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Pope Benedict the 16th visits Austria this week - the first papal visit to the country since his predecessor John Paul was there almost ten years ago. The main purpose of the trip is a pilgrimage to Mariazell - an Alpine town where the Basilica is a major place of pilgrimage for Central Europe's Catholics. Thousands from Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic are travelling to Mariazell to hear Pope Benedict speak. But many Austrians are critical of the Church and upset they will get no chance to deliver their complaints to

Spisska Kapitula is an ecclesiastical town located near the historical Great road (or Via Magna) leading through the Spis region in Northern Slovakia, from Saris to Levoca and on to Poland and farther on to western Europe. Initially developed as a fortified settlement on the hill opposite Spis Castle, it earned a place on UNESCO's World Heritage List thanks to its cathedral built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles between the 13th and the 15th century. In the early 1950s communists transformed it in a police academy but now it is fully restored

There's quite some upset in Poland over comments made by the former Czech president Vaclav Havel. Speaking in Krakow he said international observers should be invited to monitor early parliamentary elections in Poland. The remarks by the renowned dissident and writer have provoked a spate of mostly critical comment.

Now to Slovenia where there's shock at the number of people dying in road accidents. Already this year over two hundred people have been killed on Slovene roads - a terrible toll in a country of just two million people.

Slovenia's most north-eastern region is known as Pomurje and it shares borders with Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Around 6% of the population live in this mainly agricultural area which is also the country's poorest. The region is known for its flatlands, storks and its cultural heritage, but also for its lack of development.

Wroclaw in south-western Poland is one of the country's most dynamic cities. It's attracting major international companies and it has big ambitions to raise its profile. It will host EURO 2012 football championship matches and it's also in the race to host the EXPO Exhibition in the same year. Insight Central Europe took a look at what's happening in the Wroclaw region in the run-up to these events.

When the former communist countries of Central Europe began the process of joining the EU, most of them had to develop a new layer of government - regional administrations. The centralised communist system did not have such devolved decision making. Slovakia was one of the countries which quickly developed official regions in order to tap into development funds from Brussels. But you won't find the Spis region of Slovakia on any map. It's a place where cultural traditions, local dialect and food have been around much longer than the new regional

"The wine of kings - the king of wines" - is what Louis the 14th, of France is reported to have said as he popped the cork on another bottle of Tokaj wine. This is the delicious sweet wine produced in the north-eastern Hungarian region of Tokaj - with a little bit of it stretching into Slovakia. The region is World Heritage listed and the flagship of Hungarian wine production. It is now trying to regain its former glory.

It's one year since the young Austrian woman, Natascha Kampusch, escaped from a tiny cellar where she'd been held captive for 8 years. Her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide shortly after her escape. The Kampusch story created headlines around the world and intense public interest in her story. This week she gave a rare television interview in which she talked about her attempts to regain a normal life.

The summer months are really festival months festivals in Slovenia. Film, dance, music, you name it and there's a festival for it. And right now it's time for the Middle Ages to return to Slovenia's capital Ljubljana.