Do Europeans wear mules? The shoes of course, not the animal.

You ask a simple yes no question, so my answer is no, I've never seen a European male wearing mules, and yes I once saw one woman wearing mules (pointy toed mid heel women's leather shoes).

You might get more informative answers if you put this in context. Do you mean for a night out on the town or to Sunday mass at the Vatican or hiking up cobblestone streets in Tuscany or in Finland in February?

There are 300+ million people in Europe, so you will find just about every kind of footwear is worn. I guess the one exception would be that I've never seen a European wearing white sneakers with shorts and white knee socks. Never.

I guessed you meant the shoes. Those darn animals SO hate to be worn!

Not exactly Mules but in Molvania they have a great fondness for Donkeys

I just meant in general, are mules a popular style for women in Europe? Or would they gasp at the site of a "half shoes"? Ha. Ha.
More specifically, are the worn in France and Italy?

<the one exception would be that I've never seen a European wearing white sneakers with shorts and white knee socks. Never.>

Then I kindly suggest you have not seen Swiss Germans getting drunk at the farmers market on a summer Saturday morning.

YES, mules are very much 'in' this summer. As well as ballerina shoes and thong shoes. All in leather, in pastel colours mostly.

Oh, no, NOOOOOO not swiss germans! I will faint there, on my first trip ever to Switzerland! And I can't even blend in even if I buy white sneakers - I don't drink beer. Besides, lederhosen and I don't mix

Suze, if I don't go to any farmers markets in Switzerland can I complete the trip without carrying smelling salts?

If you are ravishing looking NOBODY will be paying any attention to your footwear.

And if you're not, then it's all eyes on the shoes.

MLISS, It seems to me that Europeans ( at least Engish,French & Italians) not only wear the latest style in shoes but sometimes they designed them in the first place.
I think you will be fine in mules if they are comfortable for all day walking and cobblestone streets.

I'm not European, but I've been a tourist in Europe wearing my mules and no one looked askance at me.

BTW, if you want to wear your mules sightseeing, make sure they're comfortable for walking blocks at a time. Some mules, even the really comfortable ones, are <b>not</b> made for long distance! And that's not something you'd necesarily know unless you gave them a trial run.