Blog
The latest stories, guides, and insights from across Europe.
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Czech Pub Culture: Why the Pivnice Is the True Heart of Czech Society
If you want to understand Czech culture, forget the Old Town Square and its crowded selfie sticks.
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The Great European Rivalry: What Each Country Really Thinks of Its Neighbors
Europe has a deep history of conflict, and while wars have largely given way to economic cooperation and…
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European Drinking Cultures: A Comparative Guide to Not Making a Fool of Yourself
Drinking cultures around Europe are wildly different, and violating local drinking norms is one of the fastest ways…
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How Europe Celebrates Christmas: 12 Countries, 12 Wildly Different Traditions
Christmas in America looks roughly the same whether you’re in Boston or San Francisco. But Christmas in Europe?
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European Coffee Cultures Compared: From Italian Espresso to Swedish Fika to Greek Freddo
Coffee is the lifeblood of Europe, but how people drink it? That’s a completely different story in every…
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Sweden’s Viking Age: Traders, Raiders, and the Founders of Russia
When most people think of Vikings, they imagine Scandinavian warriors in horned helmets (which, by the way, never…
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The Camino de Santiago: A Thousand Years of Pilgrims Walking Across Spain
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people walk the Camino de Santiago—pilgrims, seekers, tourists, athletes, spiritual questers, people…
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Franco’s Spain: Life Under a Dictator (1939-1975) and the Legacy You’ll Still See Today
Francisco Franco ruled Spain for nearly 40 years—from 1939, when he won the Civil War, until his death…
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Gaudí’s Barcelona: How One Architect Turned a City Into a Work of Art
Barcelona is a city of extraordinary density: Gothic quarters, Moderniste mansions, industrial waterfronts, Olympic venues.
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The Fall of Granada, 1492: The Year That Changed Everything
Three enormous things happened in 1492. The last Muslim kingdom in Spain surrendered to Christian rulers, completing a…
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Columbus and the Spanish Empire: How Spain Accidentally Built the World’s First Global Superpower
Imagine being Spanish in 1500.
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The Spanish Civil War: Hemingway, Guernica, and the Rehearsal for World War II
On July 17, 1936, Spanish general Francisco Franco led a military coup against the democratically elected Spanish Republic.
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Al-Andalus: When Muslims, Christians, and Jews Shared Spain
Walk through the Alhambra gardens at sunset, and it’s almost possible to imagine you’re in a different world—literally,…
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The Spanish Inquisition: What Actually Happened (Nobody Expects a Nuanced Take)
When most people hear “Spanish Inquisition,” their minds conjure images of torture chambers, mass burnings, and religious zealots…
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Salazar’s Estado Novo: Portugal’s Forgotten Dictatorship (1933-1974)
When most people think of twentieth-century European dictators, certain names come to mind: Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Stalin.
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The Templars in Portugal: From Crusading Knights to the Order of Christ
In the dry, mountainous interior of Portugal, in the region of Estremadura, there stands one of the most…
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The Treaty of Tordesillas: When Portugal and Spain Split the World in Half
In the spring of 1494, a group of diplomats met in the small Spanish town of Tordesillas to…
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Portugal’s Colonial Legacy: Brazil, Africa, and Macau
Portugal was the first European nation to build a global maritime empire. It was also, paradoxically, the last…
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Fado: The History of Portugal’s Soul Music
On a narrow street in the Alfama district of Lisbon, in a small restaurant with candles on the…
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The Carnation Revolution of 1974: Europe’s Last and Most Beautiful Revolution
On the morning of April 25, 1974, Portugal was still a dictatorship—one of the few remaining dictatorships in…
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The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake: The Disaster That Changed European Thought
November 1, 1755. All Saints’ Day. In Lisbon, the faithful filled the churches. The morning was mild and…
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The Age of Exploration: How Tiny Portugal Discovered Half the World
The year is 1415, and a small Portuguese fleet is sailing toward the fortress city of Ceuta on…
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Poland’s Castles and the Teutonic Knights: The Medieval Crusade in the Baltic
In medieval Europe, there was a special kind of military institution: the crusading order.
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Jewish Poland: A Thousand Years of Coexistence, Culture, and Tragedy
Before the Holocaust, Poland was home to a Jewish civilization of extraordinary richness.
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Copernicus, Chopin, and Curie: Poland’s Contributions to World Culture and Science
There’s something remarkable about Poland’s contribution to world civilization: it flourished during some of the darkest periods of…