Rick Steves Quotes

Provides a handy and interesting passage to the Holocaust memorial

NEAR THE BASILICA OF ST. ANTHONY Antica Trattoria dei Paccagnella, the most serious restaurant near the basilica, serves up nicely presented, seasonal local dishes with modern flair and an impressive...

Europeans marvel at how Americans seem willing, almost eager, to work themselves into an early grave. My European friends have told me proudly, We don’t live to work…we work to live.

Call your debit- and credit-card companies to let them know the countries you’ll be visiting, to ask about fees, request your PIN code (it will be mailed to you), and more. See here for details.

Six in 10 Brits call themselves Christian (half of those are Anglican), but in any given week, more Londoners visit a mosque than an Anglican church.

The stretch of the Appian Way past the Catacombs of San Sebastiano is the least interesting and most crowded (even dangerous). Avoid it by taking the pedestrian and bike path (open daily except Wed),...

Leidsedwarsstraat in Amsterdam,

DDR Watchtower This was one of many such towers built in 1966 for panoramic surveillance and shooting (note the rifle windows, allowing shots to be fired in 360 degrees).

The City: Today’s modern financial district, called simply The City, was a walled town in Roman

A plaque just outside remembers June 30, 1944. That night, Nazi forces were planning to blow up the arch to slow the Allied advance. To save their treasured landmark, Volterrans ripped up the stones t...

To return to central Rome, it’s another two miles north along a busy stretch of road, not recommended on foot or bike. Instead, catch bus #118 from the bus stop about 75 yards past Domine Quo Vadis Ch...

Times.

Kun døde fisk flyder med strømmen—Only dead fish swim with the current.)

France is Europe’s most diverse, tasty, and exciting country to explore. It’s a cultural bouillabaisse that surprises travelers with its varied, complex flavors.

In Denmark, social trust—a general feeling that you trust your fellow citizens and the pillar institutions of government, law courts, police, hospitals, and so on—is generally found to be the highest...

If boots do hit the ground in a war, Europeans believe it will be because they have failed to prevent it. They prefer endless diplomacy to once-in-a-while war. Europe’s reluctance to go to war frustra...

Festivals: Porto’s big holiday is São João Day (for St. John the Baptist, the city’s patron saint) on June 24. Festivities start the night of June 23 with partying and fireworks at Ponte Dom Luís I br...

Here’s a two-week alternative, which could include a few car days in southern Spain near the end of your trip: Start in Barcelona (two days); train to Madrid (five days total, with two days in Madrid...

St. Galgano was a 12th-century saint who renounced his past as a knight to become a hermit. Lacking a cross to display, he created his own by miraculously burying his sword up to its hilt in a stone,...

I remember when the standard farewell when I set off on another trip was Bon voyage! But today, Americans tend to say, Have a safe trip. (When I hear this, I’m inclined to say, Well, you have a safe s...