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Bargain Travel Europe guide to Europe on a budget for unusual destinations, travel tips and secret spots..

DRIVING EUROPEAN BACKROADS
Stuffed Animals to National Heroes

European auto routes are fast and convenient to get where you're going with speeds upwards of 85 mph. Usually not crowded except around cities, but tolls in France and Italy can be expensive. So get off the highway and take a side road. Driving European back roads down winding narrow lanes, taking a detour or short cut through small villages and skirting cites you come across the odd and surprising, and maybe not so surprising. Expecting to see the usual assortment of animals, roadside stops and car dealerships, the occassional local market or beverage store with stacks of bottles in plastic crates, restraining your urge to smash through them like a Hollywood stunt show.

Then you pass by the the odd 200 year old German windmill in the middle of a field along the Wesar River of Hesse (See Footsteps of the Brothers Grimm) - or while driving driving from the Cannes French Riviera to Aix-En-Provence you stop for a walk up the steps of a town that's been around for 900 years and spot the curiously bizarre taxidermy stuffed foxes in an odd display in the upstairs window of someone's house, like a personal pet museum (see Napoleon Road) - finding your way from Dijon to Chatillon-Sur-Seine in Bourgogne, a small road takes you past a water mill wheel still working along a tributary of the Seine River (see From Little Drips Mighty Rivers Flow) - or discover an impromptu history lesson when you encounter a forgotten monument at a small town suburban intersection in the midst of German Saxony to a Colonel you've never heard of who changed the course of his country's history when he and his men stood his ground against superior numbers and stopped the advance of the French Army in 1689 (See Rhine Castle Sooneck), or driving from Amien to Paris you get off the motorway with its toll booths only to find an 18th Century French ducal mansion north of Paris, once home to friends of a king who lost his head, now just a run-down farmhouse with ducks quacking in the yard and a heating bill too expensive to pay for more than just the kitchen and a bedroom, or discover forlorn and awe-inspiring graveyards from WWI (see Somme Battlefields).

Renting a car in Europe is relatively easy, just your own driver's license and a passport. And oh, yeah - a credit card (see Europe Fly, Drive Or Ride The Rails). Try to get a rental deal which includes all the insurances. Best Car Rental Rates. Some credit cards offer insurance, check the fine print and make sure what they cover and whether its primary or seconday coverage. If you don't want to worry about whether someone dings your rental while your having lunch at a roadside cafe, get the CDW. When you're just driving down the road and a pebble suddenly clunks into your windshield, that's about an 800 dollar clunk. It's a little extra but the peace of mind might be worth it.

As for finding places to stay on the road, should you book ahead or just wing it? Truth is, you can almost always find a vacancy. Through the European countryside many local little bed & breakfasts can be found, Auberges in France, Agriturismos in Italy, "Zimmer Frei" in Germany put out their welcome signs along the roads, especially in wine touring or historic areas. Find that secret little place you'll be telling your friends about for years, because it's always what you discover on your own that seems to be remembered best. © Bargain Travel Europe

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SEE ALSO:

AUTOBAHN 160-0 - Driving Germany with No Limits

DIJON - Burgundy Wine, Mustard N' Gargoyles

WINE AND WURST - Bad Durkheim and the German Wine Road

VALENCIENNES CANNON BOULES

MERCEDES BENZ MUSEUM STUTTGART
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