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Castles and Bouncy Bridges in the Austrian Alps

The My Way Alpine Europe Tour I’m leading is well underway, as we hopscotch across borders through the Alps. After a memory-packed day traveling from the Dolomites to Bavaria, we popped back into Austria for an early-evening hike to a ruined castle (Ehrenberg, above Reutte) and a wobbly ramble over a very long and very high suspension bridge. My friend Armin dreamed up, spearheaded, and now manages this exciting new activity that’s bringing lots of visitors to his little town. We’re 400 feet above our teeny tour bus, at the point where three valleys converge — a strategic location since this was the Roman Via Claudia. The joy on our group’s faces shows the fun in mixing exhilarating experiences with historical sights.

(My tour assistant, Trish Feaster, also blogged about our adventure in Reutte at her website, The Travelphile.)

This is Day 60 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I lead tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

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Europe’s Charm at Your Doorstep

We’re high in the Italian Alps, in Castlerotto — a town I love because it’s right in the midst of mountain splendor, yet doesn’t have that empty ski-resort-in-the-summer feeling. Our hotel — the Cavallino d’Oro — is a great example of the Italian/German mix characteristic of this region (the Dolomites, in the far north of Italy). Our group is just finishing up breakfast before loading up the bus. And just outside the door of our hotel is the cobbled town square. For our tours, we favor hotels where the charm of Europe is literally at your doorstep. On our My Way Alpine Europe Tour (which I’m leading now), we spend a dozen nights in unforgettable mountain towns in the Alps of Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and France.

This is Day 59 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I lead tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

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A Busy Day on a Rick Steves Tour

A good tour leader — especially on a Rick Steves tour — creates a learning atmosphere on the bus, laces together a good balance of sights and experiences, and makes sure there’s lots of fun along the way. In this montage of clips, I get a chance to talk about how the European Union funds ethnic regions (in this case, Ehrenberg Castle in Tirol, which spans Austria and Italy); we visit one of my favorite open-air folk museums (Ballenberg in Switzerland); we poke into an old farmhouse to ring some cowbells; and we rip down the mountain on a summer luge ride. All 26 of us enjoyed two trips each on the longest and most exciting luge course in Tirol (Biberwier, on the road between Innsbruck and Reutte).

(My tour assistant, Trish Feaster, produced this clip. She’s blogging about our tour at her website, The Travelphile.)

This is Day 58 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I lead tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.

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My Response to the Nice Attack

Terrorism hit France again — this time on Bastille Day. That’s the day the French celebrate one of the most consequential events in the history of Western civilization: the French Revolution. In 1789, France was on the front line of bringing our world basic values we often take for granted today: blessings like liberty, equality, tolerance, and pluralism. It paid dearly, and we all benefited. Today, France (still a champion of these Western values) is on the front line of terrorism, and they are, again, paying dearly. Here are a few thoughts I had from a mountaintop in France.