Things to Do in Europe

Novodevichy Convent & Cemetery comprise one of Moscow’s most beautiful attractions. Also known as the New Maiden’s Convent, the convent may be best known as the place where Peter the Great imprisoned his half-sister Sofia after deposing her and taking over as tsar of Russia. He later confined his first wife to the convent as well. Originally built as a fortress in 1524 to commemorate the conquest of Smolensk, the convent features 12 battle towers. Most of the current buildings, however, date to the late 17th century, when the convent was substantially rebuilt.

The largest and most important church in the convent is the five-domed Cathedral of the Virgin of Smolensk. It was finished in 1525 and contains impressive icons dating to the 16th and 17th centuries. Almost as impressive as the Cathedral is the red and white Church of the Assumption, built in 1680.

The Novodevichy Cemetery sits adjacent to the convent and is one of the most prestigious resting places in all of Russia – as well as the third most popular tourist destination. Over 27,000 people are buried there, including Russian and Soviet notables such as writers Anton Chekhov and Nikolai Gogol, poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev and former Russian president Boris Yeltsin.
For those interested in locating particular graves, a map is available at the entrance.

Immortalized on-screen in the eponymous 1999 romantic comedy film, Notting Hill is much more than just a backdrop for the famous Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts’ love affair. The west London district, stretching over Ladbroke Grove, Portobello Road and parts of North Kensington is one of the city’s hippest destinations, lined with vintage boutiques, bijou cafés and indie music venues. Located between the upmarket neighborhoods of Knightsbridge and Kensington, Notting Hill brings a dash of bohemian cool to the stately Victorian townhouses and cobbled side streets, making it the perfect location for the annual Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest and most flamboyant street festival.

Notting Hill is also home to the world famous Portobello market, where one of the largest antique markets in the world is held alongside stalls selling everything from vintage and alternative clothing to handmade crafts and jewelry, music (legendary record store and label Rough Trade is in these parts) and fruit and vegetables.

Notting Hill’s nightlife is also renowned – the Notting Hill Arts Club hosts a number of live bands and DJs; The Castle, Prince Albert and The Cow are popular local pubs or else there are dozens of trendy bars on and around Portobello Road. A number of art house cinemas make it a popular destination for film fanatics too, including the funky Electric cinema with its plush leather sofas and an in-house bar; the small yet luxurious Gate cinema and the grand Coronet cinema, London’s oldest operating cinema, which has been showing movies since 1916.

A 75-foot monumental pillar fashioned from pink granite, the Obelisk of Luxor looms over Place de la Concorde, Paris’ largest and most famous square, flanked by the idyllic Jardin des Tuileries. Erected in 1836, the monument was gifted to King Charles X by the Viceroy of Egypt, one of the twin obelisks marking the entrance to the Temple of Luxor (its double remains seated at the temple entrance). Following the turbulence and bloodshed of the French Revolution, the Obelisk was erected in Place de la Concorde as a symbol of peace, replacing the former statue of Louis XV that was famously substituted for a guillotine during the uprisings and effectively erasing some of the square’s gruesome history.

Framed by fountains, the Luxor Obelisk, often-nicknamed Cleopatra’s Needle, is reminiscent of ancient Egyptian obelisks later exhumed in London and New York, and features original hieroglyphic tributes to the pharaoh Ramses II. Its original base carvings, now on display in the Louvre, have been replaced with images of its installation, a complex procedure to haul the 230-ton monolith into position. A gold leaf apex was added in 1998 to replace the missing original capstone, the most recent addition to the monument that dates back over 3000 years.

Second only to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris) is one of Paris' most iconic attractions, a marvel of medieval architecture that was immortalized in Victor Hugo's classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Today, the Gothic grandeur and stained-glass windows of the UNESCO World Heritage site continue to reign supreme from Ile de la Cite, an island in the middle of the Seine River.

The Georgian Period was a regal time, when many of Dublin’s most well to do residents resided in lavish homes. One of those stunning historical abodes is Number Twenty Nine, a Georgian townhome from the late 18th century that’s now a public museum. Tour every corner of this extravagant home, from a basement that holds an authentic collection of Georgian era furniture, to an attic that has carpets, curtains, and artifacts that have been preserved for hundreds of years. In addition to the intriguing period pieces, informative storyboards help to educate visitors on the life of a wealthy homeowner. Similarly, there’s also info on the daily lives of residents who weren’t so well off—particularly the servants who kept the home in such a reputable and high-class state. Wandering through Number Twenty Nine takes the better part of an hour, and seeing as it’s only a short walk from Grafton Street and the city center, it’s an educational and insightful stop on a walking tour of Dublin.

Located less than 40 miles south of Stockholm, Nynashamn is a frequent jumping-off point and stopover destination for cruise ships and ferries servicing the region. Commerce in the area began to increase with the construction of a rail line to Stockholm constructed in the early 20th century. Once a flourishing spa town (it hosted the Olympic sailing regatta in 1912), Nynashamn ceased to function as much of a tourist draw in and of itself following the construction of industrial facilities and an oil refinery prior to the end of World War I.