Where you can inexpensively and interestingly relax


In the warm spring days it is amazing to go on a trip, even to a small one. And although the holidays as such are no more, you can always take a few compensatory holidays and go to the sea, the sun, flowering meadows, in order to breathe in warm air and make yourself clean on the eve of summer. Where it is possible to have an inexpensive and interesting rest? It turns out - nothing is easier ...

Crete

On Crete it is best to settle in a nice town like Chania or Rethymnon: fresh orange juice on the waterfront, stone streets of the old city, Venetian fortresses, domes of churches and mosque antennas. In the afternoon - on the sea, after dinner - in the shops of the old city to choose silver designer jewelry, and in the evening - to try fish in one of the restaurants or dance club.

On Crete you do not get bored in a week. To see the city, it is possible to travel by public transport - comfortable buses, with air conditioning, go on schedule and are inexpensive, the only difficulty - after 23.00 you will not go anywhere. It's a little more comfortable to rent a car and drive the whole island: from the far Wai beach with banana trees to the Knossos palace with the labyrinth of the Minotaur or cave where, according to legend, Rhea secretly gave birth to mighty Zeus from Kronos.

The only trip that is best done together with the excursion is in the most beautiful gorge Samaria, 40 km from Chania. Its length is 18 kilometers, and it needs to be walked, and this is 7-8 hours' journey. The effort is worth it: in some places, the height of the steep walls reaches 600 meters, and the passage narrows to 3 meters. And at the end of the road you go to the shore of the Libyan Sea, to the beaches with black sand and bathe until you are picked up by the boat.

Stockholm

The first time you need to see this city from the sea. Sail on a huge, like a house, a ferry from Helsinki. The Finns call it a "cruise" - you spend two nights on a ferry, and a day in the city, and it costs about the same as a one-way ticket to an airplane. It's better to get up early, in the morning the ferry floats along the narrow gulf, the deck is lit by the rising sun, and on the black rocks there appear the first houses, villas, lighthouses, then, a little further, the tower of the Kakhnas TV tower.

In Stockholm, you need to wander through the stone streets (the narrowest of them you can reach with your hands from one wall to another), better in the morning, until the countless hordes of tourists sweeping away the Viking helmets in souvenir shops. To drink coffee on the tiny square of Stortorget, to find the sculpture of a little boy in the courtyard of the Finnish church (in winter, caring ministers wear a woolen knitted hat) and finally go out to the royal palace. At noon, there is a change of guard with music and marches. Do not zazevatsya and have time for the 14.00 for the last tour of the town hall, in the Blue Hall of which every year on December 10, awarded the Nobel Prize.

If you are with children, then the second half of the day dedicate to the Beast Island (Djurgarden), where once there were royal hunting grounds. At all times, not enough, so choose either a fun-filled amusement park, or Skansen, a place where wooden buildings are gathered from all over Sweden. Or go to the museum of the sunken ship Vasa - this is a real ship that sank 300 years ago, before leaving the harbor. In the XX century it was discovered, brought in tow to a special dock, drained and made of it a huge seven-story museum.

Armenia

Good hotels in Yerevan are expensive, so if there is an opportunity, it is better to rent an apartment on the recommendation of familiar Armenians. Just do not forget to clarify the situation with water tanks and autonomous heaters - with water in Armenia problems.

Be sure to go to the mountains: to see how an elegant stone church is displayed against the background of green mountains, is a special pleasure, especially as the majestic Ararat serves as a backdrop.

If you go east from Yerevan, the road will lead to the huge gorge of the Garni River, in the homonymous village, where the beautifully restored antique temple is located. A little further away, in neighboring Geghard, where the road ends, there is a functioning two-tiered monastery of the 13th century. At first it seems that this is a typical Armenian church standing at the rock itself, but it does not do without surprises - in the rock caves are dug, some with altars, some without, in one of them a spring flows, and from the other one you can head up and see the blue Armenian sky through a hole in the ceiling. On the way home, buy on the highway local jam from walnuts, raspberries, apricots and other fragrant fruits.

From the obligatory program in Yerevan itself: look at the para-Janov collages in the local museum, get drunk on alcoholic vapors at the Ararat brandy factory, go to the market, buy all sorts of candied fruits, local vodka tutovka, and also basturma and sudzhuk. And in the evenings, sit with friends at the barbecue in Proshiyana Street.

Kiev

Night on the train, sleepy acquaintance with Ukrainian customs officers, and you are in the fantastic spring city watching its most important attraction - white and pink candles of chestnuts on Khreshchatyk. Take care in advance about the overnight stay. Since hotels in Kiev are either bad or expensive, the best option is to rent an apartment. It can be an immense "kopeck piece" with high ceilings, five minutes walk from the Golden Gate or a cozy modern studio next to the Bessarabian market, but at a price of 60 to 100 dollars per night, you will certainly live in the center.

Get ready to eat a lot - in Kiev, even in the most inexpensive institution such as chain restaurants "Puzata hut" fed incredibly nourishing and delicious. Try to have delicious borscht with pampushkami, the best in the world syrniki, a few dozen varenyk varieties, a potato with cracklings, and gorilka, of course.

The usual tourist routes can be diversified and really interesting to relax. Collapse from Khreshchatyk to Lipki district - head up, admiring the pre-revolutionary mansions, find a "house with chimeras" and spend half an hour looking at the whole sculptural zoo on the facade of this house on Bankovskaya Street. 10. Having breathed in the parks above the Dnieper, go down to the river and raid river tram to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and back. Bargain for some entertaining gizmos on Andrew's descent and try in the shopping excitement do not forget to drop in for an interesting excursion to the Bulgakov Museum.

Budapest

This beautiful city literally stands on thermal springs. There are so many of them that you can go from bathing to bathing in some other vacation and never again. True, men and women will have to make independent routes: in most cases in the baths there are male and female days. This rule does not apply only to the most famous tourist places, which, fortunately, are very beautiful. This is a huge complex of Széchenyi (three open pools and a dozen closed, a Turkish steam room, a sauna and a ridiculous maze with a rapid current) in the city park, right behind Heroes Square and famous for their pool with columns of the Gellért bathhouse at the same hotel.

Being in Budapest, it is necessary to climb to the Buda Hill, climb along the Fishermen's Bastion, admire the carved lines of the church of St. Mattias and gaze at the panorama of Pest on the other side of the Danube. And also look into the museum of marzipan and, of course, taste the famous Tokay.

And the next day start with a walk along Andrassy Avenue - the main street of the city. Lunch at Bagolivar with real Hungarian delicacies like goose liver and goulash, and for dessert you can taste the homemade cheese, which is made here in the restaurant, and served with caramelized fruits.

Saaremaa Island, Estonia

Saaremaa is a true provincial Estonia, as it was many years ago. The island can be reached by ferry from Tallinn or Latvian Ventspils. Due to such isolation on the island you can still see ancient peasant huts covered with reeds, medieval stone churches and huge wooden "windmills" among the juniper wastelands. For example, in the town of Angla, windmills are five: pillars, with the tip turning around its axis, and the Dutch, where only the blades rotate.

The main attraction of the town of Kuresaare is the episcopal castle, a powerful Gothic fortress of the 14th century. This is a square structure with 7-storey watchtowers, a moat along the perimeter and real wooden gates.

A trip to Saaremaa is a real ecotourism, where you can spend an inexpensive and interesting vacation. Here the healing, juniper-smelling air, warm because of the microclimate of the sea and mud of the local lake Mullutu-Suurlaht with a huge amount of useful microelements. And here you can try an unusually soft home made beer from oats and barley grown here and incredible tasty black bread.