greenery

I am currently traveling in Europe and am shocked how "modern" it is. Most people are far more "trendy" than in America. (While still not as sloppy looking as Americans). What I am looking for is a place somewhere in Europe that people are still old fashioned in their appearance, beliefs and attitudes. Someplace where things are a bit more traditional and old fashioned.

So far I have not seen this side of Europe. Maybe in a small town in one of the countries in Eastern Europe. Or maybe in Portugal? Or maybe in Bulgara, Romania, or Macedonia?

Help me find OLD (fashioned) Europe!

mosburger

Poland might be the most conservative and "old fashioned" country in the EU right now in many aspects. Rural communities in Norway and Holland where Christian sects are strong. Ireland and Switzerland outside of the big cities and the Basque country in southern France and northern Spain. Also Southern Italy and Sicily.

jacob_m

Quite a hard question to answer, I mean most cities/countries try to modernise.

Well you mentioned Portugal yourself, I was in Lisbon earlier this year and found the city to be very traditional and not particularly modern in that sense (no offense to any Portuguese people).
It is a very different city from most other capitals in western Europe.

Krakow in Poland is also very traditional and not yet very touristy.
Poland itself is very traditional.
One of the few cities I have visited where they still have over-the-counter "supermarkets" in the city centre. Very classy!!

Otherwise if you want something very traditional you should probably go somewhere far east to one of the former communist countries where the state finances are so bad that they don't have money to modernise, at least not outside the capital or the major cities.
Perhaps Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria or Belarus could be interesting...

TRAVELSIG

Romania outside of Bucaresti.
Parts of Slovenia and Croatia (except Zagreb, Rijeka, and Ljubljana)
Northeast Hungary.
Slovakia outside of Bratislava.
The Ukraine.

In general, you will find that in Italy many people are very attached to their values- but the country overall appears extremely modern (although it is always a delight to see a Ferrari idling behind a farmer with his tractor)

Internaut

Talin? Riga? Vilnius (quickly becoming a stag night alternative to Prague though)? Seeing Warsaw before it became completely Pepsified (has that happened yet?) was an interesting honour and I wouldn't mind repeating the experience elsewhere if possible.

Are Bucharest, Bratislava and Sofia still worth a visit for this reason?

Edited to add a thankyou to Travelsig for answering some of my questions before I'd posted them.

Wingman32

Warsaw...now the land of Concrete and Pepsi. Stay away. Go to Krakow!

Rejuvenated

Moscow IMO is still very traditional.

mosburger

The Baltic capitals would probably take almost any steps to put more distance between them and Russia. Too much oppression in the past centuries from both Eastern and Western neighbours to hang on to old values ( apart from Lutheran/Catholic religioin ). As Germany is cozying up to Russia again there will most likely be another push for deepening political and cultural ties between the Baltic trio and the US.

JPB

Head out to the countryside in Albania and it is like going back 200 years

civicmon

or pretty much anywhere in Moldova.

Athena53

Yes, but you have to get off the beaten path and it takes awhile!

The closest for us was Papa Westray in the Orkneys- population 70, one bed/breakfast, population 70. A 7-hour walk on the island was mostly us, the livestock, the wildlife and an occasional local in a car. They always waved at us. But the trip was MCI-ORD-LHR, overnight in LHR, LHR-EDI-KOI (Kirkwall) and the next day we flew to PPW. I think you'll find that it's less "touristy" the further you are form the main cities.

GUWonder

Maybe the OP can tell us what the OP would consider "old fashioned" in Europe?

chtiet

Yup, was going to suggest the same thing - if you want the Europe of 200 yrs ago, go to Moldova.

cj001f

I believe Molvania would meet the requirements
http://www.molvania.com.au

auher

IMHO I would suggest visiting Bosnia/Hercegovinia (with the exception of Mostar, as it's too touristy), Montenegro, and Serbia. While obviously in the big cities of any of these, things are mostly modern, getting into the countryside will show you much of what you are referring to.