feels old, it's like they stopped building and designing after the 70's/80's

Duck's hoop · 28-04-2014 09:41PM

Oops69 wrote: »

First visited Paris in 1984 as a young teenager , I thought the champs élysées was a ****hole then , considering ireland was a complete ****hole back then , it must have been pretty bad , I had been considering going back recently convincing myself those were just stupid teenage impressions of the city , after reading this thread it looks like nothing's changed in 30 years !

What did you find so offensive about the Champs Élysées in the '80s. As an Irish teenager?

It's a bit tackified and high streety now but even so. In '84 to call it a shìthole was surely just ever so slightly ignorant. In fairness.

'80s Paris was great. And still very French.

cloudatlas · 29-04-2014 10:08AM

There is a chasm between perspective if you're trying to live and make a living somewhere compared to going somewhere as a tourist and having a very specific itinerary.

cloudatlas · 29-04-2014 10:33AM

Article in the Irish Times about the red light district and how it's degraded the area.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/amsterdam-pays-heavy-price-for-selling-out-to-sex-and-drugs-1.1776652

If you're a tourist though it's a no brainer to avoid areas like this. Doesn't everybody do research into things before they go? Surely anyone knows a red light district is going to have all kinds different characters and run down establishment among the more classier places?

Cities you'd never return to

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