RICK STEVES' EUROPE offers a fresh perspective on the best travel advice, including where to stay, what to see and how to get around in Europe. Rick Steves shares his extensive knowledge of European history, art and culture. His years as America's most popular European guidebook author blends with his relaxed but informative style to make this one of public television's most popular series.
http://www.ricksteves.com
Episode # 205
In these five idyllic port towns, we sample village life: fishing for anchovies at midnight, savoring the best pesto, picking grapes, and cheering cliff divers as we hike the "walkway of love." Each pastel town is a delight, but my favorite is Vernazza--where Giovanni makes pasta and Granelli sells porcini mushrooms at the tiny street market. We sidetrip to Carrara's quarries where Michelangelo selected his marble, then return to Vernazza to stroll the only street with the entire village as the sun sets.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
Episode # 206
With Rembrandts and stately architecture from its Golden Age, hidden churches and holocaust memorials from its troubled times, and Van Goghs and titillating street life from its modern age, Amsterdam stimulates all the senses. Then, side-tripping from Europe's capital of tolerance into the countryside (and below sea-level), we hike dikes, climb windmills, tour the world's biggest flower market, and see how in Holland, "Everything's just so Dutch!"
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
Episode # 207
Newly energized Prague, slinky with sumptuous Art Nouveau facades, is perpetually playing Mozart and Vivaldi. Eastern Europe's top destination has Europe's best beer, biggest castle, liveliest pedestrian bridge, and most evocative Jewish Quarter. From Prague, we sidetrip to Kutna Hora, once a silver-mining boomtown, to descend into its medieval mine and ponder its eerie chapel, decorated centuries ago with 40,000 bones.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
12:30 PM
Episode # 204
In red-bricked Siena, we tour its innovative medieval hospital, lavish cathedral, and a bakery that makes panforte (like fruitcake, only better). Exploring the Chianti region, we taste Brunello di Montalcino--with its makers. Spending the night at a farmhouse, we meet the family and the sheep, learn of the Slow Food Movement, and enjoy a homegrown dinner. In Assisi, we follow the footsteps of St. Francis from his humble chapel to the grand basilica--frescoed by Giotto--that holds his tomb.
Rebroadcast
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
12:30 PM
Episode # 203
In the birthplace of the Renaissance, we look into the eyes of Michelangelo's David and Botticelli's Venus, learn tricks for touring the Uffizi art gallery, and climb the dome that kicked off the Renaissance-to discover how it was built. Then we delve into the Florentine good life: visiting a fragrant 400-year-old perfumery, sipping Campari on a rooftop, chasing the sunset on a Vespa, and sleeping serenely in a converted monastery.
Rebroadcast
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
12:30 PM
Episode # 202
Pulling on hip boots, we settle into the muck of Venice, then take a speedboat tour of the lagoon. On the mainland, we head for Padua to tour a once-illegal anatomy theater and track the restoration of Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel. In Vicenza, we admire elegant Palladian- style streets and villas. In Verona, we climb the Roman colosseum, jostle with tourists to rub the brass breast of Juliet, and taste- test grappa before riding the train to Ravenna for its dazzling 1500- year-old mosaics.
Rebroadcast
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
12:30 PM
Episode # 201
Sorting through the monuments of magical Venice, we trace its decline from Europe's most powerful city to its most hedonistic. We cruise its main street--the Grand Canal, then get lost in the back lanes. For art, it's Titian, Bellini, Donatello, and the Doge's Palace. We luxuriate in a venerable cafe on St. Mark's Square, enjoy calamari with locals in a canal-side pub, then find our own private Venice under the moonlight on a gondola.
Rebroadcast
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
12:30 PM
Episode # 116
Rick's expertise is travel specifically, how to travel smoothly and affordably. These specials parlay his 25 years of travel experience into practical tips on: planning a trip, overcoming the language barrier, getting around, finding accommodations, staying safe, and more. Shot on location in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, the Rhine, and Swiss Alps, the show covers Rick's favorite 3000-mile European loop while providing viewers with essential travel skills.
Rebroadcast
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Length : 27 min
MPT2
12:30 PM
Episode # 115
Rick's expertise is travel specifically, how to travel smoothly and affordably. These specials parlay his 25 years of travel experience into practical tips on: planning a trip, overcoming the language barrier, getting around, finding accommodations, staying safe, and more. Shot on location in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, the Rhine, and Swiss Alps, the show covers Rick's favorite 3000-mile European loop while providing viewers with essential travel skills.
Rebroadcast
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Length : 28 min
MPT2
