#2 Plakat Polska Jasna Góra - Częstochowa, Poland

The Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Polish: Czarna Madonna z Częstochowy; Matka Boska Częstochowska) is a venerated icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary housed at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland.

Częstochowa is regarded as the most popular shrine in Poland, with many Polish Catholics making a pilgrimage there every year. Since 1711, a pilgrimage leaves Warsaw every August 6 for the nine-day, 300km trek. 

 

#2 COTW - Tallinn, Estonia

In 2012, Tallinn had the highest number of startup companies per person among all capitals and larger cities in Europe. Tallinn is the birthplace of many international high-technology companies, including Skype and Wise. The city is home to the headquarters of the European Union's IT agency and the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. In 2022, Tallinn was listed among the top 10 "medium-sized European cities of the future".

 

Stolzenfels castle in Rheim - Nuremberg, Germany

Stolzenfels Castle is a former medieval fortress castle turned into a palace, near Koblenz on the left bank of the Rhine, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Stolzenfels was a ruined 13th-century castle, gifted to the Prussian crown prince, Frederick William in 1823. He had it rebuilt as a 19th-century palace in the Gothic Revival style. Today, it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

 

#3 MOTW - Helsinki, Finland

The Finns' love for saunas is generally associated with Finnish cultural tradition. Sauna is a type of dry steam bath practised widely in Finland, which is especially evident in the strong tradition around Midsummer and Christmas. The word sauna is of Proto-Finnish origin dating back 7,000 years. 

Steam baths have been part of European tradition elsewhere as well, but the sauna has survived best in Finland, in addition to Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Norway, and parts of the United States and Canada. Moreover, nearly all Finnish houses have either their own sauna or in multi-story apartment houses, a timeshare sauna. The Finnish sauna culture is inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.