Thread: Best country in Europe to live in

Malta. Easy winner.

Malta is dreary and dull, comprising very ugly looking locals and a zillion tourists over the age of 50 plus. The food is inedible, there is no modern culture, the scenery is simply a collection of rock piles amid a rural desolation of scrubland encircled by an azure sea, most of which is inaccessible except from rocky platforms.

Apart from that, it's fine.

^
The diving around the island is OK.

The women ugly.

Rather than selecting a country, it might be better to choose a city and its environs as a place of refuge from a largely disappointing world.

In Europe I suppose it would have to be Seville. A fine flowering of civilisation through two thousand years has delivered a superb cityscape respecting its history yet embraces modernity without atrophy. Superb food, a vibrant youthful population, great climate which is generally benign but features extremes jolting one from complacency and has a proximity to both sea and mountains.

Fine place. My second choice would be Istanbul but winters there can be tediously wet and overcast for weeks on end, and of course suffers from the grievous demerit that one cannot source a decent pork sausage.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

^
The diving around the island is OK.

The women ugly.

Indeed. The only uglier ones are those stumpy, bandy - legged, moustachioed crones, dressed in black, one nearly knocks over all the time on the roads up in Northern Portugal.

For years I would have said Portugal.

Then I finally made it to Tuscany.

Beats Portugal because of the food, and because of the massive variety of both natural and man made delights.

Ideally I'd settle in Lucca because while there on a day trip I discovered a deli I could mine for goods until my dying day.

Plus, Italian is a far more melodious language than the windsurfing between consonants that is Portuguese.

Originally Posted by chassamui

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

He might have been referring to Catherine the Great who was a Hun if memory serves

Having a Prussian princess become a Russian monarch by default does not move Russia any further west and it remains a non European country. The Isaan bumpkin has no idea as usual, despite his lifelong wish to become native Thai, he will forever remain a Portland plonker.

Except for him being right

Russia is european as far east as the Urals

Originally Posted by cyrille

Plus, Italian is a far more melodious language than the windsurfing between consonants that is Portuguese.

Portuguese is indeed a language that is not 'pretty'.

For some time I thought it was similar to Spanish but learned it's closer to Italian.

The Brazilians, especially in the State of Rio de Janeiro have really bastardized the language.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Malta is dreary and dull, comprising very ugly looking locals and a zillion tourists over the age of 50 plus. The food is inedible, there is no modern culture

Fuck "modern culture". It's wank.

And I'm over 50 so grab a granny night is OK with me.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Malta is dreary and dull, comprising very ugly looking locals and a zillion tourists over the age of 50 plus. The food is inedible, there is no modern culture

Fuck "modern culture". It's wank.

And I'm over 50 so grab a granny night is OK with me.

Move to Glasgow or Aberdeen for top Grab a Grannie nights!

Originally Posted by helge

Except for him being right Russia is european as far east as the Urals

I would concede your geographic boundary in lieu of nation states, provided you take him with you as far east of the Urals as possible, and keep him there, in internet isolation.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Rather than selecting a country, it might be better to choose a city and its environs as a place of refuge from a largely disappointing world.

I hate city life. Cities are full of the unknown and unnecessary. People like Jeff and other loons gather together to annoy each other and everyone else.
Other people are obnoxious especially when they congregate, which is pretty much obligatory in any city because of the proximity of others. The city is for human wolf packs to gather because they lack the imagination or the wits to do anything for themselves, and rely on others to amuse them. Cities are like prisons where everything has to happen to a pre-ordained schedule or life crumbles into disorder.

I could cope with a city if it closed for one day a week and all the people buggered off. Other than that they are just blemishes on the environment. Fcuk yer cities and all those folk living their lives based on one upmanship and a total lack of civility, because their lives and their time is so much more important than everyone elses, the cnuts.

Switzerland for me. Safe European home, and a nuclear-free zone to boot. I've always liked cuckoo clocks and tennis, and might consider joining their army if only to get one of those spiffy penknives to guard all that looted Nazi treasure.
Learning to yodel would also be a big plus.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by chassamui

Surprised no one has mentioned Portugal or told thaimeme to bugger off.

Portugal is nice too like the Algarve region. I could handle living there for an extended period. So long as the locals have patience with my Brazilian Portuguese accent!

Sim, gosto muito o Portugal tambem... but a bit of Norway for proper snow and shooting too! I'm a bit biased because work has aquainted me with these places.

Madeira's pretty civilised. Just came back from there last night.

The barmaid in Madeira the night before last was far from a "moustachioed old crone"... epic mammas, and a very agreeable top half in general, and more importantly - a fucking good laugh. So many "fit birds" are so tedious, it gets boring fast after you've played.

Originally Posted by chassamui

Originally Posted by helge

Except for him being right Russia is european as far east as the Urals

I would concede your geographic boundary in lieu of nation states, provided you take him with you as far east of the Urals as possible, and keep him there, in internet isolation.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Rather than selecting a country, it might be better to choose a city and its environs as a place of refuge from a largely disappointing world.

I hate city life. Cities are full of the unknown and unnecessary. People like Jeff and other loons gather together to annoy each other and everyone else.
Other people are obnoxious especially when they congregate, which is pretty much obligatory in any city because of the proximity of others. The city is for human wolf packs to gather because they lack the imagination or the wits to do anything for themselves, and rely on others to amuse them. Cities are like prisons where everything has to happen to a pre-ordained schedule or life crumbles into disorder.

I could cope with a city if it closed for one day a week and all the people buggered off. Other than that they are just blemishes on the environment. Fcuk yer cities and all those folk living their lives based on one upmanship and a total lack of civility, because their lives and their time is so much more important than everyone elses, the cnuts.

Yeah, cities are nice to visit, but horrible to live in. Unless you talk about the traditional definition of a city - a place with a cathedral - there are a few quite agreeable small cities in England. Big urban sprawls? Only if you're loaded or there for work (expense account), and not there for too long. Variety is the spice etc...

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by cyrille

Plus, Italian is a far more melodious language than the windsurfing between consonants that is Portuguese.

Portuguese is indeed a language that is not 'pretty'.

For some time I thought it was similar to Spanish but learned it's closer to Italian.

The Brazilians, especially in the State of Rio de Janeiro have really bastardized the language.

I quite like the sound of Brazilian Portuguese, but yeah, Italian is luscious... but their pop music is god awful.

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

While working in Saudi, my plan was always to have Switzerland as a home base while going back and forth from one ME contract to another. I met my exwife in Saudi, also American, and that ended the dream.

Out of curiosity, which are the most affordable countries now? I know Switzerland is not on that list.

Costa Rica? Uruguay? Chile? worth checking out. French South Pacific places?

Thailand is nominally the most affordable, but we all know about the hidden costs...

Maybe Vietnam, Cambo or Burma is worth a try? Asia is just a playpen to me; not a home.

England.!

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

Asia is just a playpen to me; not a home.

Seconded.

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

Asia is just a playpen to me; not a home.

Yuip. 7 years and I still don't call ASia home, or even think about it as home.

^

Home is where your head hits the pillow.

Have fun back in Blighty when you're an old man!

Could quite happily have settled in Sweden. I vist 2-3 times a year, love the country. People are super friendly and sincere, foods great, countryside is stunning.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

^

Home is where your head hits the pillow.

Have fun back in Blighty when you're an old man!

Mathos seems to enjoy himself.

There are lots of nice places to live in the UK and plenty I'd rather not live in. It's all about specifics and circumstances at the time.

Originally Posted by Bower

Could quite happily have settled in Sweden. I vist 2-3 times a year, love the country. People are super friendly and sincere, foods great, countryside is stunning.

Their alcohol laws are silly and it is hideously expensive, good that they allspeak english, but full of muzzies now.

I would go south of France, mostly for the food and wine and while the French hate Poms, (quite rightly), they do love Rugger and Aussies..

Originally Posted by bowie

No Contest.
Italia:
Beautiful Churches, passionate people, fantastic food.

I'd agree . . . though I've live and worked in France and speak the language fluently and do very much like the place . . .

Florence as a city and Tuscany as a region.

The food . . . wine . . . the grappa (ok, brought down south), the landscape, the history, the architecture etc etc etc etc.

La bella paese!