bluemonday Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler...11/islands.html We scored 73. "Maintains its own parliament, the Tynwald, and its own dialect and legislation. It has a rich cultural heritage with many prehistoric, early medieval, and industrial-era monuments." "Attractive with a mountainous spine and nice coastline. Manx traditions retained, but shot through with immigration from England. Heritage cherished from the castles to local government (Tynwald, etc). Douglas a pleasant capital if somewhat parochial. Tourism has passed its peak; formerly a traditional resort for the English before Spanish package holidays. Traditional seaside hotels sustainable but underused." "Character is reasonably preserved. The main event, the TT Motor Bike races, conflicts with environment, but it is the island's peak tourist time." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Top Quarter and beat Jersey. Yes the Falklands and the Faroes maybe more unspoilt, but would you want to live there? Of course the message is clear - cancel the TT and move up the chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insomniac Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Neolithic stone circles are thousands of years old, Tynwald is just over a thousand years old, the TT is 101 years old which is only a few years after the heritage trains. its all relative in that it all has to start at a point in time and which one does more for the ecconomy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemonday Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 Anyone ever been to the Faroes, if so what was it like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 That picture of the Faroe Islands on the article page looks stunning! I'm suprised that there's no mention of the island's beaches and coast which are my favourite parts and I'm also suprised that the Croatian islands don't top the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I see you are in Slovenia at the moment? What's that like? Seems quite an interesting country, I was interested to see it is the only former communist country to make the IMF Advanced Economy List and a per capita GDP greater than Portugal. How did they achieve this so quietly, while the rest of the old Yugoslavia were beating the crap out of each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mission Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I think the answer probably lies within your question tbh - could be wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Well that's why they are ahead of the rest of ex-Yugoland but ahead of Poland, and the Czech Republic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinnieK Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 I think Slovenia's always been fairly prosperous and advanced economically thanks to its proximity to Austria and Italy (and the fact that Tito's Yugoslavia wasn't quite as inflexible as was Soviet dominated Poland and Czechoslovakia). Also, Slovenia was far less devastated during the Second World War than a lot of the north eastern European nations - Poland in particular was decimated, with its middle and professional classes almost eradicated by both the Nazis and the NKVD; something that would take a long time to recover from even without Soviet oppression and the disasterous effects of planned economies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Yes that accounts in part for it's success. It also was was the most industrialised part of Yugoslavia (it had 1/13th of the population but accounted for 1/3rd of the exports) and after the breakup largely escaped the madness because Croatia acted as a buffer between it and Serbia. It's has probably just used the years since 1991 to regain it's rightful place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 As has been said the country has always been prosperous and its breakup from Yugoslavia consisted only of a 10 day war when they succeeded in kicking out the Yugoslavian/Serbian troops fairly quickly and with less than 100 deaths on both sides. Its income is now higher than countries like Greece and Portugal and all of the other countries in Central Europe. This could be because its industry is well developed and they get an enormous amounto of tourists every year (look at pictures of the place to see why). They're described as having the work ethic of the Germans and northern Europeans but the same attitude to life as the Italians and Spanish - quite a perfect mix. The country is stunning but then so is the rest of the western Balkans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Anyone ever been to the Faroes, if so what was it like? Only spent a couple of days there. Lots of fish farms, and factories for processing food for the fish farms - (very smelly!!!). Coming into land at the airport is quite scary, feels like you're about to fly into a cliff face, then you suddenly touch down just on top of it and it's the runway. It is very 'scenic' though, taking ferry's from one ireland to the other. AFAIK it's a Danish colony, but the locals have their own language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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