Being a cruise lover/ expert I get to visit a vast amount of European destinations, a lot of these being small towns. I am going to tell you a bit about my top 5 that I have been to.
Manorola (Italy)– this is probably the most breath taking town I have ever been to, it kind of scares me. The thing that scares me is that all of the buildings are precariously situated on the face of basically a cliff. I think this adds to the excitement of the town. I love the way that each building is painted in a different colour, makes it unique and interesting. The life they must lead there must be truly relaxing, as I walked down the main alleyway people were just sunbathing on the streets and carrying kayaks and boats straight down to the shore.
Bruges (Belgium) – this is the perfect way to end a cruise vacation. At night time this place is stunning, it gives me the feeling of Christmas. It’s basically a perfectly preserved mediaeval town with proper traditional Belgian shops, such as chocolatiers, coffee shops and classy restaurants and cafes.
Roquebrune (France) – this town is phenomenally beautiful. Perched over a rocky outcrop, it definitely deserves a spot on my top 5. It has a proper authentic feel with the red brick buldings styled how you would image 10th century France. It’s a bit of a walk getting around this town as it’s so hilly but well worth the visit.
Ohrid (Macedonia) – ok this isn’t a town, but it only has a tiny population of around 40,000 that’s way smaller than the average town in the U.K. It’s one of only 28 places in the world that’s on the UNESCO world heritage site for both natural and cultural reasons. It has many cool little things about it that make it interesting, for example it used to have 365 churches, one for each day of the year.
Positano (Italy) – like most of my favourite towns, this one is in a peculiar setting, coming down into an enclave in the hills, leading to the coast. It’s a proper traditional Italian scene, fishermen coming in with the catch of the day, cafes and coffee shops littered across, proper rustic restaurants everywhere I love this town ever since coming here as a kid, it always excites me.
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I really enjoyed my stay at all of these towns and I genuinely recommend visiting these to anyone at least for one day, remember to explore the places properly and see as much as you can, do it on a cruise too, you could visit more than one of these places in one trip. I also recommend taking a good quality dslr or slr camera, taking panoramic shots of these cities looks great!
Written by Jared Lecouteur.