Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Rome, Europe is home to some of the greatest cities in the world. The amazing thing about the cities is that they are always changing. New fashions new faces — and a constant flow of immigration — meaning that these ever-changing cities are always recreating themselves. Tourists will always make a beeline to the famous sites — after all, what is Rome without the Vatican City or Paris without the Eiffel Tower? — However, not so long ago the inner-city areas, were desolate modern wastelands or “hoods” are now increasingly attractive to tourists. London's developing East End, is a prime example of a hip and happening district overflowing with creativity, while you might be intrigued by discovering guerrilla art stencilled with through the Renaissance city of Florence.
Mulling the intelligence of Socrates while trekking up to the Athens Acropolis. Tickling your inner Gladiator at the Roman Colosseum, getting lost amid the serpentine, paved Old Town of Prague. Extending from Istanbul to Lisbon, Europe is brimming with scenes and streets that have been formed by more than three generations of human civilisation. Europe the only place on earth that lets you bed down in mythical castles. Roam hand-in-hand along historic city walls and canals. Take a back seat in a massive mediaeval cathedral, trek the windswept shorelines where the world is played out. Gallop around mythical villages that predate the pyramids of Giza. You can almost feel the history in Europe.
Europe has a calendar of festivals like no other place on earth. Many — such as the Carnival of Venice — ooze generations of tradition. Others, such as EXIT Festival, show off cutting-edge trends and sounds. Some others, such as the yearly Cheese Rolling competition in Gloucestershire, England, frolic in their Monty Python-esque craziness. Across Europe, you can mingle with like-minded folks at various festivals like, film, festivals, music festivals, beer festivals, — Christmas Festivals — just to name a few. One thing’s for sure; you will certainly find your kind of festival if you come to Europe.
Europe is overflowing with tantalising cuisines. Imagine: consuming warm, melt-in-your-mouth croissants and Au Chocolat bought from a French bakery (boulangerie) in a chocolate-box-pretty French town. Indulging in an alfresco seafood feast, a crystal-clear Mediterranean Bay peppered with brightly-coloured fishing boats. Tapas bar-hopping in San Sebastian or Madrid. Enjoying a gelato while roaming across a piazza in Rome, or a pizza drenched in mozzarella cheese in the streets of Naples. An adventure in Europe is also about sampling as much local favourites as possible. You might find your self addicted to a few.
Europe’s coastline is rimmed by Historical harbours, with the likes of Marseille, Genoa, and Cadiz absorbing ports of call for ocean-going cruise ships. Others are starting blocks for extraordinary island-hopping adventures. Take the near Athens, Piraeus — from which you can ferry to many exotic Greek Islands, including Mykonos, Crete, Rhodes Island and Santorini. Once you’ve gotten tired of the amazing walled old town of Dubrovnik, you can explore Croatia’s splendid 700-island archipelago. Other attractive island-hopping escapes include Valletta, Palma de Mallorca and the Canary Islands.
Long before the means of transportation came about, Europe’s waterways played a crucial part in its transformation from Stone Age backcountry to the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution. Meanwhile, it is no longer the active veins of trade of centuries past, Europe’s rivers, canals and fjords emerged as exciting leisure cruise destinations. Well, known routes include Basel-Cologne on the Rhine and Vienna, Budapest on the Danube, Europe’s second largest river. Other notable cities like St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Bruges and of, Venice, are identical with waterways, romantic canal trips, while England and France have a wide variety of inland waterway connections.
The cities in Europe hog the headlines, but it is the beautiful countrysides that tourists fall in love with. Covered in snow and ski bunnies in the wintertime, and filled with verdant, floral scenery at summertime, the Swiss Alps are a fantasy for nature lovers. Also the Cinque Terre, where a path pass through five fabulously scenic towns, roosted on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. Inland, the mystifying Italian Lakes never fail to impress, while you might wish to live out your fantasies under the Tuscan sun, sipping a glass of Chardonnay and reading your Frances Mayes or Elizabeth Gilbert on the balcony of a modernised stone farmhouse. You could also, rent a cottage amidst the lavender fields of Provence which had a great impression on van Gogh, or chase the Northern Light or Santa Clause in the distant Lapland.
Roaming through the cities of Europe, you're bound to work up a thirst. While you will find countless amounts of vineyards and wine cellars, it's the pubs that often conjure the most interesting — or blurry — memories; guzzling pints of Guinness with amiable punters in taverns across Ireland, quaffing ale in the screeching, timber-beamed ancient-looking pubs of England. Or even gulping steins of beer served by skirt-wearing barmaids in the beer house of Munich, or taking on the 1001 different boozes at the back-street bar in Brussels. But the real beer drinkers paradise is in the Czech Republic, where you will rarely pay more than $2.00 for a half-litre of the finest pilsner on the planet. If you prefer caffeine, Europe is paved with cafes; perfect for watching this increasingly fascinating continent go by.
One of the best things about visiting Europe is discovering a hidden gem. Europe is jam-packed with them. It is over two decades since the Iron Curtain fell, and once-upon-a-time Soviet cities like Krakow and Tallinn are front-runners on the tourist trails, but other scenic Eastern and central tourist destinations are still not on most travellers’ radars. The ancient towns of Kotor(Montenegro), Veliko Tarnovo(Bulgaria), Sibiu(Romania), Olomouc(Czech Republic) and Torun in Poland are all attractive little destinations. The lakes of Bled in Slovenia and Ohrid, Macedonia are staggeringly enchanting and the country with the most beautiful coastline in Europe, Albania. Towering cliffs, jumbles of olive groves and aqua-green seas, the Albania Riviera is utterly gorgeous.
Travelling around Europe by trains is much better, most of the times. Europe is filled with crisscrossing rail tracks, connecting everything from super-silt ones that carry Frecciarossa and TGV trains travelling at speeds of 360km/h and chugging alpine lines. The scenery from the window is diverse and often breathtaking — in particular through mountainous countries like Slovenia and Switzerland, or along coastlines like the French Riviera. Another adventure of travelling by train in Europe is crossing borders, and encountering different cultures languages and sometimes currency, within an hour’s journey.
Europe is so far away. It takes up the best part of a day to travel to most European countries. Getting there — and staying there —is expensive also. The exchange rate between the European currencies and the American dollar is worse than anywhere else in the world and you can have an all-inclusive package holiday to the Caribbean for the cost of a return airfare back from Europe. So why do we even bother with Europe? Here are some valid reasons.
