There are two European countries military personnel can easily travel to on leave without a passport, Germany and Italy. Both countries are steeped in history, known for their architecture and urbanity and legendary for their food and wine.
In Germany, you’ll want to see the Brandenburg Gate and the site where the Berlin Wall once divided the east and the west. A few segments of the wall still remain. The Brandenburg Gate is where, in 1987, then U.S. President Ronald Regan, uttered the famous words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
In Berlin you can also visit the exotic maze known as The Holocaust museum. This museum, dedicated in 2005, is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide of World War II.
The German capital is also known as a party city with 24-hour public transportation, diverse restaurants and a vast variety of pubs and nightclubs.
If you’re looking for something a little more low-key, then take advantage of the R & R special offered by the Edelweiss, a military-owned resort located in Bavaria near the Austrian border.
This resort offers short trips to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, built in the 19th century by Bavarian King, Ludwig II, in Füssen; Dachau, a World War II Concentration Camp; and a three country tour of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. The resort has a special package for deployed Soldiers which includes a standard room for two, breakfast and dinner for $75 per night.
On the other hand, the entire country of Italy is like a postcard. From Venice to Sicily, there’s absolutely no end to what you can see and do.
Rome is the largest city in Italy and is packed with piazza’s, fountains, cozy restaurants and gelatarias, which are essentially ice cream shops that make Baskin Robbins look like your local gas station’s dribbly soft-serve. Some of the gelato shops are open all day and offer a wide array of unique flavors like Mars (Milky Way), tiramisu and limón.
In Rome, you can also take a romantic tour, see Vatican City and take a sip from one of the many fountains which are expertly linked to the ancient aqueducts of Rome supplying fresh, cold, potable water throughout the city.
For something a little more romantic, take a train ride from Rome to Taormina, Sicily and book a bungalow on the beach. Since Sicily is separated from Italy by a small body of water, the train will actually be loaded onto a boat which will then take you to the island. Here you can enjoy fresh seafood, true margarita pizza and soak up the sun all day.
Keeping in mind the importance of drinking in moderation, it would be a crime against nature to not enjoy the beer and wine of these two countries, within limits of course.
German beers are practically legend, but some of the most fantastic, noble, long-lived white wines in the world come from Germany.
Most German white wines are Riesling-based, and the Germans have a well developed classification system involving lots of very long words. Essentially, the system revolves around the wine’s residual sugar level. Stay away from Tafelwein as the grapes used for this wine are typically under ripe and the winemakers usually employ a technique known as chaptalizing, which simply means they add sugar at fermentation.
Instead look for Qualitatswein mit Pradikat or QmP, which simply means “with distinction”. There is no chaptalizing allowed with these wines.
If you’re in Germany you’re probably going to enjoy a bit of bratwurst and sauerkraut. So, try a Kabinett. It is likely the only wine in the world that works well with bratwurst. Kabinett has the lowest residual sugar level of QmP wines and there are usually faint traces of peach or apricot fruit paired with mild effervescence.
In Italy, you can never go wrong with a good red wine like Chianti, Sangiovese or for something with a little more body, try a Barolo, aptly proclaimed “the king of wines.” Since many Italian dishes are tomato-based, couple them with a good Chianti. 2001 was a very good year.
So there you have it, two vacation options completely devoid of the hassle involved with obtaining a passport.
For more information about the entry requirements for military personnel on leave visit the Foreign Clearance Guide at fcg.pentagon.mil.
