[jfengel]

What really strikes me is just how many ordinary buildings are older than our country. The monuments and palaces are one thing, but it's very common to eat in a restaurant or pub that dates to the 17th century. Not as a tourist trap or destination, but just as a perfectly ordinary building that has been retrofitted (sometimes awkwardly) with bathrooms and lights and such.

I've been in 500 year old cottages that weren't anything special. It's just that they were made out of stone, and so it just doesn't fall down. (Lots did fall down, but they did so centuries ago, and the ones that made it this far will do continue to.) People live there, and it's just their house. They've often put up modern interior walls so that they can have insulation and hide the wires that power their TVs -- connected to satellite dishes outside.

I've even seen a few castles with satellite dishes. Small castles dot the landscape and can be had cheap (because they require expensive maintenance). People just live in them, too.

There's a joke that in the US they think a hundred years is a long time, and in Europe they think a hundred miles is a long way. It really rings true. If the crisis ever subsides, I do recommend it.

[ben_w]

Anecdotes like this abound in the UK.

The oldest part of the closest church to my childhood home was built in the “early 13th century”, according to its website. The cottages next to it (now a pub) seem to date to about the same time as the first British colonies in America.

Then there’s Cambridge university, which celebrated 800 years since its foundation in 2009: https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/history/800th-ann...

[fanf2]

I had a very feeble idea about the history of Britain - the sequence of the main events - when I left school. I learned far more from finding out about the architecture, dates, and benefactors of the various buildings in the centre of Cambridge...

[sudosysgen]

Same when I lived in Morocco. In Fès, there is a university that is 1161 years old, which is simply staggering.

[philwelch]

One thing I wonder is, how frequently are new European buildings made of stone? I occasionally encounter comments from people confused by American home renovation shows where people literally burst through walls Kool-Aid Man style[1] when demolishing them, but most of our walls (even exterior) are wood-framed and mostly hollow, and once you take out the framing there’s just drywall.

[1] Not from an actual renovation show, but: https://youtu.be/B3C2TN-Vp4c

[pas]

Concrete is king. Brick is best. Wood is for furniture! And for small cottages, and used as beams to hold the roof on brick houses.

That said it's not uncommon, especially in suburbs, where people build single-family homes, just like in the US.

[Flobin]

Depends on where in Europe. There is a lot of wood construction in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. The Netherlands, for instance, uses a lot of brick (for facades, and sand-lime bricks on the inside). Places near the Mediterranean, often use thick stone walls and/or concrete.

[philwelch]

That sounds a lot like people just use whatever materials are locally convenient. Which also explains the popularity of wood framing in the US.

[dougmwne]

Cinder block and metal roofs seem to be very commonly used in single family homes for new construction in several European countries I've been to. They're generally seen to be a sturdy materials for a house built to last.

[dghughes]

Like the 1,100 year-old Sean's Bar which is often given as a good example of old buildings.

https://www.seansbar.ie/home