Europe

Until recently, most of my travel was shaped by my quest to see wild cats in their natural habitats. But after spending a month in southern Spain doing fieldwork with the Iberian lynx, I fell under the spell of Europe’s old-world charm, where history, landscape, and everyday life are inseparable. From that point on, The Wildlife Diaries morphed into something more explicitly nature–cultural: a way of travelling that pays attention not only to animals and ecosystems, but to the long human histories that have unfolded alongside them.

This Europe category is therefore less about wildlife safaris and more about quests through cultural landscapes. Follow me into Renaissance Florence and Ancient Rome in Italy, trace the legacy of the Moors across Spain, discover Constantinople of emperors and sultans in Turkey, and wander through the bohemian past of Czechia. Alongside these, you’ll also find nature adventures in Switzerland and Portugal.

If you’re still wondering what Renaissance Europe has to do with wild cats, start with my post on Renaissance Cats in Florence