Ever visited somewhere for the day and been really disappointed?

[Summerhouse2013]

We travelled to Yeovil in Somerset yesterday for the day, wow, we were so disappointed.

It was like a ghost town. Most of the shops were shut, only a handful were open. And towards the bottom area of the town most of the shops were completely closed down.

I'd always got the impression there was a lot more to Yeovil.

We left after an hour as there was nothing to do.

Aberystwyth
Dublin

Love Hebden Bridge, Paris and Bath though.

Hay-on-Wye is disappointing, I think, but that’s because I always convince myself that I’ll find all the books I’ve ever wanted to read there.

Gosh.

Yes, I do agree with that.
But one place that did live up to how I imagined (and more) was Rome. Amazing place!

What an absolutely ridiculous comment. Why don't you just pile on with the stereotypes, come on: drunken Scots; aggressive Scots; tight Scots?

Big cities have big nightlife/ lots of students/ tourists. You'll find similar in every big city in the UK come the weekend.

I love Edinburgh. Not the short-bread tin, tartan, Bonnie Prince Charlie tourist crap, but the independent shops/ great restaurant/ cafes/ pubs/ gigs. You need to venture away from tourist central.

Must have a problem with alcoholism. Jesus. Little England ism in one statement.

I also love York (didn't see drunkeness actually), Liverpool and Amsterdam.

That was in response to this! (Shakes head)

As someone who lives in Yeovil (and really like the town, surrounding area etc) the town isn’t really geared up for visitors in a tourist kind of way. There are some lovely independent shops at the top of town but generally Sundays it’s really quiet. They’re also doing lots of building work so the high street is a bit of a mess. The town is quite functional, it’s the surrounding countryside that provides the beauty (not the 70s style buildings).

it was a shock moving here from the south east to find it was like stepping back in time but I like quiet Sundays.

Go to Brunswick. You can walk to it across the Meadows- it's not far from the Theatre Royal. Chilled, lovely independent shops/ cafes/ antique shops.

The National Gallery of Scotland is fabulous.

Wander the Grass market.

Do a midnight, scary history walk.

The Dungeons are another tourist trap which is decent.

@carbuncleonapigsposterior I live in Sherborne, the Abbey etc is very pretty but so many shops have shut up on the high street in the six years we’ve been here so it’s getting a bit sad.

My DH works with a fair few hardened ex navy types and many refuse to set foot in Yeovil, I can kind of see why…

Yes as I mentioned upthread, I loved Warwick castle and we had a great day, and I adore Stratford upon Avon. The more I visit, the more I find to love

The whole of London? Now there's someone who doesn't know London....

I also think London is a terrible city to visit.

Maybe if you live there, you get used to it.

But to visit it, is awful. I've visited London about 10 times for shows. Every time it's been a nightmare. Too many people, too many buildings, terrible transport. It's so grey. Rudeness. I always feel really awful in London.

@Mooshamoo and black bogies afterwards! <shudders>

😆

'Go the Brunswick'. You mean Bruntsfield. That's a good shout, and continue down Morningside Road. You can get various buses back to town. You'll see the shops and tenements and get a sense of how people live in Edinburgh, not be restricted to just all that Harry Potter, ghost tour, Royal Yacht stuff.

I grew up an equal distance between Yeovil and Sherborne so know both well. Yeovil has always been rough. Sherborne is much nicer but not as nice as it likes to think. It’s interesting that no one has jumped to its defence. The town I live in now is always getting run down on here, but someone will usually come along to defend it.

I agree with San Francisco (although not a day trip!). I went about 15 years ago after everyone was raving about it. It was dirty and unfriendly. Full of homeless people and people who were clearly mentally ill or on drugs. What amazed me though was that it was really hard to get any vegetarian food in the restaurants. You’d think they’d be a bit more with it.

Not now. I was expecting that as it’s what I remembered but I went twice last year and no black bogies for me!

I've travelled to a lot of places. A lot. I spent two years travelling full time.

I honestly think that everywhere I've been to was a dump. Earth is not great anywhere. You get the same problems with humans and their bad behaviour everywhere you go.

I can't remember any place I've been to that was like a utopia.

I also didn't like Paris.

"Venice is smelly and the carnival is the stuff of nightmares."

Not been for a while then? 🙄

I love London as well! Went there in the holidays - natural history museum (loved every bit!), out for a show in the evening and then just jumped on the tube at 10.00 at night and felt perfectly safe with my kids, then the Tower of London the next day (also brilliant!). The transport is so easy and cheap and actually I find it pretty friendly and easy to find my way around.
Im trying to think of anywhere that really disappointed me and I’m coming up short, I can nearly always find something to like about a place.

In defence of Dublin - Free: national museum - three buildings, archaeology (Kildare Street, masses of prehistoric gold, loads of medieval stuff), natural History (Merrion Street) History (including the revolutionary period) and decorative arts, (Collins Barracks). Chester Beatty Library, huge world class collections of Islamic art, Biblical manuscripts, other eastern art. National Gallery. Municipal gallery (19th and 20tha c art). Museum of Modern Art in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.

Loads of other places - get tickets for one of the hop on hop off buses, it will take you round all the places of interest and give you a talk as you go round.

Doh! Total typo- Bruntsfield! (Brunswick is a pub near to me I'd typed earlier!) 🙈.

I love Brunsfield, always hang there when visiting Auld Reekie (I'm a Weegie).

Yes it was!!

But you are basically telling people to go inside buildings and look at stuff. Don't people want a bit more from a city? Some beauty, views, the capacity to wander eg up to Hampstead, down to the Botanics in Edinburgh, jump on a tram to explore Lisbon, meander the streets of Barcelona I don't know, not just go inside buildings to look at stuff. Doubtless it's good stuff, but is it enough? I don't think so. Dublin does what it can with what it has, but the competition for a more rounded experience elsewhere is fierce.

Anyone been to Pisa? Bugger all there, just a big tower and the fucking thing wasn't even built properly.

Rome's nice though.

Merida, Mexico

decided to visit a non touristy city… to get a sense of the “real Mexico” like the twats that we are

it was a shocker

stuck in a “posh” hotel that had no water. , no food, the pool was black, the airco had not worked since 1968, and all the shops just sold stuff like tyres and polyester suits and cheap flip flops