Summer in Paris can be a steamy soup swimming with tourists. So follow the smart Parisians and get out of town. In two hours you can have your feet on the hot sands of a resort called Deauville.

We chose a cruise on AmaWaterways specifically because it offered bicycle excursions on an itinerary that started in Vienna, stopped in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, and finished a few miles south of Bucharest, Romania.

I just spent 10 days in England, and before you ask, no, I didn’t get a glimpse of the queen or Buckingham Palace.

TRAVEL

At first glance, Germany’s Reinheitsgebot seems straightforward enough. Known in English as the Beer Purity Law, it limits the ingredients in German beers to water, barley and hops.

Few people were surprised when construction crews working on the future U.S. Navy support site in the farming town of Gricignano in the mid 1990s began uncovering artifacts. Those artifacts are displayed today in the Archeological Museum of Agro Atellano.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to end a long-standing and well-recognized tradition: the midafternoon nap.

Our European adventure started in Rota, Spain, where we enjoyed mild winter temperatures, the appealing countryside, friendly people and historical landmarks.

Madrid is an easy city to love. It’s clean, the people are friendly and the climate is mild and sunny. Best of all, this world capital has so many interesting sights that it doesn’t feel crowded.

Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s almost tulip time in Holland. Next Thursday, Keukenhof opens for the 67th time, and about a million flower lovers will descend on the famed gardens on the outskirts of Lisse.

In March 2015, a funny thing happened to the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, an Armed Forces Recreation Center in the Bavarian Alps. The hotel and its grounds suddenly transformed into a 1980s Olympic ski lodge in Canada.

When you sail on a ship like the 208-passenger Star Breeze, a vessel nimble enough to squeeze up to almost any tiny cove or narrow gorge, it’s a good idea to bone up on the ports-of-call in advance.

How many islands dot Ireland’s Clew Bay? As many as days of the year, goes the saying.

After eight days of tastings in London, my suitcase was crammed with more chocolate than clothes.

In Europe, Italy tops the list for most popular destination as listed by the U.S. Tour Operators Association. Here’s a look at the rest of the top spots recommended by the travel industry.

At just 37, Great British Chef Nathan Outlaw has four restaurants in England (three bearing Michelin stars), a chef academy and several books to his name, including “Nathan Outlaw’s British Seafood.” We met him at his flagship eatery in Port Isaac to talk about his favorite subject: All things fish.

Fans of the BBC's epic 18th-century drama “Poldark” have discovered not only the rippled abs of its handsome star, Aidan Turner, but they've also fallen in love with the craggy, windswept landscape of the English county of Cornwall. I recently became a "set-jetter" and watched the cast filming.

The Bastogne War Museum, opened in the spring of 2014, gives the visitor a personal experience of the Battle of the Bulge, as exhibits trace the history of World War II and what led to it.

This region on France’s mid-Atlantic coast is a vacation paradise, with islands, beaches, canals, pleasant cities, incredible seafood — and cognac.

Called “P Street” by Americans at nearby Lask Air Base, Piotrkowska Street in Lodz, Poland, is the city’s main shopping avenue, art district and party zone all in one.

GALLERY

The Staedel, Frankfurt, Germany’s esteemed art museum, wraps up its 200th anniversary celebrations with an exhibit of masterworks borrowed from some of the world’s most prestigious art museums.

It was my first day out on a walk across Scotland, and I’d stumbled upon one of the most beautiful camping spots I’d ever seen.

A visit to Georgia and its capital Tbilisi reveals that over the centuries it has been on the crossroads of east and west.

Researchers have discovered evidence of standing stones believed to be the remnants of a major prehistoric stone monument near the Stonehenge ruins.

On a recent assignment I spent a couple of nights in Minden, a northern German town on the Weser River.

Lying in the shadows of the Pyrenees, the mountain range that separates Spain from France, La Rioja is split in two regions that have one thing in common. Together, they constitute Spain’s most prolific wine-producing region.

The history and setting of cities like Tallinn and Riga, Latvia, and their tourist-friendly prices, offer ample reason for a visit, especially for U.S. servicemembers stationed in Europe.

Some servicemembers and retirees will no longer be able to use an Armed Forces Recreation Center in Garmisch following a recent review of the center’s reservations policies, the military said Tuesday.

Trier, Germany, sits comfortably in the midst of Western Europe, minutes from Luxembourg and close to France, all European Union members. Sharing the euro, the town’s 105,000 residents share a regional sensibility with their neighbors

Photo gallery

The Overlord Museum and the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum are near each other in Normandy, making a fine pair to visit to deepen your knowledge of WWII's D-Day.

Put the skis away. Time to tune up the bikes and get back in the saddle. I convinced my husband, Bob, who has done little cycling during the past few years, that he needed to get moving again.

Today, with the hip districts in the former East Berlin going upscale fashionable, the west’s Kreuzberg district is again the Bohemian, radical heart of Berlin — as it was before the fall of the Wall.

It is one of Berlin’s most popular tourist attractions. Some come to see democracy in action, but most come to wander up through the lofty glass and metal dome that crowns it.

The German-Russian Museum is housed in the historic building in Berlin-Karlshorst where, shortly after midnight May 9, 1945, the Nazis signed the surrender document ending World War II in Europe.

This summer an international audience will discover what the locals already know: that Utrecht is a vibrant, architecturally distinctive place hidden in the shadow of Amsterdam, its famous neighbor to the north.

Whether viewed from the castle tower or from the streets and walkways that hug the Ljubljanica River below, the capital of Slovenia is a visual treat. A whole day can be spent exploring some of Ljubljana’s 17 bridges.

On a map, Halkidiki looks a bit like an octopus. But instead of eight arms, it has three, which dangle into the Aegean Sea from the main body — a mountainous landscape covered in olive groves, Aleppo pine forests and heather.

Learn from one traveler's mistakes

If you are fortunate enough to travel to the British Isles for a week, do as I say, not as I did.

When I first saw a photo of the East-German made Trabant, I fell in love. When I read that a tour company lets you drive one through East Berlin, I was already imagining myself behind the wheel of one of the adorably boxy little polluters.

In Reims, we take a tour of France's sparkling Champagne region.

Lonely Planet recently named Toulouse — a dynamic university city that is home to Airbus — one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2015. Exploring the tastes of the city is a joy.

Culinary Backstreets was started by Americans five years ago as a food blog, Istanbul Eats, with the goal of sharing authentic, tasty Istanbul restaurants with visitors.

If you go to Mons, Belgium, next year, you’ll discover a host of events to celebrate its status as cultural capital of Europe.

My favorite thing about Speyer, Germany, at Christmastime happens after the Christmas goose is cooked.

GALLERY

Dovrefjell National Park is popular with Norwegian trekkers, but most foreign tourists don’t make it here, and with its seemingly endless trails, you can go hours without bumping into any living thing that doesn’t have hooves and a bad temper.

Portes du Soleil (“Gateway to the Sun”) ski region with slopes in both Switzerland and France claims to be the largest ski area in the world.

Resting at the foot of the Zugspitze mountain in one of the most scenic parts of Germany, Edelweiss Lodge and Resort has for the past 10 years catered to American military personnel in Europe and their families.

Against a backdrop of stylish cafes, beautiful architecture and a buzzing street scene, it’s easy to forget during a stroll through Lviv that this is a country at war.

GALLERY

Ironically, Berlin's most popular tourist attraction in large part no longer exists. But there are places where you can see remains of the Berlin Wall and feel the chill that separated not only East and West Germany, but also the world.

The Greek islands have enchanted travelers for thousands of years. Maybe it’s because Greece serves as the backdrop for some of the world’s oldest myths and legends. Stories of Hercules, Achilles and Helen of Troy, like a magnet, pull us to the islands’ rocky shores. Choosing which Greek island to visit can be daunting, however.

The history and setting of cities like Tallinn and Riga, Latvia, and their tourist-friendly prices, offer ample reason for a visit, especially for U.S. servicemembers stationed in Europe.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the artist whose cabaret posters have become synonymous with Paris and Montmartre, the area of Paris famous for its bohemian lifestyle and the haunt of artists, writers and philosophers in the late 1800s.

The “church of the chickens” is only one of the homespun, non-touristy and somewhat otherworldly attractions found along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, or the Way of St. James — an ancient pilgrim route supposedly traveled by the apostle to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Iberian peninsula.

This Spanish island has a strong cycling pedigree and is an annual training destination for Tour de France riders. For those who haven’t perched on a saddle for years, it's also a great place to get reacquainted with bicycling.

Leukerbad, a spa town high in the Alps, is all about water, mainly thermal water bubbling from 65 springs that fill the town’s 30 pools. But it is also about needing a soak in those waters after high-altitude outdoor sports.

It rises nearly 500 feet out of the water and can be seen from miles away. It is perhaps, with the exception of the Eiffel Tower, France’s most distinct tourist sight. It is the fortified medieval abbey of Mont-St-Michel.

We’ve come to Seville, the capital of Andalusia and Spain’s fourth-largest city, to learn more about the history and character of this region.

Casualties were high in World War II's Operation Cobra. Many Americans who fell here never left France, and 4,408 are buried at Brittany American Cemetery on the outskirts of the small town of St. James.

Independent winemaker Anthony Hammond tends grapes on 5.5 hectares in Germany’s Rheingau region, considered one of Germany’s premiere Riesling areas. Riesling is riding a wave of popularity like never before.

After the tight confines of town, both Jag and driver strain to be let loose. Shifting into fourth gear, we’re away with a throaty roar. Steering is light and responsive — the big yellow E-Type Jaguar has finally communed with its passengers and we’re now all having a blast.

The Mediterranean island of Corsica is known for its beaches. Glorious expanses of golden sand interrupted by jagged, rocky cliffs stretch for miles.

Mega-photo gallery

A stroll through Jaffa is a walk from the present to the past and back again.

Some European cities are impossible to navigate without a car or public transportation, but Gdansk, Poland’s, Old Town is just right for exploring on foot.

A coffee shop proved to me that I didn’t know beans about coffee. I came to this realization after attending a public coffee-tasting at Hot Numbers, a coffee shop and roaster in Cambridge, England. Properly called a “cupping,” the process, led by two shop employees, involved roughly two hours of sniffing, slurping and analyzing coffee and concluded with a quiz, which I failed.

Could there be a better way to sample daily life as the Parisians live it than browsing the markets of Paris? American and former Paris resident Marjorie R. Williams, co-author of “Markets of Paris” (Little Bookroom, 2012), thinks not.

One hundred years later, the French landscape where the World War I Battle of Verdun was fought remains visibly scarred by the thousands of overlapping shell craters, trench lines and bunkers blanketing the terrain.

In Japan, the idea was to provide animal lovers who live in cramped city apartments and cannot have pets the opportunity to socialize with cats. Margaux Gandelon, founder and owner of the Parisian cafe, saw the need for such a place in her hometown.

Walk down the Rue Cler in Paris and you’ll spot dozens. Head up into the tiny Swiss alpine towns of Murren and Wengen and they’re there, too. From Donegal to Dubrovnik, you’ll find them: The Rick Steves Travelers — or “Rickniks.”

It was like stepping into another world, of elegance and refinement of another era. Tins of teas — some 500 kinds from 35 countries — sat on floor-to-ceiling shelves.

From the top of the world's tallest building, visitors to Dubai can see what they are paying for each time they fill up at the pump. Petro-dollars have fueled a boom in Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates that’s quickly turning barren desert into concrete jungle.

The process of finding truffles is still a closely guarded secret among colorful and competitive hunters of the underground fungus. But several locations in Europe hold truffle festivals, where sampling the internationally prized delicacy is easy.

You would not expect to find much fish on restaurant menus of alandlocked country. But, with some 50 lakes and numerous rivers and mountain streams, Switzerland is home to 90 freshwater fish species.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in some of the Balkans’ major cities and have been disarmed by the mix of ancient architecture, sobering recent history and a people almost jarringly open about events that so recently traumatized them. This year, I wanted to return and explore the back roads of what had become my favorite corner of Europe.

The remnants of the the Berlin Wall have turned into what is considered the world’s largest open-air art gallery, known as the East Side Gallery.

Almost a century after “the war to end all wars,” Americans may have fleeting impressions of the Lost Generation. But in Belgium, daily ceremonies still memorialize those who died in a war that greatly changed the country’s landscape and people.

Fuerteventura, the second largest of Spain’s seven Canary Islands, is the “Caribbean” of Europe, with sugar-white beaches and a climate that radiates 12 months of sunshine with average highs of 75 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year, though at times temps can reach 100 or so.

Market wise in London

Three of London’s numerous and colorful markets are among my favorites. They give me the best of both worlds: They allow me to do one of my favorite things — meet and mingle with local artists while also doing a very touristy thing by shopping for souvenirs and gifts. All three markets are an easy walk from Tube stations. Here are my picks.

Motorists on both sides of the zebra crosswalk on London's Abbey Road scowl as they give way to those who clamber to walk in the footsteps of The Beatles, with visions of mop tops and yellow submarines in their kaleidoscope eyes.

The eight landmark buildings below give you a feel for both Pest and Buda -- originally separate cities, divided by the river, but united about 150 years ago to form the modern metropolis.

Graveyards may not seem the ideal location for afternoon tea, but there is a trend towards opening cafes inside cemetery walls in Berlin and other cities.

Amsterdam has begun employing alcoholics to clean the city's streets, paying them in cash, tobacco and beer.

Berlin's tourist boom has led many locals to rent out their apartments to visitors for short-term stays. Now the Berlin senate, amid soaring rents, has passed a law banning the practice. Critics, however, are unsure of how effective it will be.

Dieting in Hungary is not recommended. Food is abundant and affordable -- a nightmare for weight-watchers, a dream for true foodies.

Italy's Amalfi Coast is one of those places with a "must-see" reputation. Staggeringly picturesque and maddeningly touristy, it can be both rewarding and frustrating.

YHA, which operates 200 hostels in England and Wales, has recently poured more than 10 million pounds (about $16 million) over the last two years into upgrades at various facilities.

As Spain continues its drive to slash budgets and cut spending, one of the nation's favorite pastimes -- the siesta -- is under threat as ministers look for ways to boost productivity.

Derelict buildings and unused outdoor spaces have been transformed into friendly, pleasingly chaotic bars where you can still get a large beer for less than $2.

The city has some of the best, most atmospheric, cemeteries in the world. Some of the best tombs belong to the largely forgotten, people who nonetheless seemed to have had big plans for the hereafter.

The forests of Europe are a gold mine of gourmet mushrooms, and professional foragers are breaking laws to get their hands on them.

Converting old train stations into living spaces is all the rage in Germany. They're charming and, often, affordable -- but making these buildings livable can be more difficult than people anticipate.

We're taking a unique excursion by train and boat through the Historic Triangle: three towns in the province of North Holland that border IJsselmeer lake.

Train travel in Germany now has a bonus: limited free Wi-Fi at 105 train stations, including Frankfurt Airport, Kaiserslautern and Stuttgart.

German police say an abandoned suitcase that prompted authorities to shut down Duesseldorf airport for three hours turned out to contain drugs.

Barcelona's emblematic Sagrada Familia church will be finished by 2026, 144 years after its construction started, its chief architect said.

GALLERY

Sun, sand and the Mediterranean. What more can one wish for if you are a swimmer, surfer, sun-worshipper or just a plain old beach bum?

The biggest show of drawings by Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci in more than 30 years, including his iconic Vitruvian Man, is set to amaze visitors to Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia until December.

Too often consigned as merely stopovers, it's time these so-called "secondary" destinations got some front-of-mind time

We’re on the wild and woolly Hebridean Isle of Jura off Scotland’s west coast on a day when the island’s population of 179 has almost doubled with the invasion of whisky enthusiasts.

A salty, sour concoction that nearly disappeared during the Cold War is gradually being revived by a handful of breweries in Germany and other countries since the fall of the Iron Curtain and reunification of Germany in 1989-91.

When Nichole Robertson relocated to Paris from New York four years ago, she became a bit of a flâneur, roaming around the city. And she soon hit upon a distinctive way of documenting her wanderings.

A rare 16th-century scientific artifact used in astronomical measurements that has been missing from a Swedish museum for a decade has been recovered and will be returned this week, the London-based Art Loss Register says.