Southern Europe doesn’t just preserve its history — it wraps you up in it. You hear it in the peal of bells rolling across rooftops, smell it in the coffee drifting from a tucked-away café, and see it in towers and domes that have stood watch for centuries. The region’s landmarks aren’t just things to tick off; they’re experiences that fill your senses and remind you how human creativity, faith, and resilience can outlast the centuries.
Travelling between these treasures is part of the magic. Rail journeys here are never just about speed; they’re an unfolding story, each window view like another page. Landscapes blur into vineyards, cliffs, and rivers as you glide from one city to the next, carrying the anticipation of what awaits on the other side.
Florence: A City Crowned by a Dome
Florence feels alive with art. In the air, the yeasty aroma of baking bread drifts alongside the earthy smell of leather, while side streets echo with chatter and music until you suddenly emerge into the wide embrace of Piazza del Duomo. Above you, Brunelleschi’s dome dominates — proud, glowing, and impossibly intricate. Climbing it leaves you breathless in more ways than one: first from the effort, and then from the view. Terracotta rooftops roll out towards the Tuscan hills, bathed in light.
Art here is never far away. Botticelli’s Venus dazzles in the Uffizi, but so does a violinist playing in the street, a group of friends clinking glasses at an outdoor café, or the indulgence of gelato that melts too quickly in the sun. Florence shows you that beauty isn’t locked away in galleries — it spills out into everyday life.
Boarding the Florence to Venice high-speed train feels like turning the page into a new story. In just a little over two hours, you leave the Renaissance heartland behind and step into a city balanced delicately on water.
Venice: A Dream on the Water
Your first glimpse of Venice takes your breath away. As you walk out of the station, the Grand Canal is suddenly there — alive with boats weaving between elegant palaces, its surface glimmering with reflected light. The air smells faintly of salt, the light dances off the ripples, and suddenly you realise — you’re standing in a city that doesn’t seem real.
St Mark’s Basilica dazzles with its mosaics, golden light flickering across marble walls. Climb the Campanile and the lagoon stretches endlessly, glittering beneath the sun. Yet Venice’s charm is often quieter. A hidden courtyard strung with washing, a narrow bridge where the only sound is an oar dipping into water, a soft glow of lanterns at dusk. This is a city that reminds you to slow down, savour the moment, and let the rhythm of the water guide your pace.
Rome: Where Every Stone Has a Voice
Rome greets you like an old friend with a thousand stories. The Colosseum looms, glowing amber as the sun dips low, while the Forum spreads out in fragments that whisper of emperors and senators. Step into the Pantheon, and light pours through its oculus, falling like a spotlight into the centre of the room. You feel small and yet utterly connected, as if time itself has thinned.
But Rome’s soul lives in the everyday too. A waiter balancing espressos, children chasing pigeons in Piazza Navona, the bubbling chaos of scooters weaving between fountains and ruins. In Trastevere, ivy trails down ancient walls, trattorias spill tables onto cobbled streets, and laughter mingles with the clink of glasses. Rome’s monuments may carry centuries of weight, but its true vitality lives in the present — in the hum of voices, the food, the energy that never fades.
Lisbon: A City of Hills and Light
Lisbon feels like sunlight set to music. Trams rattle up impossibly steep hills, their yellow carriages glowing against patterned tiles that seem to cover every wall. At miradouros — hilltop viewpoints — the city falls away beneath you, the Tagus shimmering like a sheet of glass.
The Belém Tower stands sentinel on the riverbank, its stone lacework a reminder of sailors who set out centuries ago. But it’s in Alfama that the city whispers most clearly: twisting alleys draped with laundry, the sound of neighbours calling across balconies, the haunting pull of Fado spilling from taverns late into the night. Lisbon doesn’t just show you its beauty; it stirs something within you, leaving its music echoing long after the songs end.
From here, the high-speed train from Lisbon to Faro carries you south. As the capital’s hills fade, the scenery shifts to golden plains, olive groves, and the promise of salt-air breezes as the Algarve draws near.
Faro and the Algarve: Land Meets Sea
Faro’s Old Town is hushed and intimate, a place of arches, cobbled streets, and shaded courtyards where time feels slowed. Its cathedral blends styles from Gothic to Baroque, each stone telling of the centuries it has weathered.
Step beyond the city, and the Algarve astonishes. Cliffs glow red in the late afternoon sun, plunging into seas of impossible blue. Hidden coves echo with the crash of waves, while fishing boats rest in small harbours, nets drying in the breeze. Out in the Ria Formosa lagoon, flamingos move gracefully through the shallows, flashes of pink against the water’s calm surface. Here, the natural world stands proudly alongside the great monuments of stone, every bit as defining and iconic.
Why These Places Stay With You
What makes Southern Europe unforgettable isn’t just the scale of its landmarks but the emotions they stir. Florence’s dome lifts your eyes skyward. Venice’s canals slow your steps. Rome’s ancient ruins remind you of time’s weight, while Lisbon’s songs stay with you long after you’ve gone. Faro and the Algarve leave you with the salt of the sea on your lips and the memory of cliffs glowing against the horizon.
Their endurance is not only a testament to history but to connection. These are places that speak to you, that invite you in, and that linger long after you’ve left.
Conclusion: Journeys That Linger
Travelling through Southern Europe is never just about ticking off sights; it’s about living them. You’ll remember gazing up at Florence’s dome, stepping into Venice’s dreamscape, feeling the hum of Rome beneath your feet, and watching Lisbon’s rooftops blaze at sunset. You’ll recall Faro’s quiet arches and the Algarve’s wild cliffs, where waves crash like a heartbeat against the shore.
The journeys in between matter just as much. The hush of a train carriage as the countryside flickers past. A child pointing excitedly at the first glimpse of the sea. A violinist filling a Florentine street with song. The taste of a custard tart still warm from a Lisbon bakery. These fleeting moments weave themselves into your memory as tightly as the landmarks themselves.
Southern Europe doesn’t just preserve its towers, domes, and canals — it invites you into their story. And when you leave, you carry more than photographs; you take home the feeling of being part of something enduring. These places stand still, yet somehow they change you. And long after your journey ends, they continue to travel with you, alive in your memory.
