Blog
The latest stories, guides, and insights from across Europe.
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The Danish Art of Lagkage and Coffee: Why Danes Drink More Coffee Than Almost Anyone
If you want to understand Danish culture, pay attention to what happens around coffee.
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FKK and Sauna Culture: Germany’s Relaxed Relationship with Nudity
If you visit Germany, you’ll eventually encounter something that might be jarring if you come from a culture…
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German Football Culture: More Than Just the Bundesliga
If you want to understand German culture, especially German identity and community, you need to understand football (soccer,…
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Karneval, Fasching, and Fastnacht: Germany’s Wild Pre-Lent Celebrations
If you have the privilege of being in Germany in the weeks before Ash Wednesday (usually February or…
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Christmas Markets: A Guide to Germany’s Most Magical Winter Tradition
If you visit Germany during the winter season (late November through December), you absolutely must experience a German…
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German Directness: Why Germans Say What They Mean (And Mean What They Say)
One of the first things travelers notice in Germany is that people seem unusually straightforward.
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The German Sunday: Why Everything Is Closed and What You’re Supposed to Do About It
If you visit Germany and make plans for Sunday without understanding the realities of German Sunday culture, you’re…
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German Bread: Why Germany Has 3,000 Types and Takes Its Loaves Extremely Seriously
If you’ve never experienced German bread before, you’re missing something that will fundamentally alter your relationship with bread…
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Oktoberfest: The Real Story Behind the World’s Biggest Beer Party
When most people think of Oktoberfest, they picture lederhosen-wearing tourists chugging enormous mugs of beer while polka bands…
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The Stockholm Bloodbath (1520): The Massacre That Created Modern Sweden
Imagine stepping into Stockholm’s medieval city center, Gamla Stan, on a chilly November morning in 1520.
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ABBA, IKEA, and the Nobel Prize: How Swedish Culture Conquered the World
Sweden is a nation of 10 million people living in a country that extends into the Arctic Circle.
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Sweden and the Sami: The Indigenous People of Northern Europe
In the far north of Sweden, above the Arctic Circle, the landscape changes dramatically. Forests of birch and…
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The Vasa Ship: Sweden’s Most Embarrassing Maritime Disaster and Its Best Museum
Imagine a king in the full flush of power and ambition, commissioning a warship to be the greatest…
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The Swedish Welfare State: How a Poor Country Became a Socialist Paradise (Sort Of)
Walk through the streets of Stockholm or any Swedish city today and you’ll encounter one of the world’s…
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How Sweden Stayed Neutral: The Complicated History of Swedish Non-Alignment
In 1809, Sweden lost the Great Northern War and was forced to cede Finland to Russia.
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The Swedish Empire: When Sweden Was a European Superpower (1611-1721)
Imagine a moment in history when a relatively small Scandinavian nation, with a population of less than 2…
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New Nordic Cuisine: How Denmark Reinvented Scandinavian Food
A few decades ago, Scandinavian cuisine was something of a punchline—butter, potatoes, cured fish, and bread, served without…
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Hygge: What It Actually Means Beyond the Instagram Aesthetic
You’ve probably seen it a thousand times on Pinterest: a moody photograph of flickering candles, a soft knit…
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Václav Havel: The Playwright Who Became President and Why Czechs Still Argue About Him
No single figure better embodies the 20th-century Czech experience—or the complexities of that experience—than Václav Havel.
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Czech Glass and Crystal: A Bohemian Tradition That Lit Up the World
Walk into certain luxury hotels, museums, or high-end restaurants across the world, and you might see a glass…
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Tramping: The Uniquely Czech Tradition of Wilderness Romanticism
If you wander into certain forests in the Czech Republic on a weekend, you might stumble upon a…
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Spa Culture: Why Czechs Have Been ‘Taking the Waters’ for 700 Years
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Czech spa towns of Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, and Františkovy Lázně…
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Czech Christmas: Carp in the Bathtub and Other Traditions
Walk through a Czech city in December and you’ll see Christmas decorations that look vaguely familiar to visitors…
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Mushroom Foraging: The Czech National Obsession You Didn’t Know About
If you visit the Czech Republic in late summer or early autumn, you’ll notice something peculiar happening in…
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The Czech Sense of Humor: Švejk, Absurdism, and Laughing at Power
If you’ve ever heard a Czech person laugh in a genuinely dark situation—at a moment when laughing seems…