Lovely Spanish fans. Photo by fuzuoko Cheapos in search of a bargain take-home-prize from the land of flamenco need only peek at the sophisticated ladies of Spain. Not only do decorative fans provide personal air-conditioning in Europe’s balmy southwestern country, they’re also a fan-tastic piece of history to bring home. Cool! Wave to the folks back home The first known use » Read more

Munich is a festival of budget-friendly mementos. The capital of Bavaria is also the home of intricately-designed (and internationally celebrated) glass and porcelain beer steins. Drink up a round of cheapo possibilities. Souvenirs brewing On September 27, 1589, Wilheim V, the Duke of Bavaria, decided to build a brewery instead of importing beer from Lower » Read more

Youth hostels are experiencing a bit of a renaissance. Eager to shed their image as only serving the needs of young backpackers, many hostels are adding private rooms and amenities that rival (and in many cases surpass) other 1 and 2 star hotels. Rather than only appealing to student travelers, there is a clear trend » Read more

An alley off Charing Cross Road. Photo by Andwar In London, great writers from Dickens to Keats, Woolf to Orwell found a home and a literary community. Today, bookish visitors can find shelves filled with their works, often in charming, historically-significant bookstores. Cheapos on the hunt for souvenirs know that many of these shops hand out » Read more

Editor’s Note: This week, the blog has been tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus. NEW YORK—For the first 17 years of my life, my panorama of Cyprus was the inside of my relatives’ homes. We would arrive “apo Ameriki” and immediately begin a whirl of lunches and dinners » Read more

A rooftop view of Nicosia, Cyprus. Photo by Alex Christodoulides. Editor’s Note: This week, the blog will be tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus. NICOSIA, Cyprus—Nicosia has about a dozen churches of various styles and ages scattered through the walled part of the city, ranging from the Byzantine » Read more

Alex’s aunt sets the table for a Cypriot family dinner. Editor’s Note: This week, the blog will be tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus. Sure, the language spoken in Cyprus is Greek, but the accent is distinctive and so is the food. For one thing, Cyprus recently made » Read more

Photo by Alex Christodoulides Editor’s Note: This week, the blog will be tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus. Cyprus is on a modernizing rampage, wrestling on one side with its fairly recent history of colonial domination by the British, and on another side with its newly acquired European » Read more

Lisbon cockerels having a face-off. These two are for sale. Throughout Portugal, the cockerel is a symbol of faith, justice and good luck. As far as we’re concerned, our fine-feathered friend is also a symbol of a bargain. In Lisbon, where folk art featuring the cockerel is available in every gift shop, the little guy is a » Read more