Landscapes of immunity
There are some small populated islands off the coast of Sicily which have never recorded a single COVID infection. And, by comparison with many European countries, Iceland has consistently shown low incidence ...
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Landscapes of immunity
There are some small populated islands off the coast of Sicily which have never recorded a single COVID infection. And, by comparison with many European countries, Iceland has consistently shown low incidence ...
Shared High Points
Germany makes much of its highest mountain, the mighty Zugspitze. The frontier between Austria and Germany bisects the mountain. But in Austria, the Zugspitze hardly counts as a significant peak. We look at the phenomenon of shared ...
The Mingrelian Question
The green and white stripes of the Abkhaz flag give a striking splash of colour. But the schoolteacher speaks of the Mingrelian language and culture. Karlos Zurutuza goes in search of a minority group in the Republic of Abkhazia, a small territory ...
A Georgian Vichy
The Iranian consul's residence and the Romanov's Likani Palace are just two of many extraordinary buildings which attest to the one-time importance of Borjomi, a Georgian spa town best known for its mineral water. It's a town with a complex history ...
Vintage Views: Railways and Wine Tourism
What better way to survey some of the world's great vineyards than from the comfort of a train cruising slowly through a region celebrated for its fine wines? Ideally with a glass of wine to hand! We explore opportunities for rail-wine tourism in ...
Visa News
A chance to visit Belarus without a visa, and a tweak to the visa regulations in the Russian port of Murmansk are just two of the latest changes to visa regimes in ...
Ship Talk: From the Kattegat to the Crimea
Many travellers through Denmark this summer will be sorry to discover that the long-standing direct ferry from Kalundborg (on Sjælland) to Aarhus (on Jutland) has been axed. This is just one of many routes to disappear in the latest round of cuts ...
Meaningful partnerships for eastern Europe
The worrying developments in Ukraine highlight the challenges experienced by countries eligible for support under the European Union's Eastern Partnerships (EaP) programme. Tugged in one direction by Brussels and in the other by Moscow, it is no ...
Journey to Oni: a forgotten synagogue in Georgia’s Racha province
The province of Racha in Georgia nudges up against the Caucasus Mountains, and boasts some fabulous scenery. Oni is tucked away in the mountains and doesn't get a lot of visitors. Those that do come are often from Israel. Guest contributor Laurence ...
The Caucasus dimension
Georgians have high hopes for the Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union - a six-month term that started this month. Georgia, like Lithuania, slipped out of the Soviet Union in 1991. The hopes in Tbilisi are that Lithania will open European ...
Asia in the mind
We start with a dubious attribution, a few words allegedly uttered by the Austrian diplomat and politician Count Metternich. And we end with the Ukrainian poet and dramatist Lesya Ukrainka in Georgia. In between, we discover that Asia is a state of ...
Timing matters
Russia's decision this year to abandon seasonal changes of clocks has prompted much media comment. Belarus has followed Russia's example. Ukraine, after much prevarication, has opted to stick with alternating winter and summer time. In this short ...
The Black Sea Riviera by train
Europe has Rivieras aplenty. For many travellers, the word Riviera evokes images of the French coast from St Raphael to Menton. But we should not forget the Black Sea, which has along its north coast a Riviera style coastline that is surely the ...
Lamb soup galore
Lamb soup is a staple in some parts of Europe, but utterly unknown elsewhere. In Iceland, lamb soup has the status of a national dish. That lamb soup was once judged to be the perfect remedy for dysentery was new to ...
View from the fortress: Akhaltsikhe (Georgia)
Akhaltsikhe has seen better days. The town has had Georgian, Ottoman, Russian and Soviet masters. Today it is one of the remotest towns in Georgia, and still engagingly multicultural, for Akhaltsikhe has a large Armenian ...
Plums, walnuts and cilantro
hidden europe celebrates a distinctive Caucasian ...
Against all odds
hidden europe checks out two improbable examples of cultural resilience: Estonians in Georgia and Aromanian Vlachs in northern ...
Banking on poets
Nineteenth century poets often nurtured the flower of national consciousness; today they are rewarded with pride of place on many European ...
Exploring the Georgian Military Highway
Travel one of the most intriguing roads in the Caucasus with hidden europe guest author Laurence Mitchell. Along the way, we encounter decapitated despots, feral horses roaming free in tunnels and a Russian ...
Nicely nautical!
regular hidden europe correspondent Karlos Zurutuza files a report from Nagorno ...
Georgian hospitality
A onetime showpiece hotel of the Soviet era, the Iveria in Tbilisi, was transformed into a vertical refugee camp. We find out ...
Between two rivers: Abkhazia
Regular hidden europe correspondent Karlos Zurutuza ventures to parts of Europe that most of us would judge to be off-limits. Here he reports from Abkhazia, a not-quite-independent republic on the Black ...
Trans-Caucasus rail link
Plans for a new rail link between Turkey and Georgia offer the prospect of some tantalising new journeys by train into the Caucasus ...
Castles in the air: Svaneti
The breathtaking mountains of the High Caucasus tower over the upper Inguri valley, which is home to a rich but endangered culture. Karlos Zurutuza, a regular contributor to hidden europe, visits the Svaneti region of ...
A Caucasian knot: South Ossetia
In Tamarasheni, the clocks are set to Georgian time. Just down the road, the community of Tskhinval prefers Moscow time. All a matter of borders. But in South Ossetia every frontier is contested. Karlos Zurutuza reports from the quasi-state of ...
Election special
Tired of McCain and Obama? Fed up with Sarah Palin's take on foreign policy? We have the perfect antidote with a hidden eruope round up of elections from Iceland to Malta, the Czech Republic to ...
Rallying support for the nation
In western Europe, long distance car rallies of the inter-war years came to symbolise glitz and glamour. Just think of the Monte Carlo rally. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union the car rally became an important tool in the building of socialism. We ...
Abkhazia - the Adler connection
If Abkhazia were more secure and better promoted, it would surely be a holiday paradise to match anywhere in the Mediterranean. It was a favourite with Soviet leaders. The area is spectacular with serene beaches backed by meadows, orchards and ...
Thoughts on Russia
Russian perceptions of Europe are much in the news this month in the wake of Moscow's response to the Tbilisi government's ill-considered adventure in South Ossetia. And yet Russian popular perceptions are shaped not merely by Kremlin dictates but ...
Minorities around the Black Sea
The Black Sea region bristles with diaspora curiosities, and, in an earlier issue of hidden europe magazine (in July 2005), we explored Estonian villages in the breakaway province of Abkhazia in northwest Georgia. In the upcoming issue of the ...
Europe's best value flight - island hopping in the Faroes - Georgian visas
In these days of discount airlines, we all expect to travel for next to nothing, except of course when we are flying to some far flung remote spot where there is absolutely no competition. So when hidden europe checked out domestic flights in the ...