Ok, it's hard to find good instruments where you are, but I was in Porec, Croatia, last year, where there are two really small music/instrument shops - both had a reasonably priced vintage strat in stock. Maybe you'd get shot going to Porec, so try Trieste - there's a good instrument shop there. If all else fails, mail order from the States is reliable from places like, for example, Elderly Instruments. Make the effort to go some way to find an instrument that you like - French musicians commonly come to England to buy their gear, and American guitarists often say that vintage instruments from England are better preserved than similar instruments in the US.