When the word “Europe” comes to mind, we all think of some popular cities like Paris, London, and Rome but this continent has a lot of hidden gems that are not being seen as much in the shadow of their famous competitors!
In this post, we would get to know 5 cities that you should put on your bucket list.
1-Ankara, Turkey
Ankara is the capital of Turkey. This country gets more than 45 million international visitors every year but most of them only know Istanbul and Antalya. Turkish culture is a beautiful thing to discover and there’s no better city to represent it better than Ankara.
This city is less affected by mass tourism compared to Istanbul and most people don’t even speak English but we all understand body language and may God bless Google Translate!
2-Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Have you read the book “the cellist of Sarajevo” by Steven Galloway? If no, you should drop whatever you’re reading ASAP and start this one. This true story is about a Cellist who plays his Cello every day in the street during a real war!
The whole story happens in Sarajevo and after reading it, I don’t have to encourage you to visit this capital!
3-Valletta, Malta
Valletta is one of those always summer cities! There are beaches near it to enjoy relaxing at, as well as old European buildings. Malta is one of the oldest countries in Europe.
4-Bratislava, Slovakia
Bratislava comes straight out of a Disney animation! The old side’s skyline reminds me of “Cinderella” and “Hotel Transylvania” at the same time.
5-Budapest, Hungary
Budapest is famous for its beautiful architecture. It also has a stunning river called “Danube” which splits the city in half. If you are planning to visit this capital, don’t forget to try their hot Mulled Wine. They are the best in this type of wine.
We have only been to Valetta from this list but it was really beautiful! A few more ideas for city breaks now!
Glad to know you liked this post!
Thank you for your comment!
As I have mentioned in passing a few times in my blog, for the first half of high school I had a crush on this girl named Kim who was way out of my league. In 10th grade world history class, we were learning countries and capitals of Europe and the Mediterranean region, and she was asking me for answers or something like that. I would have said asking me to help her, but from what little I remember of that day, I think she just wanted the answers, and I was happy to give her the answers because that’s how life works when you’re 15 and not good at anything except school and a really popular girl asks you something. But I told her the capital of Turkey was Istanbul.
That night, I was doing something, probably doing homework for that class and I saw a map, or something like that, and I realized I had given Kim the wrong answer. This greatly upset me… I had a chance to impress her with my world capital knowledge, and I blew it. The next day, I had to find her as soon as possible to correct my mistake. Before school the next day, I saw one of her friends before I saw her. I asked, “Do you know if Kim is here yet? Yesterday I was helping her with homework and I told her a wrong answer. I want to make sure she fixes it.” Her friend said, “She probably won’t care.” Haha…
Oh… I guess the point of the story is that to this day, 28+ years later, Ankara still makes me think of that.
That was a great memory to hear.
Sorry if I reminded you of that by Ankara! lol!
I just love Ankara so much and for me, when I hear its name, it reminds me of all of those outstanding Turkish donairs and Iskandar kebobs I had in a small local donair place, almost every day! lol!
The prices in Turkey are too cheap for us. For 1 Canadian dollar, you get 5 Turkish Lira, and for 1 USD, you get 6.7 Turkish Lira!
you get a full plate of delicious freshly grilled meat and 3 sides for 20 Liras!
It still makes me hungry when I think of it! lol
Nice! And you don’t need to apologize, I can laugh about it now 🙂
Glad to hear that! I still can’t laugh about a lot of my childhood mistakes!
Bucket list items, for sure, and a book for my list! Thank you!
My pleasure!
Glad you liked the post 😊
Beautiful places….
Thank you for your comment! I appericiate it.
You are welome
Your post should tempt many tourists to visit any of these beautiful countries! 👍👌
Thank you sir!
I appreciate your kind comments!
I hope my next post make you say that famous quote of yours! 😊
Dear friend. I enjoy your post thoroughly but may I offer my negative opinion about Ankara. I visited it way back in 1967 and was not at all impressed. May be my eyes were blurred!. Pardon me.
Thank you for your comment!
I respect your opinion.
The reason I put it as the most underrated capital in Europe is that I visited Ankara twice and loved every moment of it!
Maybe back then the city wasn’t as good as now.
There are a lot of tours to participate in that go through Turkey’s modern history, as well as a lot of great restaurants and beautiful nearby cities that you can go as a daily tour like tour to Konya, where the famous Iranian poet, Rumi is resting.
Maybe if you visit it again, you change your mind!
Thanks for sharing your opinion with us.
I enjoy negative opinions!
Point taken. You are very kind. No way I can visit Ankara, or for that matter any other city looking to my age and infirmity. God Bless.
I see. That’s fine. I’ll probably visit Turkey again in about 2 years. I’ll remember to take some detailed videos and photos exclusively for you!
I just bookmarked your blog to find you easier at that time.
I pray for your well being!
Dear me! Will you take all the trouble just for ME? Hope I am still around! Love you, my friend. May God be with you.
That’s totally fine dear!
It would be my pleasure to make you happy!
Amen! Thanks for your prayers.
Am I blessed! A million thanks.
👌👌💟
I have visited Bratislava and Budapest.
In Budapest stayed for 3 days and visited the entire city.
Memorable days. Thanks for sharing. 😊👍
Parliament is one of the best places to visit. Beautiful architecture.
Thank you very much for sharing your memory and recommendation with us!
Delusional Bubble You sure caught my attention with this post. I recall studying all these cities in school in Social Studies here in Canada. There are so many that just opened up that vault in my memory banks. I loved the fact that you chose these cities to write about as they are so old and still stunning in beauty. Thank you for creating such wonders for our minds and our eyes to soak in.
My pleasure.
I’m very glad you enjoyed reading this post!
Thank you for your comment!
You are welcome for my comment. I was happy to read your blog post. You are a good story teller Delusional Bubble. Thank you for creating a story line that caught me , I mean my attention lol. I will try to keep reading as much as possible.
I’ve been to Ankara once. Beautiful city!
Wow! I absolutely love your website.
Thank you very much Delusional Bubble!
Sarajevo is absolutely stunning and sitting eating in small restaurants cut into the cliffs, on either side, gives amazing views and insight into the other side. It’s full of history and a beautiful place to visit. Bosnia is still so very cheap to eat and drink out every day and the people are all friendly. It’s a must visit. Caz
Thank you very much for your comment. I’ll surely use it when writing about Sarajevo again.
cheers!
Looks like you have an interesting site here. I look forward to reading more.
Thank you dear Lisa for your kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the posts.
You’re very welcome.
Duly noted. 🙂
Wow this is interesting!
Thank you and welcome to the family
I’ll be looking forward to reading it.
Warsaw, Poland also underrated. It’s old square built in the 13th century.
It was the 6th one in my mind but I’m planning to write a post about it
In the 13th century there was a forest there, not a town square.
Give me a compelling reason as to why I should visit Ankara apart from the beauty of the name.
There are countless high-quality unknown Cafes in its beautiful narrow alleys and also the real Turkish food (Which is mostly meat based) could be found over there. Modern Turkey’s builder “Musafa Kamal Pasha” is buried in this city in a stunning tumb and they have great museums that reflect their culture.
I’ve been there twice , it was amazing.
Useful_and now you bought me😂