Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the place where the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire crashed into each other and left behind one of the most architecturally fascinating countries in Europe. In Sarajevo, you can walk from a 16th-century Ottoman bazaar into an Austro-Hungarian boulevard in about 30 seconds. Mosques sit next to Orthodox churches and Catholic cathedrals, sometimes on the same block. It shouldn't work, but it does - and it's beautiful.

The country went through hell in the 1990s during the Bosnian War, and the scars are still visible - in the bullet holes on buildings, the cemeteries on hillsides, and the complicated political structure that emerged from the Dayton Agreement. But Bosnia has this stubborn, defiant life force. Sarajevo has a cafe culture that rivals Vienna, Mostar's reconstructed Old Bridge is one of the most photographed monuments in the Balkans, and the Una and Neretva rivers are among the cleanest in Europe. The food is ridiculous - slow-cooked, meat-heavy, and served in portions that assume you haven't eaten in three days.