The collapse of the division between eastern
and western
Europe at the end of the
1980s, and the ever closer ties among the
fifteen countries of the European Union -
increasingly a political and cultural as
well as economic union - made Europe a
buzzword in the early 1990s, implying shared
values and, despite all the wrangling, a
broad consensus of political beliefs. Some
of this is inevitably a superficial
analysis, but although true European unity
still remains a distant dream, developments
such as the introduction of the euro, the
creation of the frontier-free Schengen Group
and the opening of the Channel Tunnel have
done much to bring it closer.
Conventionally, the geographical
boundaries of Europe are the Ural
Mountains in the east, the Atlantic Coast in
the north and west, and the Mediterranean in
the south. However, within these rough
parameters Europe is massively diverse. The
environment changes radically within very
short distances, with bleak mountain ranges
never far from broad, fertile plains, and
deep, ancient forests close to scattered
lake systems or river gorges. Politically
and ethnically, too, it is an extraordinary
patchwork: Slavic peoples are scattered
through central Europe from Poland in the
north to Serbia and Bulgaria in the south;
the Finnish and Estonian languages bear no
resemblance to the tongues of their Baltic
and Scandinavian neighbours, but more to
that of Hungary, over 1000km south;
meanwhile Romansch, akin to ancient Latin,
is spoken in the valleys of south-eastern
Switzerland, while the Basques of the
Western Pyrenees have a language unrelated
to any others known. These differences have
become more political of late with the rise
of nationalism that coincided with the fall
of Communism, and borders are even now being
redrawn, not always peacefully, and usually
along ethnic lines defined by language, race
or religion.
Where you head for obviously
depends on your tastes and the kind of
vacation you want: you can sample mountain
air and winter sports in the Alps of France,
Austria or Switzerland, lie on a beach in
the swanky resorts of the south of France or
Italy, or view architecture and works of art
in the great cities of London, Paris,
Florence or Amsterdam. Suffice to say, the
lifting of restrictions on travel in eastern
Europe, with only a handful of countries
still requiring visas and nothing like the
bureaucratic regulations there were before,
means that the Continent really is there for
the travelling - something manifest in the
increasingly good-value rail passes which
cover most of the countries in Europe.
Although you may want to make a long hop or
two by air, rail is indeed the way to
see the Continent, highlighting the
diversity of the place when you travel in a
few hours from the cool temperatures of
northern Europe to the rich and sultry
climes of the Mediterranean. In fact, with
the richness and diversity of its culture,
climate, landscapes and peoples, there is no
more exciting place to travel.
