Barcelona – like many European cities – is home to many artisan chocolate makers, and city streets are dotted with shops that feature the treats, from Xocoa, which offers chocolate beer, to Escribà, where wedding and birthday cakes are one-of-a-kind creations. Cacao Sampaka is the perfect place to compare the pleasures of a cup of thick, bittersweet hot chocolate with an equally rich, classic version.

While Spain lays claim to bringing chocolate home to Europe, it's the Aztecs who first cultivated the cacao bean and put it to use. The Maya and the Aztec civilizations used cacao for centuries as food, drink, spice, and in rituals and trade.

Once introduced, the Europeans made chocolate their own, opening chocolate houses where the elite gathered, dropping names like Nestle and Cadbury. In the late 1990s, a European Chocolate War erupted; the result: each chocolate bar now bears a label stating the amount of cacao in each bar. Look for the bars with a high percentage of cacao – the more cacao, the richer the flavor.

As you stroll the streets of Barcelona, Rome, or Istanbul, keep an eye out for cafes and shops that feature local chocolates – and check stores for brands like Chocolat Bonnat (France); Slitti (Italy); Galler (Belgium); and Enric Rovir (Spain).

Join Chocolatier Fran Bigelow of Fran's Chocolates on the Rotterdam 9/18/07 12-Day Black Sea & Egyptian Adventure – a roundtrip chocolate adventure.