Europe
“Do you know the origin of that word, ‘saunter’?” John Muir once asked. “It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages, people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre’ – ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently.”
Sauntering is perhaps the preferred way to travel through Europe – the Europe outside of gelatos and baguettes and influencers, that is. From the misty moors of Scotland’s Isle of Skye to the emerald rivers and alpine lakes of Slovenia, and the stone villages and untamed coastline of Albania, there’s still a Europe where local traditions hold steady and gestures are genuine. Most of all, Europe rewards the curious. Wander beyond the guidebooks and you’ll find places where much of the history we’ve learned was made by those we meet.
