The sunniest, most cheerful and fertile region of the Old World, Southern Europe seems to have been created by the Creator exclusively for the tireless enjoyment of life. Absolutely everything that the soul and body needs is harmoniously combined in its expanses: a wonderful climate, a warm sea and wonderful beaches – for any color and texture: pebble, white sand, and rocky, delicious, and most importantly, healthy cuisine, on whose ingredients they acquire a healthy blush even for slender young ladies, a variety of wines (also for every color and taste), and finally – an impressive number of sights and cultural objects, as well as (where without it!) exciting and, importantly, high-quality shopping. In a word, there would be a desire – to realize anything is possible in Southern Europe.
It is easy to remember the countries of the region by reaffirming the rule: this includes everything related to the “southern shores”, primarily the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
These are the states located on the Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas: Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, respectively, plus the owners of their own access to the sea Monaco and Greece, the blessed Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus and the countries of the Balkan Peninsula : Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, etc.
From a tourist point of view, Southern Europe is the most resort region of the “civilized” abroad, without focusing on the Arab surroundings or tropical exoticism. A high-quality beach holiday in a sedately noble European setting with a large share of spiritual food in the form of a rich “excursion”. Among other things, all the conditions for the “exchange of experience” are created here – thanks to a single Schengen visa, it costs nothing to combine a vacation somewhere on the Cote d’Azur with an excursion in the footsteps (and works) of da Vinci or a good time on the Alpine heights. As for the pricing policy, here Southern Europe offers simply mass coverage: if you want, go to the popular Greek resort for a couple of hundred EUR “from the nose”, or if you want, go to the pompous openwork palace on the Croisette.
What else is good about Southern Europe is the climate that is pleasant to the domestic touch. On the one hand, there are no sudden changes in the weather – summers are traditionally hot, winters are moderately cool. On the other hand, the longed-for warmth in the middle of the Russian winter (say, +18 ° C on the Italian “heel” in January) and the real Mediterranean summer, as opposed to the restless northern cyclones – with air trembling from the heat, cicadas torn in every way, piercing blue of the sea and sky and soothing warm evenings somewhere on the terrace of a fish restaurant in Cyprus.
And of course, one cannot fail to mention the mouth-watering dishes of southern European cuisines, the mere sight of which makes even the staunchest adherents of gastronomic asceticism cloud their minds. All those soft cheeses, olives and new wine, juicy tomatoes and fresh greens, a deafening variety of fish and seafood, an Edenic amount of ripe fruits, sweets, cakes and tartlets… In general, you already understood that in Southern Europe you should definitely go into everything heavy, despite the conventions and despite the treacherously creeping arrow of the scales to the next “top ten”!
Southern European countries
According to Countryaah, South Europe has the following countries:
- Albania
- Andorra
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Vatican
- Greece
- Spain
- Italy
- Cyprus
- Malta
- Monaco
- Portugal
- San Marino
- North Macedonia
- Northern Cyprus
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- Montenegro
