Compared to Scandinavia, it appears that central and eastern Europe have much more litter and graffiti. Which caused me to wonder…..When does graffiti stop being a kind of litter and start becoming art?
It’s likely that a person who has studied art history and architecture not only could help answer that question, but also would understand at a much deeper level than I, more of what surrounds a traveler in Europe. Preserved art and architecture provide a visual record of the comings and goings of deities, despots and dynasties on this diverse continent.
A similar deeper understanding would benefit a traveler who has studied the diaspora of religions across the European continent and its neighbors…..appreciating more fully than I how, for more than 3000 years, nations and cultures have been created, removed or erased in the name of religion, often in complicity with hunger for power and/or wealth.
Those who have studied geography will understand how the shape of the land has affected European history…..how the presence of natural barriers like mountains and oceans has insulated and protected some nations, while the absence of such has made other lands perpetual battlegrounds…..and how the proximity of rivers and oceans has allowed some nations to enjoy commercial development, while the lack of such resources has set back and even impoverished other nations.
The more a traveler knows of these subjects, which might have seemed of no practical use when presented to us in our youth, the deeper one’s appreciation is of the long and complex history that still influences relationships and events on the old continent. In contrast, the more I see of Europe, the less I feel I really know about Europe.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 
Jack, you would enjoy, on this subject, books by Patrick Leigh Fermor, who walked from the Netherlands through Eastern Europe and then the Balkans, learning about history and the movement of peoples as he went. Beautiful writing, too.
RAB
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