The cult of Che Guevara gets a boost this week as special events across Europe commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the revolutionary’s untimely death in Bolivia on October 9, 1967. In Derry in Ireland, a week of celebrations will include the unveiling on Saturday of a new mural of Che – complementing the long standing Che Guevara mural a little further up the Foyle valley in Strabane.

Che Guevara stock remains as high as ever among European socialists, not least in Andalucía (southern Spain) where knotty issues surrounding land tenure are still a popular grievance in some agricultural communities. Stop off in Marinaleda, just forty miles southwest of Córdoba, to catch the feel of a small town that has a passion for combative action against absentee landlords. A spark of revolutionary zeal permeates the town and is reflected in graffiti, street names and murals.

Other European socialist thinkers and politicians still mould the travel plans of more politically engaged travellers. There are larger than life figures of Lenin all across Europe (from Spitsbergen to St Petersburg) and even Stalin is eulogised in a new museum in Volgograd – and of course, in his home town of Gori in Georgia where a huge statue of Uncle Jo stands in the town’s main square.

Predictably Ulyanovsk, where Lenin lived as a kid, plays the Lenin card very strongly, but affection for Lenin is not just confined to Russia. There are good Lenin museums at Ulyanovsk, at Shushenskoye (where Lenin lived in exile and was married) and at Tampere in Finland.

The socialist flame has not been totally extinguished. Hasta la victoria siempre!

This is the third in a series of fortnightly blog posts by the editors of hidden europe.

Cultural assets are things to cherish. Scan the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and it will be clear that Europe bristles with treasures: from the cultural landscapes of the high valleys of Andorra to the wooden churches of northern Romania. Michelangelo paintings and Gothic cathedrals are self-evidently worth hanging onto. Yet some of Europe’s most important cultural assets are utterly intangible.

Take language, an asset we too often take for granted. Most Europeans somehow learn to get by in one or two other languages beyond their mother tongue. And occasionally we run across folk on our travels who have not had the chance to practice, still less to perfect, another language and remain sadly monolingual. Plus of course a fair number of diehards who elect to remain assertively and stubbornly monolingual for one reason or another.

Europe’s rich diversity of languages captures the media spotlight this week with the European Day of Languages (EDL). Officially slated for Wednesday but celebrated earlier in the week in some countries, EDL is an initiative of the Council of Europe and will be marked in the Council’s forty-seven member states.

Language is a wonderful thing. So why not celebrate the European Day of Languages by getting your tongue round a few pharyngeal fricatives and then check out some of Europe’s threatened minority languages? These are cultural assets on the brink. Mirandesa, Kashubian, and Sorbian are just three of the many we’ve come across over the past year—in Portugal, Poland, and Germany respectively.

This is the second in a series of fortnightly blog posts by the editors of hidden europe.

Karlsplatz in Vienna’s Fourth District, bordering the Inner District, is especially festive today through 8 p.m. What is being celebrated is Karlstag, which is basically a Karlsplatz openhouse. The visitors can storm the Secession and other museums in the vicinity and stay for longer hours. Best of all the entrance and tour guide are for free.

Karlstag also features a flea market, outside pubs and bars, workshops, and a program just for children at the Wien Museum called “Kinder Wirtshaft,” where the kids can roleplay as waiters serving customers. This correlates with the museum’s current exhibition, “Im Wirtshaus: Eine Geschichte der Wiener Geselligkeit,” a history of the Viennese pubs and their way of life.

Ending the fest will be an open-air free concert by the Vienna University of Technology Orchestra and Kollegium Kalksburg in front of the Karlskirche at 8 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Kino unter Sternen

One thing we like about summer in Vienna is open-air cinema. This month, we are looking forward to a myriad of events that will allow us to enjoy the flicks without shivering and munch on popcorn without freezing our hands. Mark the following events on your calendar.

1. Kino Unter Sternen (Cinema Under the Stars) at the Augarten, starts off with a tribute to legendary American comedian Jerry Lewis. Naturally, the opening salvo will be one of his popular movies, Artists and Models. Other films that will be screened, either in their original version or with subtitles, include Roman Holiday and The Science of Sleep. The outside Kino, with its jam-packed schedule will run from June 28 until August 12. Tickets cost €7.50 each or €32.50 for a block of five movies. We suggest making reservations to be sure you don’t miss out. Kino Unter Sternen is located between Second and 20th Districts. Just look for the giant tower that the Viennese call Flakturm, a massive anti-aircraft gun blockhouse that was used by the Nazis in World War II.

2. The rooftop of the city’s Main Library in the Seventh District is the place to be for Lichter der Großstadt (The lights in the metropoles). Already in its fourth season, the theme this year will tackle the significance of big cities such as Vienna, New York, and Saigon. Its healthy mix of classics, rarities, and succesful films runs from June 22 to July 1. The feature movie examining Vienna will be Exit–nur keine Panik while Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam will represent New York. Admission costs €7. For more information, email office@stbalbach.at.

3. Schloss Neugebaüde, the former imperial hunting lodge in Simmering (11th District), offers a series of outside cinema, featuring the latest Hollywood films from Happy Feet to Babel. This portion of the Ein Sommer im Scholss (A Summer in the Castle) festivities will run from June 28 until August 30. Entrance costs €7 .

Photo by heavyweight 78704

Last week we attended a “celebration of travel” party thrown by DK Eyewitness Travel and Rough Guides at the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts in the Lower Eastside. Those folks really know how to throw a party. The space itself took our breath away. Once a synagogue, the now hollowed out space used for events retains that ethereal quality of worship, not to mention sky-high vaulted ceilings and ornate stone decor that took our breath away.

The wine flowed freely, the world music played softly in the background, but our favorite part was the delicious world hors d’oeuvres (think fried balls of risotto with bleu cheese, sweet potato fries, and mini-sausages wrapped in prosciutto and you’ve only just begun) passed by equally yummy waiters.

But enough of that. The party was a celebration of 25 years of rough guides, and what a celebration it was. Tables were decorated with giant glossy book covers on stands, and on each table were strewn an array of “Make the most of your time on Earth” cards, designed to look like polaroid pictures, each describing a different “Ultimate Experience.” We took a couple home, and were hopeful to take home a gift bag which was said to contain a Rough Guides world music CD, but we never came across the bags. (To be honest, we would have been just as happy to take home the waiters, but, alas, they eluded us as well.)

As for Rough Guides, we salute their 25 years, and look forward to many more of great guide books.

Photo by Tamsin Williams

We had the pleasure of watching a sea of bike riders, rollerbladers, skaters, and sundry other wheel-clad persons roll across a packed Oxford Street last weekend. It was quite a startling break from the usual traffic of buses and cabs. And it was thrilling to see all those people getting somewhere on their own, without the help or frustration of public transit. Just pushing, rolling, and pedaling along at their own pace.

Critical Mass takes place at 6.30 p.m. on the last Friday of every month on the South Bank under Waterloo Bridge, by the National Film Theatre. In mid-May, though, the High Court ruling asserting the legality of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride was overturned. Under the new ruling, the Metropolitan Police have power to make arrests if they are not forewarned of the ride’s route.

That makes it interesting to ponder how police react to the upcoming London leg of the World Naked Bike Ride, which will take place this Saturday, June 9 at 3 p.m., starting at Hyde Park Corner. We say power to the (naked) bikers!