Have you heard about the Treaty of Maastricht?  It’s not a well known document, but it is an important one – the document that created the European Union (writes Andy Hayes). It was signed in Maastricht, a town in the south of the Netherlands within steps of three different countries. Today, I’d like to take you to one of the three countries that come together here – Germany – and one of the fantastic little towns perfect for a weekend getaway: Aachen.

When you were sitting in geography class at school, the chances are high that Estonia was still lumped in with the USSR and you could never have placed it on a map (writes Amanda Kendle). But things change fast sometimes, and if you're travelling through Europe now, you'll find borders in place to enter this small Baltic nation.

You might not know of the Wadden Islands, sometimes called the West Frisian islands, but I bet you would recognise them if I pointed them out on the map (writes Andy Hayes). They’re that series of tiny islands that look like a dashed line extending across the top of the Netherlands into the North Sea. While Amsterdam is where the party is at, if you want to see the idyllic Dutch lifestyle in action, the head for the islands.