Raven Travel Guides Europe

18/07/2026

𝗩𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮'𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

What better way to define the Wiener Secession than the movement's Vienna exhibition hall?

The 1898 building was designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich during an explosion of creative activity by people such as Klimt, Olbrich and the Secession movement leader Otto Wagner. The Gustav Klimt-inspired orb of foliage in gilded wrought iron on top was dubbed the 'golden cabbage'. The building's main hall is dominated by Klimt’s 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.

The motto ‘to time its art, to art its freedom’ was penned by the writer and critic Ludwig Hevesi. The building was bombed during World War II and had been damaged by a Nazi-set fire before being repaired in the 1960s and restored in the 1980s.



To download Raven Guides' incisive guide to Vienna, visit https://raven-guides-store.sellfy.store/.

18/07/2026

𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹, 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 ...

The Votivkirche in Vienna looks like a medieval cathedral, right?

Yes, but it's neither medieval nor a cathedral.

The Votivkirche shows what the 19th century thought the Middle Ages should be like. It's a reflection of imperial Austria-Hungary, not the medieval period. Its Neogothic exterior was inspired by French Gothic cathedrals and its patterned roof copies the style of St Stephan. If you look at London's Houses of Parliament, you get a similar Romantic ambience.

The Votivkirche was completed with 99m towers in 1879. The high altar, with gilt appearance, is crowned with a painted canopy. Paintings are on the upper walls and in the vaulting in the nave, transept, Sakratmentskapelle and the sacristy.

Closer to medieval is the substantial sarcophagus of the count Niclas zu Salm, leader of Vienna's defence against Ottoman attack in 1529. The other memorials are from the 20th century, one for Danish-born Georg I, king of the Greeks. In a side-chapel, an altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe recognised the Mexican emperor Maximilian, brother of Franz Joseph I.



To download Raven Guides' incisive guide to Vienna, visit https://raven-guides-store.sellfy.store/.

16/07/2026

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗚𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

The Stadtpfarrkirche zum heiligen Blut in Graz had a Gothic past and its Baroque, oval Johannes-Nepomuk-Kapelle and facade remain. A 4m high-altar painting of the Assumption of Mary, discovered by Graz art scholars, is attributed to the workshop of the Renais­sance painter Tintoretto. But its social history is more intriguing. It was built, like many medieval city churches, on a space from which the city's Jewry had been evicted. After World War II new stained glass was created by Albert Birkle, an opponent of the N***s who depicted Hi**er and Mussolini among the tormentors of Christ.

Find out more about this church and the intriguing sights that make up world-heritage Graz and its palaces in the Raven Guides Graz guide. All you need is there, plus transport and accommodation tips and much more. You can download here.

https://raven-guides-store.sellfy.store/

16/07/2026

𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗢𝘀𝗹𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼̈

The private rail operator Snälltåget has launched a direct daytime train service linking Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo. The launch is welcome as trains along Sweden's west coast have been disrupted in recent times by the need for extensive maintenance, which has closed several sections of line.

These closures have affected services run by Sweden's national operator SJ and and Norway's Vy, which have been patched with replacement buses.

The Snälltåget initiative will also open a new Oslo-Copenhagen travel option, as the Danish capital has extensive train connections with Malmö across the Öresund/Øresund bridge.

Snälltåget also plans to start a night train to far northern Sweden in November.

14/07/2026

𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹

There is no need to. You can save hundreds of euros.

This is not a website launch. It's a blog.

Websites don't save much money, if any.

But plenty of Deutsche Bahn fares save you money – often big money.

You just need to know:

● Where to look for deals
● Which trains to use
● When to travel

Raven Guides has pulled everything into one place for you to consider, making them much easier to find than on the DB website.

Tables, comparisons, figures combine to help you find cheap German rail fares that work for you and your travel needs.

Then the blog explains how or where to buy and use them.

Raven Guides has done the work. Save the link and check it out.

https://www.ravenguides.com/blog/cheap-german-rail-tickets-the-ultimate-2026-guide

This comprehensive guide to Germany’s low-cost train tickets gathers all the offers in one place to help you book for single trips, a day, a month or longer.

05/07/2026

𝗗𝗲𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆'𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘀𝘁-𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿

All Germany for €63 a month, city transport included. But Deutschland-Ticket comes with traps and barriers.

See why the internet is on board with this new Raven Travel Guides Europe blog, which clears the obstacles to get you rolling.

Compare Deutschland-Ticket with the other German rail offers, then find your path to low-cost European travel.

https://www.ravenguides.com/blog/is-deutschland-ticket-worth-it-for-tourists-in-2026

-Ticket

26/06/2026

These classic bouillon restaurants have been feeding Paris for over a century, and a few are still going strong today. They’re known for simple French dishes, Art Nouveau interiors, and prices that haven’t completely lost touch with reality. There’s a reason they’ve made such a strong comeback. See Comment 👇

26/06/2026

In 1172 Henry the Lion travelled to the Holy Land. He returned to Brunswick with two tame “leopards” riding on specially trained horses and laden with presents he had received not just from the Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos but also from the Turkish Sultan Kilij Arslan II.
This tabernacle/reliquary or at least the materials for it are often believed to have come from that journey. It was part of the "Welfenschatz", the treasures of the House of Welf. It comprised at some point 11 gold crosses, literally encrusted with precious stones, 10 movable altars, innumerable reliquaries and other liturgical objects.
This collection was initially kept as property of Braunschweig cathedral but in 1671 became private property of the House of Welf later known as the Kings of Hannover and England. Queen Victoria was unable to assume the throne of Hannover due to the Salian law so that the current house of Hannover gained ownership of the treasure.
In 1929 the family sold 82 objects to a consortium of mostly Jewish art dealers. They transferred 44 including this one to the state of Prussia and they are now in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin. The remainder is distributed across Museums in the US, Sweden and Germany. Three items were destroyed in the war and 4 came into private hands in the US in 1930/1 and remain unaccounted for.
The heirs of the art dealers are suing the German authorities for restitution of some of the objects. They argue that the Jewish owners had been forced to sell below value. A German commission concluded in 2014/15 that there were no grounds for restitution. The US Supreme Court decided in 2021 that they have no jurisdiction as long as this was a domestic German issue. Several other US courts dismissed claims in 2022 and 2023. In 2025 a new commission has picked up the case and hence the legal fight is continuing 850 years after Henry the Lion had ridden into Brunswick accompanied by two tame “leopards” who were however most likely cheetahs.

If you like these kinds of things, I bet you will love the History of the Germans Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts (links are here: https://historyofthegermans.com/episodes/, specifically episode 62 about the fall of Henry the Lion: https://historyofthegermans.com/62-2/

Here is the official description of this tabernacle:

The shape of the dome reliquary is reminiscent of a cross-domed church. The multiform ornamentation that covers the surface of the architecture turns, as it were, the interior decoration of a church building to the outside.
The reliefs on the front sides of the arms of the cross show the Holy Family, the journey of the Magi, the crucifixion of Christ and the women at the tomb.
Under the remaining arcades are prophets holding texts of their prophecies. As representatives of the Old Covenant, they point ahead to the apostles enthroned at Christ's side on the tambour as witnesses of the New Covenant.
The inscription at the base of the tambour contains the beginning of Peter's confession (Mt 16:13-16): VENIT (AVTEM) IHC IN PARTES C(A)ESARE(A)E PHILIPPI ET INTERROGAVIT DISCIPVLOS SVOS DICENS + (When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples). The text continues in the scriptural tapes of Christ and the apostles (Who do the people think the Son of Man is? They said: Some hold him for John the Baptist, others for Elijah, still others for Jeremiah or some other prophet. Then he said to them: But you, who do you think I am? Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!)
The sequence of the text shows that the position of the apostles no longer corresponds to the original arrangement.
In 1482, the head relic of St. Gregory of Nazianzus was in the domed reliquary. The lack of corresponding pictorial or inscriptional references and other reasons have recently led to the assumption that the work, like its sister piece in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, was originally not intended to serve as a reliquary but as a tabernacle for storing the host.
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© Foto: Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Fotograf/in: Karen Bartsch