Czechia

Czechia - or if you prefer the romantic version, Bohemia - is a country that drinks more beer per capita than any other nation on Earth and has been doing so for a thousand years. The Czechs invented Pilsner. They invented Budweiser (the original, from Ceske Budejovice, not the American one). They take their beer so seriously that it is cheaper than water in most Prague pubs, and the idea of a meal without beer is considered slightly eccentric.

But beer is just the froth on top. Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe - a UNESCO-listed wonderland of Gothic spires, Baroque palaces, Art Nouveau facades, and a medieval astronomical clock that still draws crowds after 600 years. Kafka wrote here. Dvorak composed here. Vaclav Havel, the playwright who became president, guided the Velvet Revolution from a Prague theater. The Czech Republic has more castles per square kilometer than any other country in the world - over 2,000 of them. And the countryside of Moravia, with its rolling vineyards and painted folk villages, is one of Europe's best-kept secrets. The Czechs have survived Habsburg rule, Nazi occupation, Soviet domination, and a peaceful divorce with Slovakia, emerging each time with their dry humor, their beer, and their architecture miraculously intact.