Western Europe

Western Europe is definitely the place to be if you want to move from one old cathedral to the next historical castle and where you can literally feel hundreds and hundreds of years of culture and civilization flow through your mind. As you easily travel across Western Europe, not bigger than half of the United States, you will move from the heavily Muslim-influenced Portuguese and Spanish civilizations, to the Gothic masterpieces and the Versailles in France and towards the insular culture of Great Britain. Subsequently, Italy remains the cradle of Renaissance and probably one of the few places in Western Europe where art is everywhere: in a small church such as the Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan, where Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” is shown, or in a museum such as the Vatican Musems, home to Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

One of the great things about Europe is its size and the fact that you can easily travel from one country to another, especially now that most of the countries in Western Europe are part of an area called the Schengen where you can travel from country to country without your passport and without passing through custom points. You can rent a car, but you can also use the railway system, much more developed and cheaper than in the United States. If the rail is your option, you can buy a special ticket that offers a discount depending on the length of time it was bought for.

In terms of food and drink, stick to great red wines in Italy, France and Spain (Chianti is your obvious option in Italy – you can actually visit the village of Chianti, which is a beautiful medieval settlement, in Tuscany. If your budget permits – it is around $40 – a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino is a great treat), and go with beers in Germany and Austria, as well as the Nordic countries (in Bavaria, the hefeweizen or wheat beer is a cult, considered food, not drink). The food is tremendously versatile, but don’t miss a good fillet mignon in France or a good prosciutto with rughetta in Italy, not to mention the usual pasta – no cliché here, some of the types of pasta are really good. The Italians have a strange way of serving three different types of food for lunch: the antipasto (a small aperitif), pasta and second course, but you never feel full in a bad way with the Mediterranean cuisine.