In capital city of Oslo, Norway

 "I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people."

-- Bernie Sanders
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(in the The Scandinavian country of Noway, which offers a diverse array of
breathtaking topography -- from green-capped mountains and deep coastal fjords to pebble-lined beaches and sky-slicing glaciers.) Its capital of Oslo, surrounded by water and forests, also welcomes wellness-minded visitors from all over the world with opportunities to swim, hike, kayak, and ski--all without having to venture too far from its city center. Oslo is also Norway’s largest city, and the capital of its own fylke (county). The city is also Norway’s seaport and main commercial center. The city (featured here) lies in southeastern Norway where the Aker River meets the Oslofjord. (The fjord is an inlet of the Skagerrak, an arm of the North Sea.)

+ The 1000-year-old Norwegian capital sits at the head of Oslo Fjord. This stunning setting gives hints of the wild wonders that lie just beyond the city. From taking in visual delights at Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Viking Ship Museum, the Munch Museum, and Holmenkollen, to the challenging content within the new Nobel Peace Center and the Holocaust Center, Oslo offers lots of of food-for-thought.
+ The city’s principal street is Karl Johansgate. At its western end is the Royal Palace, where visitors can see the changing of the guard daily when the king is in residence. (Kings no longer live in Akershus Castle, a fortresslike structure that has guarded the west side of the fjord since about 1300.)

+ Among the city’s other prominent sites are the Norwegian parliament building and the National Theater. The University of Oslo was founded in 1811. (The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year by Oslo’s Norwegian Nobel Institute,)

+ A ski museum in Holmenskollen celebrates Norway’s national sport. On Bygdoy Peninsula is the Norwegian Folk Museum, an open-air museum featuring old timber buildings from all over Norway. On view nearby are many relics of the country's tradition of seafaring, A new energy industry puts Norway’s offshore oil resources to use.

+ Oslo was founded in about 1050 by King Harald III Hardraade on the east side of the Aker’s mouth. The town became more important in about 1300 when King Haakon V built the Akershus. The rest of old Oslo, built mostly of wood, was nearly wiped out by a destructive fire in 1624. Christian IV, the Danish king who also ruled over Norway, rebuilt the town on the opposite side of the river and gave it the new name of Christiania. The new town eventually spread to include the old site.

+ In 1814 Christiana became the capital of the newly independent kingdom of Norway. The city grew rapidly and replaced its rival, Bergen, as Norway’s largest city. In 1877 the spelling of the city’s name was changed to Kristiania. (The old name of Oslo was officially restored in 1925.)

In the city of Stuttgart, capital of southwest Germany’s Baden-Württemberg state

 (in the capital of Baden-Württemberg, a state in southwestern Germany), Stuttgart, a transportation and industrial center, is one of Germany’s larger cities; it sits astride the Neckar River in the historic region of Swabia between the Black Forest to the west and the chain of hills known as the Swabian Alps to the south. Stuttgart is the site of the state art gallery, archives, library, observatory, and opera, the Stuttgart Ballet, and a large botanical and zoological garden. In the suburbs are Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums and many mineral springs. Historic sites include a rebuilt 13th-century castle that now houses the state museum, a palace that contains the natural history museum, and a Gothic church. Ludwigsburg Palace, the largest Baroque-style complex in Germany, is outside the city. Stuttgart is the seat of Stuttgart and Hohenheim universities as well as technological colleges and academies for art, music, and architecture. (The Cannstatter Folk Festival is held in Cannstatt Meadows every fall.)

+ Stuttgart is the center of the largest industrial zone in southwestern Germany. It is a rail junction and a port city, and it has an international airport. The city has developed into a center of business services, high technology, and finance -- and also holds various trade fairs. Daimler, one of the oldest automobile manufacturers in the world, is headquartered in Stuttgart. Other industries include printing and publishing and the production of textiles and clothing, precision instruments, beer, wooden and leather goods, and musical instruments. (The city also has an extensive wine and fruit trade.)

At the Milan Cathedral, in the city of Milan. Italy

 Milan is Italy's city of the future, a fast-paced metropolis where money talks, creativity is big business, and looking good is an art form.

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(in a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, chemicals, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media communication, services, research, and tourism). Milan is at the heart of Italy's fashion, design, and architecture scenes, so much so, that creatives from all over the world come every year for events like Salone del Mobile (the Milan Furniture Fair) and Milan Fashion Week. And the scenery and sights live up to the hype. There is the iconic Duomo di Milano, the world's largest Gothic Cathedral; the amazing mosaics and glass vaults of the Scala Opera House and Galleria Vit, plustorio Emanuele II, plus museums and galleries like Pinacoteca di Brera. As an added bonus, Milan's food scene has grown over the last decade. Now, visitors can not only find regional classics, but can also explore a variety of solid international flavors, including Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Ethiopian fare.

+ The city of Milan, capital of Milano province and of the region of Lombardy in northern Italy, is the leading financial center and the most prosperous manufacturing and commercial city in Italy. It is the most industrious and vital city to have achieved prominence since the ancient land of Italy became aware of itself as a modern nation-state.

+ During the Risorgimento, the 19th-century movement for Italian unification, Rome became the heart of a future anticipated in the collective fantasies of Italians. Yet, though Rome remains the political capital of Italy, Milan has long been known as its “moral capital.” When the Milanese assert that their city is the moral capital, they not only express the ancient regionalism typical of all Italy and known as campanilismo (a reference to the church bell of each city), but they also refer to the city’s quality and values, historical as well as contemporary.

+ It was partly out of an opposition to the nature of Rome as a capital of government, and thereby the perceived capital of taxation, state spending, and political skullduggery, that Milan’s self-image as Italy’s moral capital was born. This notion was cemented in the late 19th century as an industrializing Milan set itself up as a capital of innovation, production, and efficiency—values the Milanese considered absent in Rome. The city’s sense of moral superiority—particularly the idea that the Milanese people were morally superior because of their positive work ethic—was reinforced as Milan ultimately became Italy’s center of industry and finance, as well as the motor behind the country’s extraordinary economic development in the 20th century. (Today Milan is the richest city in Italy and one of the richest in Europe.)

In the county of Monmouthshire, in the south east of Wales

 "Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" is a poem written by the British Romantic poet William Wordsworth. The full title is "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798." (The poem reflects Wordsworth's memories and emotions during a walking tour with his sister in the Welsh Borders.)

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(in Monmouthshire, Wales, on the west bank of the River Wye). Founded for Cistercian monks in 1131, Tintern Abbey, an ecclesiastical ruin, was almost rebuilt and enlarged between 1220 and 1287. The building was completed, except for minor additions, in the early 14th century. The abbey was dissolved in 1537, and its property was granted to the lord of Chepstow crown in 1900. Although the cruciform church is without a roof and the nave is damaged, many details of a style transitional from Early English to Decorated Gothic are preserved. Cloisters and other monastic buildings are placed to the north of the church. The ruins of the abbey were made famous by William Wordsworth in the last poem of Lyrical Ballads (1798).

+ “Tintern Abbey” is a poem that explores the theme of the memory of pure communion with nature in childhood and how it works upon the mind even in adulthood. The poem argues that the maturity of mind present in adulthood offers compensation for the loss of that communion, specifically, the ability to “look on nature” and hear “human music”.

+ The ruins of this monastic complex have inspired poets and artists for centuries, most notably Wordsworth, who penned 'Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey' during a visit in 1798, and JMW Turner, who made many paintings and drawings of the site. It was founded in 1131 by the Cistercian order and left to fall into ruin after the monks were booted out by Henry VIII in 1536.

+ The huge abbey church was built between 1269 and 1301, its Gothic arches testament to the pre-Reformation monastic wealth and power the king so coveted. The finest feature is the tracery that once contained the magnificent west windows. Spreading to the north are the remains of the cloisters, the infirmary, the chapter house, the refectory, the latrines, and a complex system of drains and sewers. The site is visible from the road, but if you want to explore it properly, you will need a good hour to do it justice. It's best visited either early or towards the end of the day, after the coach-tour crowds have dispersed.

+ There are plenty of options for riverside walks around Tintern. One of the best begins at the old railway bridge just upstream from the abbey and leads up to the Devil's Pulpit, a limestone crag on the eastern side of the river with a spectacular view over the abbey (2.5 miles round trip).

In the hilltop village of Tropea, in the province of Vibo Valentia, in the Italian region of Calabria

 Tropea, a municipality in the province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region of Calabria, is considered one of the most beautiful villages of Italy)

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(in a seaside resort on the Gulf of Saint Euphemia, part of the Tyrrhenian Sea on Italy's west coast), a legend suggests that the town of Tropea was founded by Hercules, when returning from his labors at the modern Strait of Gibraltar. (Along its coast, Sextus Pompey defeated  Octavius.) The Romans built a port in Formicoli, some 3 km (1.9 mi.) south of Tropea.

+ The massif of Tropea, with its natural caves and fragments of clay vases, seem to confirm that through classical times, Tropea lived for centuries in tranquility Indeed, the sea was the only viable route both in and out, hence its nickname "bride of the sea." Due to its natural inlets, this condition played a role in giving Tropea a sense of political freedom. From the 6th century, it was memtioned more frequently, (This was the period when the Emperor Justinian, in 535, sent General Belisarius on an expedition to southern Italy.) Having driven the Goths out of Sicily, he landed in Calabria, thus fortifying Reggio, Gerace, Amantea, and Tropea. It became one of the Byzantines' military garrisons in the region. Tropeans soon welcomed the Normans in 1049, and in 1062, the Lombard Sichelgaita, wife of Duke Robert Guiscard. Tropea was rewarded with favorable treatment. (In 1094, Pope Callistus Il arrived.)

+ A painting of the Virgin Mary hangs in the Cattedrale di Maria Santissima di Romania, a church constructed in Tropea in the 12th century. The painting is known as the Virgin Mary of Romania and is of Byzantine origin. The bishop of the city, Ambrogio Cordova, dreamed that the Virgin Mary was asking him to keep her in Tropea and to protect her. The Virgin Mary is said to have warned him of an earthquake that would devastate Calabria. On 27 March 1638, a bishop organized a procession for the people from Tropea, which meant they were out of harm's way when the earthquake struck. Other events have been attributed to the Virgin Mary's protection.

+ La Cattedrale kept its prestige as dynasties came and went; from the Swabians to the Angevins and the Aragonese from 1442. The city kept keep its Romano-Byzantine structure.
+ The historic center was transformed and the palazzi of the patricians built. The economy was based on the goods that flowed in from the surrounding countryside, maritime trade, and the services provided by servants who populated the "hovels."Yet, with every change of ruler, Tropea ran the risk of losing its status as a state town.

+ In the 18th century, despite the revolt of the 'casali' against the socio-economic system under the Bourbons, Tropea retained its status (with its maritime trade.) But, epidemics and the earthquake of 1783 triggered a process of decline.

+The unification of Italy, emigration, and urban expansion from the 1960s onwards has followed. (Today, Tropea depends mainly on tourism.)

In the island of Capri, in Italy’s Bay of Naples

 Capri on the Amalfi Coast in Italy is my ultimate holiday destination.

-- Vidal Sassoon
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(on an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Italy} The largest settlement on the island is the town of Capri. (The island has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic.)

+ Some of the main features of the island include the Marina Piccola, the Belvedere of Tragara, the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea, the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas, and the vistas of various towns surrounding the Island of Capri.
Capri is part of the region of Campania, Metropolitan City of Naples. The town of Capri is a comune and the island's main population center. The island has two harbors, Marina Piccola and Marina Grande (the main port of the island). The separate comune of Anacapri is high on the hills to the west. The remains of Villa Jovis, built by emperor Tiberius was completed in 27 CE.

+ The island has been inhabited since early times. Evidence of human settlement was discovered during the Roman era, when the foundations for the villa of Augustus were being excavated, giant bones and "weapons of stone" were discovered. The emperor ordered these to be displayed in the garden of his primary residence, the Palazzo a Mare. Some of the main features of the island include the Marina Piccola, the Belvedere of Tragara, , the crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the faraglioni), the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto, the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas, and the vistas of many surrounding the Island of Capri.

+ After the end of the Western Roman Empire, Capri returned to the status of a dominion of Naples, and suffered various attacks and ravages by pirates. In 866 Emperor Louis II gave the island to Amalfi. In 987 Pope John XV consecrated the first bishop of Capri, when Capri, Scala, Minori, and Lettere were made dioceses to serve as suffragans of Amalfi, which thereby became a metropolitan see. Capri continued to be a residential diocese until 1818, when the island became part of the archdiocese of Sorrento.

+ French troops under Napoleon occupied Capri in January 1806. The British ousted the French in the following May, after which Capri was turned into a powerful naval base. The French reconquered Capri in 1808, and remained there until the end of the Napoleonic era, when Capri was returned to the Bourbon ruling house of Naples.

+ The natural scientist Ignazio Cerio catalogued Capri's flora and fauna during the 19th century. His work was continued by his son, author and engineer Edwin Cerio, who wrote several books on life in Capri in the 20th century. The Swedish Queen Victoria often stayed there because Axel Munthe was her doctor. Rose O'Neill, the American illustrator and creator of the Kewpie, owned the Villa Narcissus, formerly owned by the famous Beaux-Today.

In the spa town of Bad Ischl, east of Salzburg, Austria

 Sitting between baroque Salzburg and Austria’s alps, Bad Ischl, the 2024 European Capital of Culture combines the appeal of both.

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(in Bad Ischl, the Alps' first European Capital of Culture) Every summer day at 6am, the 19th-century Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as Sissi, left her holiday hunting lodge in the Austrian resort of Bad Ischl to hike up Jainzen, the forested mountain looming just behind. The average ascent is around an hour, but they say it took the tall, tattooed wife of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I just 40 minutes to reach the peak. With the spare time, she might ride one of her 50 horses, exercise on wooden machines she designed for her home gym, scoff violet pastries, or smoke in her lavish gardens. Over a century since Sisi’s death, this town east of Salzburg remains a summer playground among wellness enthusiasts and anyone with two poles to hike with. It is a gateway to the Alpine lakes and mountains of Salzkammergut, a region whose name translates to "salt domain," a nod to a local salt-mining tradition that dates back 7,000 years. It’s partly due to this history and pastoral charm that the entire region was anointed one of three 2024 European Capitals of Culture, with Bad Ischl (the banner town) the first rural, Alpine destination to wear the mantle.

+ Visitors shouldn't miss tasting the glossy iced gateaux at Zauner Café in the center, which serves glossy iced gateaux, steps from the villa where 19th-century composer Anton Bruckner penned his symphonies. A 15th-century church steeple still presides over the cobbled square, lined with lederhosen shops.

+ The other forgotten attraction to be revived for the festivities is the vintage cog Schafberg Railway. At just over 3.5 miles in length, the line from Saint Wolfgang, another village in the region, heads around 4,000 ft. up Schafberg mountain. From its peak, the landscape unfurls to the hazy horizon: Bad Ischl to the east, the white-capped Alps to the south and, all around, the region’s 76 glacial lakes, pure and sapphire-blue.

+ In St Wolfgang, where some women still wear dirndls when grocery shopping, the top table is lakeside at Landhaus zu Appesbach: opt for the venison, served with brioche dumplings and Burgundermacher pinot. Walk the meal off around the village, where a 12th-century church attracts Catholics. Locals cram into the next-door fishery for plates of wood-smoked char supplied by the lake’s sole licensed fisherman; those in the know hit the shop before the 6pm closing to stock up for a sunset picnic. Ischia's "fecund" volcanic soil and subtropical microclimate make it extraordinarily lush, with "wisteria, angel's trumpets and bougainvillea" cascading around its "steep, single-lane" roads. Inland, the "rustic" Fonte delle Ninfe Nitrodi is thought to be the world's oldest spa, dating back to the days of Magna Graecia.