At the moment I’m living just outside of Madrid (I’m loving it), for the next two months in a bid to learn Spanish and enjoy all that their culture has to offer. Afterwards, I’m planning to make my way home, the long way. I’ll be finished in Spain by late August and want to make my way to New Zealand by mid October, or round about. There’s a few countries on my to visit list, but I simply can’t visit them all – all of the countries mentioned below I have not visited, so REALLY appeal to me. I was wondering which you think are essential before I depart European shores for a long time.
Just as a side note – during the time between Madrid and New Zealand, I will be spending around a week in the Czech Republic with my former host family, enjoying the tail end of summer there and picking up my suitcase – so travel will be a bit more difficult from this point on. I plan to fly to New Zealand from Istanbul, Turkey. So bare in mind I have to get from Spain to the Czech Republic and onto Turkey, the places I go in between are what I’m interested in figuring out.
Here are the main contesters:
Portugal – First photo by Rstml, second and third photo by Michael Swiet 
Morocco – Photos by Stephen Walford
Italy – Photos by Bulbol2010 
Croatia – Photos by Lena_Ni 
Slovenia – Photos by Tridlad
Greece – First photo by Alissa Ferris second by P and R and third by Peace Correspondent
These beautiful pictures have confused me more. I think I’d be happy to spend around two weeks in Turkey, so that really leaves 3-4 weeks for all the other places. Money IS AN ISSUE, so I want to keep costs as low as possible, I’m literally down to my last cents. As flights will become more pricey, I’m looking at locking in dates soon rather than playing things by ear.
Where do you think I should spend my time and WHY? Bonus points if the places are more affordable. Part of me is tempted to make my way by land from Prague to Istanbul, but I think that might be too expensive. As I’m living in Madrid I could easily delegate weekend trips to Portugal, Morocco and Italy, just for a taste, but I don’t want to sell the places short.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
