Places

Eritrea occupies a long stretch of the Red Sea coast in the Horn of Africa. Its capital, Asmara, sits on a highland plateau and preserves one of the world’s largest and best-preserved collections of early twentieth-century Italian modernist architecture, a legacy of Italian colonial rule that earned the city UNESCO World Heritage status in 2017.

Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic states, facing the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Its capital, Tallinn, preserves one of Europe’s best-maintained medieval old towns, a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose skyline is dominated by the onion domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral rising above the surrounding city walls and spires.

Eswatini is a small, landlocked kingdom in Southern Africa and one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world. Renamed from Swaziland to Eswatini by royal decree in 2018, it remains one of the least internationally visited African countries, despite natural landmarks such as Sibebe Rock, one of the largest exposed granite domes on

Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa and the only African nation, along with Liberia, that was never formally colonized by a European power during the nineteenth-century Scramble for Africa. Its rugged highlands are home to Lalibela, a complex of eleven medieval churches carved directly out of solid rock, whose cross-shaped Church

Fiji is a South Pacific archipelago of more than 300 islands, roughly a third of them inhabited, built on a cultural mix of Indigenous Melanesian and Polynesian heritage and a large population descended from Indian indentured laborers brought by British colonizers in the late nineteenth century. That mix is on vivid display in Nadi, where

Finland is a Nordic country in Northern Europe known for its tens of thousands of lakes, extensive forests, and a distinctive neoclassical skyline in its capital, Helsinki, where the white-domed Helsinki Cathedral overlooks Senate Square as the city’s most recognizable landmark. Where Is Finland Located? Finland lies in Northern Europe, bordered by Sweden to the

Florence is a city in the Tuscany region of central Italy, built along the Arno River. It rose from a Roman military colony into the city where the Renaissance began, and its historic center still holds one of the densest concentrations of Renaissance art and architecture anywhere in the world. Where Is Florence Located? Florence

France is a Western European nation whose capital, Paris, is home to the Eiffel Tower, arguably the single most recognizable structure in the world and the enduring symbol of the country itself. Beyond Paris, France ranges from Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines to the Alps and Pyrenees, and its language, cuisine, and art have shaped global

Gabon is a rainforest-covered nation on Central Africa’s Atlantic coast, straddling the equator between Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of the Congo. Sparsely populated relative to its land area, it is known internationally for its dense biodiversity, its oil-dependent economy, and a 2023 military coup that ended 56 years of rule by the Bongo