Things to Do in Europe

About 84 percent of the world’s uncut diamonds pass through Antwerp’s Diamond Quarter, an enclave of side streets just west of Central Station. Every year more than £32 billion in polished, cut diamonds pass through the four trading exchanges, regulated by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre and bringing massive wealth into the city. Although today the Diamond Quarter is also home to Indian, Lebanese, Russian and Chinese gem dealers, creating a vividly multicultural atmosphere, most of the city’s diamond trading is still run by the Hassidic Jewish community; more than 8,000 people are involved in the industry and there are even kosher banks exclusively dedicated to financing diamond deals. The nondescript shop fronts on the little tangle of streets centered on Hoveniersstraat hide diamond dealers, cutters – world-renowned for their skill – and polishers as well as kosher butchers, bakeries and synagogues. Some of the biggest, glossiest salesrooms offer tours of their workshops and expert advice on buying; the free ‘Antwerp Loves Diamonds’ map is available from the tourist information offices in Grote Markt and in Central Station, while the Antwerp Diamond Bus runs hop-on, hop-off services around all the areas of the city associated with the trade. 

The Theatre of Dionysus is an impressive ruin on the southern slope of the Acropolis in Athens. You can climb up and sit in the semi-circle of marble seats ringed around the stage area. In its heyday, around the 4th century BC, the theatre could seat 17,000 people. You can still see names of the important people inscribed on the throne like seats in the front row (although this area is roped-off to conserve it). It was in this theatre that the plays of Sophocles, Euripedes, Aeschylus and Aristofanes were performed.

Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, agriculture and theatre, known to the Romans as Bacchus, hence the word Bacchanalia. The theatre is in the area of the Sanctuary of Dionysus, which also housed temples to the god. Excavations in the late 1800s rediscovered this important site and the Greek Government has recently announced its intention to restore the theatre.

Modern-day sun lovers worship Didyma’s golden beaches, but in classical Ionian times this was the legendary site of the Temple of Apollo.

In its heyday, Didyma’s famous temple was the home of the oracle of Apollo, who provided the Hellenic world with divine predictions from the gods. The sanctuary at Didyma was the most significant temple in the territory of the legendary city of Miletus, approached via the Sacred Way. It was renowned for its wealth and sacred spring, a revered site predating the era of the Greeks.

The symbol of Didyma is the beautiful stone heads of the Medusa that crown the temple’s Ionic columns. Monumental steps lead to the remains of more than 100 equally huge pillars, two of which are linked by a sole surviving architrave.

Recent excavations have unearthed other temples, including one dedicated to Artemis, destroyed by fire and earthquake over the millennia.

Take a wander around the site and you’ll come across innumerable fragments of giant toppled columns and marble shards as you begin to grasp the tremendous scale of the original temple site.

Munich’s gigantic Deutsches Museum is the kind of museum that begs for multiple visits and as one of the world’s largest science and technology museums, you could easily spend an entire weekend taking in its vast permanent collection. Opening its doors in 1925, the museum sits on a specially constructed river island, reached by bridge from the mainland.

Famous for its interactive exhibitions, inventive displays and impressive collection of artifacts, the Deutsches Museum succeeds in its quest to make science fun and accessible to all ages and interests. Exhibitions cover topics like transport, communication, energy and natural science, with interactive elements including a series of giant musical instruments to play, model coal and salt mines, glass-blowing and paper-making demonstrations and an authentic space laboratory. There’s even a Kid’s Kingdom, where a child-sized mouse wheel and a real fire engine will keep the kids entertained.

The collection is so big it even spills over into 2 additional buildings – the nearby Verkehrszentrum houses the Transport Museum, where highlights include a series of historic tram and train wagons, and the Flugwerft Schleißheim, located at Oberschleissheim Airfield, displays the museum’s sizable collection of aircraft.

Capping the green peninsula south of Kusadasi, Dilek National Park (known locally as Milli Park) protects a lovely stretch of coastline and forest.

Kusadasi locals come here to escape the crowds and stretch out on the park’s acclaimed white sand and pebble beaches, and splash in the pristine water.

Make your way to the park’s lovely bays, including Icmeler, Kavakli and Karapinar, and pack a picnic to enjoy as there are tables, benches and facilities. Keep your eyes peeled for wild pigs, and colorful wildflowers in spring and summer.

Mountain trails thread through the park, and the park’s trees come right down to the water’s edge to create a verdant backdrop to the beaches lined with striped shade umbrellas.

Few people know that Amsterdam has played an important role as a diamond center for more than four centuries, mostly because of the Dutch colonization in South Africa back in the 1800s. Since 2007, the Diamond Museum Amsterdam has helped visitors understand how diamonds are formed from a geological standpoint, through a process taking billions of years and beginning 200 kilometers underneath the earth’s surface. The museum’s permanent collection includes several world-famous pieces, such as the Katana, the Rembrandt Diamond, and The Ape Skul. Visitors can also witness diamond cutters and goldsmiths at work, turning stones into valuable and beautiful pieces of jewelry. The beam behind the museum has worked on the restoration of some of the most precious jewels in the world, including the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and the Saxon dynasty's Dresden Green Diamond. The museum also offers a Diamond Workshop (€475), in which a Master Diamond Cutter teaches visitors the basics of cutting and polishing a diamond, before they are invited to cut and polish one themselves, to bring home as a souvenir.