The One Thing That Makes Traveling Europe 2X Better • Indie Traveller

Recently, my travels have been focused very much on Europe again (see: Spain, Italy, Portugal, and more). As I’m visiting old castles, reading plaques, and listening to audio guides, it occurs to me that I’m engaging with these things in a different way than I did many years ago.

While I’ve seen more castles, museums, and churches than I can remember, it seems that I once often only skimmed the surface of what makes them so interesting.

A crucial element was often missing from my early European trips: a better understanding of the insanely intertwined history of the continent. 

Seriously: once you really get into the history, traveling in Europe gains so many new layers. Of course, history plays a part in understanding any travel destination, but I find it’s doubly so in Europe. 

Still, it isn’t always that easy to get into.

Tell me: have you ever been on a tour of some historical place and found all those historical facts and figures simply entering one ear and…