72 articles found
How Much Does Norway Cost? A Realistic Travel Budget
Norway is expensive. There is no way around this. The country consistently ranks among the 5 most expensive countries in the world, with a cost of living index that places Oslo above London, Paris, and New York. For travellers arriving from most of E...
Norwegian Food: What to Eat and Drink When Visiting Norway
Norwegian food is a product of its geography and climate. Long, dark winters encourage preservation — curing, smoking, drying, fermenting. The North Sea and Norwegian Sea provide an extraordinary abundance of fish and seafood. Dairy farming thrives i...
Viking Age Norway: History, Myths, and Where to Experience It Today
The Viking Age — broadly defined as the period from the first recorded Norse raid (Lindisfarne Monastery, 793 AD) to the Battle of Hastings (1066 AD) — transformed medieval Europe and established Norse seafarers as the most wide-ranging explorers of ...
Seeing the Northern Lights in Norway: When, Where, and How
The Northern Lights — aurora borealis — are caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with gases in Earth's upper atmosphere, producing curtains and ribbons of coloured light across the night sky. Norway, sitting directly beneath the auroral...
Norwegian Fjords: A Complete Guide to the World's Most Spectacular Waterways
There is no landform quite like a fjord. Carved by glaciers advancing and retreating over millions of years, these narrow sea inlets — flanked by sheer rock walls rising hundreds of metres — combine the intimacy of a valley with the depth of an ocean...
Greece and Money: The Euro, the Debt Crisis, and the Economy Today
Greece uses the euro (€) as its currency — has done since 2001 when it joined the eurozone, two years after the euro's initial launch. For travelers, this means the same currency as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and 17 other European countries: no e...
Who Are the Greek People? Ancient Roots and the Question of Continuity
The question "Are modern Greeks the same people as the ancient Greeks?" has been asked — and answered differently — by Byzantine theologians, Ottoman administrators, 19th-century European Romantics, German philologists, Greek nationalists, and modern...
Why Is Greece Called Greece? The Story Behind the Name
If you ask a Greek person what they call their country, they will say Hellas (Ελλάς or Ελλάδα). They call themselves Hellenes (Έλληνες). The Greek language is Helleniki. Greece, in the eyes of the Greeks, has always been and remains Hellas. So where...
Slovak Food: A Complete Guide to What to Eat in Slovakia
Slovak food is the food of mountain farmers and river valley vintners — built around what could be produced, preserved, and cooked over a long winter at altitude. It shares DNA with Czech, Hungarian, and Polish cuisines but has its own distinct chara...
Slovakia Travel Guide: The Best Hotels, Castles, and Places to Stay
Slovakia sits at the dead centre of Europe — bordered by Austria to the west, Hungary to the south, Ukraine to the east, and the Czech Republic and Poland to the north — and is visited by a fraction of the tourists its neighbours receive. That is cha...
Germany's Romantic Road: The Ultimate Self-Drive Guide
Germany's Romantische Straße (Romantic Road) is one of Europe's most celebrated scenic drives — a 460km route through the heart of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg connecting the Franconian wine region to the foot of the Bavarian Alps. It passes medieva...
Oktoberfest: The Complete Guide to Munich's Greatest Tradition
Every year from the third Saturday of September through the first Sunday of October, six million people descend on Munich's Theresienwiese meadow to participate in the world's largest folk festival. They consume approximately 7 million litres of beer...