panoramic beauty of Europe - introduce

Europe is so amazing. From its Northern Lights to its Southern Shores, this drama queen keeps on thrilling, Surprising and confusing with her ​​extraordinary wealth of sights, sounds, peoples and parties.

What a history Europe has! As well as the birthplace of democracy in Athens, the Forum of Rome, the renaissance buildings and art of Florence, the graceful canals of Venice and the Napoleonic grandeur of Paris, there’s always the less expected sites such as the Moorish palaces of Andalucía, the remains of one of the Seven Wonders of the World in Turkey, the majesty of a second Venice in St Petersburg and the haunting buildings of Auschwitz in Poland.


But Europe is far from limited by its extraordinary heritage. The continent leads the world in fashion, art, music, architecture and design; just see the street styles and music scenes of London and Berlin, the ground-breaking design in Antwerp, Copenhagen and Stockholm or the amazing displays of contemporary art, well, just about everywhere.
Glorious scenery your thing? Try out the awesome fjords of Norway, the stunning scenery of the Scottish Highlands, the volcanic dramatics of Iceland, the breathtaking Alps of France, Switzerland and Italy, and the lesser-known mountains of Spain, Slovenia, Southern Poland and Slovakia. For beach life you can fight for some sand on France’s Côte d’Azur, Spain’s Costa Brava or Portugal’s Algarve, or – far more enjoyably – discover your own pristine beach in Albania, Bulgaria or on the gem-like islands of Greece and Croatia.

So don’t delay – get planning your own European odyssey. You can start by browsing our list of the best things to do in Europe and downloading our free 10-page 'Europe Essentials' PDF .
Want to get more specific? Zoom in on specific places within Europe.
If you're ready to go, check out our flight deals and hotel reviews for the continent.
And, if you need more inspiration, be sure to view our extensive image and video library for Europe and dive into the Thorn Tree's Europe branches, where the world's most experienced travel community unearths all the continent's secrets.

Source :lonelyplanet.com

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Introducing Bangladesh

In late 2007 a rumbling occurred deep in the tropical waters of the Bay of Bengal. Within hours of Cyclone Sidr smashing into southwest Bangladesh, the world’s media and aid organisations were on the move and Bangladesh was about to find herself wrenched back out of obscurity and once again presented to the global community as a classic ‘basket case’ (as Henry Kissinger once described the country) of disaster. The pictures and stories that emerged from Bangladesh at that time portrayed an entire nation on its knees, but this was only a half-truth for within hours of the storm hitting, the majority of the country was back on its feet and operational.

This wasn’t the first time that Bangladesh had been dismissed as a no-hope nation, and it probably won’t be the last. But no matter what the opinion of the wider world is, this dynamic country proudly considers itself to be an active participant in an increasingly global community. In defiance of its stuttering development and the weight of historical tragedy that it bears, it is a nation charged with perseverance and promise, and one from which we could all learn a thing or two. For the great irony is that while images of devastation were beamed nightly into Western living rooms and the talk was of an unfolding humanitarian disaster, nobody bothered to say that Bangladesh could make good news.
In the years preceding Cyclone Sidr, the country had been quietly doing something considered nearly impossible in richer Western countries – banning all petrol and diesel vehicles from the major conurbations (and, if things go to plan, the entire nation) and replacing them with cleaner alternatives. If striving for cleaner air isn’t enough, they’ve also banned plastic bags and created a flurry of national parks and protected areas. The same holds true for the country’s tourism profile. The majority of the world considers Bangladesh to be a frying pan–flat country. Yet within this flat framework are primeval swamps in tiger-filled Sundarbans National Park, the unseen relics of long-forgotten Buddhist kingdoms in Rangamati, lush and lurid tea plantations around Srimangal, tribal groups with Burmese faces, glorious beaches at Cox's Bazar that stretch for eternity, freshwater dolphins and deep-water whales, and some of the most open-hearted people you will ever have the honour to meet. This is a country where genuine adventure is not just a possibility but a certainty. You can chug down mile-wide, slug-brown rivers on a 19th-century riverboat, fish with otters, and hunt for the world’s deadliest honey. All this in a country whose loftiest peak is as tall as the highest mountain in Scotland.

It just goes to show how much the world has to learn about the trendsetting, breathtaking and hard-working country that is Bangladesh.

Source : lonelyplanet.com

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