Europe a humorous perspective on the map

The entire Finland shaped like whales, while Italy territory is in the shape of a boot. You will easily recognize each European country from satellite map through these countries' funny shape.

Republic of Azerbaijan

The territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan look like a bird spanning its wings to fly in the vast sky. This country located in the middle of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Some countries share the same borders with Azerbaijan are Russia (North), Iran (South), and Gruzia (Northwest)

In the administrative area, Azerbaijan is divided into 59 districts, 11 cities, and one autonomous country which is the Republic of Nakhchivan. The major religion here is Muslim.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria is located in the Southeast of Europe; it has a long-standing history and culture. The famous tourist destinations include the capital Sofia, coastal resorts like Albena, golden sands and sunny beaches. This country is attracted by many travelers because of its Rila Monastery and Euxinograd castle. On the map, Bulgaria looks like a shadow of a warm fuzzy kittens.

Finland

On the map, Finland is shaped like a whale. In reality, this country has the least population in Europe. When coming here, you can visit the capital Helsinki, where you can feel the fresh air under the trees' shadows and admire many unique architectural buildings.

In addition, Finland has some popular destination for tourists such as the ancient capital of Turku, which used to be Finland's capital city until 1812; or the tourism city of Poorvo and Lapland, which are the lands of Santa Claus.

France

The magnificent and majestic France has the shape of an intelligent Owl in Winnie the Pooh cartoon. In the world, this country is outstanding due to the diversity in ethnic, architecture, and landscapes. 

The French music is also loved because of its romance in each of the words and musical notes. Nowadays, travelers to France can visit the magnificent tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Versailles castle, etc.

Moldova

For those who have a rich imagination, the shape of Moldova is like a ghost. This country is landlocked in Eastern Europe, and borders with Romania in the West and Ukraine in the other sides.

The largest part of Moldova is situated between the Dniester and Prut Rivers. This country is the homeland of some songwriters with lots of popular recognized songs such as Gavrii Musicescu, Stefan Neaga, and Eugen Doga.

Slovakia

Slovakia has the area of 49.000 kilometers square, and shares the border with the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary. Slovakia joined in the European Union in 2004, and be the member of Eurozone five years after. On the map, this territory looks like a tasty sandwiches.

Ireland

Ireland has the shape of a teddy bear for children. This country is located in the Northwest Europe with the capital city of Dublin. Today, Ireland is notable by tourists for its beautiful natural scenery and long-standing culture; it is also well-known as the birthplace of many famous people such as Mick Moloney - a folk musician, boy band Westlife, and poet James Joyce.

Spain

Spain is simply imagined by lots of people as a hand shape. This country is situated on the Iberian Pennisula in the Southwest Europe, and í famous for flamenco dance.

The country territory includes the Balearic Islands, Canry and two autonomous city in the North Africa which are Ceuta and Melilla. Coming to Spain, in addition to visiting many famous destinations, visitors can witness lots of dramatic and compelling bull-fighting. 

Italy

Famous for tourism and fashion, Italy is memorized in visitors's mind with boot shape. Located in the Southern Europe, this country is sharing the same border with France, Switzerland, and Austria. 

Italy is known as the paradise of art, cuisine, fashion and culture. Tourists can visit the heart of Rome, Genova port, the fashion capital of Milan, or enjoy eating famous pizza and pasta when coming to this boot-shape country.

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Venice - City of romantic stories

This is a city that has inspired poets, peoples who in love, and artists who often daydreams. Thus this place is also known as La Serenissima - which means "the most peaceful place".

Byron King once called this place as "fairy city of hearts". This place is known by the touching love story, as the capital of romance stories. This city make everyone crazy, attract both mind and heart of those who once came to visit this place. Then departed, the guests are always hungry to once again visit this beautiful city. Although this city is surrounded by shallow lakes, but its history is deep as the ocean beyond.

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Outlet Shopping in Italy

>> Top 10 Italian cities Worth a Visit
>>Lonely Planet Italy (Country Guide) 

When going to Italy, despite of friendly atmosphere and fantastic foods many of us are also thinking about the stylish shopping. When your target is not only to renew your wardrobe, but also do it at affordable prices, head straight to the specialty of Italy – designer outlets. Our aim was to combine both into one week: sightseeing, relaxing and outlets. Have a look at our route and might be It will serve you some ideas for the next holiday/shopping Italy tour.

The very first step to do is to go there on the “right” time. For us this time was sales period, when even the outlets have 50-75% discounts on the “discount prices”. Sales periods are the same as in the shops in most of the countries: after New Year Winter season sale and mid July Summer season sale. The exact dates when they are starting you can simply check on the net.

Our choice was to go for Winter sale and to combine it with winter holidays. This influenced some special atmosphere also, as it was absolutely not a holiday season for Italy and we could enjoy “fancy” places at affordable rates. We arrived to Milano, where we got our rented car. As outlets are usually in the middle of nowhere, having car is really a must. You also need a place for all the purchase, right? The first overnight stay we arranged next to the Vicolungo outlet. It gave an impression to be medium level outlet, hosting about 130 shops. In general this outlet is interesting for those looking for medium level brands as United Colors of Benetton and similar. Honestly, we would not go there next time, as selection of the shops they have was not something special.

Having not enough, our next stop was the biggest outlet in Europe – Seravalle. That is heaven for the true shopper! 180 shops, several restaurants and even TNT office from where you can send your purchase back home if you think there might be troubles with overweight. There we found all the brands we were looking for and they had real nice offers in the shops.

Even Outlets are open 352 days per year, we found out that it is still important to choose the right day in order to have most comfort. If you have a possibility, do not go there on Sundays. As this is the time when most local people are coming. Therefore at the shops of most popular brands, you might have to stand in the line for getting in. That is little fun, when all you want to do is SHOPPPING. Seravalle outlet we definitely loved, even it was slightly too big to check out each shop, but is that a problem? The general tip when you go to an outlet village, as the ones mentioned here, plan a full day for it. This is really what you need for comfortable shopping.

After the 2 full shopping day, it is time to have some rest and we headed towards a fantastic town Santa Margarita. It is a posh holidays place during summer and a cozy fishermen’s type village in winter. Being on low season we could afford a superb hotel called Regina Elena Dependance, having balconies with sea views. I doubt if that could be a case in summer…. It is very convenient to visit legendary Portofino, when you stay in Santa Margarita. That was what we did the very next day. I do believe that Portofino has much more special atmosphere in summer, as now it looked a bit pale and sleepy. Nevertheless, following the rules, we had our most expensive coffee throughout the entire trip. There were no trouble at all to park and we did it in the paid underground parking. From what I read on the net, this again is a completely different story in summer, as all the parking’s are crowded.

Our next destination in the holiday’s part was national parque Cinque Terre. A must see in Italy! By the way, very convenient and easy to travel in winter. You can read as much as you with about Cinque Terre on the internet, so I will only mention that this it is combined of five seaside villages, connected by a train or walking paths. For our stay we have chosen Riomagiorre, from what we understood, the easiest to be reached by car. Attention! Be prepared that not all the hotels and restaurants are open on the low season. Another important moment is that you have to park at the beginning of the village and then go down by feet to the hotel. Think about it when taking belongings from your car. The owner of B&B took our things up by car when we were leaving. It definitely saved lots of our power !

Following our holiday route next destination was Florence. No need for further comments  On the way we made some short stops in the pictures small towns of Tuscany. You can find their names in any travel guide and choose the ones you like.

Besides of an unforgettable sightseeing, Florence has a lot to offer for shopping freaks. Starting with open air shopping and going up to all the famous Italian brands. Florence would not be really visited without eating a Florentine steak. Prepared to finalize our travel with one more good shopping, on the way we had a plan to visit Modena and Parma. Places well known for their gourmet specialties.

Nice experience was our overnight stay near Parma in the Lamborghini hotel. Yes, you well understood, the interior of the hotel was designed by the famous car designer. This hotel is outside Parma near the fair place. So, if no fair is going on at the particular time, you get a design room for a fair price. Much better deal than staying in Parma itself.

And the last, but definitely not the least outlet Fidenza www.fidenzavillage.com. Not too big, not too small. We felt cozy there, it was not too crowded and had nearly all our favorite brands. Besides of the shops, a must to visit there is cafe Obika, serving buffalo mozzarellas. You will love it!

- By Dovile at TravelTip -

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Top Ten Italian Cities Worth a Visit

Italy has many beautiful and historic cities worth a visit. Travel to cities is best done by train as driving in Italian cities may be very difficult and the extensive Italian train system is inexpensive. Most city centers are well-suited to walking and parts of the city centers may be closed to transportation. Large Italian cities generally have good public transportation, too.

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