The northern French town of Bayeux is best known for the eponymous tapestry that depicts the 11th-century Norman Conquest. You can see it, of course, on display at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum. The cloth’s original home was the Bayeux Cathedral, which still towers over the area, looking a bit like a Gothic wedding cake. Inside you’ll find beautifully detailed murals and haunting crypts. Bayeux makes an excellent jumping off point to tour nearby historic WWII sites.

Just a few miles from the Slovak border in south central Poland, Zakopane is a resort town in the Tatra Mountains, popular with skiers in winter and with hikers and climbers year-round. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Zakopane grew into Poland’s most visible art colony, a hotbed of culture ended by Soviet influence after World War II. Today it harkens back to an earlier time, complete with gorgeous wooden houses. Learn about these buildings and more at the Museum of Zakopane Style.