Last year at this time, we were just returning from ten days in Mali and Gambia. Paris is a great city for the starting and finishing point for more laborious kinds of treks that demand some pampering at the beginning and end i.e. time to get over jet lag before you begin trekking and recovery time from any kind of bugs you may pick up in remote areas.
Another option is to use Paris as the jump-off point for a European ‘tour’ if you don’t want to limit your travel to one country - once you actually get to Europe. I’m fascinated by the travel itinerary I just found on the Bootsnall Adventure Travel site.
The trip is called Paris to Venice and includes no less than nine different countries: France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, ending up in Venice, Italy. Much of the travel is done by train and there’s plenty of walking as well as some cycling.
If you try to do a trip like this on your own, you might be hard-pressed to do it for $100 a day - which is possible if you join a Bootsnall Adventure Travel group of like-minded travelers.
One of the towns mentioned in the itinerary is Bled, Slovenia. Chris and I spent a day on Lake Bled last summer - and believe me, this is a place you want to visit NOW, not next year or the year afterwards. Get there while it’s still pristine.
(In French, the expression ‘bled’ refers to a remote town in the boonies. Very undesirable. This town Bled is just the opposite.
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