EUROPE TOURIST GUIDE

Europe with Asia forms the more large part of emerged lands of the Earth, called Eurasia. Europe, is like an appendix of this immense continent, a peninsula that above all have its individuality thanks to historical and human reasons. In spite of the modest dimensions regarding the rest of lands emerged, it represents in fact only 7% of the world lands surface area (10,360,000 sqkm), and accommodates 12.4% (807,289,020 of persons) of the world population. Conventionally the geographic limits of the continent are constituted to north from the Arctic Ocean, to the west from the Atlantic Ocean and to the south from the Mediterranean Sea; while to east the borders are less defined, generally are considered the line that leaving from the Black Sea follows the northern slopes of the Caucasus, therefore the Caspian Sea from where goes up to the Ural river and it follows the eastern slopes of the Urals until the Sea of Kara.

The contour of the continent is much indented, with 37.900 km of coasts, 8% of the territory is formed from islands, the larger is Great Britain (229,885 sqkm); and 27% is formed from peninsulas. Between the mountain chains remarkable are the Alps, where is the highest peak of the continent, the Mount White (Monte Bianco or Mont-Blanc 4810 meters) and the Pyrenees, while to the oriental borders is the Caucasus, than generally it's considered part of Asia. The southern regions are mountainous and hilly, while moving towards north, beyond the massif of the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Carpathians extended the large plains of Central and Northern Europe, in average the altitude of Europe is of 340 masl, that give, together with Oceania, to Europe the place of the more low continent. Regarding the rivers in connection with the other continents Europe does not possess long water course, the main European river is Volga (3531 km) that it's placed in a peripheral position regarding the continent, while the Danube (2860 km), plus centrally situated, is the second river in length order. The numerous lakes are of relatively modest dimensions, with the exception of that situated in the Finnic-Russian region of the Great Lakes, where is the larger european lake, Ladoga Lake (18,400 sqkm). Continental extreme points of Europe are: to north the Nordkinn (Norway); to the west the Capo da Roca (Portugal); to south Punta de Tarifa (Spain); to east the inner point of the gulf of Kara.

Although that the great part of Europe lies at elevated latitudes, the relatively warm seas and the warmth current of the Gulf in the Atlantic Ocean, make posible that the great part of Central and Western Europe centers enjoys a moderated climate, characterized from mild winters, not too much warm summers, limited thermal excursions, plentiful precipitations (800-3000 milimeter annually). During the winter, in the lands north of the Alps, the Arctic and Siberian air masses often lower the temperatures, the winters become colder, higher the thermal excursion; the rains, not too much abundant, are more during summer. In the Mediterranean climatic area the summer months are usually warm and dry and the precipitations are concentrated in spring, fall and winter, winters are however mild. In the vast flat area that extends from Poland towards east prevails a continental climate, more dry and cold, with long and rigid winters and warm summers, modest rains, in prevalence during summer, the rivers freeze for 4-6 months every year and the snow covers the ground over a long time. The northern regions of Europe have low temperatures during all the year, with snowy precipitations and frosted ground.

Tourism: From the tourist point of view, Europe represents the continent more visited in the world, in agreement with statistics for 2004 of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), Europe with 416,400,000 arrives of tourists represents 54.5% of the world-wide tourism. In the top ten countries classific six are European countries: at the first place we find France with 75,100,000 of tourists in 2004; second it's Spain with 53,600,000 tourists; after the United States (46,100,000 tourists) and China (41,800,000 tourists); at the fifth place we find Italy with 37,100,000 tourists; sixth is United Kingdom with 27,800,000 tourists; then follow Honk Kong (21,800,000 then) and Mexico (20,600,000); at the end at the ninth and the tenth place we find respectively Germany (20,100,000) and Austria (19,400,000). Europe, offer for the tourist several attractions, the continent has important archaeological areas, a very rich historical and cultural patrimony, beautiful cities and small centers, folkloristic, gastronomic, linguistic patrimony of this melting-pot of people, languages and nations. We can also tell about the natural beauties, of the sea, the mountains, its lakes and rivers, its islands and the hilly zones. Finally we can also add that in 2008, on a total of 878 Unesco World Heritage Sites, 388 (44,19%) are found in Europe. Between the nations in absolute at the first place in the world is Italy with 43 sites, at the second is Spain with 40 sites, at the third place is China with 37, at the fourth place is Germany with 33, as well as France with 33 (but 1 site is located in Oceania), at the sixth place is Mexico with 29 sites, following the Great Britain with 27 (but three sites are located outside Europe, 1 in Oceania, 1 in Africa, 1 in North America), and India with 27 sites.