Through the oldest cities of Europe, centuries and centuries of empires, occupations and cultures were created, destroyed and created again. This has led to layers and layers of cities being built on top of cities leaving a vast underworld to explore. Even in today’s most famous cities, new ruins and underground cities continue to be discovered, allowing us to see Europe like never before and glimpse its past. These underground kingdoms played a unique role in history, such as allowing the Nazi occupation to sneak into cities unseen until it was too late. So if you like to explore the darker underbelly of Europe’s biggest cities, then consider exploring the hidden world beneath its streets.
Prague, Czech Republic
Today’s streets of Prague are lined with trendy shops, cafes, and bars, and the air is filled with the music of a vibrant, multicultural city. However, few realize that five hundred years ago, the street level of Prague was actually fifteen feet below its current level. The inhabitants of the city realized that if the river overflowed, the entire city could be destroyed, so they decided to build the streets with a complete story. Beneath the streets lie the medieval cobbled streets and long-buried houses of the Prague of the past. As the weather begins to cool in Prague, a favorite past time for locals and tourists alike is to get scared on an underground tour of some of these caverns. Especially in the old town areas, you will find caverns hidden under the streets of the cities. Even a seemingly ordinary tavern is likely to have a historic wine cellar hidden under the floorboards.
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
When the Roman Empire fell, Europe was plunged into a dark age known as the “Dark Ages.” The Romans who had built and maintained the cities were gone, and in their wake the barbarian hordes plundered the land. Common people were sometimes forced to literally seek refuge underground. Today, clean and modern Luxembourg City seems like the last place one could imagine a brutal and savage past, but below the city is a vast terrain of tunnels where people sought refuge in the very Roman ruins whose Empire was now overthrown.
Paris France
Beneath the streets of Paris you will find the mysterious but famous catacombs. Here you will find the remains of more than six million people. Paris cemeteries were once overflowing and in poor condition, so in the mid-1800s the catacombs were commissioned to alleviate the overcrowding of the city’s cemeteries. However, it remains more than just a repository of bones, as femurs and skulls were intricately stacked and decoration from ancient burial grounds carefully incorporated. Now, the catacombs are not only the final resting place for the millions of people whose lives and deaths date back to the early Middle Ages, but they are also a spooky museum of sorts and the site of murders, intentionally hidden bodies, and even a secret bunker for the german army during the second world war.
Berlin Germany
Beneath places in Berlin like the Alexanderplatz metro station, few realize that caverns of underground bomb shelters still remain. During World War II, Allied bombers destroyed the city, killing millions of its inhabitants, but those who made it to these bunkers were protected and survived. But the Nazis did not stop there. They built a huge six-story underground city in preparation for any possible invasion. From rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, hospitals, even a prison, everything was clearly signposted, turned on, and organized to protect thousands and thousands of people.
Transylvania, Romania
Located about 200 miles outside the city of Bucharest is the famous Targoviste Castle, once home to Vlad the Impaler, the brutal 14th-century Romanian ruler whose ruthless form of justice was merciless. He was later the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire Dracula. Deep within the castle lies the immense expanse of dungeons and caverns that once housed prisoners and those accused of crimes. Now it’s a hair-raising look back at a dark and dangerous time in Romanian history. Not far away are deep underground caves that are home to many species of bats, another haunting layer of Dracula’s infamous character that doesn’t seem too far from the truth.
A second castle known as Poenari Castle was another spooky home to Vlad the Impaler. Here he would mete out even more brutal punishments, including impaling people alive giving him the nickname. Now mostly in ruins, he can still tour the castle and parts of the underground if he can make the steep hike up to the fortified castle on top of the mountain.
