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Rick Steves’ Europe: Ravenna, Italy gets better with age
Ravenna is on Italy's tourist map for one reason: its 1,500-year-old churches decorated with best-in-the-West Byzantine mosaics. While locals go about their business, busloads of tourists slip in and out of this town near the Adriatic coast to bask in the glittering glory of Byzantium, the eastern Roman Empire.
Imagine … it's AD 540. The city...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Glimpse the ancient past in northeast England
While southern England gets most of the glory – and the tourists – the country's far northeastern corner harbors some of England’s best historical sights. Hadrian’s Wall serves as a reminder that this was once an important Roman colony, while nearby Holy Island is where Christianity gained its first toehold in Britain. And both can be ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Helsinki and Tallinn are Pearls of the Baltic
Helsinki and Tallinn are two great capitals in Northern Europe. Just 50 miles and a two-hour ferry ride apart, these two cities – facing each other across the Baltic Sea from their respective countries of Finland and Estonia – are not only neighbors, but soul sisters.
Finns and Estonians share a similar history – first Swedish domination,...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Athens on the rise
I used to think of Athens as a big ugly city with obligatory ancient sights, fine museums, the Plaka (an extremely touristy old quarter), and not much else. “The joy of Greece is outside of Athens,” I wrote. “See Athens’ museums and scram.”
But while updating my guidebook one summer, I enjoyed the city more than ever before. I ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Saints and sustenance in Spain’s Santiago de Compostela
Whenever I’m in Santiago de Compostela, in the northwest corner of Spain, I have a three-part agenda: See pilgrims reach their goal in front of the cathedral, explore the market, and buy some barnacles in the seafood section – then have them cooked for me, on the spot, in a café.
I make a point to be on the town square facing the towering ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Tangier, Morocco - A cultural kaleidoscope
I can't think of any big city in Europe where you wake up literally at "cock crow." In Tangier, Morocco — right across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain — the roosters, even more than the minaret's call to prayer, make sure the city wakes up early. I spent a recent birthday in Tangier, and started my special day with the roosters.
I ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Rome's ancient superhighway
The Appian Way, begun in 312 BC, was the engineering wonder of its day. It connected Rome with Capua (near Naples), ignoring natural contours and running in a straight line for much of the way. Eventually it stretched 430 miles to Brindisi – gateway to the East – where Roman ships sailed for Greece and Egypt.
While our modern roads seem to ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Embrace Hygge and Save Cash in Copenhagen
Copenhagen is known for happy people and hygge (pronounced HEW-geh), which means enjoying the cozy simplicity of everyday life, like walking along the beach, or sharing a picnic of smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches) with a friend. Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue, and lovingly decorated open-face ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: In the Swiss Alps, nature rules
I learned to respect the power of nature in the shadow of the Switzerland's towering Jungfrau, just south of Interlaken in the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Avalanches are a part of life here – where humble yet tough mountain huts are built on the downhill side of giant and protective boulders. Hikers, hearing rivers of falling snow rumble in the ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: History lives in Prague
Prague is one of Europe’s best-preserved cities, having been spared from last century’s bombs. Nowhere is this more evident than in the hilltop Castle Quarter, which looms above the city and dominates the skyline. Filled with high art and grand buildings from the past 1,200 years, this area is packed with history. Even today, you feel like ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Cold War memories in today’s Berlin
Whenever I travel to Berlin I can’t help remembering my spooky Cold War visit back in 1971. I vividly recall how, after we’d toured East Berlin, our tour bus was stopped and emptied at the border so mirrors could be rolled under the bus before we returned to West Berlin. They wanted to see if anyone was trying to hitch a ride to freedom with...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Buoyant Bratislava
Bratislava, capital of Slovakia and just an hour by train from Vienna, is the comeback kid among European capitals. A generation ago, the city was virtually a ghost town. Today, Bratislava is not only thriving – bursting with colorfully restored facades, lively outdoor cafés, and swanky boutiques – but it’s also growing at an incredible ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Choose your own adventure in eclectic Amsterdam
I have a little ritual every time I step off the train in big, bold Amsterdam: I look over my shoulder to the lions of the city seal atop Amsterdam Centraal train station. They seem to roar, "Just do it."
One side of the station faces the harbor. From there, buses come and go, the free shuttle ferries are jammed with bikers, and the Amsterdam-...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: The Peloponnese: A peninsula of Greek surprises
If you want to get away from it all when traveling in Greece, head for the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Driving about an hour west of Athens, you cross over the Corinth Canal – a four-mile-long shipping lane neatly sliced through the isthmus that connects the Peloponnese with the rest of Greece – and pass the ruins of ancient Corinth to enter ...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: Norway’s fjord country blends serenity with grandeur
Though I initially visited Norway to see relatives — three of my grandparents grew up there — nature is the real draw here, even for those with family ties. It's a land of intense beauty, with famously steep mountains and deep fjords carved out and shaped by an ancient ice age.
Traveling through fjord country, I find myself spending lots of...Read more
Rick Steves’ Europe: A taste of high culture in Vienna
If any European capital knows how to enjoy the good life, it’s Vienna. Compared to most modern urban centers, the pace of life here is slow. Locals linger over pastry and coffee at cafés. Concerts and classical music abound. And chatting with friends at a wine garden is not a special event but a way of life.
For many Viennese, the living ...Read more