Miscellaneous Forum

Hey there.....d:o) Wow, I should be able to help you here, but I probably won't be of much help. I have worked five different Olympics, 3 summer and 2 winter. However, they were some time ago, and I am not sure I can be accurate on present reasons to re-visit old Olympic sites. The only one I have found reason to visit is the Munich stadium and grounds. I was supposed to take a group there, but I opted instead to go to Sapporo, as I was familiar with Munich but did not expect another chance to visit Hokkaido. I was a tour director/co-ordinator/do-what-needs-to-be-done-jack, but at the one in L.A. I was a lot more involved with all the groups handled by my tour operator. In the others I had my own group to worry about, but pitched in with other groups, again from my employing operator. My first was in Sapporo, Japan, and it was a bit of a new Olympic frontier, as the winter games had never been out of W.Europe and U.S. I remember a lot of ohhs and ahhhs from people that thought, - to borrow a line, - that there was no there, there. Most had never heard of Hokkaido, or knew that Japan was a series of islands, for that matter. I am only going by what I have gathered, without having returned, that Sapporo is and continues to be well known only in certain circles, and is a primary winter playground for the Japanese, similar to what Aspen/Vail is in the U.S. My saddest recollections are from the beautiful mountain city of Sarajevo in then Yugoslavia. Not from my time there (I also had a tour there outside of the Olympics), but from watching in utter disbelieve and frustration, this beautiful city being blown apart, piece by bloody piece, live and in living color on TV. What a waste! I only hope that Sarajevo and its people are back, to some semblance of their former self. It was one of those where the people make the place impossibly enchanting. Los Angeles was extremely well organized, Seoul was an organized chaos, hampered by distances, and Barcelona was utter chaos and a bloody nightmare, and the reason I decided it would be my last Olympics.

Innsbruck, St. Louis, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, London, and Los Angelas, are the only ones that I have visited. Innsbruck is one of my favorite cities.

How could I forget Munich and Berlin? Berlin is a great city now, but definately not so in 1936 when mega-maniac lived there. Jesse Owens was the saving grace of what was otherwise the worst Olympics in history. RIP Jesse! Munich probably ties with Innsbruck as my favorite Olympic city.

Antwerpen, 1920. Now that is one terrific city.

I love Chamonix. It's the capital of outdoor and adventure sport in Europe and classy and laid back at the same time. And i was in Beijing in 2010 after not having been there since 1991 andi must say i a very impressed with the city and the olympic complex.

And why not give ancient Olympia a mention in that article? This was afterall the first place to host the games and it is in my opinion the most interesting ancient place one can visit in Greece these days.

Moscow definitely. At the very least, anyone that has any sort of pulse should visit the Kremlin archives at least once, if they can afford to do so. They have the most amazing collection of material from the history of Russia, as well as artifacts from all over Europe (received as part of gift exchanges between the Czar and other royalty). There is an entire room filled with horse carriages from various centuries, almost all of which are covered in gold leaf, and that is only one of dozens and dozens of rooms. Considering that a large number of events at the Vancouver BC Olympics happened all the way up in Whistler, one could almost include a significant slice of southwestern BC with that one. There is a lot of stuff in through there, much of which is extremely scenic during all seasons. If we are allowed to include that entire region between the two then Vancouver BC most definitely.

I haven't been to any of the Winter Olympic cities. Of the Summer Olympics cities I've been to Paris (1900, 1924), London (1908, 1948, 2012), Los Angeles (1932, 1984), Melbourne (1956), Tokyo (1964), Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Sydney (2000), Beijing (2008) As a traveller seeing the sights in each city and the environs, I'd rank them as 1 London, 2 Paris, 3 Sydney, 4 Beijing, 5 Barcelona, 6 Seoul, 7 Tokyo, 8 Melbourne, 9 Los Angeles.

visited Athens Barcelona Montreal Chamonix Grenoble Albertville upcoming sites that I visited Rio de Janeiro Madrid ,possible site the ones I will return if can, are all of the above. Not because of the Olympics, they are just good cities to visit.

OMG you guys are so amazing! I really appreciate all of your feedback and showing me where of the Olympic cities our members really do want to visit and have enjoyed! This list is supposed to represent VTHQ & all our amazing members, so please, keep your recommendations and debate coming! Odinthor, what a cool post and interesting insight you have! I studied abroad in Barcelona and while I love the Spanish people & their beats (musica) & their culture, they are NOT the most organized people I've ever met, so I canNOT IMAGINE what the Olympics must have been like there! Must have been crazy! As we've talked about it here at VTHQ, we're actually thinking of making it a list of the smaller cities people may not have been to (it seems almost everyone has been to Athens and Barcelona, so even though I love writing about them, they may not be the Olympic cities worth taking another look at, since people already look at them plenty!) Also, as some of you noticed, there are some cities I left off bc of the politics surrounding them (Sarajevo, Munich, Moscow), but I love how you VTers are like, "These are amazing cities and deserve to be on the list!" I wish everyone reading the article was as adventurous and open-minded as our members!!! Here is the list I'm thinking of now (Feedback Please!!): Athens, Greece (Summer 1896, (1906), Summer 2004) Stockholm, Sweden Antwerp, Belgium? Montreal, Canada? Sydney, Australia (Summer 2000)or Melbourne, Australia (1956) or Barcelona, Spain (Summer 1992) Beijing, China Innsbruck, Austria (1964, 1976) Grenoble, France (Winter 1968) or Albertville, France (1992) Nagano, Japan Salt Lake City, Utah (Winter 2002) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Winter 2010) – Whistler Creekside What do you guys think?

Still think Chamonix should be included. While Albertville for instance has gone back to being just another ski resort, chamonix really made it to become the hot spot in europe for skiing, of course also because it's sitting in the shadow of Mont Blanc.

from new list I would keep Athens, Greece (Summer 1896, (1906), Summer 2004) Stockholm, Sweden Antwerp, Belgium? Montreal, Canada? Sydney, Australia (Summer 2000)or Melbourne, Australia (1956) or Barcelona, Spain (Summer 1992) Grenoble, France (Winter 1968) or Albertville, France (1992 Vancouver, British Columbia Cheers

Thinking about it more, I have actually been to quite a few summer/winter Olympic cities: Los Angeles, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Mexico City, London, Paris, Innsbruck, Grenoble, Amsterdam, Munich, Rome As for a top 10 list of unvisited places (in no specific order): Athens, Greece Stockholm, Sweden Lake Placid, New York Beijing, China Sydney, Australia Tokyo, Japan Montreal, Canada Moscow, Russia Helsinki, Finland Berlin, Germany I would include Rio on that list, but I'll stick with cities that have already hosted the Olympics.

Beijing, China (Summer 2008) Original of 5000 years history of China! Rich of World Heritage! Peking Duck!

Have you all forgotten Much Wenlock where the whole thing really started. Not a city, I'll grant you but a lovely littleplace although it is many years since I was there. This may be of interest. wenlock-olympian-society.org... "Much to see" - Much Wenlock by Andrew_W_K Of the more "accepted" Olympic venues, I have visited a few and am surprised nobody has mentioned Turin or Oslo yet. I have only visited both briefly but enjoyed both and there is certainly plenty to attract the visitor to either city. Possibly a couple to reseach.

Hey Guys! Just wanted to let you know Former Olympic Cities is live on Reuters & Chicago Tribune, among many others! Here is one of our fave pickups so far (great pictures!): torontosun.com/2012/08/13/fo... Thanks so much for all your suggestions and help! We couldn't do these lists without our awesome, well-traveled members! Talk soon, Blake, Kimberly, & Rudypup (who telecommutes from my house)

Nice. I also noticed it had made it in to one of the turkish newspapers i read.

Beijing, China is on the Top 10 List, World No.1 in Olympic 2008 and World No.2 in Olympic 2012, many thanks! :D

Mine would be one that you didn't even mention. Sarajevo, which hosted the 1984 winter games, is far and away my choice. The Bosnians are restoring their first city into a great center of hope, freedom, and prosperity, after Slobo and his gang of useless thugs tried to totally destroy it starting in 1992. Sarajevo and all of Bosnia/Herzagovina will welcome you with open arms, and make your stay a most memorable one.

By the way, Seoul is in Korea, as the name of "South Korea" no longer applies. The name of that country to Korea's north is the "People's Republic of Korea" (very misleading name for a horrendous and brutal dictatorship). Here is to a united and completely free Korea. Cheers!

Well Hund my friend, I certainly included Sarajevo, in my response (the first one), - I was there.........and yes, that one brakes my heart.

(....I was in Seoul too........d:o)

I'll add Melbourne and follow the paths of the Chinese under 1901 White Policy to feel the pain of the past in order to enjoy the glory of present and future! A lot to learn from the past, because 'Without History, We Have Only Ignorance' telegraph.co.uk/comment/colu...