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<rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Rick Steves' Europe</title> <language>en-us</language> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/rss/tms_articles</link> <managingEditor>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</managingEditor> <webMaster>webmaster@ricksteves.com (Webmaster @ Rick Steves)</webMaster> <pubDate>2025-09-16 03:07:29 UTC</pubDate> <lastBuildDate>2025-09-16 03:07:29 UTC</lastBuildDate> <ttl>15</ttl> <description>Rick is now offering his weekly travel column, "Rick Steves' Europe," to media outlets for free!</description> <copyright>copyright (c) 1996-2025 Rick Steves' Europe</copyright> <generator>Builder::XmlMarkup + Rick Steves Syndication (RSS)</generator> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">115</guid> <title>Mending Bridges in Mostar</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/mostar-bridge</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-09-11</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>The city of Mostar lies at a crossroads of cultures: just inland from the Adriatic coast, in the southern part of <a href="/europe/bosnia-herzegovina">Bosnia-Herzegovina</a>. Mostar — where Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks had lived in seeming harmony before the war, then suffered horribly when its warring neighborhoods turned the city into a killing zone — has provided me with some of the richest experiences anywhere in Europe. The vibrant humanity and the persistent reminders of the terrible war, now a generation in the past, combine to make Mostar strangely engaging.</p> <p>Before the war, <a href="/europe/bosnia-herzegovina/mostar">Mostar</a> was famous for its 400-year-old, Turkish-style stone bridge. Its elegant, single-pointed arch was a symbol of Muslim society here, and of the town's status as the place where East met West in Europe. Then, during the 1990s, Mostar became a poster child of the Bosnian war. First, the Croats and Bosniaks forced out the Serbs. Then they turned their guns on each other — staring each other down across a front line that ran through the middle of the city. Across the world, people wept when the pummeled Old Bridge — bombarded by Croat paramilitary artillery shells from the hilltop above — finally collapsed into the river.</p> <p>Now the bridge has been rebuilt and Mostar is thriving. It happens to be prom night. The kids are out, and Bosnian hormones are bursting. Being young and sexy is a great equalizer. With a beer, loud music, desirability, twinkling stars — and no war — your country's GDP doesn't really matter.</p> <p>And yet, strolling through teeming streets, it's chilling to think that, not so long ago, these people — who make me a sandwich, stop for me when I cross the street, show off their paintings, and direct the church choir — were set on killing each other.</p> <p>Walking past a small cemetery congested with more than a hundred white-marble Muslim tombstones, I notice the dates. Everyone died in 1993, 1994, or 1995. This was a park before 1993. When the war heated up, snipers were a constant concern — they'd pick off anyone they saw walking down the street. Bodies were left for weeks along the main boulevard, which had become the deadly front line. Mostar's cemeteries were too exposed, but this tree-filled park was relatively safe from snipers. People buried their loved ones here…under cover of darkness.</p> <p>I meet Alen, a Muslim who emigrated to Florida during the war, and is now back home in Mostar. He explains, "In those years, night was the time when we lived. We didn't walk...we ran. And we dressed in black. There was no electricity. If the Croat fighters didn't kill us with their bullets, they killed us with their hateful pop music. It was blasting from the Croat side of town."</p> <p>Alen points to a tree growing out of a ruined building and says, "It's a strange thing in nature: figs can grow with almost no soil" — seeming to speak as much about the difficult lot of Mostar's people as its vegetation. When I ask why the ruins still stand, Alen explains, “Confusion about who owns what. Surviving companies have no money. The bank of Yugoslavia, which held the mortgages, is now gone. No one will invest until it's clear who owns the buildings." While many of these buildings have been rebuilt since my conversation with Alen, war damage is still plainly evident.</p> <p>Mostar's skyline is tense with symbols of religious conflict. Ten minarets pierce the sky like proud exclamation points. Across the river, twice as tall as the tallest minaret, stands the Croats' rebuilt Catholic church spire. And from the top of the reconstructed bridge I see, on the hilltop high above the town, a single, bold, and strongly floodlit cross. Alen says, "We Muslims believe that cross marks the spot from where they shelled this bridge…like a celebration."</p> <p>Leaving Mostar to return to Croatia, I stop at a tiny grocery store, where a woman I befriended the day before — a gorgeous person, sad to be living in a frustrating economy, and unable to bend down because of a piece of shrapnel in her back that doctors decided was safer left in — makes me a hearty ham sandwich. As she slices, I bend down to gather the rest of what will be a fine picnic meal on wheels.</p> <p>On the way out of town, I drive over patched bomb craters in the pavement. In <a href="/europe/bosnia-herzegovina/sarajevo">Sarajevo</a> (the country's capital, which suffered similar strife), they've filled these scars with red concrete as memorials: "Sarajevo roses." Here they are black like the rest of the street — but knowing what they are, they show up red in my mind.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/103/medium/d89bd69e411afba2dfca7a19b214b361/310MostarBridge.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mostar's iconic Old Bridge — built 400 years ago and destroyed in 1993 — has been rebuilt. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/019/979/medium/f984a8029bfefe962b7dcd6306fa6ede/bosnia-herzegovina-mostar-coppersmiths-street.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Colorful, cobbled Coppersmiths' Street, perched high above the banks of the Neretva River, has the flavor of a Turkish bazaar. (photo: Gretchen Strauch)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">2062</guid> <title>In Studio: Roaming the Homes of Europe’s Top Artists</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/artists-studios-homes-europe</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-09-04</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>As a traveler, I find myself visiting the homes of lots of dead people. Some are over the top (Louis XIV's Versailles near <a href="/europe/france/paris">Paris</a>); some are haunting (the Anne Frank House in <a href="/europe/netherlands/amsterdam">Amsterdam</a>); others inspire poetic reflection (William Wordsworth's Dove Cottage in England's Lake District).</p> <p>Many of my favorites are the home studios of artists — painters, sculptors, writers, architects, composers. There's something about these special places that conjures the strange magic of creative work. Luckily for travelers, many have become museums that welcome visitors.</p> <p>Perhaps the most high profile of Europe's home studios is <a href="https://fondation-monet.com/" target="_blank">Claude Monet's</a>. The spiritual father of Impressionism, Monet spent 40 years cultivating his garden and his art at Giverny, 50 miles northwest of Paris.</p> <p>Monet's actual sky-lighted studio is now a gift shop, but the artist's real workspace was his five-acre garden. A master of color, Monet treated his garden like a canvas, choosing and planting his peonies, irises, and lavender bushes for maximum effect. In turn, the flower beds inspired some of his most iconic artworks. He often painted <em>en plein air</em> — outside — sometimes on a footbridge that overlooked a Japanese-style pond choked with his precious water lilies. Strolling the pathways here is like witnessing an Impressionist painting come to life.</p> <p>The concept of the artist's studio got its start in the Renaissance, when established masters maintained art workshops and taught apprentices. When Florence's city fathers started building a new cathedral in the late 1200s, they founded the <a href="https://operaduomo.firenze.it/en" target="_blank">Opera del Duomo</a> (Cathedral Workshop), where the sculptures for the church and its bell tower were crafted (<em>opera </em>is the Italian word for "work").</p> <p>Renaissance greats, such as Brunelleschi (who designed the cathedral's dome) and the sculptor Donatello, put in time there. Remarkably, the "opera" continues today within steps of the landmark cathedral, on the appropriately named Via dello Studio. Through the open doorway, you can see today's masters sculpting replacement statues and restoring old ones to keep the cathedral's art in good repair.</p> <p>Over time, the typical studio became less a communal workshop and more a place of solo industry and reflection. Norway's greatest composer, Edvard Grieg, maintained just such a classic artist's retreat. He spent his last 22 summers, until 1907, at the Victorian-style home he called <a href="https://www.kodebergen.no/museene/troldhaugen" target="_blank">Troldhaugen</a>, just outside Bergen. Quiet, lush, and secluded, the dreamy setting was ideal for soaking up inspirational fjord beauty.</p> <p>But the house was often bursting with family and friends. To counteract the constant hubbub, Grieg built a simple, one-room studio at the water's edge, and every day he'd lock himself inside to be sure he'd get something done. The cabin had everything he needed, and no more: an upright piano, a desk overlooking the water, and a couch for naps. Gazing at his rustic desk, his little piano, and the dramatic fjord scenery out the window, you can understand how Grieg's music so powerfully evokes the natural wonder of Norway.</p> <p>Artists from as far back as the Baroque era had figured out that the studio could double as a sales room. When Rembrandt's career took off in Golden Age Amsterdam, the great Dutch painter moved to an expensive home with a well-lighted studio. He would paint his famous <em>Night Watch</em> here, among many other masterpieces.</p> <p>The artist lined the walls floor-to-ceiling with his paintings, and then invited potential patrons in to browse. Opening up the studio turned out to be good for business, so much so that Rembrandt also had a small office to keep up with his paperwork. (He wasn't terribly good at it, and eventually went bankrupt.) If you visit his <a href="https://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/" target="_blank">reconstructed house</a> today, you can see how he used its rooms to display art to potential buyers.</p> <p>Perhaps the most unusual home studio I've toured is <a href="https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/" target="_blank">Salvador Dalí's place</a> near Cadaqués, Spain (an easy day trip from <a href="/europe/spain/barcelona">Barcelona</a>). As a kid, Dalí spent summers in this sleepy port town, and the eccentric artist came back years later with his wife, Gala. Together, they built a labyrinthine compound that climbs up a hill overlooking the Mediterranean.</p> <p>Like Dalí's art, his home is offbeat, provocative, and fun. The eccentric ambience, inside and out, was perfect for a Surrealist hanging out with his creative playmate and muse. This place, and his partnership with Gala, became so important to Dalí that when she died in 1982, he moved away and never returned (he died in 1989).</p> <p>Since then, everything in their home has been kept more or less as they left it, from playfully stuffed animals and mustachioed paintings to the couple's phallic-shaped swimming pool, the scene of orgiastic parties. In Dalí's studio, with its big windows drinking in light from the sea and sky, he painted for eight hours a day (he had cleverly innovated an easel that could be raised and lowered so he could staying seated while painting). Dalí lived large, but he worked hard, too.</p> <p>Whether you're indulging in a fantasy in Dalí-land or floating serenely above Monet's water lilies, a trip to an artist's home studio can be a memorable highlight of any trip to Europe.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/024/598/medium/43cde7106c0296c7831437f6a7ae5ee1/norway-bergen-troldhaugen-092718-rs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Composer Edvard Grieg retreated daily to this picture-perfect studio on a Norwegian fjord. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/024/597/medium/90c271998798d460fde4ec0c8107f7b8/italy-florence-opera-del-duomo-092718-go.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Florence's Opera del Duomo workshop-studio has been going strong since the 13th century. (photo: Gene Openshaw)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">2172</guid> <title>Historic Hits in Mod Milan</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/milan-italy-top-sights</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-08-28</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>While much of Italy's appeal is rooted in its relaxed pace and Old World feel, <a href="/europe/italy/milan">Milan</a> — the nation's second city and financial capital — offers just the opposite. But travelers who make time for Milan find that this modern, industrious metropolis packs historic highlights as powerful as other Italian cities'.</p> <p>I'd start a first visit (well, any visit) at the heart of the city: Piazza del Duomo, which is dominated by Milan's <a href="https://www.duomomilano.it/en/" target="_blank">cathedral</a>, the Duomo di Milano<span style="font-size: 0.9375em;">. It's the third-largest church in Europe, after St. Peter's in Rome and the Cathedral of Sevilla in Spain. To build it, the Milanesi used the most expensive stone they could find: pink marble.</span></p> <p>The facade is a commotion of Gothic features — pointed-arch windows, statues, little pinnacles, and reliefs. Scholars count a thousand individual carvings — big and small — on the church exterior and another 2,000 sculptural elements inside. Once you step through the entrance, you're struck by the immensity of the place. The soaring ceiling is supported by sequoia-size pillars.</p> <p>After touring the interior, you can climb the stairs — or take an elevator — to the marble-paved roof, 20 stories up, for the most memorable part of a Duomo visit. Up here, wandering through a fancy forest of spires, you'll notice that the saint statues suddenly become more lifelike up close. Beyond the statues lies a stunning view: On a clear day you can see all the way to the Alps. A 15-foot-tall gilded statue of the Virgin Mary on the tallest spire overlooks it all.</p> <p>Back on the ground, one side of Piazza del Duomo is dominated by a grand arch — it marks the entrance to the <a href="https://www.yesmilano.it/en/see-and-do/venues/galleria-vittorio-emanuele-ii" target="_blank">Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II</a>, built as one of the first shopping malls in the world. Then as now, it was home to shops and cafés and lots of strolling locals. Today, you can linger among luxury stores such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Prada.</p> <p>Though it looks like it's built of stone, the Galleria is actually a skeleton of iron beams faced with stone and topped with glass. When it was built (between 1865 and 1877), it was the marvel of its day and proclaimed Milan as the most cultured city of a newly united Italian nation. Later, the Galleria was the first building in Milan to have electric lighting.</p> <p>If you cut through the Galleria from the cathedral square, you'll pop out at Piazza della Scala, home of the <a href="https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/the-theater/fondazione-teatro-alla-scala.html" target="_blank">La Scala Opera House and Museum</a>. Teatro alla Scala first opened its doors in 1778 and quickly established itself as one of the premier opera theaters in Europe. The stage is enormous, the acoustics are wonderful, and the talent has always been top-notch. Many of the greatest operas got their first performance here — <em>Madame Butterfly</em>,<em> Nabucco</em>,<em> Turandot</em>. Almost all of the great opera singers — from Caruso to Callas to Pavarotti — have sung here. But unless you have tickets to a performance (expensive and often hard to get), you'll be limited to the adjacent museum. While the museum has an extensive collection sure to thrill opera buffs (original scores, Verdi's top hat, Rossini's eyeglasses, Toscanini's baton, Fettuccini's pesto), the main reason to visit is the opportunity it offers (on most days) to peek into the actual theater.</p> <p>Milan's most famous sight, <em>The Last Supper</em>, is away from the city center<em>.</em> Leonardo's fragile fresco survives — just barely — inside the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, centuries after it was painted right onto the wall of what had been the church's dining hall. (Deterioration began within six years of its completion, plus the church was bombed in World War II — but the wall holding <em>The Last Supper</em> remained standing.) Though today it's in a humidity-regulated room that strictly limits the number of visitors, most of the original paint is gone. Still, visitors come from around the world to see what's left of this remarkable work — <a href="https://cenacolovinciano.org/en/visit/#reserve" target="_blank">reservations</a> are mandatory, and should be booked three months in advance.</p> <p>The exactingly crafted fresco is a masterpiece of natural-looking lighting and expressive faces. Christ and his 12 apostles are eating their last meal before Jesus is arrested and executed. Leonardo captured the moment of psychological drama when Jesus says that one of the disciples will betray him. The apostles huddle in stressed-out groups of three, wondering, "Lord, is it I?"</p> <p>Leonardo spent three years on <em>The Last Supper.</em> It's said that he went whole days without painting a stroke, just staring at the work. Then he'd grab a brush, rush up, flick on a dab of paint…and go back to staring.</p> <p>Milan may be overshadowed by <a href="/europe/italy/venice">Venice</a> and <a href="/europe/italy/florence">Florence</a> as a tourist destination, but this stirred-up melting pot of people, industry, and history is one of the top treasures of the wonder that is modern-day <a href="/europe/italy">Italy</a>.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/025/547/medium/eb1afbc3aeaa0f5693325c3e0808a9c0/italy-milan-duomo-041119-ch.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Made of pink marble and decorated with Gothic spires, Milan's cathedral is one of the largest in Europe. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/025/546/medium/be7d15ab7d247904efcfb37216210a69/italy-milan-galleria-041119-ch.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>One of the world's first shopping malls, Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II still impresses today. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">2496</guid> <title>Europe’s Time-Tested Traditions: Four Favorites</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/europe-favorite-traditions</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-08-21</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Europe is a continent of long-lived cultures, with countless treasured traditions that have survived into modern times. While some of Europe's customs live on only as clichés or tacky stage shows for tourists, others — like the four of my favorites described here — are worth going out of your way to take part in.</p> <p>One of the most well-known European traditions — and something that I absolutely love doing — is gliding through Venice in a gondola.</p> <p>In the early Middle Ages, hundreds of horses traversed Venice's narrow bridges and alleyways. You can imagine the downside. In the 14th century the beasts were banned, and the noble class embraced watercraft as a more respectable form of transportation. The realities of navigating over the lagoon's shifting sandbars led to the use of uniquely designed flat-bottom gondolas, with captains who stood up in order to see better. By the 1800s, there were 10,000 boats floating through the city's canals.</p> <p>Today, hopping aboard one of the city's gondolas is a great way to escape the crowds and enter a parallel world of dreamy tranquility, as your vessel slices through your own private Venice, one filled with lonely bridges, canals without sidewalks, and reflections of once-upon-a-time grandeur. Wait until early evening, when the crowds have lessened and the light is right, and you'll experience the full force of Venice's charm from your boat.</p> <p>In <a href="/europe/spain">Spain</a>, you can feel the pulse of the Andalucía region through its fast-paced flamenco performances. With flamenco, the intricate rhythms are set by castanets and hand clapping. The men do most of the machine-gun footwork, while the women concentrate on graceful turns and a smooth, dramatic step. The accompanying guitarists, with their lightning-fast strumming, are considered some of the best in the world.</p> <p>Flamenco is a visual reminder of Andalucía's vibrant mix of cultures. In the singers' raspy voices, you'll hear echoes of the Muslim call to prayer — evocative of the centuries of Moorish rule. And the colorful costumes and sultry, swirling dance moves are courtesy of the Roma people who settled in Spain.</p> <p><a href="/europe/spain/sevilla">Sevilla</a> is considered by Spaniards to be the art form's epicenter. While it's easy to find tourist-friendly performances on Sevilla's main drags, I find that experiencing flamenco culture celebrated by and for the locals beats any tourist show. Wander the city's backstreets, looking for a neighborhood bar where locals break out into impromptu performances.</p> <p>Spain's neighbor is home to a lesser-known late-night musical tradition: fado music. Fado, which means "fate," is a uniquely Portuguese style of music, with soulful songs that reflect the country's bittersweet relationship with the sea. Many of these bluesy ballads tell of sailors who never returned to port, told (or, more accurately, wailed) by their black-clad widows.</p> <p>Lisbon's Bairro Alto and Mouraria districts are two great areas where you can catch some informal singing. <a href="/europe/portugal/coimbra">Coimbra</a>, north of <a href="/europe/portugal/lisbon">Lisbon</a>, is another great city for fado. While most fado is sung by women, in Coimbra, it's mainly performed by men. Their songs are serenades of love — usually sad, unanswered love. In both cities, you can pay lots of money for a fancy fado show in an upscale neighborhood, but I prefer the free shows you can find in the more rough-edged neighborhoods. I've stumbled across some of the best fado performances in small bars, where residents line up down the block for their turn to sing.</p> <p>When I'm in <a href="/europe/england/london">London</a>, I find that enjoying the view from the upper level of a double-decker bus is one of the treats of the city. Along with Big Ben, the bearskin-hatted Queen's Guard, and the similarly red (but now mostly defunct) phone booths, the buses are widely recognized as symbols of London.</p> <p>This iconic mode of transportation started out in the late 19th century as two-story horse-drawn buggies. Two hundred years later, the buses are still a fun and efficient way to get around London, especially if you're visiting many of the city's top sights. On the popular route 15 — which goes from Trafalgar Square to St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tower of London — you even have a chance of getting picked up by a heritage "Routemaster" old-style double-decker. (Keeping with the times, a few buses in the fleet are electric, too.)</p> <p>On Sundays, when most sights in London are closed, climbing the stairs and grabbing a seat in a bus's upper deck is a good way to get an overview of the city and spend an otherwise unoccupied afternoon. The buses are also great for families on holiday, providing an exciting ride for kids…and some stress-free downtime for parents.</p> <p>Even if you're more of an off-the-beaten-track traveler, consider taking part in some of these cultural mainstays — after all, they've survived this long for a reason.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/028/140/medium/ed0610c7af2e97101a07e80457cfacfb/portugal-lisbon-fado-031920-az.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wander back streets in Lisbon to catch a soulful fado performance. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/028/128/medium/028920a880bb3423cf20ff5e041c0691/england-london-westminster-abbey-bus-031920-am.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Riding an iconic double-decker buses is a fun way to get an overview of London. (photo: Addie Mannan)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1549</guid> <title>The Basque Country’s Cultural Treats</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/the-basque-country-europes-premium-blend</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-08-14</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>The land of the Basque people, split between Spain and France, is a "nation without a state" — left off the map when they drew Europe's national borders. The <a href="/europe/france/basque-country">Basque Country</a> is often left out of travel itineraries too, and that's also a mistake. With sunny beaches, spectacular modern architecture, tasty tapas, and feisty, free-spirited people, this region is filled with cultural treats.</p> <p>Much unites the Spanish and French Basque regions: They share a striking Atlantic coastline, with the Pyrenees Mountains soaring high above the Atlantic. They have the same flag, similar folk music and dance, and a common language, Euskara, spoken by about half-a-million people. Both, after some struggles, have been integrated into their respective nations, but still enjoy significant autonomy.</p> <p>Wherever you go, your Basque sightseeing should be a fun blend of urban, rural, cultural, and culinary activities. Devote at least a day to each country: Sleep in one, then side-trip into the other.</p> <p>In Spain, <a href="/europe/spain/san-sebastian">San Sebastián</a> is the heart of the tourist's <a href="/europe/spain/basque-country">Basque Country</a>, with its sparkling, picturesque beach framed by looming green mountains and a charming old town. On-the-rise Bilbao is worth a look for its landmark <a href="https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en" target="_blank">Guggenheim art museum</a> (designed by Frank Gehry) and because it, too, has an atmospheric old town.</p> <p>Compared with their Spanish cousins, the French Basques seem French first and Basque second. My favorite home base here is the central, comfy, and manageable resort town of St-Jean-de-Luz. It's a stone's throw to half-timbered Bayonne (with its "big-city" bustle and good Basque museum) and the snazzy beach town of Biarritz.</p> <p>On both sides of the border, traditional village settings reflect the colors of the Basque flag: Deep-red and green shutters adorn bright white chalet-style homes scattered across the lush, rolling foothills of the Pyrenees. Spared the beach scene development of the coast, these villages offer a more rustic glimpse of Basque culture.</p> <p>If you know where to look, Basque customs are strong and lively…perhaps nowhere more so than in one of their favorite sports, jai alai, where players use long wicker baskets to whip a ball — smaller and harder than a baseball — off walls at more than 150 miles per hour.</p> <p>Offering less adrenalin but just as much Basque culture are men's gastronomic clubs. Common throughout the Basque Country, these range from more working-class communal kitchens to highbrow versions with extensive wine cellars and culinary libraries. The clubs serve several functions: They provide a men's night out in a matrilineal society, where women run the show at home. They're also a place where friends who've known each other since grade school can enjoy quality time together, speaking Euskara and savoring traditional ways in today's fast-paced world. And, they're where men cook together and celebrate Basque food-related traditions.</p> <p>Mixing influences from the mountains, sea, Spain, and France, Basque food is reason enough to visit the region. The local cuisine — dominated by seafood, tomatoes, and red peppers — offers some spicy dishes, unusual in most of Europe.</p> <p>On the Spanish side, hopping from bar to bar sampling <em>pintxos</em> (tapas) is a highlight of any trip. Local brews include <em>sidra</em> (hard apple cider) and <em>txakoli</em>, a light, sparkling white wine that's often theatrically poured from high above the glass for aeration. You'll want to sample the famous <em>pil-pil,</em> made from emulsifying the skin of <em>bacalao</em> (dried, salted cod) into a mayonnaise-like substance with chili and garlic.</p> <p>The red peppers hanging from homes in French Basque villages are drying before being ground into <em>piment d'Espelette</em>, which gives many Basque foods their distinctive flavor — most notably in <em>piperade,</em> a dish that combines green peppers, tomatoes, onions (giving it the three colors of the Basque flag), and often ham and eggs. Look for the pepper in the terrific Basque dish <em>axoa</em> (a veal or lamb stew on mashed potatoes). Don't leave the area without trying <em>ttoro,</em> a seafood stew that is the Basque Country's answer to bouillabaisse or cioppino. To satisfy your sweet tooth, check out <em>gâteau Basque</em>, a local tart filled with pastry cream or cherries from Bayonne.</p> <p>While their cuisine is easygoing, the independent-minded Basques are notorious for being headstrong. Especially in Spanish Basque regions, demands for freedom once engendered terrorism through the separatist group called ETA. But passionate Basque advocates now pursue their cause peacefully, thanks in part to the European Union's efforts to give stateless ethnic groups more cultural respect and support. As a culturally and linguistically unique people surrounded by bigger and stronger nations, the Basques have learned to compromise while maintaining their heritage and identity.</p> <p>Though their homeland spans an international border, Basques maintain a vital culture, and a visit here provides a vivid look at the resilience of Europe's smaller ethnic groups and stateless nations. Wherever you go, you'll find the region colorful, fun, welcoming…and unmistakably Basque.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/634/medium/27f870fe438ca6a3403c63a30d3ada31/article-spain-san-sebastian-pintxos.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bars throughout the Spanish Basque region offer a wide range of appetizing "pintxos" — the local version of tapas. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/032/289/medium/7ebdcabe3464277df0c70f1b75ff6f5b/article-france-basque-st-jean-de-luz-marina.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Seaside St. Jean-de-Luz makes a welcoming home base in the French Basque Country. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1974</guid> <title>Europe’s Emigration Museums: Remembering the Long Goodbye</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/emigration-museums-in-europe</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-08-07</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Every year millions of Americans visit Ellis Island, where their ancestors may have arrived from "the old country." But Europe has many excellent "Ellis Islands in reverse" — museums at the places where millions said goodbye to the land of their birth.</p> <p>Few things are more poignant than a person willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of a better life. That's the story of many hard-scrabble Europeans heading off to dreamed-of opportunities in far-off America. Others, who faced persecution or even starvation, really had no choice — it was leave or die. Museums in <a href="/europe/ireland">Ireland</a>, <a href="/europe/belgium">Belgium</a>, <a href="/europe/germany">Germany</a>, and <a href="/europe/sweden">Sweden</a> tell some of these compelling stories.</p> <p>My favorite among them might be Dublin's, called <a href="https://epicchq.com/" target="_blank">Epic: The Irish Emigration Museum</a>. With so much anxiety surrounding immigration in the US today, I found it thought-provoking to learn how many Americans were just as worried about Irish immigrants 160 years ago.</p> <p>I had never fully appreciated the Irish diaspora until that visit. The Irish Emigration Museum, as entertaining as it is educational, celebrates how this little island has had an oversized impact on the world (an estimated 70 million people worldwide claim Irish heritage). The museum uses a high-tech approach to explain the forces that scattered so many Irish around the globe. Historic photos of filthy tenements and early films of bustling urban scenes help you imagine yourself in the shoes of the common Irish emigrant.</p> <p>Docked nearby is a floating exhibit aboard the <a href="https://jeaniejohnston.ie" target="_blank"><em>Jeanie Johnston</em> Tall Ship</a>, a replica of a real ship that made 16 eight-week transatlantic crossings, safely carrying about 200 per voyage to their new lives after the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s.</p> <p>The Belgian port city of <a href="/europe/belgium/antwerp">Antwerp</a> is home to the <a href="https://redstarline.be/en" target="_blank">Red Star Line Museum</a>, another cutting-edge place to learn about the plight of European emigrants. In late-19th-century Europe, the Industrial Revolution and a tremendous population boom led to political instability and economic difficulties. During the great migration between 1873 and 1935, the Red Star shipping line brought some two million emigrants from Antwerp to New York City.</p> <p>Antwerp was the exit point for people from all over Europe — especially Germany and areas to its east. Jews fleeing pogroms in Tsarist Russia and later Nazi persecution in Germany — among them Irving Berlin, Golda Meir, and Albert Einstein — accounted for at least a quarter of the Red Star Line's passengers taken across the Atlantic. The 10-day steamer journey transported cargo, luxury travelers, and "steerage-class" peasants alike. Before boarding, emigrants underwent humiliating health exams and nervously waited while clerks processed their paperwork.</p> <p>The Red Star Line Museum fills the hall that processed many who passed through Antwerp on their way to a new life. The museum combines personal stories with high-tech presentations to detail the "other end" of the Ellis Island experience. One powerful exhibit — using wraparound video screens — drives home the point that immigration remains as common today as it was in the heyday of Ellis Island. Displays profile immigrants throughout history— from the first humans who left Africa in 40,000 BC to migrant workers of today.</p> <p>In <a href="/europe/germany/hamburg">Hamburg</a>, the engaging <a href="https://www.ballinstadt.de/?lang=en" target="_blank">BallinStadt Emigration Museum</a> tells the story of those from Germany and beyond who went first to Hamburg, by train or even on foot, before boarding a ship to cross the ocean. Creative themed exhibits, featuring big, colorful re-creations of living conditions, give a look at the origins of the five million German emigrants who passed through here, the reasons they chose to leave (from poverty to persecution), their experiences on the transatlantic ships, and their challenges forging a new life in the new land. It offers a dynamic and kid-friendly look at a powerful topic.</p> <p>And the <a href="https://www.kulturparkensmaland.se/en/the-house-of-emigrants/" target="_blank">House of Emigrants</a> in Växjö, in southern Sweden, is a fascinating stop for anyone with immigrant ancestors. The inspiring "Dream of America" exhibit captures the experiences of the 1.3 million Swedes who sought a better life in the American promised land in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Economic woes (and, much like in Ireland, a potato famine) wracked Sweden from the 1850s to the 1920s. Roughly 20 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women who were born in Sweden during the last half of the 19th century left. Personal letters from emigrants to family back in Sweden give a poignant perspective on what it was like to adapt to a new culture.<!-- Rounding out the exhibit, homage is paid to prominent Swedish-Americans, including aviator Charles Lindbergh, union organizer Joe Hill, and the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.--></p> <p>With so many of us owing our lives to ancestors who risked theirs emigrating to the US, it's important to learn about their epic journey. Adding a visit to an emigration museum in Europe can also give us greater understanding toward those currently seeking refuge on our own soil.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/023/644/medium/c95d0499dcc7c360e9a90e8c68d43985/belgium-antwerp-red-line-museum-032918-cc.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>European emigrants crowd a dock in Antwerp, Belgium, before boarding a Red Star Line ship for New York. (photo: Red Star Line Museum, Antwerp)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/023/645/medium/de15589298abc86210ec9f7ec3e740c8/ireland-dublin-jeanie-johnston-famine-ship-032918-rs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>In Dublin, the Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship recreates the harsh conditions on a famine ship, where entire families often shared one six-foot-square berth. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1945</guid> <title>Porto: Portugal’s Salty ‘Second City’</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/porto-portugal-without-the-tourists</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-07-31</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p><a href="/europe/portugal/porto">Porto</a>, the hub of northern Portugal, is a prime example of a national "second city." Over several generations, many of Europe's Industrial Age powerhouses fell into decline — not unlike America's Rust Belt — while their elegant "first city" counterparts enjoyed the luster of the Information Age. But over the last decade or so, the rust has become a trendy accessory in places like Porto, and industrial ruins have turned bohemian chic.</p> <p>Just three hours from <a href="/europe/portugal/lisbon">Lisbon</a> by train, Porto is fiercely proud of what distinguishes it from the national capital as it ages happily along the Douro River — along with most of the world's port wine.</p> <p>Porto seems entirely made of granite — even its Romanesque cathedral is stout and stony. But the city's inviting shopping streets are ornamented with playful architectural touches and lovely blue-tiled facades. Spared by the 1755 earthquake that toppled Lisbon, Porto is charmingly well preserved, and the city has kept its Old World atmosphere.</p> <p>The city comes with the steady sea breeze, seagull soundtrack, and ever-changing weather that you'd expect from an oceanside city. You're likely to get simultaneous sun and rain at least once during your visit.</p> <p>The two biggest draws here are the photogenic riverfront Ribeira quarter and the tourable port-wine lodges just across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia. (Aficionados of port — or of dramatic scenery — can use Porto as a springboard for visiting the nearby <a href="/europe/portugal/douro-valley">Douro Valley</a>, where grapes grow on steep stone terraces.) But the city also boasts a thriving food scene — including one of my favorite market halls anywhere, bustling shopping streets, architecturally lavish churches, narrow cobbled lanes, and a handful of museums worth a look.</p> <p>The Ribeira (literally "riverbank") district is the city's most colorful and touristy quarter. Strolling the Ribeira embankment, while popping in and out of shops that line the way, is Porto's best lazy-afternoon activity. Be sure to duck into the back streets where time-worn faces and once-dazzling facades age together gracefully as if inspired by all that port wine.</p> <p>Downtown Porto is compact but steep, making distances seem longer. Foot-weary travelers can take one of the "Six Bridges" cruises (operated by several different companies) that leave continually from the Ribeira riverfront. These relaxing one-hour excursions float up and down the Douro River, offering a fine orientation and glimpses of all of Porto's bridges — most notably the majestic steel Ponte Dona Maria Pia, artfully designed by Gustav Eiffel, architect of Paris' famous landmark.</p> <p>For wine connoisseurs, touring a port-wine "lodge" — where the wine ages for years — and sampling the product is a must. Port is a medium-sweet wine, usually taken as a <em>digestif </em>after dinner. For some, port is an acquired taste — but it's one worth cultivating. As I always say, "Any port in a storm…"</p> <p>In the district of Vila Nova de Gaia you can choose between 18 lodges that are open for touring and tasting. At any lodge, the procedure is about the same; travelers can simply show up and ask for a tour. <a href="https://www.sandeman.com/" target="_blank">Sandeman</a>, the most high-profile company, is sort of the Budweiser of port — a good first stop for novices.</p> <p>While the wine-cellar experience can be unforgettable, consider splurging for a convivial, romantic, and port-centric gourmet dinner at one of several fine port-tasting rooms in downtown Porto. I particularly like <a href="https://kopke1638.com/" target="_blank">Kopke</a>, with a helpful staff and an elegant waterfront space away from the crowds.</p> <p>In addition to wine tasting, Porto offers many food tours. Like similar tours that are trendy throughout Europe these days, they include roughly five or six stops, spread out over about three or four hours and about a mile's walk. They're not cheap, but they're a good value considering that you get a full meal as well as plenty of cultural insights from an engaging guide.</p> <p>Porto natives are known as <em>"tripeiros"</em> (tripe eaters) — much as Lisboans are often called "cabbage-eaters" — and you may indeed encounter tripe stew on your food tour. Along with this local specialty, you'll see plenty of seafood and meat on Porto menus. A favorite sandwich is the <em>francesinha,</em> which is like a Portuguese French dip with a tomato-based sauce. Picnic sandwiches and scenic perches — for people-watching, views, or both — are easy to come by in lively Porto.</p> <p>The town's two most famous foods — tripe stew and a quadruple-decker sandwich drenched in sauce — say it all: This place is unpretentious. Locals claim they're working too hard to worry about being pretty. As an oft-repeated saying about Portuguese cities goes, "Coimbra studies, Braga prays, Lisbon parties…and Porto works."</p> <p>Portugal's second city is ever-changing, often chaotic, and worth a visit now more than ever. Whether you're enjoying Ribeira's riverfront promenade, cruising the Douro, or sampling port in this port town, Porto gives you a delightful taste of authentic Portuguese culture.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/023/296/medium/0378d03ff072173192826f7171d54e20/portugal-porto-boats-122117-az.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Traditional rabelo boats, which were once used to deliver port wine from the Douro Valley, line Porto's harbor at sunset. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/023/297/medium/162c4a36277a4d7b89a0985e0aa65370/portugal-porto-ribeira-122117-rl.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Porto's colorful Ribeira district has been transformed from rust-belt drab to bohemian chic. (photo: Rosie Leutzinger)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1662</guid> <title>Savoring Europe’s Cheese Cultures</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/in-europe-say-cheese</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-07-24</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>When I'm traveling, I become a cultural chameleon. I love a good pilsner when I'm in <a href="/europe/czech-republic/prague">Prague</a>, red wine in <a href="/europe/italy/tuscany">Tuscany</a>, and a cheese course in <a href="/europe/france">France</a>. For a cheese-lover, savoring Europe means savoring its cheeses — they're not only part of the cuisine, they're part of the culture. And some cultures — including French, Dutch, and Greek — are particularly pleasing for the cheesing.</p> <h5>France</h5> <p>In France, a love for beauty and tradition includes a fondness for artisan cheese that comes in wedges, cylinders, balls, and mini hockey pucks; and they're sometimes powdered white, gray, or burnt marshmallow. As a traveler, I'm thankful that French cheese mongers tend to be evangelical about their fine and varied products.</p> <p>Here, the cheese course is served just before (or instead of) dessert. It not only helps with digestion, it also gives you a great opportunity to sample the tasty regional cheeses — and time to finish up your wine. Between cow, goat, and sheep cheeses, the French produce more than 400 different varieties. Many restaurants offer a platter of cheeses, from which you choose a few. Whether at a restaurant or cheese shop, try at least four types: a hard cheese (such as Cantal), a flowery cheese (perhaps Brie or Camembert), a blue or Roquefort cheese, and a goat cheese.</p> <p>Be sure to go local. On your way to the châteaux in the Loire Valley, look for signs that say <em>fromage de chèvres fermier</em> (farmer's goat cheese). Or head to the Alps with a cheese map looking for <em>les alpages,</em> where you can taste hard, strong Beaufort or Gruyère-like Comté — and meet cheesemakers proud to show off their traditions.</p> <h5>Netherlands</h5> <p>The Dutch are probably better known for their cheese than for any other food, and are among the world's top cheese exporters. To sample their cheese culture, visit Alkmaar (and its Friday morning market, running from April to August) or <a href="/europe/netherlands/edam">Edam</a> (Wednesday morning market in July and August). Both cities are a short train ride away from <a href="/europe/netherlands/amsterdam">Amsterdam</a>.</p> <p>Alkmaar is Holland's cheese capital (and, perhaps, the unofficial capital of high cholesterol). This delightful city has zesty cheese-loving spirit, and is home to what is probably the Netherlands' best cheese museum…and in this country, that's saying something. The museum is in Alkmaar's biggest building, the richly decorated Weigh House, used since the 16th century for weighing cheese.</p> <p>Though Alkmaar is enjoyable any time, there's no better time to sample a sliver of this proud wedge of Dutch culture than during market time. Early in the morning, cheesemakers line up their giant orange wheels in neat rows on the square. Prospective buyers (mostly wholesalers) examine and sample the cheeses and make their selections. Then the cheese is sold off with much fanfare, as an emcee narrates the action in Dutch and English.</p> <p>During the Wednesday market in the cheesemaking village of Edam, farmers bring their cheese by boat and horse to the center of town, where it's weighed and traded by Edamers in traditional garb. Edam cheese comes in softball-size rounds covered with red wax, so it travels well without refrigeration. Young Edam cheese is extremely mild, but it gets firmer and more flavorful with age.</p> <h5>Greece</h5> <p>Some studies show that <a href="/europe/greece">Greece</a> has the highest per-capita cheese consumption in the world — over 60 pounds a year. That's mostly feta, which serves as one of the four staples here, along with olives, tomatoes, and crispy phyllo dough. Protected by EU regulations, Greek feta made with sheep's milk, although a small percentage of goat's milk can be added (but never cow's milk). As you travel around Greece, you'll notice that feta in the Peloponnese is dryer and crumbly, while feta made in Macedonia is mild, soft, and creamy. Even in big-city <a href="/europe/greece/athens">Athens</a>, many markets still sell feta from the barrel — and you'll find feta in everything from salad and sandwiches to savory pies and dips. Sampling endless variations on Greek salad, with its ripe vegetables under an enticing slab of feta and drizzled in olive oil, never gets old to me.</p> <p>Greeks don't live by feta alone. Graviera, a hard cheese made in Crete from sheep's milk, tastes sweet and nutty, almost like a fine Swiss cheese. Kasseri, a mild yellow cheese made from either sheep or goat's milk, is the most popular Greek cheese after feta.</p> <p>No matter where you travel, get out of your culinary comfort zone. When it comes to cheese, delve into what's stinkier, moldier, or simply less sandwich-ready than what you'd find at home. Instead of selecting what you already recognize, take some risks — it's the only way to fully appreciate Europe's rich cultures.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/019/688/medium/36cf4df0e68d4fb10f772d3adc92a3fb/france-dordogne-cheese-040716-mp.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>In France, enjoying the local cheese is part of the fabric of daily life. (photo: Michael Potter)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/019/689/medium/7b0342f7974cb2f48dc72777f15ba81e/netherlands-alkmaar-cheese-market-040716-ch.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>At the Friday market in Alkmaar, carriers use a "cheese-barrow" to bring wheels to and from the Weigh House, just as they have for centuries. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1511</guid> <title>Uppsala: Sweden’s Ancient Capital and Top College Town</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/uppsala-swedens-ancient-capital-and-top-college-town</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-07-17</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Uppsala, Sweden's fourth-largest city, is the best day trip from <a href="/europe/sweden/stockholm">Stockholm</a> (it's just under an hour away by train). This happy town is Sweden's answer to <a href="/europe/england/oxford">Oxford</a>, offering stately university facilities and museums, the home and garden of botanist Carl Linnaeus, as well as a grand cathedral and the enigmatic burial mounds of Gamla Uppsala on the town's outskirts.</p> <p>Almost all the sights are in the compact city center, dominated by one of Scandinavia's largest, most historic churches — Gothic <a href="https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/uppsaladomkyrka/information-in-english" target="_blank">Uppsala Cathedral</a>, which was completed in 1435 (though its spires and interior decorations are Neo-Gothic, from the late 19th century). The cathedral — with a fine interior, relics of St. Erik, memories of countless Swedish coronations, and the tomb of King Gustav Vasa — is well worth a visit.</p> <p>Inside, you'll find a different take on the Virgin Mary. An eerily lifelike statue from 2005, called "Mary (The Return)," captures Jesus' mother wearing a scarf and timeless garb. In keeping with the Protestant spirit, this version of Mary is shown not as an exalted queen, but as an everywoman, saddened by the loss of her child and seeking solace — or answers — in the church.</p> <p>This cathedral likely sees more tourists than worshipers. Before the year 2000, Sweden was a Lutheran state, with the Church of Sweden as its official religion. Until 1996, Swedes with one Lutheran parent automatically became members of the church at birth. Now you need to choose to join the church, and although the culture is nominally Lutheran, few people attend services regularly. While church is handy for Christmas, Easter, marriages, and burials, Swedes are more likely to find religion in nature, hiking in the vast forests or fishing in one of their thousands of lakes or rivers.</p> <p>Facing the cathedral is the university's oldest surviving building, the <a href="https://www.uu.se/en/gustavianum" target="_blank">Gustavianum</a>, with a bulbous dome that doubles as a sundial. Today it houses a well-presented museum that features an anatomical theater, a cabinet filled with miniature curiosities, and Anders Celsius' thermometer. The collection is curiously engaging for the glimpse it gives into the mindset of 17th-century Europe.</p> <p>Uppsala was also home to the father of modern botany, Carl Linnaeus, whose house and garden — now a museum — provide a vivid look at this influential scientist's work. Linnaeus lived here from 1743 until 1778, while he was a professor at the University of Uppsala. It was here that he developed a way to classify the plant kingdom.</p> <p>Strolling Sweden's first botanical garden, it's easy to feel a child-like sense of wonder. Linnaeus ran this garden, living on-site to study plants — day and night, year round — tracking about 3,000 different species. The museum fills his home (which he shared with his wife and seven children) with the family's personal possessions and his professional gear. You'll see his insect cabinet, herb collection, desk, botany tools, and notes — and can pop into the orangery, built so temperate plants could survive the Nordic winters.</p> <p>Just outside of town stands Gamla ("Old") Uppsala, a series of mounds where the nation of Sweden was born back in the Iron Age. This site gives historians goose bumps even on a sunny day. It includes nine large royal burial mounds circled by a walking path, all with English descriptions.</p> <p>Fifteen hundred years ago, when the Baltic Sea was higher and it was easy to sail all the way to Uppsala, the pagan Swedish kings had their capital there. Old Uppsala is where the disparate little Swedish kingdoms came together and a nation coalesced. It was also here where Sweden became Christianized, a thousand years ago.</p> <p>Climbing the burial mounds is a highlight to any Uppsala visit. From here you can imagine the scene over a thousand years ago, when the democratic tradition of this country helped bring those many small Swedish kingdoms together. Entire communities would gather at the rock that marked their place. Then the leader all the clans, standing atop the flat mound, would address the crowd as if in a natural amphitheater, and issues of the day would be dealt with.</p> <p>While no one gathers on these mounds for debates today, Sweden still honors its many traditions, and you'll find some wild ones in Uppsala. Every April 30 (Walpurgis Eve — "Valborg" or "Sista April" in Swedish), champagne-soaked students put on their black-rimmed white caps and run down a hill toward town while balloons are released and thousands of alumni, families, and friends cheer. (The partying then goes on until dawn, illuminated by bonfires.)</p> <p>This lively college vibe gives Uppsala a fun-loving buzz — combined with the city's big history, it makes a visit here both enjoyable and memorable. If you have five days in Stockholm and wonder what to do on that last day, go to Uppsala.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/017/555/medium/5e2ee1b25e40bc8ec5f335ddab1b1596/sweden-uppsala-mounds042315-rs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Burial mounds just outside the town of Uppsala mark the site where the kingdom of Sweden came together. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">244</guid> <title>Go Left, Young Man: Driving in Great Britain and Ireland</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/driving-in-great-britain-and-ireland</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-07-10</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Renting a car in Britain and Ireland can be a smart move — especially in <a href="/europe/ireland">Ireland</a>, which lacks an extensive rail network. While Great Britain's trains go to most places of tourist interest — and just about everything's reachable by bus in both countries — the bucolic landscape you'll see here is most easily experienced by car. Behind the wheel you're totally free, going where you want, when you want.</p> <p>Driving in the British Isles is wonderful — once you remember to stay on the left and after you've mastered the roundabouts. But be warned: Every year I get some emails from traveling readers advising me that, for them, trying to drive in Great Britain and Ireland was a nerve-wracking and regrettable mistake. <!--Here's a tip: If you want to get a little slack on the roads in Britain, drop by a gas station or auto shop and buy a green P (probationary driver with license) sign to put in your car window (don't get the red L sign, which means you're a learner driver without a license and thus prohibited from driving on motorways).--></p> <p>Of course, in Britain and Ireland you'll be driving on the left-hand side of the road. Why that side? Originally, it was in order for you to drive defensively…with your "sword hand" on the inside to protect you against unknown oncoming horsemen.</p> <p>Many Yankee drivers find the hardest part isn't driving on the left, but steering from the right. Your instinct is to put yourself on the left side of your lane, which means you may spend your first day or two constantly drifting off the road to the left. It can help to remember that the driver always stays close to the center line.</p> <p>Not only will you be driving on the left, but you'll be using roundabouts, where traffic continually flows in a circle around a center island. These work well if you follow the golden rule: Traffic in roundabouts always has the right-of-way, while entering vehicles yield.</p> <p>For some drivers, roundabouts are high-pressure traffic circles that require a snap decision about something you don't completely understand: your exit. <!--Pay attention to the instructions painted on the pavement as you approach bigger roundabouts; they tell you which lane to be in for a destination well before you get to the actual roundabout. -->To replace the stress with giggles, make it standard operating procedure to take a 360-degree, case-out-your-options exploratory circuit. Discuss the exits with your navigator, go around again if necessary, and then confidently wing off on the exit of your choice.</p> <p>Whenever possible, avoid driving in cities. <a href="/europe/england/london">London</a> even assesses a <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge" target="_blank">congestion charge</a> — about $20 per day — to drive in the city center. It's best and less stressful to begin your driving experience away from big cities, so try renting your car in a smaller town. A pleasant scenario for a Britain itinerary would be to start your trip in a small town such as Bath, rent a car when leaving <a href="/europe/england/bath">Bath</a>, explore Britain at your leisure by car, then drop off the car in York, and take the train into London, where you can rely on the excellent public transportation system.</p> <p>Outside of the big cities and the motorways (freeways), British and Irish roads tend to be narrow. Adjust your perceptions of personal vehicular space. It's not "my side of the road" or "your side of the road." It's just "the road" — and it's shared as a cooperative adventure. In towns, you may have to cross over the center line just to get past parked cars. Sometimes both directions of traffic can pass parked cars simultaneously, but frequently you'll have to take turns — follow the locals' lead and drive defensively. On rural roads, locals are usually courteous, pulling over against a hedgerow and blinking their headlights for you to pass while they wait. Return the favor when you're closer to a wide spot in the road than they are. Things go much better if you're not in a hurry.</p> <p>Do some homework before getting behind the wheel. Consider supplementing online/GPS maps with a detailed Ordnance Survey road atlas.</p> <p>You'll notice some differences between driving in the Republic of Ireland versus the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). In the Republic of Ireland, the speed limit is in kilometers per hour, road signs are usually bilingual (but not always — <em>géill slí</em> means "yield"), and roads are more likely to be bumpy and poorly maintained. In the United Kingdom, the speed limit is in miles per hour, signs are in English (except in <a href="/europe/wales">Wales</a>, where they're bilingual), and roads are generally in better condition.</p> <p>Even if you don't drive, as a pedestrian you'll have to remember that among our British and Irish cousins' many unusual habits, traffic comes from the opposite direction — so look both ways before crossing any street.</p> <p>Horror stories about driving in Britain and Ireland abound. They're fun to tell, but driving there is really only a problem for those who make it one. The most dangerous creature on the road is the panicked American. Drive defensively, observe, fit in, avoid big-city driving when you can, and wear your seat belt. And if you see a car coming straight at you from ahead, veer left — you're probably the one on the wrong side of the road.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/190/medium/3b671a0ea0407b77c00c8bf9461cc42a/432a_Drive-on-left-scan_PO.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Signs give non-British/Irish drivers coming off the ferry a key reminder. (photo: Pat O'Connor)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/191/medium/2df4e112292b805b1cd62380377ea982/432b_Roundabout_RS.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>When approaching a roundabout in Britain and Ireland, look for a sign that charts the exits. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">60</guid> <title>10 Great Seaside Bars in Europe</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/ten-great-seaside-bars</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-07-03</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>With all the intensity in our domestic and political worlds lately, it's a fine time for an escape — sunset glinting through the drink in your hand. Let's fantasize about 10 of my favorite seaside bars in Europe.</p> <p><strong>In Korčula, Croatia:</strong> Buffet Massimo, a youthful-feeling cocktail bar, fills a city-wall tower at the very tip of Korčula's Old Town peninsula. While drinks are also served indoors in the downstairs bar and the main-floor lounge, to enjoy your cocktail in the salty Adriatic air you've got to climb a ladder — right up through the ceiling — to reach the tower-top terrace.</p> <p><strong>In Istanbul, Turkey:</strong> The double-decker Galata Bridge spans the Golden Horn, a historic inlet that separates the old and new towns of Istanbul. And all along both the horn and the bridge, you'll find dozens of inviting, no-name bars. Find a place to nurse some Turkish specialties: Drink an unfiltered, highly caffeinated "Turkish coffee" (which leaves a thick coating of "mud" in the bottom) or a cup of tea, and suck on a water pipe filled with flavorful dried fruit.</p> <p><strong>In Salema, Portugal:</strong> Amid the concrete high-rise resorts on Portugal's southern coast, one bit of old Algarve magic still glitters quietly in the sun: Salema. This simple fishing village has three beachside streets, many restaurants, a few hotels, a couple of bars, a classic beach with a paved promenade, and endless sun. The Atlântico — right on the beach — is known for its fresh fish, fun drinks, friendly service, and a wonderful beachside terrace.</p> <p><strong>In Nerja, Spain:</strong> <a href="http://www.ayonerja.com/" target="_blank">Chiringuito Ayo</a> is famous for its character of an owner and its beachside all-you-can-eat paella feast at lunchtime. For decades, Ayo — a lovable ponytailed bohemian who promises to be here until he dies — has been feeding locals. The paella fires get stoked up at about noon. Grab one of many tables under the canopy next to the rustic, open-fire cooking zone, and enjoy the Burriana Beach setting with a jug of sangria.</p> <p><strong>In Villefranche-sur-Mer, France:</strong> In the glitzy world of the <a href="/europe/france/french-riviera">French Riviera</a>, Villefranche-sur-Mer offers travelers an easygoing slice of small-town Mediterranean life. Luxury sailing yachts glisten in the bay — an inspiration to those lazing along the harborfront to start saving their money when their trips are over. Nautical-feeling <a href="https://www.restaurant-lou-bantry.fr/" target="_blank">Lou Bantry</a>'s blue and white tables and umbrellas sit right on the edge of the harbor — spill your rosé, and it's in the sea. </p> <p><strong>In Vernazza, Italy:</strong> <a href="https://www.eng.ristorantebelforte.it/?swlsw=1" target="_blank">Ristorante Belforte</a>'s tiny, four-table balcony lets you sip your <em>vino della Cinque Terre</em> overlooking the Mediterranean from the edge of a stony castle. You can feel the mist from the surf crashing below on the Vernazza breakwater. And the views of the ancient vineyard terracing all around you makes the experience a highlight.</p> <p><strong>In Conwy, Wales:</strong> This Welsh town, watched over by its protective castle, has a particularly charming harbor. On summer evenings, the action on the quay is mellow, multigenerational, and perfectly Welsh. Everyone is here enjoying the local cuisine — "chips," ice cream, and beer — and savoring that great British pastime: chasing little crabs. Facing the harbor, <a href="https://www.liverpoolarmsconwy.net/index" target="_blank">The Liverpool Arms</a> pub was built by a captain in the 19th century. Today it remains a salty and characteristic hangout.</p> <p><strong>In Staithes, England:</strong> A ragamuffin village where the boy who became Captain James Cook got his first taste of the sea, Staithes is a salty jumble of cottages bunny-hopping down a ravine into a tiny harbor on the North Sea. There's nothing to do but stroll the beach and nurse a harborside beer or ice cream. <a href="https://www.codandlobster.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Cod and Lobster</a>, overlooking the harbor, has scenic outdoor benches and a cozy living room warmed by a fire.</p> <p><strong>In Solvorn, Norway:</strong> <a href="https://www.walaker.com/en" target="_blank">Walaker Hotel</a>, a former inn and coach station, has been run by the Walaker family since 1690 (that's a lot of pressure on ninth-generation owner Ole Henrik). The hotel, set right on the Lustrafjord, has a garden perfect for relaxing and, if necessary, even convalescing. I love to savor my coffee and dessert on the balcony with a fjordside setting — mesmerized by Norwegian mountains.</p> <p><strong>In Dubrovnik, Croatia:</strong> The Buža bar offers, without a doubt, the most scenic spot for a drink in Dubrovnik. Perched on a cliff above the sea, clinging like a barnacle to the outside of the city walls, this is a peaceful, shaded getaway from the bustle of the Old Town...the perfect place to watch cruise ships disappear into the horizon. "Buža" means "hole in the wall" — which is exactly what you have to go through to get to this place. </p><!--<p><strong>In Barcelona, Spain:</strong> Before the 1992 Olympics, Barcelona's waterfront was an industrial wasteland nicknamed the "Catalan Manchester." Not anymore. The industrial zone was demolished and sand was dredged out of the seabed to make pristine beaches. It's like a resort island — complete with lounge chairs, volleyball, showers, bars, WCs, and bike paths. Every 100 yards or so is a <em>chiringuito</em> — a shack selling drinks and light snacks, keeping locals and tourists well-lubricated.</p> TOOK OUT PER TRAVIS' NOTE ABOUT THE BOOK SAYING THESE WERE DISAPPEARING IN BARCELONA--BUT NOT IN SITGES, SO THAT'S ANOTHER OPTION--GS--> <p><em>Skäl, santé, na zdravje, prost </em>— and cheers! Europe is full of romantic waterfront spots to grab a drink and slow your pulse. Feel the breeze, smell the sea, and enjoy the cry of the gulls — it could turn out to be your ultimate European moment.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/524/medium/3bb2f48adbe32e3ccad0806584fd9e7e/645_Nerja.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>At Nerja, on Spain's Costa del Sol, there's a lunchtime seaside feast every day at Ayo's bar, where he cooks paella over an open fire. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/523/medium/d7fdb6f2d2545b46abcf2612033b5b9b/645_Barcelona.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Once an industrial wasteland, Barcelona's sandy coastline is now scattered with cute beachside bars called "chiringuitos." (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1926</guid> <title>Discovering ‘Undiscovered’ Hamburg </title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/hamburg-germany-undiscovered</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-06-26</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Germany's second-largest city, <a href="/europe/germany/hamburg">Hamburg</a>, is awash with history — and played especially key roles in the stories of 19th-century emigration, World War II, and the Beatles. It's also a thriving 21st-century metropolis with an inviting harbor boardwalk, avant-garde architecture, and Las Vegas–style nightlife. Every visit here makes me wonder why so many Americans skip it. I love this city.</p> <p>Even though it's about 60 miles from the North Sea, Hamburg's seaport on the Elbe River was the world's third largest a century ago. But World War II devastated the commercial center, and during the Cold War trade to the east was cut off. Port traffic dwindled, and so did the city's influence. But Hamburg's been enthusiastically rebuilt, and, since Germany's reunification, it has gained back its former status as a leading trade center.</p> <p>Hamburg's port has evolved with the city's needs and changes in shipping technology. One example is HafenCity, a huge development project that enlarged downtown Hamburg by about 40 percent. </p> <p>The northern part of HafenCity is occupied by Speicherstadt, the old warehouse district. The city preserved the area's massive red-brick riverside warehouses as part of the urban landscape, and some of them now house museums, including the <a href="https://www.imm-hamburg.de/en/" target="_blank">International Maritime Museum</a> and <a href="https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/" target="_blank">Miniatur Wunderland</a> — one of Germany’s most visited attractions — featuring a sprawling model railway and miniature versions of the Alps, Scandinavia, Italy, and the US.</p> <p>HafenCity's centerpiece is the striking <a href="https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/" target="_blank">Elbphilharmonie</a> — a combination concert hall, hotel, and apartment complex that welcomes visitors to ride its escalator to a spectacular city and Elbe River view. Its daring design and huge size fit in well with the massive scale of the surrounding port.</p> <p>Water seems to be everywhere in this city of nearly 2,500 bridges. Hamburg's delightful lakes — the Aussenalster and Binnenalster — were created in the Middle Ages, when townsfolk built a mill that dammed the local river. Back in the 1950s, a law guaranteed public access to the Aussenalster, and today, peaceful paths and bike lanes are a hit with locals. Along with plenty of downtown parkland, the lakes provide Hamburg — one of Germany's greenest cities — with an elegant promenade, the Jungfernstieg, which comes complete with top-of-the-line shops.</p> <p>Just a block away, Hamburg's magnificent city hall, built in the 19th century, overlooks a lively scene. It's flanked by graceful arcades and surrounded by plenty of commerce. With its bold architecture and salty waterfront atmosphere, Hamburg feels nothing like Germany's inland cities to the south. And at first glance it's hard to believe that it was one of the most heavily bombed cities in World War II.</p> <p>With its strategic port, munitions factories, and transportation links, Hamburg was a prime target for the Allies. On July 27, 1943, they hit the city center first with explosive bombs to open roofs, break water mains, and tear up streets — making it hard for firefighters to respond. Then came a hellish onslaught of incendiary bombs: 700 bombers concentrated their attack on a relatively small area. The result was a firestorm — a tornado of raging flames reaching horrific temperatures. In three hours, the inferno killed over 40,000 people, left hundreds of thousands homeless, and reduced eight square miles of Hamburg to rubble and ashes.</p> <p>Somehow the towering spire of St. Nicholas' Church survived the bombing. It and the ruins of the church itself are now a <a href="https://www.mahnmal-st-nikolai.de/" target="_blank">memorial</a>, left to commemorate those lost and to remind future generations of the horrors of war. In its museum, you'll see scorched and melted fragments demonstrating the heat of the firestorm.</p> <p>Though Hamburg is mostly rebuilt, many WWII-era bunkers were just too expensive to tear down. So they survive, incorporated into today's cityscape. In Florapark, a green space in the Schulterblatt ("shoulderblade") district, one old bunker is now a climbing wall covered with street art. This trendy neighborhood hosts a squatter-building-turned-arts-venue and a strip with so many cafés it’s nicknamed "Latte Macchiato Boulevard." <!--A bunker in the St. Pauli neighborhood is filled with concert venues, recording studios, and dance clubs — and heavy metal rock bands here never draw complaints from their neighbors. GS cut to keep word count down after bringing in text from older article--></p> <p>Hamburg's Reeperbahn thoroughfare has long been the heart of Germany's most famous entertainment zone. Named after the rope makers who once labored here to supply Hamburg's shipping industry, it gained notoriety as a rough and sleazy sailors' quarter filled with nightclubs and brothels. But, as the city's changed, so has its entertainment district. Today this street — where the Beatles launched their careers back in 1960 — is a destination for Broadway-style theater and live music (and still many strip clubs).<!-- Considered the Broadway of Germany for its many musicals, the boulevard attracts theater-goers from all over the country. GS cut to keep w/c down, but inserted "broadway-style" in previous sentence--></p> <p>Outside the city center, another popular destination is the <a href="https://www.ballinstadt.de/en/" target="_blank">BallinStadt Emigration Museum</a>. For German Americans, Hamburg has a special meaning, because their ancestors may have sailed from this harbor. Millions of Germans and other Europeans emigrated to the US from this city between 1850 and 1930. A German counterpart to Ellis Island, the museum tells the story of emigration through Hamburg from the mid-19th century through World War II.</p><!--<p>An unforgettable capper to your Hamburg visit is its harbor tour — the best of its kind in Europe. You'll see plenty of Hamburg's bold new architecture as well as its more established beach communities. But mostly, an hour-long cruise gets you up close to Hamburg's shipping industry — all those enormous container ships, cranes, and dry docks.</p>OLD VERSION OF THE NEXT GRAF, WHICH GS CUT DOWN FOR WORD COUNT AND BECAUSE THE HARBOR TOUR IS JUST NOT THAT EXCITING--> <p>An unforgettable capper to your Hamburg visit is its harbor tour, which gets you up close to Hamburg's new architecture and still-bustling shipping industry — all those enormous container ships, cranes, and dry docks.</p> <p>Hamburg is one of the great "undiscovered" cities in Europe. With its trading heritage and a strong economy, a visit here showcases a wealthy city that rose like a phoenix from a terrible recent past.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/398/medium/0f9be527bd241da970b29509e61f755d/article-germany-hamburg-speicherstadt.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Speicherstadt, Hamburg's old red-brick warehouse district, now houses museums and chic residences. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/023/170/medium/475ae00e9065eeb3f7d11382f847479c/germany-hamburg-schanzenviertel-bunker-120717-rs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>This graffiti-covered WWII bunker is now the city's largest climbing wall. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/023/169/medium/2c5de075ddef718e8004e6f1458be3c9/germany-hamburg-landungsbruecken-120717-rc.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hamburg's historic port is still one of Europe's busiest. (photo: Robyn Stencil)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1003</guid> <title>Sevilla: A Perpetual Fiesta</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/sevilla-a-perpetual-fiesta</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-06-19</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p><a href="/europe/spain/sevilla">Sevilla</a>, the capital of Spain's southern <a href="/europe/spain/andalucia">Andalucía</a> region, is as soulful a place as I've ever been. It's a wonderful-to-be-alive kind of town, where the color of flamenco dresses, melodies from guitars, click of castanets, and heat off the streets combine into an exhilarating hum.</p> <p>The gateway to the New World in the 16th century, Sevilla boomed during Spain's golden age. The explorers Amerigo Vespucci and Ferdinand Magellan sailed from its great river harbor, discovering abundant sources of gold, silver, cocoa, and tobacco. For a time, these New World riches turned Sevilla into Spain's largest and wealthiest city.</p> <p>Today's Sevilla has its share of impressive sights, including the world's largest Gothic cathedral (with the tomb of Christopher Columbus) and a fantastic Moorish palace and garden (the Alcázar). But the top thing to experience here is the hum of street scenes and the city's unique traditions.</p> <p>Sevilla swings easily from the sacred to the secular. Holy Week (between Palm Sunday and Easter) is celebrated with intense devotional fervor here. Over the course of the week, about 100 floats depicting some aspect of the Passion of Jesus are paraded over the cobblestones at all hours by the faithful.</p> <p>As the religious holiday wraps up, the mood shifts to party mode. A week or two after Easter, much of Sevilla packs into its vast fairgrounds for the April Fair. Countless tents line the lanes, each one a private party zone of a family, club, or association. Hold on to your castanets: It's a week of all-nighters, with the focus on dancing, drinking, and socializing.</p> <p>On opening day, the cream of Sevilla's society parades around the fairground in carriages or on horseback. Men wear traditional suits with fitted pants and a short jacket, and women turn out in brightly colored flamenco dresses.</p> <p>Because the party tents are open only to members and their guests, invitations are coveted. If you're not lucky enough to have a Sevillian friend who can get you in, make your way to one of the seven public tents. The sherry is dry and plentiful, and the food is fun, bountiful, and cheap.</p> <p>Sevilla is the birthplace of another kind of party: flamenco. It's still the best place to experience this emotive dance-and-music form of snapping fingers, stamping feet, and clicking castanets. Many of the concerts in town are designed for tourists, but they are real and riveting. If you stay up to the wee hours, you might be lucky enough to catch a late-night set in a casual bar. In these cases, flamenco is a flamboyant happening, with bystanders clapping along and encouraging the dancers with whoops and shouts.</p> <p>Even food is a theatrical event in this town. The colorful tapas tradition got its start in Andalucía, and Sevilla is the region's noshing capital. Classic, old-school tapas bars are everywhere, but nowadays gourmet places, with spiffed-up decor and creative menus, are the rage. If you want a good "restaurant" experience, your best value is to find a trendy tapas bar that offers table seating and sit down to enjoy some <em>raciones </em>(shareable dinner plate-size portions). As the tapas scene goes from early to very late and it's the standard way for locals to "eat out," the adventurous traveler will find it the most memorable and fun way to "eat local."</p> <p>I always learn something new when I travel. This time in Sevilla, my tapas guide demonstrated how quality <em>jamón</em> (cured ham), sliced thin, will stick to a plate when you upend it. I'm not sure what that has to do with quality, but one thing I am sure of: When in Spain, life's too short to eat mediocre <em>jamón</em>. At least once, pay extra for the best ham on the list <em>(ibérico)</em>.</p> <p>For a different twist on tapas, look for an <em>abacería</em>, an old-time grocery store that doubles as a tapas bar. The combination isn't completely unexpected, as many tapas chefs rely on Spain's high-quality canned foods in composing their tasty tidbits. Squeeze into the back room of one of these spots, and you're squeezing back in time. Rubbing elbows with local eaters in an <em>abacería</em>, surrounded by tinned sardines and canned peaches, you'll feel like you're in on a secret…almost as if it were a kind of Spanish speakeasy.</p> <p>To walk off a meal on a balmy evening, wander into the Barrio Santa Cruz, Sevilla's once-thriving Jewish quarter. This classy maze of lanes is too tight and tangled for cars but perfect for meandering among small plazas, tile-covered patios, and whitewashed houses draped in flowers. Getting lost is easy…and recommended. Orange trees abound, and when they blossom for three weeks in spring, the aroma is heavenly.</p> <p>Rhythms change quickly in Sevilla, from the intensity of flamenco's beat to the quiet of its back alleys. It's street theater that everyone can both enjoy and be a part of.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/404/medium/d9d74e2c4eb128f289d01d37ad3ccd34/article-spain-sevilla-abaceria.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>An "abacería" — part grocery store, part tapas bar — is the ideal place to rub elbows with locals. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/004/756/medium/ca79ca68440c408c82a1c5094de2dbaa/696_Flamenco.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sitting in the front row of an intimate concert venue is the best way to experience an intense flamenco performance. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1818</guid> <title>Bucharest: Romania’s ‘Little Paris of the East’</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/bucharest-romania-little-paris-of-the-east</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-06-12</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Still haunted by the legend of a vampire count and the legacy of a communist dictator, Romania is complex — with an epic history, a multifaceted ethnic mix, and an unusually rich cultural heritage. It may not be the easiest place to travel, but for adventurous souls, it's exceptionally rewarding.</p> <p>If you go, start in Romania's capital, Bucharest. With about two million people, it's a muscular and gritty tangle of buildings. It can be hard to like at first glance, but with a thoughtful look, it reveals its charms. Between the dreary apartment blocks hides an impressive architectural heritage.</p> <p>The foundation of this jumble dates from the late 19th century, just after Romania became a unified country. After a building spree, it was called "Little Paris of the East." Later it was brutally disfigured by the communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, who left behind a starkly Socialist-style residential zone and the city's main landmark — the Palace of the Parliament. In recent years, its citizens have rejuvenated the once-derelict Old Town — transforming it into one of the liveliest nightlife zones in eastern Europe. Taken together, Bucharest is a fascinating place to grapple with for a day or two.</p> <p>For a glimpse at Bucharest's genteel past, go for a stroll along Victory Avenue (Calea Victoriei) — with grand belle époque architecture that has recently been scrubbed of its communist-era grime. Pause by the horseback statue of King Carol I, across the street from the Royal Palace. Under King Carol, Bucharest blossomed. He imported French architects to give Bucharest the romantic allure visitors still enjoy along this avenue.</p> <p>Life changed in the 20th century. From communist times through the early 2000s, Bucharest's Old Town was deserted, dilapidated, and dangerous. But now it's being systematically rejuvenated. Grand, glittering buildings (including several bank headquarters) have been scrubbed and polished. Once-abandoned shopping galleries are newly inviting. Historical monuments — like the delightful <a href="https://www.hanulluimanuc.ro/en/" target="_blank">Hanul lui Manuc</a>, an early-19th-century inn — have been painstakingly restored. And an al fresco dining and drinking scene enlivens the traffic-free streets. The lanes of the Old Town are a revelation after dark (especially on weekends), when the entire neighborhood feels like one big, sprawling cocktail party.</p> <p>Thriving as it is today, Bucharest's Old Town was lucky to survive the communist period. In the early 1980s, after an "inspiring" visit to North Korea, Ceaușescu ripped out 80 percent of the historical center — 30,000 houses, schools, and churches — to create the Civic Center district, with wide boulevards, stone-faced apartment blocks, gurgling fountains, and a Pyongyang aesthetic. (Urban planners managed to save a few churches by secretly relocating them inside city blocks, where you can still find them today.) This area, just across the neglected little Dâmbovița River from the Old Town, is worth a stroll to better understand the scale of Ceaușescu's ambition...and his ego.</p> <p>In the core of the Civic Center, rows of fountains lead from Unity Square to the massive Palace of the Parliament — the largest building in Europe (nearly four million square feet, with more than a thousand rooms). Ceaușescu built this monstrosity as a symbol of his power. Today it houses the Romanian Parliament, three skippable museums, and an international conference center — and is still about 70 percent vacant space.</p> <p>Ceaușescu, throwing resources at his pet project like a crazed pharaoh, literally starved his people to build his dream. It finally opened in 1994 — five years after Ceaușescu was executed in a bloody revolt. The Romanian people, whose food had been rationed for years to help pay for the palace, were both wonderstruck and repulsed by this huge and opulent edifice.</p> <p>Traveling through countries that spent 45 years in what locals here call "the Soviet Club," it’s fascinating to see how a dogma that preached "equality for all" bred megalomaniacs who pursued the "cult of personality." They built gigantic monuments that took bread out of the mouths of the workers who their ideology was supposed to serve.</p> <p>While Bucharest has plenty of fine museums, on a short visit I find it more interesting to simply explore Old Town and tour the parliament. But to dig deeper into the story of Romania, visit the <a href="http://www.mnir.ro/" target="_blank">National Museum of Romanian History</a> (right in the Old Town) and the <a href="http://muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/en/" target="_blank">National Museum of the Romanian Peasant</a> (folk-life artifacts near Victory Square).</p> <p>Today, Ceaușescu feels like ancient history, and Romania is proud to be part of the European Union. Joining local families on a Saturday morning in a Bucharest park, you can't help but feel optimistic. While Romania's challenges are significant, it's clear the country is moving in the right direction. Love it or hate it (or both at once), Romania presents a powerful and memorable travel experience.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/021/693/medium/8457182bc081b43e0e38383a1966b9b5/romania-bucharest-nightlife-030917-ch.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bucharest's Old Town after dark has a vibrant party vibe. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/021/694/medium/760e8fb8bb76d7ed022ccb7726634602/romania-bucharest-parliament-030917-ch.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bucharest's Palace of the Parliament — the largest building in Europe — is a monument to one dictator's megalomania. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1216</guid> <title>Aarhus: Denmark’s Biggest Little Town</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/aarhus-denmarks-second-city</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-06-05</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city, calls itself the "World's Smallest Big City." I'd argue it's more like the world's biggest little town: easy to handle and easy to like. A pleasant three-hour train ride from Copenhagen, <a href="/europe/denmark/aarhus">Aarhus</a> is well worth a stop.</p> <p>Aarhus is the lively cultural hub of Jutland, the part of Denmark that juts up from Germany — a land of windswept sandy beaches, inviting lakes, and fortified old towns. It's also one of the oldest cities in Scandinavia. When its Viking founders settled here in the eighth century, they were attracted to its strategic location, where a river hits the sea.</p> <p>Today, Aarhus bustles with a buzzing port, an important university, a bursting-with-life pedestrian boulevard, and an adorable old quarter filled with people living well. This "second city" enjoys a friendly competition with <a href="/europe/denmark/copenhagen">Copenhagen</a>, whose sophisticates sniff that there's no need for intercity rail connections in Denmark because there's only one city — theirs. But modern Aarhus is elbowing its way into the itineraries of tourists with some notable attractions and a thriving street scene.</p> <p>The Aarhus art museum — called <a href="https://www.aros.dk/en/" target="_blank">ARoS</a> — is a must-see sight, thanks to a statement contemporary building and a curatorial staff who have a knack for making cutting-edge art accessible and fun. One of the biggest draws is a work by Olafur Eliasson, <em>Your Rainbow Panorama</em> — a 360-degree walkway that perches on the rooftop like a rainbow-colored halo. My favorite piece in the collection is one very big <em>Boy</em> by the Australian artist Ron Mueck. This superrealistic crouching figure, nearly 16 feet tall, always stops me in my tracks.</p> <p>If modern art isn't your thing, check out Aarhus's more traditional fare, including a fine open-air museum known as <a href="https://www.dengamleby.dk/" target="_blank">Den Gamle By</a> (The Old Town). With 80 historic buildings carefully moved here from throughout Denmark, it gives visitors the best possible look at Danish urban life in decades past. Don't be afraid to open doors or poke into seemingly abandoned courtyards — you'll likely find a chatty docent inside, dressed in period attire eager to describe the artifacts, answer questions, or demonstrate a craft such as blacksmithing or beekeeping.</p> <p>You can travel even farther back in time at the town's <a href="https://www.vikingemuseet.dk/english/opening-hours/" target="_blank">Viking Museum</a>. In 1960, when a new bank was being built in downtown Aarhus, local archaeologists had a chance to excavate the site. Working their way down through the layers of time, they uncovered a section of the long-ago Viking town, including the remains of houses, wells, streets, tools, and pottery. Most curiously, they discovered the headless skeleton of a man — possibly Aarhus's oldest murder victim. The artifacts are now on display in a basement museum just off Cathedral Square.</p> <p>Aarhus has another famous corpse — the Grauballe Man, the world's best-preserved "bog man." Archaeologists think he was a sacrificial victim, killed more than 2,000 years ago and tossed into a peaty swamp. Because of the oxygen-free, acidic environment, he looks like a fellow half his age. He's displayed on the outskirts of town at the <a href="https://www.moesgaardmuseum.dk/en/" target="_blank">Moesgård Museum</a>, which is dedicated to prehistory and ethnography.</p> <p>The city also has a fascinating exhibit about life under Nazi rule during World War II. Aarhus's police station, used by the Nazi occupiers for their Gestapo headquarters from 1940 until 1945, now hosts <a href="https://www.besaettelsesmuseet.dk/the-occupation-museum/the-occupation-museum/" target="_blank">Occupation Museum</a>, telling the story of the Danish resistance. <span data-contrast="auto"><span data-ccp-parastyle="Normal (Web)">Each visitor receives an ID card and follows that person's life through the war as they grapple with </span></span><span data-contrast="auto"><span data-ccp-parastyle="Normal (Web)">sticky situations and moral dilemmas</span></span><span data-contrast="auto"><span data-ccp-parastyle="Normal (Web)">.</span></span></p> <p>But there's more to Aarhus than museums. As you wander the streets, the city just entertains. The higgledy-piggledy Latin Quarter, encompassing six or eight square blocks, is the oldest quarter, built in the late 14th century after the city knocked down the old Viking fortifications. This area is great for shopping, cafés, and strolling. Its streets have historical names like Klostergade (Convent Street), Volden (The Rampart), and Badstuegade (Bath Street) — from the time when the riffraff visited public bathhouses for their annual "Christmas bath" (finer folk bathed monthly).</p> <p>Another fun people zone stretches alongside the town's canal (Aboulevarden). In the 1930s, Aarhus covered over its river to make a new road, but in the 1980s, locals decided to remove the road. They artfully canalized the river, creating a trendy avenue that's now the town's place to see and be seen. Lined with modern eateries, the street stays lively even after the short Danish summer fades away.</p> <p>With its vibrant mix of youthful energy and respect for the past, Aarhus is a dynamic place. As the locals like to say, "Aarhus" is Danish for "progress."</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/391/medium/c94f755002ccc784dccbd75276eb758b/article-denmark-aarhus-aros-rainbow-panorama.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The "Your Rainbow Panorama" walkway atop Aarhus's art museum is experiential art at its best. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/036/561/medium/af400abc62c807fbbd65b55425422cb1/article-denmark-aarhus-canal-neighborhood-visitors.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The pedestrianized canal zone in Aarhus is an always-lively place to get a bite to eat. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">2124</guid> <title>Glasgow Surprises with Art, Design, and Culture</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/glasgow-scotlands-second-city</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-05-29</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p><a href="/europe/scotland/glasgow">Glasgow</a>, astride the River Clyde, is a surprising city — and Scotland's most underrated destination. Just an hour from Edinburgh (making it an easy day trip), Glasgow offers an energetic dining and nightlife scene, fanciful architecture, and top-notch museums — most of which are free. Today, this once-run-down city feels revitalized, and Glaswegians (sounds like "Norwegians") are eager to give visitors a warm welcome.</p> <p>Locals here are some of the chattiest people in <a href="/europe/scotland">Scotland</a> — and have the most entertaining (and impenetrable) accent. One once told me he was "British by passport, and Scottish by the grace of God." Their unpretentious friendliness makes connecting with people here a cinch. You don't find an upper-crust history or people putting on airs. In Edinburgh, people identify with the quality of the school they attended; in Glasgow, it's their soccer team allegiance.</p> <p>In its 19th-century heyday, Glasgow was one of Europe's biggest cities and the second-largest in Britain, right behind London. It was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, and is said to have produced a quarter of the world's oceangoing ships. After World War II, the city was hit with tough times, giving it a gritty image. But modern Glasgow has rejuvenated itself with a thriving cultural scene and its trademark knack for design and artsy edge.</p> <p>Glasgow tells its story throughout its vibrant streets and squares. At the heart of the city is George Square, decorated with a "Who's Who" of statues depicting great Scots, from top literary figures Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns, to James Watt, who perfected the steam engine that helped power Europe into the Industrial Age. On the same square, in front of the City Chambers, stands a monument to Glaswegians killed in the World Wars.</p> <p>Architecture buffs flock here to appreciate the unique Glaswegian flair evident across the city's Victorian facades, early 20th-century touches, and bold and glassy new construction. Most beloved are the works by Glasgow-born architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Mackintosh brought an exuberant Art Nouveau influence to this otherwise practical, working-class city with his stimulating blend of organic shapes and Japanese-inspired design.</p> <p>Glasgow offers several opportunities to experience Mackintosh's work in situ. The <a href="https://www.mackintoshatthewillow.com/" target="_blank">Mackintosh at the Willow</a> tearooms, dating back to 1903, are an Art Nouveau masterpiece where you can have a meal or tea, or pay to browse exhibits about the history of this place. During the industrial boom of the late 19th century, Victorian morals prevailed and the Scottish temperance movement was in full force. Tearooms like the Willow were designed to be an appealing alternative to pubs — places where women could visit unescorted, without risking an undesirable reputation.</p> <p>Across town, the Mackintosh exhibit at the <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum" target="_blank">Kelvingrove Art Gallery</a> hosts a collection of the architect's works. Housed in a grand, 100-year-old, Spanish Baroque-style building, the Kelvingrove is Glasgow's best museum — like a Scottish Smithsonian, with everything from natural history exhibits to fine artwork by the great masters.</p> <p>Glasgow's artsy vibe extends beyond its museums, permeating city streets with eclectic mural art. City officials have cleverly co-opted street artists by sanctioning huge, fun, and edgy murals around town to prevent tagging. This creative problem-solving is typical of Glaswegians — taking counterculture energy and turning it into something positive. There's even a city map available that traces the city's best mural art.</p> <p>To feel the pulse of the city, head to busy Buchanan Street, nicknamed the "Golden Zed" (Brit-speak for "Z"), for the way it zigzags through town. And as home to the top shops in town, it's also dubbed the "Style Mile." This is the place to people-watch, gaze up at the elegant architecture above the storefronts, and enjoy the talented buskers that bring the boulevard to life.</p> <p>Live music is a major part of Glasgow's personality, and one of the best places to experience this is in the city's West End. On a recent trip I bellied up to the bar at the Ben Nevis Pub, expected to hear traditional Scottish music. But as the session got going, I was surprised to learn that the entire UK was represented in the band, with musicians from Northern Ireland, Wales, England, and Scotland. My Glaswegian friend pointed out that this is the fun reality of Glasgow, where tribes come together to make music. And that (as a microcosm of our world in general) is a beautiful thing.</p> <p>The more time you spend in Glasgow, the more you'll appreciate its edgy, artsy vibe and quirky, laid-back personality. The city's earthy charm and the Glaswegians' love of life make it one of my favorite stops in Britain.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/390/medium/21fcadd4a25d34727c9208a3ccaf23a7/article-scotland-glasgow-mural.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Glasgow's striking murals enliven its streetscape. (photo: Jessica Shaw)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/025/304/medium/f5a002717eb020e54b5edd4c8af7eaae/scotland-glasgow-kelvingrove-museum-022819-gs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The Kelvingrove Art Gallery houses everything from Mackintosh's Art Nouveau designs, to stuffed elephants and a natural history exhibit, to medieval armory. (photo: Gretchen Strauch)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/025/305/medium/1c5bba4fce0d6f4a8146cfd1889349e8/scotland-glasgow-buchanan-street-022819-ch.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Buchanan Street is the heart of modern, commercial Glasgow — and it's a fascinating place to people-watch. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">541</guid> <title>Paris Shines in Summer</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/paris-when-it-sizzles</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-05-22</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Few cities can even come close to Paris when it comes to cultural, artistic, and historic heritage. And few residents are as confident as Parisians in their expertise in good living. While that uniquely French <em>joie de vivre</em> can be enjoyed throughout the year, Paris kicks it into high gear in summer.</p> <p>An old travel mantra tells you to avoid <a href="/europe/france/paris">Paris</a> in summer, when its citizens traditionally go on vacation. Sure, it's hard to schedule an appointment with a dentist or accountant…but when you're on vacation, who cares? It's the tourists' Paris that the tourist is looking for — and the Paris I'm after is in full swing in July and August.</p> <p>For the benefit of Parisians who do stay in town — and the countless tourists who visit through the summer — France's ministry of culture sponsors plenty of action, including an entertaining <a href="https://www.parislete.fr/" target="_blank">Summer Festival</a> for three weeks in July. Its diverse programs — dance, theater, concerts, acrobatics, and installations — take place all around the city, and many are outdoors and free.</p> <p>During the summer, the Seine River — where the busy arterials that once lined it banks have been replaced with a green and inviting riverside park — is filled with life. Landscaped promenades, tailor-made for strolling and biking, rather than traffic jams, now line the river banks. I love spending a balmy summer evening just downstream from Notre-Dame, where there's an engaging people zone with an open-air art gallery, music, and salsa dancing.</p> <p>Parisians have a habit of spilling onto the river's bridges and embankments to enjoy the early evening hours. It's the perfect time to share a simple picnic with friends. Join in — for the cost of groceries and a bottle of wine, you can enjoy a gourmet spread with ambience that no restaurant can touch.</p> <p>If you'd rather toss a Frisbee than ponder the river's reflections, head to the one-mile stretch of the Right Bank (just north of Ile de la Cité) where the city government trucks in potted palm trees, hammocks, and lounge chairs to create colorful urban "<a href="http://parisjetaime.com/eng/event/paris-plages-e013" target="_blank">beaches</a>" in July and August. With climbing walls, "beach" cafés, stylish swimsuits on parade, volleyball courts, and trampolines, it's an ideal place to see Paris at play — and to play along with Paris.</p> <p>July is also enlivened by two big events — first on the 14th, the country's national holiday, when <a href="/watch-read-listen/read/articles/bastille-day-france" target="_blank">Bastille Day</a> is celebrated in towns big and small all over France. And Paris goes all out: There's a big parade down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, concerts galore, and fireworks lighting up the sky over the Eiffel Tower. Later in July, the <a href="https://www.letour.fr/en/overall-route" target="_blank">Tour de France</a> culminates in the center of Paris, with cyclists crossing the finish line, with much fanfare, on the Champs-Elysées.</p> <p>Summer also means sightseeing after dark: Some sights and museums — such as the <a href="https://www.toureiffel.paris/en" target="_blank">Eiffel Tower</a> — keep longer hours, and others host special summer-only events. In nearby Versailles, summer Saturday nights offer a cool array of gushing fountains, lighted displays, and fireworks. King Louis XIV had his engineers literally reroute a river to fuel his fountains and feed his plants. Even by today's standards, the fountains are impressive.</p> <p>Paris' many lovely parks work overtime in summer as playgrounds for all ages. The sprawling Esplanade des Invalides is just right for afternoon lawn bowling <em>(boules)</em>. Puppet shows, pony rides, rental toy sailboats, and a merry-go-round enliven the Luxembourg Garden. A temporary amusement park pops up at the Tuileries Garden, complete with a huge Ferris wheel. An open-air cinema at <a href="https://parisjetaime.com/eng/event/open-air-cinema-e017" target="_blank">Parc de la Villette</a> screens films in their original language with French subtitles on many summer nights (no charge if you sit on your own blanket).</p> <p>While the big formal music venues such as the opera go on vacation in summer, the city keeps making music. The <a href="https://festivalsduparcfloral.paris/programmation/paris-jazz-festival/" target="_blank">Paris Jazz Festival</a> swings its hip beats among the spacious lawns and gardens of Parc Floral in July and August (and in early September the <a href="https://jazzalavillette.com/en/" target="_blank">Jazz at La Villette </a>enlivens Parc de la Villette). The city's many old churches do double-duty as venues for chamber-music concerts.</p> <p>I like seeing the City of Light after dark, lacing together the iconic floodlight sights on a self-guided taxi tour, or on a boat cruise — or even by bike. While Paris is enthusiastically bike-friendly, for tourists, the easiest option is to join a bike tour (try <a href="https://www.fattiretours.com/paris/" target="_blank">Fat Tire Bikes</a>). Seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle in the night sky is an unforgettable way to cap any Parisian day.</p> <p>Sure, summer in Paris requires patience and flexibility. It's peak tourist season, and it's hot. City buses are like rolling greenhouses. If you neglect to make advance reservations, you'll swelter in <a href="/watch-read-listen/read/articles/eiffel-tower-visiting-tips">lines at the Eiffel Tower</a> or Louvre. But for the thoughtful and well-prepared traveler, summer can be a fine time to enjoy such a great city so in love with life and expert at enjoying it.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/384/medium/c78a01f0362e545989222651f01cd1be/article-france-paris-seine-promenade.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Paris' riverside promenade is fine for strolling, biking, or just soaking up the summertime ambience. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/001/878/medium/eb5aa076bbb27bc8f9c457bafe46fc64/683_ParisParkBench.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Parisians make good use of their handsome parks in the summer months. (photo: Carol Ries)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1055</guid> <title>York: A Time Travel Experience into Old England</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/york-old-england</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-05-01</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>We may have New York, but England has old York, one of the country's top tourist destinations outside of London. The town offers a captivating tour of historic sights mixed with an easygoing pedestrian ambience — all lassoed within its formidable medieval wall.</p> <p><a href="/europe/england/york">York</a> has a rich, long history, serving as a Roman provincial capital in AD 71, capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria after the fall of Rome, and as a trading center called Jorvik from the 9th through the 11th century. Like counting the rings in a tree trunk, you can count the ages of York by the different bricks in the city wall: Roman on the bottom, then Danish, Norman, and the "new" addition — from the 14th century.</p> <p>Later, Henry VIII used the city's fine cathedral as the northern headquarters of his Anglican Church. The huge <a href="https://yorkminster.org/visit/" target="_blank">York Minster</a> is still a power center of the Church, and easily the town's top sight — but much more lies beyond. The minster's stately Gothic towers serve as a navigational landmark as you explore the town — or you can follow the strategically placed signposts, which helpfully point out all places of interest to tourists.</p> <p>While only traces are left of most Viking settlements, "Jorvik" was an archaeologist's bonanza, the best-preserved Viking city ever excavated. When the archaeologists were finished, the dig site was converted into the <a href="https://www.jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk/" target="_blank">Jorvik Viking Centre</a>. Visitors ride a "Pirates of the Caribbean"-type people-mover through a re-created Viking street, complete with jabbering animatronic characters. The ride then rolls through the actual excavation site — the time-crushed remains of a once-bustling town. While innovative in 1984, Jorvik seems gimmicky today.</p> <p>For straightforward Viking artifacts, beautifully explained and set in historical context with no crowds, tour the nearby <a href="https://www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">Yorkshire Museum</a>. Built into the ruins of what was once northern England's wealthiest abbey, the museum includes exhibits that tell the story of life here for the monks, how that all ended, and much more. The ancient Roman collection includes slice-of-life exhibits from cult figurines to the skull of a man killed by a sword blow to the head — making it graphically clear that the struggle between Romans and barbarians was a violent one. York soldiered on, amassing a large collection of weaponry throughout the ages. One of the museum's highlights is an eighth-century Anglo-Saxon brass helmet.</p> <p>Nearby, the <a href="https://www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">York Castle Museum</a> is an old-school, sedate Victorian home show. English memorabilia from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries are cleverly displayed in a huge collection of craft shops, old stores, and bygone living rooms.</p> <p>As towns were being modernized in the 1930s, the museum's founder, Dr. Kirk, recognized the need to preserve elements of English heritage before they disappeared entirely. He collected entire shops and reassembled them here. On Kirkgate, the "street" that's the museum's most popular section, you can wander through life-size recreations of a Lincolnshire butcher's shop, bakery, coppersmith, toy store, and barbershop.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 15px;">The shops are stocked with the actual merchandise of the day. In the confectionery, I once eavesdropped on English grannies giggling and reminiscing their way through the mouthwatering world of "spice pigs," "togo bullets," "humbugs," and "conversation lozenges."</span></p> <p>Just outside the city walls, near the train station, is the <a href="https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Railway Museum</a>, showing two centuries of British railroad history. In the Industrial Age, York was the railway hub of northern England — and when it was built, York's station was the world's largest. The museum hosts an array of beautifully preserved historic trains fanning out from a grand roundhouse. A steam engine is sliced open, showing cylinders, driving wheels, and a smoke box in action. Exhibits trace the evolution of steam-powered transportation from very early trains like an 1830 stagecoach on rails to the aerodynamic Mallard — famous as the first train to travel at two miles per minute, a marvel back in 1938.</p> <p>The focal point of York's half-timbered town center is the medieval butchers' street called The Shambles, with its rusty old hooks hiding under the eaves (the street's name is derived from "shammell" — a butcher's cutting block). Six hundred years ago, bloody hunks of meat hung here, dripping into the gutter that still marks the middle of the lane. This slaughterhouse of commercial activity gave our language a new word. And what was once a "shambles" is now a busy Tudor lane of tourist shops.</p> <p>To get away from the bustle, linger at one of York's fine upscale bistros or elegant teahouses. Or try the two-mile walk along the Ouse River and over the handsome Millennium Bridge. If you follow the riverside tow path back into town, with your sights set on the mighty Minster towers, you may find yourself contemplating how a better understanding the story of this intriguing city makes it even more rewarding to visit.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/032/765/medium/e3db2ea50bdf781d6821f98428a31b87/article-england-york-shambles.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>York's atmospheric old butchers' quarter, The Shambles, hosts tipsy medieval buildings. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/032/144/medium/3bdab7eb8234bbdefd4cedeb75226a1f/article-england-york-castle-museum-sweet-shop.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The "Kirkgate" section of York's Castle Museum includes an old-fashioned sweet shop (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1215</guid> <title>A Crossroads of Civilizations in Istanbul</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/the-many-layers-of-istanbul</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-04-24</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Some of my most vivid memories from my first visit to <a href="/europe/turkey/istanbul">Istanbul</a> in the 1970s are of the colorful locals. Scruffy kids sold cherry juice, and old men would grab huge cucumbers from wheeled carts, then peel, quarter, and salt them, and sell them for pennies. While the Old World magic in many parts of the city has been plowed under by modern affluence, today's Istanbul is every bit as rich and rewarding as it was back then.</p> <p>For thousands of years, Istanbul has marked the point where East meets West — a true crossroads of civilizations. Once known as Byzantium, it was named Constantinople in honor of Constantine, the Roman emperor who, around AD 330, as ancient Rome was falling, moved the capital to the less chaotic east. In 476, Rome and the Western Empire fell to invading barbarians. The city, so layered with rich history, was officially named Istanbul in 1930 with the founding of the modern Turkish Republic.</p> <p>Plenty of traces of the Roman capital remain. In the heart of the Old Town is the Hippodrome, a racetrack like Rome's Circus Maximus. Completed in the fourth century, this square was Constantinople's primary venue for chariot races. Its centerpiece, a 3,500-year-old Egyptian obelisk, was originally carved to honor a pharaoh. What you see today is only the upper third of the original massive stone tower.</p> <p>The best look at ancient Constantinople is <a href="https://ayasofyacamii.gov.tr/en" target="_blank">Hagia Sophia</a>. Built as a church in the sixth century, it marked the pinnacle of the Byzantine glory days, boasting the biggest dome anywhere until Florence's cathedral was finished 900 years later. After the Byzantine Empire collapsed in the 15th century, the Ottomans turned it into a mosque, adding minarets and plastering over Christian mosaics. The prayer niche was shifted a bit off-center so it would point toward Mecca, rather than Jerusalem. (Long technically classified a museum, it was redesignated a mosque in 2020 and still welcomes non-Muslim visitors.)</p> <p>Facing the Hagia Sophia is the Blue Mosque. The area in between is the historic center of Istanbul, with blossoming trees, refreshing fountains, and a mix of strolling tourists and locals. On my last visit, I had to just sit on a bench and marvel at the elegance of the scene.</p> <p>Architecturally, the <a href="https://sultanahmetcami.org/k/15/english/" target="_blank">Blue Mosque</a>, with its six minarets, rivaled the great mosque in Mecca — the holiest in all Islam. More than 20,000 ceramic tiles with exquisite floral and geometric motifs fill the 17th-century interior. As is the custom in mosques, you park your shoes at the door and women cover their heads. If you don't have a scarf, loaners are available at the door.</p> <p>Services are segregated by gender: The main hall is reserved for men, while the women's section is in back. While some may view this as demeaning, Muslims see it as a practical matter: Women would rather have the option of performing the physical act of praying in private. One time, I visited in the evening, when once again it was the neighborhood mosque in action — not a tourist in sight. (A window was open for ventilation. I peeked through to find it was the ladies' prayer zone. I drew back, suddenly feeling a twinge of peeping-Tom guilt.)</p> <p>To get a full appreciation for today's Istanbul, you must leave the sightseeing core and explore the lively, more cosmopolitan neighborhoods. Istanbul's contemporary heart is Taksim Square, circled by endless traffic and highlighted by a statue commemorating the father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The square marks the start of bustling İstiklal Street, lined with shops and eateries.</p> <p>İstiklal offers an enticing parade of taste treats. Carts and hole-in-the-wall restaurants sell traditional foods like <em>simit</em> (sesame seed bread rings), <em>gözleme</em> (flatbread folded over cheese, potatoes, and other fillings), and <em>döner kebab</em> (meat grilled on a revolving spit and served in flatbread). Windows display towers of honey-soaked baklava and Turkish delight, a sweet chewy treat. At stalls, you can sample a local favorite: <em>kokoreç</em> (sheep intestines, grilled and served with tomatoes, green peppers, and fresh herbs).</p> <p>Strolling this mostly pedestrian boulevard from one thriving end to the other is a joyful ritual for me every time I'm in town. And it changes with each visit. As <a href="/europe/turkey">Turkey</a> becomes more affluent and Western, the action here becomes more and more vibrant. This is today's Turkey: a melting pot of 20 or so ethnic groups (Turk, Kurd, Armenian, Jew, Greek, and many more) and styles from the very traditional to the very latest. The city is a huge draw for visitors — still a crossroads of humanity. And according to the Turkish proverb, every guest is a gift from God.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/160/medium/895f35cc8d18452024edf94d2b806946/article-turkey-istanbul-hagia-sophia-interior.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Built by the Byzantine emperor in the early 500s on the grandest scale possible, the Hagia Sophia was later converted from a church into a mosque by the conquering Ottomans. (photo: Carrie Shepherd)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/015/293/medium/40dfbe56a0dee748e87178bdd373fca1/2014-7-10_IstanbulIstiklalStreet.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>İstiklal Street, one of the city's main pedestrian thoroughfares, boasts a nostalgic tram along its nearly one-mile stretch. (photo: Dominic Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/015/292/medium/bce9e631d85ce6012a3c1c0fe02763ab/2014-7-10_IstanbulHagiaSophia.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>At the heart of Istanbul's Old Town the Hagia Sophia stands near the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, several museums, and pleasant Sultan Ahmet Park. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">124</guid> <title>Feeling Barcelona’s Creative Pulse</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/barcelona-a-visual-feast</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-04-17</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>If you're in the mood to surrender to a city's charms, let it be in <a href="/europe/spain/barcelona">Barcelona</a>. Life bubbles in its narrow old town alleys, grand boulevards, and elegant modern district. While Barcelona has an illustrious past — from Roman colony to 14th-century maritime power — it's enjoyable to throw out the history books and just drift through the city.</p> <p>A stroll down Barcelona's main pedestrian drag, the Ramblas, is a good place to start. This grand boulevard takes you from rich (the elegant main square, Plaça de Catalunya) to rough (the port) in a one-mile walk past plenty of historic pieces of this great city.</p> <p>The street, whose name comes from the Arabic for "stream," is an endless current of people and action. For generations, this boulevard was beloved by locals and tourists alike for its parade of local charm and thriving market. But be warned that with the advent of short-term rentals, locals have been driven out of the neighborhood by higher rents as landlords choose to make more money housing tourists. And with that exodus, so goes the local charm. Today the Ramblas is a tourist trap made even more disappointing by the overabundance of pickpockets also targeting the tourists. It's still worth a look, but if you have fond memories from a previous visit, you leave thinking: Ramblas…R.I.P.</p> <p>East of the Ramblas is Barcelona's Gothic quarter, the Barri Gòtic, which surrounds the colossal <a href="https://catedralbcn.org/en/" target="_blank">Barcelona Cathedral</a>. The narrow streets that weave around the cathedral are a tangled but inviting grab bag of undiscovered Art Nouveau storefronts, neighborhood flea markets, musty junk shops, classy antique shops, and musicians strumming the folk songs of Catalunya (the independent-minded region of northeast Spain, of which Barcelona is the capital). If you visit, be sure to look up at the wrought-iron balconies whose bars barely contain their domestic jungles.</p> <p>A creative spirit is part of the ebb and flow of daily life in Barcelona. The designs of Modern artist Joan Miró, who lived in the Barri Gòtic, show up all over the city, from murals to mobiles to the La Caixa bank logo. If you enjoy his childlike style, ride the funicular up to Parc de Montjuïc, and peek into the <a href="https://www.fmirobcn.org/en/" target="_blank">Fundació Joan Miró</a>, a showcase for his art.</p> <p>The Barri Gòtic was also home to a teenage Pablo Picasso. It was in Barcelona, in the 1890s, that Picasso grabbed hold of the artistic vision that rocketed him to Paris and fame. The <a href="https://museupicassobcn.cat/en/" target="_blank">Picasso Museum</a>, in the Ribera district, offers the best collection of the artist's work in Spain. Seeing Picasso's youthful, realistic art, you can better appreciate the genius of his later, more abstract art.</p> <p>For a refreshing break from the dense old city, head north to the more modern Eixample neighborhood, with its wide sidewalks, graceful shade trees, chic shops, and Art Nouveau frills. Barcelona was busting out of its medieval walls by the 1850s, so a new town — called the Eixample ("expansion") — was laid out in a grid pattern.</p> <p>The district's original vision was egalitarian. But over time the Eixample became a showcase for wealthy residents and their Catalan architects, who turned the flourishing Art Nouveau style into Modernisme, their own brand of decorative design. Buildings bloom with characteristic colorful, leafy, and flowing shapes in doorways, entrances, facades, and ceilings.</p> <p>Barcelona's most famous Modernista artist, Antoni Gaudí, created architectural fantasies that are a quirky quilt of galloping gables and organic curves. A quintessential example of Modernisme, <a href="https://www.lapedrera.com/en" target="_blank">La Pedrera</a> (a.k.a. Casa Milà) has walls of wavy stone and a fanciful, undulating rooftop, where 30 chimneys play volleyball with the clouds. At <a href="https://www.casabatllo.es/en/" target="_blank">Casa Batlló</a>, a green-blue ceramic-speckled facade, tibia-esque pillars, and shell-like balconies are inspired by nature, while the humpback roofline suggests a cresting dragon's back.</p> <p>But Gaudí's best-known and most exciting work is the still-unfinished <a href="https://sagradafamilia.org/en/" target="_blank">Sagrada Família</a>, with its melting-ice-cream-cone spires and towers. The Nativity Facade, the only part of the church essentially completed in Gaudí's lifetime, shows the architect's original vision. Mixing Christian symbolism, images from nature, and the organic flair of Modernisme, it's a fine example of his unmistakable style.</p> <p>Take an elevator up one of the towers for a gargoyle's-eye perspective of this inspiring church. Local craftsmen often finish up their careers by putting in a couple of years working on the project. Over a lifetime of visits, I've enjoyed watching its progress, and I can't wait to see it completed — perhaps within this decade. Your admission helps pay for the ongoing construction (buy your timed-entry ticket well in advance).</p> <p>Gaudí fans also enjoy the artist's fun-loving genius in the colorful, freewheeling <a href="https://www.parkguell.es/en/portada" target="_blank">Park Güell</a>, a 30-acre hilltop garden once intended to be a 60-residence housing project. Carpeted with fanciful mosaics and dotted with sculptures (including a giant tiled lizard), this park is a great place to cap the day.</p> <p>Whether in its art, characteristic back lanes, architecture, or proud Catalan culture, Barcelona offers visitors an always colorful, always lively experience.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/142/medium/255858955aaf1f1e87dc286e8e0b9726/article-spain-barcelona-ramblas-miro-mural.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Public art, such as Miró's mosaic on the Ramblas, fits seamlessly into Barcelona's street life. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/038/458/medium/765e7ffba194f730159f9022b8a977ab/article-spain-barcelona-park-guell-overview.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Beyond its often-crowded walkways, Gaudí's Park Güell offers fanciful views at every turn. (photo: Addie Mannan)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">3536</guid> <title>Where Jane Reigns: England Celebrates Jane Austen in 2025</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/england-jane-austen-2025</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-04-11</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Jane Austen turns 250 this year, and to mark this milestone England is rolling out the Regency red carpet for throngs of ardent Austen fans. If your 2025 travel plans include Britain — Bath, in particular — you might encounter larger-than-usual crowds at Austen hotspots, with some visitors sure to be sporting high-waisted gowns, petticoats, and long white gloves.</p> <p>The author of widely adored novels (including <em>Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility,</em> and <em>Emma) </em>— Austen is one of England's most famous writers. She played an outsize role in the evolution of England's social norms by featuring strong, independent heroines whose views often mirrored her own. Though set in Regency-era England, her books' brilliant blend of realism, romance, and memorable characters still resonate with readers today. <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> alone has inspired more than 10 film and TV adaptations, not to mention countless reinterpretations, from <em>Bridget Jones's Diary </em>to<em> Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em>.</p> <p>Austen's birthday is December 16, but England is celebrating with special events and programs throughout 2025. The biggest happenings are centered in Bath and across Hampshire — if you're heading to any of the following Austen-related places, it's good to be aware and plan accordingly.</p> <p><a href="/europe/england/bath" target="_blank">Bath</a> is the mecca for Austen devotees, with various "Austen Points" scattered across town and multiple initiatives dedicated to the city's most famous former resident. (Austen lived in Bath for five tumultuous-yet-foundational years around 1800 and set two of her novels there.) A big hit with Austen fans in Bath is the <a href="https://janeausten.co.uk/" target="_blank">Jane Austen Center,</a> which contains no historical artifacts but offers visitors the chance to try on period costumes, play parlor games the author enjoyed, and even go all-out by taking "<a href="https://janeausten.co.uk/pages/the-regency-tea-rooms" target="_blank">Mr. Darcy's Afternoon Tea.</a>"</p> <p>The center also organizes Bath's annual <a href="https://janeausten.co.uk/pages/festival-home-page" target="_blank">Jane Austen Festival</a>, which unfolds genteelly every fall with costumed promenades and parties. Beyond its primary dates (September 12–21 this year), the festival is celebrating Austen 250 with a pair of book-themed balls — complete with traditional dance training — on <a href="https://visitbath.co.uk/whats-on/jane-austen-festival-persuasion-nautical-themed-summer-ball-at-the-guildhall-p3661063" target="_blank">May 31</a> and <a href="https://visitbath.co.uk/whats-on/jane-austen-festival-sanditon-seaside-themed-summer-ball-at-the-guildhall-p3661073" target="_blank">June 28</a>, and an opulent "<a href="https://janeausten.co.uk/pages/festival-event-yuletide-birthday-ball" target="_blank">Yuletide Birthday Ball</a>" in December. Whether you fancy a dance or are merely going to be in Bath around those times, anticipate heavy crowds (and long queues at your favorite local Regency-era tailor).</p> <p>Beyond Bath, a trio of sites in southern England's Hampshire — the Jane Austen House in Chawton, the village of Steventon, and Winchester Cathedral — are the other main ports of call for Austen die-hards. Located about 1.5 hours southwest of London (on the way to Southampton), and each a 30-minute drive from one another, this triangle of pilgrimage sites can easily be visited in a day.</p> <p>The best is probably the <a href="https://janeaustens.house/" target="_blank">Jane Austen House</a>, the building where she lived her final years (and where she wrote most of her novels). The house sports a good collection of artifacts — personal letters, first editions of her books, and her (very small) writing table — and in 2025 is marking her birthday with a year-long "Austenmania" exhibit.</p> <p>Steventon, Austen's birthplace, doesn't usually offer visitors much beyond her childhood church, but this year it's hosting multiple <a href="https://steventonhants.org.uk/jane-austen/" target="_blank">special events</a>, including a fair, an art exhibition, and a handful of concerts.</p> <p>Nearby is Winchester, where Austen lived her very last weeks (and died). Her house there, at <a href="https://www.winchestercollege.org/visit-us/jane-austen" target="_blank">No. 8 College Street</a>, is opening to the public for the first time this year (tickets have sold out for now, but more may become available later). <a href="https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/" target="_blank">Winchester Cathedral</a>, meanwhile, is worth a visit regardless of its Austen ties: It's the longest medieval cathedral in the world, boasts perfectly preserved Gothic architecture, and is never crowded. The cathedral is home to her grave, and also honors the author with numerous plaques and an impressive memorial stained-glass window — and will be erecting a life-size statue of her this October.</p> <p>Far from Austen's native Hampshire is <a href="https://www.chatsworth.org/" target="_blank">Chatsworth House</a>, a regal estate in the Midlands, near Nottingham, that was supposedly Austen's inspiration for Mr. Darcy's Pemberley mansion in <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> (and was the location used for the 2005 film adaptation starring Keira Knightley). It doesn't hold as much Austen heritage as the other sites, but it's still fun to visit — and will likely be popular with Jane-iacs this year.</p> <p>And throughout the country, throughout the year, multiple balls are planned, from those book-themed-bashes in Bath to a festive winter ball at Chatsworth House, and many in between. If you travel with a flowery headpiece or black top hat, feel free to join in — otherwise, you may at least get a chance to enjoy all the people in Regency attire who are sure to be flooding England's cobbled streets and rickety pubs all year long.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/090/medium/609a13c82e8ff6dc1ac4aeaa6791edfd/article-england-bath-view-from-abbey.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jane Austen lived in Bath for five years and set two of her novels there. (photo: Addie Mannan)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1453</guid> <title>Eat, View, Save: Scenic Dining in Europe</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/scenic-dining-in-europe</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-04-03</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>I'm all about traveling efficiently — and a great way to do that is by savoring local cuisine as you soak up the splendor of the place you came to see. While view restaurants often come with a steep price tag, I've learned to find scenic places to eat where the food is delicious, affordable, and memorable.</p> <p>You might call taking in the view while you eat "killing two birds with one stone," but in Scandinavia, it's "killing two flies with one swat." On one trip to <a href="/europe/sweden">Sweden</a>, I "killed two flies" in the fascinating town of Kalmar, which has a wonderful beach at the edge of its Old Town on the Baltic Sea. On a hot summer day, I found a festive and happy slice of Swedish life, with views of the town's medieval castle, as well as of castles built of sand. With a snack-stand meal in hand, I walked to the end of a long pier to take in more views — plus some exuberant kid-leaping-into-water action. The combination Swedish beauty pageant/tattoo show on shore made for great lunchtime people-watching.</p> <p>Picnics are a smart, budget-saving strategy anywhere in Europe. Convenience stores are abundant, but while cheaper than any restaurant, they charge about double what you'll pay in a grocery store. At a European supermarket, I can get a big, cheap bag of almonds to munch on. A bag of carrots for snacking can last for days. Yogurt is drinkable, cheap, and tasty. Market halls come with great eateries, priced for local shoppers and serving the freshest of quality ingredients.</p> <p>With your favorite munchables, set up on a scenic stretch and enjoy a world of entertainment with postcard views. In Spain, the San Nicolas terrace across from the Alhambra palace in <a href="/europe/spain/granada">Granada</a> comes with great Roma (Gypsy) music nearly all day long. Pop a few euros into the musicians' hat, sit down with a yummy picnic, and enjoy an open-air concert as good as many you might pay for. In Germany's bustling Würzburg, commune with beer-drinking students on a park-like riverbank that stretches from the city's atmospheric old bridge, with the stout Marienberg Fortress looming overhead. There are plenty of benches and a long, inviting, concrete embankment to spread out your meal.</p> <p>Even in the most resorty of places, such as Italy's Amalfi Coast, you can always find a <em>rosticceria,</em> where classic local dishes are cooked up and ready for you to buy by the weight. I don't know a lot of Italian, but a key phrase I do know is <em>da portare via</em> — "for the road." Take your meal down to the beach, grab a nice perch, and enjoy a Mediterranean vista. In Paris, assemble an evening picnic in the food shops along Rue Cler, and set up on the riverside promenade for a <em>très romantique</em> meal with floodlit views of the Eiffel Tower.</p> <p>If you're willing to pay a premium, dining with a view is at option at restaurants, of course — but choose carefully. Europe's most fabled nightspots, such as Rome's Piazza Navona, are lined with outdoor restaurants that come with enticing menus and formal-vested waiters. I like the idea of dining under floodlit monuments amid a constantly flowing parade of people. But throngs of tourists and forgettable, overpriced food can kill the ambience — consider enjoying the view by ordering just a drink or dessert. If you're set on eating a whole meal at one of Europe's outdoor hot spots, circle slowly and observe the food and people carefully. Places with happy diners are your best bet.</p> <p>Top-floor dining with views can be more challenging on the wallet, but with some forethought you can find affordable options. All over Europe, towering department stores offer great cafeteria lunches — with rooftop views at no extra charge. Switzerland can be expensive, but savvy diners in Luzern head for a self-service cafeteria on the fifth floor of the Manor department store, and then climb some stairs to an outdoor terrace where happy eaters gaze above the rooftops to Lake Luzern and Mount Pilatus. <!--The terrace gets packed with locals at peak times — eat early or late, and send your travel partner up top to claim an outdoor table while you buy the food.--> Keep an eye out for scenically situated hostels, as many serve basic meals at student prices to guests and non-guests alike. The <a href="https://www.mountainhostel.com/bar-restaurant/" target="_blank">Mountain Hostel</a> in Switzerland's Gimmelwald, for example, serves reasonably priced pizzas to hungry hikers on one of my favorite alpine perches anywhere.</p> <p>Some hotel bars can be worth a splurge, especially in low-lying terrain, where tall buildings are your only way to enjoy sweeping views. In <a href="/europe/netherlands/amsterdam">Amsterdam</a>, enjoy an appetizer or drink in the <a href="https://www.luminairamsterdam.com/" target="_blank">LuminAir</a>, the rooftop lounge of a DoubleTree hotel, while you take in the best "high-wide" view of the city.</p> <p>It makes sense to savor a place's national dishes along with its national scenery. Travel makes life simply more tasty, and views can make your dining even more unforgettable.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/132/medium/0d02cb260bf674d77fced4e16c7073a3/article-switzerland-luzern-dining.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>After a more affordable meal away from the views, hit Luzern's scenic spots for drinks or dessert. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli )</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/017/053/medium/0ab80212be75f42acc6ef65560c8d682/germany-wuerzburg-riverbank-021215-rs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bring a picnic to the riverbank in Würzburg, Germany, to enjoy a fortress view and convivial people. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">195</guid> <title>Třeboň and Třebíč: Two Gems of the Czech Countryside</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/czech-byways</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-03-27</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>If you're traveling in the Czech Republic south of <a href="/europe/czech-republic/prague">Prague</a>, you may have the famously cute town of Český Krumlov on your itinerary. While it's delightful, two nearby towns — straddling the regions of Bohemia and Moravia — feel less commercial and, for many, equally worthwhile.</p> <p>Třeboň, a well-preserved town with an inviting Renaissance square, is nestled in a bucolic landscape of rolling hills. Its claim to fame is its nearby biosphere of artificial lakes that date back to the 14th century. Over the years, people have transformed what was a flooding marshland into a clever combination of lakes, oak-lined dikes, wild meadows, Baroque villages, peat bogs, and pine woods. Rather than unprofitable wet fields, the nobles wanted ponds swarming with fish — and today Třeboň remains the fish-raising capital of the <a href="/europe/czech-republic">Czech Republic</a>.</p> <p>The city is all about fish — on the main square, the bank has a statue of a man holding a big fish over its door. Another statue honors the town's 16th-century megalomaniac lake-builder Jakub Krčín (now considered a hero, since his medieval lakes absorbed enough water to save Třeboň from a 2002 flood that ravaged Prague).</p> <p>When you come here, you must eat fish. So I ordered every appetizer at a local eatery, tapas-style (a good trick when trying to eat your way through another culture): soused (marinated) herring, fried loach, "stuffed carp sailor fashion," cod liver, pike caviar, and something my Czech friend translated as "fried carp sperm."</p> <p>As we ate, I noticed the writing on my beer glass: "Bohemia Regent anno 1379." It occurred to me that I was consuming exactly what people have been eating and drinking here for over 600 years: fish from the reservoir just outside the gate, and the local brew.</p> <p>Třeboň is also renowned for its <a href="https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/spa-and-wellness/medical-spas/t-trebon-spa" target="_blank">spa</a>, where people come from near and far to bathe in peaty water. Soaking in the black, smelly sludge is thought to cure aching joints and spines. Envisioning the elegance of Germany's Baden-Baden, I had to give it a whirl. Besides, I thought it would make good TV.</p> <p>My attendant didn't understand why I had an entourage (local guide/translator, producer, and cameraman). She just treated me like the village idiot she was assigned to bathe and massage. She pointed to my room and mimed to take off everything. But I kept my military-green swimsuit on (afraid of a prankish combination of high-definition footage, my producer's sense of humor, and YouTube).</p> <p>Camera work is slow. She was anxious. The peat muck only flows at the top of the hour. I climbed into my stainless-steel tub, she pulled a plug, and I quickly disappeared under a rising sea of dark-brown peat broth (like a gurgling sawdust soup).</p> <p>Then, my tub was full and all was silent. My toes looked cute poking out of the hot brown muck. She kept acting like I would overdose if I stayed in too long. But we filmed our bit — one of the craziest-looking sequences we've ever done.</p> <p>After that humiliation, I was happy to escape to the nearby town of Třebíč: another Czech gem with a wonderful main square. Třebíč also has a compelling historic Jewish district. While Prague's Jewish Quarter is packed with tourists, in Třebíč you'll have an entire Jewish town to yourself.</p> <p>Třebíč's Jewish settlement was always relatively small, and of the 35 Třebíč Jews who survived the Holocaust, only 10 returned home. What's left of the quarter is amazingly authentic. The houses have been essentially frozen in time for the better part of a century. Among the 100 or so preserved buildings are two synagogues, a town hall, a rabbi's house, a poorhouse, a school, and a hospital.</p> <p>In the 1970s, the ghetto was slated for destruction; the Communists wanted to replace it with their architectural forte: an ugly high-rise housing complex. Thankfully, the land proved unable to support a huge building project and the neighborhood survived. Today, what locals claim is the largest preserved Jewish quarter in Europe is protected by the Czech government. Over the past couple of decades, the ghetto has gradually found its new identity, as artisans ranging from blacksmiths to chocolatiers moved their workshops here.</p> <p>One of Třebíč's most moving sights is its cemetery. This memorial park is covered with spreading ivy, wild strawberry bushes, and a commotion of 4,000 gravestones (dating back to 1631). If you visit, note how the tombstones reflect the assimilation of the Jews, from simple markers to fancy 19th-century headstones that look exactly like those of the rich burghers in Christian cemeteries.</p> <p>So much of Europe is crowded, industrialized, hamburgerized, and without a hint of the everything-in-its-place, fairy-tale land so many travelers seek. But traveling along Czech byways, you'll enjoy traditional towns and villages, like Třeboň and Třebíč, with great prices, a friendly and gentle countryside dotted by nettles and wild poppies — and fewer tourists.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/039/004/medium/5d7b0e3b6f746f0f8bea67cfabb9ad20/article-czech-republic-trebon-main-square.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The Czech town of Třeboň is an inviting medieval burg famous for its peat spas, network of man-made lakes, and fish specialties. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/587/medium/d24c77098a9f356ea016fc87f6f64ce5/677_Trebic.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The ivy-covered remains of Třebíč’s Jewish Cemetery are an evocative reminder of a bygone era. (photo: Honza Vihan)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">1870</guid> <title>Alsace Blends the Best of France and Germany</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/alsace-europes-cultural-hybrid</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-03-20</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>France's easternmost region, <a href="/europe/france/alsace">Alsace</a>, is also one of its most enchanting — thanks largely to its location. Pressed up against the German border, along the Rhine, the region flip-flopped between Germany and France for centuries. (The Germans considered the Vosges Mountains, east of the Rhine, to be the natural border, while the French thought the river made a better border.)</p> <p>The region still represents a cultural continental divide, creating a fascinating mix of the best aspects of French and Germanic culture. Its cozy fairytale villages have kept their Germanic gemütlichkeit while offering distinctly French-quality cuisine. Alsace is home to endless vineyards, ruined castles, one of France's most inviting cities (<a href="/europe/france/strasbourg">Strasbourg</a>), and plenty of people with names like "Jacques Schmidt" or "Gunter Dubois."</p> <p>My favorite town in the region, <a href="/europe/france/colmar">Colmar</a>, is one of the most delightful in all of Europe. I absolutely love Colmar. Historic beauty was usually no excuse for being spared the ravages of World War II, but it worked for Colmar. The American and British military were careful not to bomb the old burghers' colorful half-timbered houses, pitched red- and green-tiled roofs, and cobbled lanes.</p> <p><!--Today, Colmar's antiques shops welcome browsers, homeowners fuss over their geraniums, and hoteliers hurry down the sleepy streets to pick up fresh croissants in time for breakfast. -->On a visit here you'll enjoy great cuisine, lovely white wine, and a proud heritage. Each Tuesday in summer, <a href="https://www.tourisme-colmar.com/en/visit/presentation/alsatian-folklore" target="_blank">folk dancers and musicians</a> share their talents on the town's main square — a fun and free slice of Alsatian culture.</p> <p>Colmar also has incredible art. The <a href="https://www.musee-unterlinden.com/en/home/" target="_blank">Unterlinden Museum</a> holds Matthias Grünewald's circa-1515 <em>Isenheim Altarpiece</em> — one of the most powerful paintings ever produced. The altarpiece is a mind-blowing polyptych (a many-paneled painting on hinges) that was designed to help people in a medieval hospital endure horrible skin diseases long before the age of painkillers. The painting tells Jesus' story — from Annunciation to Resurrection — and patients who meditated on it were reminded that they didn't have it so bad.</p> <p>It's easy to tour the region, and Colmar makes a good springboard. Alsace's Route du Vin (wine road) is blanketed with lush vineyards and dotted with delicious, picture-perfect little towns. You can drive, hike, bike, hire a taxi, catch the bus, or join a minibus tour like I did on one visit. Alsatian villages nestle in valleys on small rivers, which medieval villagers broke into canals and used to power their mills.</p> <p>Kaysersberg is one of the most charming stops along the Route du Vin. As you wander the cobbled streets below the half-timbered houses, you may find a sign with a picture of a wine-swilling fellow, which marks what was once the mansion of the town gourmet. Before coming here I'd never known the original meaning of the word "gourmet": Each city in a wine region (like Alsace) had a man appointed to rate and price wines, and to serve as the middleman between vintners and the wine-drinking public. He facilitated the sale of wine…and knew that having quality food to pair with the it would help. Eventually he became the man with the finest food in town, or the "gourmet." The actual job of the gourmet survived in Alsace until the 1930s.</p> <p>Like the gourmet of old, those visiting Alsace's Route du Vin today make a point to try the local wines. These wines are, not surprisingly, something of a Franco-Germanic hybrid: The bottle shape, grapes, and much of the wine terminology are inherited from its German past, though wines made today are distinctly French in style (and generally drier than their German sisters). Local vintners offer a warm — and liquid — welcome. Some of Alsace's most prestigious wines come from the vines surrounding the village of Riquewihr, which is dotted with several especially friendly places to sample them.</p> <p>In the village of Eguisheim, it's a treat to visit one of countless cozy wineries, such as <a href="https://vins-paul-schneider.fr/gb/" target="_blank">Paul Schneider's independent winery</a>, located in a one-time hospice, now run by a fourth-generation family winemaker. And on my most recent trip, my guide took me into the fragrant cellar of Eguisheim's <a href="https://www.emile-beyer.fr/en/" target="_blank">Domaine Emile Beyer Winery</a>, where enormous wooden barrels age white wine, a method rarely used in modern times.</p> <p>Until the 17th century, Alsace produced more (and better) wine than any other region in the Holy Roman Empire. Investments in the region then financed many of the beautiful buildings and villages we see today. You'll get the full benefit of that history by staying in Colmar and meandering through the charming small villages that dot the Alsatian wine road.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/032/089/medium/2b02f753ddb771ebbbb12d0bd486989e/article-france-alsace-route-du-vin-colmar-pedestrian-bridge.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Colmar's Germanic half-timbered houses combine with traditional French shutters to make this town a picturesque place to linger. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/022/607/medium/5aa64c1cf5fb666d615f0e8ba145001f/france-alsace-kaysersberg-sign-071317-rs.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>In Kaysersberg, an evocative sign marks the former mansion of the town gourmet. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">2020</guid> <title>Sightseeing Skills for the Ancient World</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/sightseeing-ancient-sites</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-03-13</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Climbing the Acropolis, communing with the druids at <a href="/europe/england/stonehenge-avebury">Stonehenge</a>, or marveling at the sprawling remains of <a href="/europe/italy/pompeii-herculaneum">Pompeii</a> — exploring the remnants of Europe's distant past brings a special thrill to travelers with the interest to resurrect all that rubble.</p> <p>I had such a thrill on one memorable visit to <a href="http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh355.jsp?obj_id=6467" target="_blank">Epidavros</a>, where I visited the finest and best preserved of Greece's many ancient theaters. With my travel partner sitting on the top row of the stony grandstands, I stood alone in the center of the stage and, with a clap of my hands, demonstrated its 2,400-year-old acoustics. The theater here is part of a larger "sanctuary" — something of a luxury spa for people in need of a cure — complete with temples, baths, and a beautiful theater. It's in such good shape that the theater is still used for performances today.</p> <p>The grandeur of a well-preserved monument like the Epidavros theater is easy enough to appreciate even if it's been a while since your last history class. But most ancient sites are more ruined — and therefore harder to imagine in their prime. The <a href="https://colosseo.it/en/area/the-roman-forum/" target="_blank">Roman Forum</a> is a good example. Knowing it was important — the common ground between the fabled seven hills of ancient <a href="/europe/italy/rome">Rome </a>— doesn't necessarily make it interesting. That's especially true given that today what's left is little more than foundation stones and a few broken columns.</p> <p>The challenge is to envision the Forum in its day. Stand along the Via Sacra — the Sacred Way — on the same stones the masses did as Rome's military victors paraded by, displaying their booty and plunder. Imagine spitting into the cage of a barbarian king as it jostles by.</p> <p>Squinting into the sun, you can make out the carvings on the top of a towering triumphal arch, a reminder that your emperor is a god on earth and you are lucky to be his subject. In the here and now it's hot and it's dusty, and there are sweaty tour groups all around you. But if you can imagine the ancient stones supporting ancient life, it's an unforgettable experience and a trip highlight.</p> <p>In my student days, I bummed through Greece's <a href="http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912" target="_blank">Parthenon</a> surrounded by people looking like they were having a good time — and I was convinced they were faking it. Two years later, after a class in ancient art history, I understood how Greek society was designed. I could imagine Pericles, the ultimate Athenian statesman, hard at work. I could see Socrates, enjoying the shade of the colonnade. And I could fill the now-empty niches with brightly painted statues of Greek gods and goddesses. Clearly, there are two kinds of sightseers: those who know what they're looking at…and those who don't.</p> <p>But you don't have to go back to school to have a rich experience at an ancient site. There's plenty of information available for people who bring only a healthy dose of curiosity to the ancient sites. Local souvenir books have side-by-side illustrations of ancient sites that juxtapose their current look with how they would have appeared in their heyday — enabling you to imagine it filled with people. Most sights rent audioguides that give you a fine self-guided tour (just punch in the number you see as you wander to hear a narration about a particular work of art or structure). And private guides are almost always available. In anticipation of your visit, it can also be hugely helpful to do a little homework: Do some reading or watch a movie or documentary to get background and insight into the ancient wonders you'll be exploring.</p> <p>Archaeological areas are being excavated all the time. In fact, many of the sites you'll see are only partially uncovered. And the finest of the discovered statues, mosaics, and frescos are generally out of the weather and acidic air (and the reach of 21st-century vandals), and safely in state-of-the-art museums on-site. Be sure to approach an ancient site as a two-part experience: First tour the museum to see the treasures and get a context for the culture and life in that place and time. Then, with that newfound ability to understand what you'll be seeing, venture out into the actual excavation site.</p> <p>With more people than ever touring Europe's great ancient sites (including literally millions of sightseers on cruise-ship excursions), congestion has become a major concern. If online reservations in advance are recommended, consider them required. Any time you can get a ticket with a timed entry, it's smart to do so. Otherwise, going early or late is a good way to avoid the big tour groups that jam many ancient sites in the middle of the day (roughly between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.).</p> <p>Europe is better than ever at protecting and sharing its ancient patrimony. And if you approach its ancient wonders thoughtfully, you'll bring home an appreciation of the artistic wonders of antiquity and life-long memories.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/037/012/medium/058d4db81d388956c9e42be76ebd66f6/article-italy-rome-ostia-antica-walkway.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>To mentally reconstruct a ruined ancient site like Italy's Ostia Antica, it pays to do some homework in advance. (photo: Gene Openshaw)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/024/118/medium/911643fe2968d37fcdf4e9131af563d4/italy-rome-forum-guide-061418-az.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hiring a knowledgeable guide to explain what you're looking at is well worth the cost. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">277</guid> <title>Germany’s Popular Rothenburg Keeps Its Medieval Charm Alive</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/germanys-fairytale-dream-town-rothenburg</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-03-06</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>As a young backpacker, I first fell in love with the picturesque village of Rothenburg, in Germany's Franconian heartland. At that time, the town still fed a few farm animals within its medieval walls. Today its barns are hotels, its livestock are tourists, and Rothenburg is well on its way to becoming a medieval theme park.</p> <p>But <a href="/europe/germany/rothenburg-ob-der-tauber">Rothenburg</a> is still Germany's best-preserved walled town. Countless travelers have searched for the elusive "untouristy Rothenburg." There are many contenders (such as Michelstadt, Miltenberg, Bamberg, Bad Windsheim, and Dinkelsbühl), but none holds a candle to the king of medieval German cuteness. Even with crowds, overpriced souvenirs, and a nearly inedible pastry specialty (a fried ball of pie crust called a <em>Schneeball</em> — "snowball"), Rothenburg is still the best. Save time and mileage and be satisfied with the winner.</p> <p>By the way, there are several "Rothenburgs" in <a href="/europe/germany">Germany</a>. Make sure you plan for Rothenburg ob der Tauber (on the Tauber River); people really do sometimes drive or ride the train to other, nondescript Rothenburgs by accident.</p> <p>In the Middle Ages, when <a href="/europe/germany/berlin">Berlin</a> and <a href="/europe/germany/munich">Munich</a> were just wide spots in the road, Rothenburg was Germany's second-largest city, with a whopping population of 6,000. Today, it's the country's most exciting medieval town, enjoying tremendous popularity with tourists without losing its charm. There's a thousand years of history packed between its cobbles.</p> <p>Rothenburg's <a href="https://www.kriminalmuseum.eu/en/?lang=en" target="_blank">Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum</a>, all explained in English, is full of diabolical instruments of punishment and torture. Some visitors react with horror, others wish for a gift shop.</p> <p><a href="http://rothenburg-evangelisch.de/unsere-kirchen/die-st-jakobs-kirche" target="_blank">St. Jakob's Church</a> contains the one must-see art treasure in Rothenburg: a glorious 500-year-old altarpiece by Tilman Riemenschneider, the Michelangelo of German woodcarvers. For a closer view of this realistic commotion of Bible scenes, climb the stairs behind the organ. It's Germany's greatest piece of woodcarving.</p> <p>Warning: Rothenburg is one of Germany's best shopping towns. Do it here, mail it home, and be done with it. Lovely prints, carvings, wine glasses, Christmas-tree ornaments, and beer steins are popular. (OK, I admit it, my Christmas tree sports a few ornaments from Rothenburg.)</p> <p>The biggest of the ornament shops has an excellent little <a href="https://www.weihnachtsmuseum.de/en" target="_blank">German Christmas Museum</a> upstairs. Its unique collection is much more than a ploy to get you to spend more money. You'll get a look at tree decorations through the ages, Christmas-tree stands, mini-trees sent in boxes to WWI soldiers at the front, early Advent calendars, and old-time Christmas cards, all thoughtfully arranged and described.</p> <p>To hear the birds and smell the cows, take a walk into the Tauber Valley. A trail leads downhill from Rothenburg's idyllic castle gardens to the cute, skinny, 600-year-old "Toppler Castle," the summer home of the town's mayor in the 15th century, Mayor Toppler. Despite the name, its floor plan is more like a four-story tree house. The mayor built it in an attempt to demonstrate to townsfolk that it was safe to live outside the ramparts of the densely populated walled town.</p> <p>From the mayor's getaway, the trail continues downstream along the trout-filled Tauber River to the sleepy village of Detwang. It is actually older than Rothenburg and has a church with another impressive Riemenschneider altarpiece. To see more of the rural countryside (old mills, apple trees, and chickens), rent a bike for a breezy half-day pedal around the river valley.</p> <p>To avoid the hordes of Rothenburg's day-trippers, I like to spend the night. Except for the rare Saturday night and during festivals, finding a room is easy. Rothenburg feels all mine after dark. In the deserted moonlit streets, the sounds of the Thirty Years' War still echo through turrets and clock towers.</p> <p>Well before the sun sets, climb the Town Hall tower to enjoy the best view of the town and surrounding countryside. For more views, walk the wall that surrounds the old town. This 1.5-mile stroll atop the wall is at its most medieval before breakfast or at sunset, when a rich, warm light bathes the half-timbered houses.</p> <p>A walking tour helps bring the ramparts alive. For the serious side of Rothenburg's history, you can take the tour offered by the town's tourist office (or follow my <a href="/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/austria-germany">free audio tour</a>). But for a thoroughly fun hour of medieval wonderment, take the <a href="http://www.nightwatchman.de/index.php?active=Home&lang=en" target="_blank">Night Watchman's Tour</a>. The watchman jokes like a medieval John Cleese as he stokes his lamp and takes tourists on his rounds, all the while telling slice-of-gritty-life tales.</p> <p>In the night, I'm happy to find myself alone with Rothenburg. Sitting in a mossy niche in the town wall, I finger the medieval stonework and ponder how centuries of hard-working horse carts wore grooves in the cobbles while the winds of history polished half-timbered gables and blew through the grooves of centuries of horse carts. Notching my imaginary crossbow, I aim an arrow into the dark forest that surrounds the city. (Sorry Herr Mayor.) Even now, it feels good to be within these protective walls, where modern-day travelers meet medieval wayfarers.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/038/901/medium/fe0f3d945a33fb80bdfe26d85c093352/article-germany-rothenburg-view-from-castle-garden.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany's best-preserved walled town, is the king of medieval cuteness. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/591/medium/49dc6419117307f7ff875994a922b47f/679_Rothenburg.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The town fountain is flanked by characteristic half-timbered buildings, once filled with grain and corn to enable the town's inhabitants to survive any siege. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/015/475/medium/437831d82608a97e06459eda2145c94c/germany-rothenburg-kaethe-wohlfahrt.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>At Käthe Wohlfahrt shops, Christmas (or at least Christmas shopping) is a year-round season. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">2080</guid> <title>Bath’s Easy Urban Delights</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/bath-england</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-02-27</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>England's best city within two hours of London is beautiful, historic <a href="/europe/england/bath">Bath</a>. The city is popular and expensive, but a delight nonetheless — the most relaxing and elegant place to sample urban <a href="/europe/england">England</a>.</p> <p>Bath was a joy even in ancient Roman times, when patricians soaked in the city's mineral springs. From Londinium (today's <a href="/europe/england/london">London</a>), Romans traveled so often to "Aquae Sulis," as the city was called, to "take a bath" that finally it became known simply as "Bath." Today, a fine <a href="https://www.romanbaths.co.uk/" target="_blank">museum</a> surrounds the ancient bathing site. With the help of a great audioguide, visitors can wander past well-documented displays, Roman artifacts, excavated foundations, and the actual mouth of the health-giving spring.</p> <p>Bath later prospered as a wool town, building its grand <a href="http://www.bathabbey.org/" target="_blank">abbey</a> about 500 years ago — the last great medieval church built in England. The abbey's facade features a very literal Jacob's Ladder — with angels going up…and down. The interior has breezy fan vaulting and is lit with enough stained glass that it feels like the inside of a giant lantern.</p> <p>By the middle of the 1600s, Bath's heyday had passed, and its population dropped to about 1,500 people — just a huddle of huts at the base of the abbey. Then, in 1687, King James II's wife, Queen Mary, struggling with infertility, came here and bathed. Within about 10 months she gave birth to a son. A few decades later, her stepdaughter Queen Anne came here to treat her gout. With all this royal interest, Bath was reborn as a resort.</p> <p>Most of the buildings you'll see in Bath today are from the 18th century — the cityscape is a triumph of the Neoclassical style that dominated the Georgian era, most of it built from the same honey-colored limestone. Free, fascinating <a href="https://visitbath.co.uk/things-to-do/tours-sightseeing/guided-walks/" target="_blank">town walks</a> are offered every day by volunteers who bring to life highlights of this Georgian heritage — such as the Circus and Royal Crescent building complexes.</p> <p>The Circus is like a coliseum turned inside out, with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian capital decorations that pay homage to its Greco-Roman origin — a reminder that Bath (with its seven hills) aspired to be "the Rome of England." About a block away, the Royal Crescent is a long, graceful arc of buildings — impossible to see in one glance unless you step way back to the edge of the park in front. You can go inside one of these classy facades at <a href="https://no1royalcrescent.org.uk/" target="_blank">No. 1 Royal Crescent</a>, now a museum where you can see how the wealthy lived in 18th-century Bath.</p> <p>During the Georgian era, Bath was the trendsetting Tinseltown of Britain, where the filthy rich went to escape the filthy cities. A professional gambler named Beau Nash followed his clients (and their money) to this resort town — and then acted as its one-man tourism promotion department. He organized daily activities, did matchmaking, and helped spiff up the city. Today, his statue stands above the Roman baths.</p> <p>For a taste of the idyllic countryside just beyond town, walk (or bike) the three-mile towpath along the Kennet and Avon Canal to the sleepy village of Bathampton (which is home to two particularly inviting pubs). The canal, built for Industrial Age cargo transport, was put out of business by the railway shortly after it opened.</p><!--<p>You can see how natty Georgian-era folks dressed at the <a href="https://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fashion Museum</a> — which exhibits historic garments from every era since the days when there were no right or left shoes, all the way up to the present. A major feature of the museum is the "Dress of the Year" display, ongoing since 1963. Above the Fashion Museum, you can view the city's historic <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bath-assembly-rooms" target="_blank">Assembly Rooms</a>, where card games, concerts, tea, and dances were held (before fancy hotels with grand public spaces made them obsolete).</p>--> <p>After a day of sightseeing in Bath, street theater is a fun evening option and a ritual for me in Bath. The best hour and a half of laughs I've had anywhere in Britain is on the <a href="http://www.bizarrebath.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bizarre Bath</a> comedy walk. They promise to include "absolutely no history or culture" during their wander of Bath's back lanes. Listening to the guides is always good fun — they may tell the same old jokes, but they're spiced up with a sharp, ad-lib wit that plays off the international crowd.</p> <p>I also enjoy the <a href="https://www.thermaebathspa.com/" target="_blank">Thermae Bath Spa</a>, particularly during chilly evening visits, when Bath's twilight glows through the steam from the rooftop pool. It's pricey, but it's the only natural thermal spa in the UK, and your one chance to actually bathe in Bath.</p><!--<p>Another of my favorite cappers for a day in Bath is heading to a pub to have scrumpy — "hard hard cider." It's notoriously strong: When I last ordered it, everyone stopped what they were doing just to see what would happen.</p>MOVED TO OTHER BATH ARTICLE TO REPLACE MEATLOAF GRAF--> <p>A tip for your itinerary: Upon arrival in England I like to take the train from the airport to London's Paddington Station and then hop on a connection straight to Bath, rather than deal with London's intensity right off the bat.</p> <p>From its evening indulgences to its elegant architecture, Bath combines beauty and hospitality better than most. It's a place drenched in history, but made for relaxation.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/038/882/medium/e2c41fe219cd1af6a1d1b848449e629b/article-england-bath-royal-crescent-lawn.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The Royal Crescent contains some of England’s finest Georgian homes, evoking the wealth and gentility of Bath's 18th-century glory days. (photo: Rick Steves)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/024/702/medium/ec455f4d473f223e5b56b98263da87d0/england-bath-roman-baths-102518-az.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The ancient Roman spa that gave Bath its name is the town's sightseeing centerpiece, with temple remains and a fine museum. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">727</guid> <title>Bruges: Pickled in Gothic</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/bruges</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-02-20</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>The medieval Belgian town of Bruges attracts hordes of visitors, but don't let that keep you away. Get lost on its back streets, away from the lace shops and waffle stands, and ride a bike along a quiet canal, sip beer in a tiny pub, or find a secluded bench to nibble fine local chocolate. After all, despite Bruges' several worthwhile museums and churches, the ultimate sight here is the quaint town itself.</p> <p>The Flemish who live in this part of <a href="/europe/belgium">Belgium</a> call this city "Brugge" (BROO-ghah), but the French half of the country (and English speakers) call it "<a href="/europe/belgium/bruges">Bruges</a>" (broozh). Either way, the name comes from the Old Norse word for "wharf" — and Bruges did indeed arise as a trading center.</p> <p>By the 1300s, the city had a population of 35,000 and the most important textile market in northern Europe. A century later, it was northern Europe's richest, most cosmopolitan, and most cultured city. Bruges' canals provided merchants smooth transportation, while new ideas, fads, and artistic techniques were imported and exported with each shipload.</p> <p>But silt soon began to clog the harbor, and most trade eventually moved to the port at <a href="/europe/belgium/antwerp">Antwerp</a>. By the 16th century, Bruges' golden age was over.</p> <p>Like so many of Europe's small-town wonders, Bruges is now well-pickled because its economy went sour so quickly. Rediscovered by modern-day tourists, Bruges thrives again. Bruges' market square, ringed by great old gabled buildings and crowned by a leaning belfry, is the colorful heart of the city — just as it was in Bruges' medieval heyday.</p> <p>This bell tower has dominated the square since 1300. It's worth climbing the 366 steps to survey the town — plus, just before the top, you can peek into the carillon room. I always aim to be there on the quarter hour, when the 47 bells are played mechanically with a huge, tabbed barrel that looks like something from a giant's music box.</p> <p>Within three blocks of the tower you'll find a day's worth of sightseeing. The <a href="https://www.holyblood.com/homepage-of-the-basilica-of-the-holy-blood" target="_blank">Basilica of the Holy Blood</a> is famous for its relic of the blood of Christ, which, according to tradition, was brought to Bruges in 1150 after the Second Crusade. Next door, the City Hall has the oldest and most sumptuous Gothic hall in the Low Countries.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.museabrugge.be/en/visit-our-museums/our-museums-and-monuments/gruuthusemuseum" target="_blank">Gruuthuse Museum</a>, the former home of a wealthy brewer, is filled with everything from medieval bedpans to a guillotine. And the <a href="https://www.museabrugge.be/en/visit-our-museums/our-museums-and-monuments/onze-lieve-vrouwekerk" target="_blank">Church of Our Lady</a>, standing as a memorial to the power and wealth of Bruges in its heyday, has a delicate <em>Madonna and Child</em> by Michelangelo <span style="font-family: ProximaNova-Regular, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;">—</span> said to be the only statue of his to leave Italy in his lifetime (yet another Bruges extravagance made possible by the cloth trade).</p> <p>But the main place for art here is the <a href="https://www.museabrugge.be/en/visit-our-museums/our-museums-and-monuments/groeningemuseum" target="_blank">Groeninge Museum</a>, which recalls the era when internationally known artists set up studios in Bruges, producing portraits and altarpieces for wealthy merchants from all over Europe. The museum has one of the world's best collections of Flemish paintings. And while early Flemish art is less appreciated and understood today than the Italian art of the same era, the Groeninge makes it easy to appreciate this subtle, technically advanced, and beautiful style. You'll gaze at 15th-century canals and at town squares festooned with people sporting leotards and lace. Many paintings show slice-of-life street scenes that make clear how much Bruges still looks as it did way back when.</p> <p>Bruges isn't just a feast for the eyes — this is Belgium, after all. The town is filled with restaurants serving up some of the world's best mussels, frites, and waffles. Every local has a favorite chocolatier (my top pick is <a href="https://www.chocolatierdumon.be/en/shops" target="_blank">Dumon</a>), and most shops are generous with their samples. Beer buffs will want to make time for a tour of <a href="https://www.halvemaan.be/en" target="_blank">De Halve Maan</a>, Bruges' only working family brewery — or just stop by the beloved <a href="https://www.brugsbeertje.be/en/home-2/" target="_blank">'t Brugs Beertje</a>, a convivial pub that happily serves up more than 300 Belgian brews.</p><!--<p>Walk off your beer buzz with a stroll through the town's <em>begijnhof </em>— a tranquil courtyard of wispy trees and frugal little homes that's typical of other <em>begijnhof</em>s all over Belgium and the Netherlands. For reasons of war and testosterone, there were more women than men in the medieval Low Countries. The order of Beguines gave unmarried and widowed women a dignified place to live and work. When the order died out, many <em>begijnhof</em>s were taken over by towns for subsidized housing, but some, like Bruges', became homes for nuns.</p>--> <p>At the end of the day, I like to head back to the market for a live carillon concert (held several times a week in summer) — consistently one of the best I've found in Europe. Though you can hear the tunes ringing out from the tower's bells anywhere in the cobblestoned old town, I like to listen from one of the benches in the courtyard just below the carillon.</p> <p>One evening, while I was waiting for the music to begin, I happened to look up just as the <em>carillonneur</em> popped his head out a window and waved to the crowd, like a kid checking in with a parent before diving into a pool. Then he disappeared and began hammering — literally hammering. (A carillon keyboard looks like the foot pedals of a big organ, but it is played with bare, clenched fists.)</p> <p>After the concert, I waited to personally thank the <em>carillonneur</em>. When I shook his hand, I found myself gripping a freakishly wide little finger. A lifetime of pounding the carillon had left him with a callus that had more than doubled the width of his pinky. He's just one more artist perfecting his craft in the timeless city of Bruges.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/036/533/medium/0e4d2c7d1be74a35171860470207fa14/article-belgium-bruges-canal-bell-tower.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bruges’s dreamy canal was essential to its early history as a trading center. (photo: Cameron Hewitt)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">134</guid> <title>Toledo: Spain’s Historic, Artistic, and Spiritual Center</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/spains-toledo-a-living-monument</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-02-13</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>On my last visit to <a href="/europe/spain/toledo">Toledo</a>, it seemed holier than ever: Dark El Greco clouds threatened overhead, stark against bright, clear horizons. Hail pelted the masses of people clogging the streets as they awaited the Good Friday procession.</p> <p>A look back at my write-up reveals nothing but superlatives: Toledo's street plan is the most confusing in <a href="/europe/spain">Spain</a>, its cathedral the most Gothic (and the most Spanish of all Gothic churches), and the cathedral's altar the most stunning. Toledo was once home to Europe's most powerful king, Charles V, and is papered with the vividly spiritual paintings of the city's most famous artist, El Greco.</p> <p>Spain's former capital crowds 2,500 years of tangled history onto a high, rocky perch protected on three sides by a natural moat, the Tajo River. Toledo is so well preserved and packed with cultural wonder that the city has been declared a national monument — no modern exteriors are allowed. For centuries, Christians, Muslims, and Jews enjoyed this city together. Toledo's past is a complex mix of these three great religions.</p> <p>Today Toledo is filled with tourists day-tripping from Madrid, a quick 30-minute train ride to the north. Its main sights were beautifully renovated when the town marked the 400th anniversary of El Greco's death in 2014. The two biggies are the magnificent cathedral, with a jaw-dropping interior and a sacristy swathed in El Greco's work, and the<strong> </strong>Santa Cruz Museum, with its own world-class collection of El Greco paintings.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.catedralprimada.es/" target="_blank">cathedral</a> is shoehorned into the old center, where it rises brilliantly above the town's medieval clutter. The interior is laden with elaborate wrought-iron work, lavish wood carvings, and window after colorful window of 500-year-old stained glass. It's so lofty, rich, and vast that visitors wander around like Pez dispensers stuck open, whispering "Wow." Drifting among the pillars, it's easy to imagine a time when the light bulbs were candles and the tourists were pilgrims — when every window provided spiritual as well as physical light.</p> <p>The cathedral's spectacular altar — real gold on wood, by Flemish, French, and local artists — is one of the country's best pieces of Gothic art. The complex composition shows the story of Jesus' life, conveying the Christian message of salvation. The cathedral's sacristy is a mini-Prado, with masterpieces by the likes of Francisco de Goya, Titian, Diego Velázquez, Caravaggio, and Giovanni Bellini, not to mention 19 El Grecos.</p> <p>Born in Greece and trained in Venice, Doménikos Theotokópoulos (tongue-tied friends just called him "The Greek"…El Greco) came to Spain to get work as a painter. He found employment in Toledo, where he developed his unique painting style, mixing icon-like faces from his Greek homeland, bold color, and twisting poses from his time in Italy, and almost mystical spirituality from Catholic Spain.</p> <p>Toledo's <a href="https://cultura.castillalamancha.es/museos/nuestros-museos/museo-de-santa-cruz" target="_blank">Santa Cruz Museum</a> holds a superb collection of El Greco paintings, including the impressive altarpiece <em>Assumption of Mary</em>. Finished one year before El Greco's death, it's the culmination of his inimitable style, combining all his signature elements to express an otherworldly event. No painter before or since has captured the supernatural world better than El Greco.</p> <p>True El-Grecophiles will also want to visit the small <a href="https://www.culturaydeporte.gob.es/mgreco/inicio.html" target="_blank">El Greco Museum</a>, built near the site of El Greco's house. It's worth a stop if only to see El Greco's panoramic map of the city as it appeared in 1614 (commissioned to promote Toledo after the king moved to Madrid and the city was no longer Spain's capital).</p> <p>A day full of El Greco and the romance of Toledo after dark puts me in the mood for game and other traditional cuisine. Typical Toledo dishes include partridge <em>(perdiz)</em>, venison <em>(venado)</em>, wild boar <em>(jabali)</em>, roast suckling pig <em>(cochinillo asado)</em>, and young lamb (<em>cordero</em> — similarly roasted after a few weeks of mother's milk). Plaza de Zocodover is busy with eateries serving basic food at affordable prices, and its people-watching scene is great. But it's worth a few extra minutes — and the navigating challenge — to explore Toledo's side streets and find places where you'll be eating with locals as well as tourists.</p> <p>After dinner, I like to enjoy a tasty leftover from Toledo's Moorish days, almond-fruity <em>mazapán</em>. Shops all over town sell <em>mazapán</em> goodies in ready-made gift boxes, but I prefer to select my own. For a sweet and romantic evening finale, I pick up a few pastries and find a bench on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The fountain burbles to my right, Spain's best-looking city hall is at my back, and before me is her top cathedral — built back when Toledo was Spain's capital, and still shining brightly against the black night sky.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/038/826/medium/395e48f1523360cd70e89aecb9d75534/article-spain-toledo-cathedral-altar.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Toledo's cathedral, with its vast interior and great collection of art, is one of Europe's most impressive. (photo: Cameron Hewitt) </p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/582/medium/e07068dd9619e44137841b122a3ea34a/674_Toledo.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Well-preserved Toledo, lassoed by the Tajo River, has been declared a national monument. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/000/581/medium/3c491a69d69c6ef7fd407b0109edfa7f/674_MusElGreco.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Thoroughly modern in its disregard of realism, El Greco's art feels contemporary even today. (photo: Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> <item> <guid isPermaLink="false">949</guid> <title>Orvieto: What an Italian Hill Town Should Be</title> <link>https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/orvieto-what-an-italian-hill-town-should-be</link> <author>rick@ricksteves.com (Rick Steves)</author> <pubDate>2025-02-06</pubDate> <description> <![CDATA[<p>Orvieto is one of the most striking, memorable, and enjoyable hill towns in central <a href="/europe/italy">Italy</a>. About 90 minutes from <a href="/europe/italy/rome">Rome</a>, Orvieto sits majestically high above the valley floor atop a big chunk of <em>tufo</em> volcanic stone (tuff), overlooking cypress-dotted Umbrian plains. A visit here will reward you with a delightful, perfectly preserved, and virtually traffic-free world highlighted by a colorful-inside-and-out cathedral and some of Italy's best wine.</p> <p><a href="/europe/italy/orvieto">Orvieto</a> has two distinct parts: the old-town hilltop and the dull new town below. Driving in the upper old town is not recommended. And it's not necessary: From the train station (and a vast free parking lot just behind it) a slick little funicular whisks visitors memorably and effortlessly up the town's natural fortress hill and deposits them about a 10-minute walk or quick shuttle ride from the heart of town.</p> <p>Orvieto's cathedral gets my vote for Italy's liveliest facade. This colorful, prickly Gothic exterior, divided by four pillars, has been compared to a medieval altarpiece — a gleaming mass of mosaics, stained glass, and sculpture. It's a circa-1300 class in world history, back when no one dared question "intelligent design." Things start with Creation and end with the Last Judgment.</p> <p>Inside, the nave feels spacious and less cluttered than those in most Italian churches. It was filled with statues and fancy chapels until 1877, when the people decided they wanted to "de-Baroque" their church. The nave is also an optical illusion; the architect designed it to be wider at the back and narrower at the altar, making it appear longer than it is. Windows of thin-sliced alabaster bathe the interior in a soft light.</p> <p>The cathedral's highlight is the Chapel of San Brizio, featuring Luca Signorelli's brilliantly lit frescoes of the Day of Judgment and Life After Death. Although the frescoes refer to themes of resurrection and salvation, they also reflect the turbulent political and religious atmosphere of Italy in the late 1400s. Signorelli's ability to tell stories through human actions and gestures, rather than symbols, inspired his younger contemporary, Michelangelo, who meticulously studied Signorelli's work.</p> <p>Behind the Duomo, a complex of medieval palaces called Palazzi Papali shows off the city's best devotional art. Not to be missed is the marble Mary and Child, who sit beneath a bronze canopy, attended by exquisite angels. This proto-Renaissance ensemble, dating from around 1300, once filled the niche in the center of the cathedral's facade (where a replica sits today).</p> <p>Orvieto also boasts a rich subterranean world. The town sits atop a vast underground network of Etruscan-era caves, wells, and tunnels. Guided tours of the medieval caves offer a glimpse into how these ancient Italians lived, from the remains of an old olive press to a pigeon coop where the birds were reared for roasting. Even now, you'll still see pigeon <em>(piccione)</em> dishes featured on many Orvieto menus.</p> <p>St. Patrick's Well — 175 feet deep, 45 feet wide, and 248 steps down — impresses modern engineers to this day. Thanks to its natural hilltop fortification, Orvieto served as a 16th-century place of refuge for the pope. Wanting to ensure he had water during a time of siege, he had this extravagant well built, with a spiral stairway leading down to a bridge from which people could scoop up water, and another leading back up. The double-helix design was crucial for allowing efficient traffic flow (imagine if donkeys and people, balancing jugs of water, had to go up and down the same stairway). Digging this was a huge project. Even today, when faced with a difficult task, Italians say, "It's like digging St. Patrick's Well."</p> <p>Of course, no visit to Orvieto is complete without a taste of its famous classico wine. One of my favorite places to do this is at the <a href="https://www.tenutalevelette.com/en/homepage/" target="_blank">Tenuta Le Velette</a> winery, just outside Orvieto, where the Bottai family welcomes visitors who make an appointment. As the volcanic soil is very rich in minerals, grape vines thrive here, as they have since Etruscan times. In fact, the Bottais still keep bottles in the same cellar where the Etruscans used to store their wines. Dug from <em>tufo</em> stone, the cellar provides the perfect conditions for aging wine.</p> <p>While Orvieto is busy with tourists during the day, the town is quiet after dark. The back streets feel oblivious to the crush of modern-day tourism. Evocative lanes seem to keep the mystery of the Middle Ages alive. I like to close the evening with an after-dinner stroll, when the town is lamplit and romantic, then find a perfect spot to sit and simply savor the quiet thrill of a hill town after dark.</p><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/036/891/medium/ae73d9e622d28c11afeb504d51b6d370/article-italy-umbria-orvieto-panorama.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>The town of Orvieto sits on its grand stone throne a thousand feet above the valley floor. (photo: Dominic Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><table><trbody><tr><td><img src='https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/032/752/medium/09c7c87fcefba5a966d9f675bec31c29/article-italy-umbria-orvieto-duomo.jpg' width='255'></td></tr><tr><td><p>Orvieto's cathedral is known for its dynamic facade, optical-illusion interior, and extravagantly frescoed Chapel of San Brizio. (photo: Dominic Bonuccelli)</p></tr></td></trbody></table><p><em>Rick Steves (<a href='https://www.ricksteves.com'>www.ricksteves.com</a>) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at <a href='mailto:rick@ricksteves.com'>rick@ricksteves.com</a> and follow his <a href='https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves'>blog on Facebook</a>.</p>]]> </description> </item> </channel></rss> 
