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Tour Time

For 25 years, I led our tour groups. For the past decade, rather than lead our tours, I actually take them. Each year I sign up (with a pseudonym) for one of our tours. In recent years I’ve enjoyed Village Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Scotland. This year, as I paged through our catalog, the right tour for my travel dreams became perfectly clear: our Best of Europe in 21 Days tour.

For the next three weeks, travel with me via this blog on what I consider the best itinerary of what Europe has to offer: Amsterdam, the Rhineland, Rothenburg, Bavarian castles, Venice, Florence, Rome, the Cinque Terre, the Swiss Alps, Burgundy, and Paris. Of the 30 or so tours we offer, this is the granddaddy…the flagship.
For the next three weeks, travel with me via this blog on what I consider the best itinerary of what Europe has to offer: Amsterdam, the Rhineland, Rothenburg, Bavarian castles, Venice, Florence, Rome, the Cinque Terre, the Swiss Alps, Burgundy, and Paris. Of the 30 or so tours we offer, this is the granddaddy…the flagship.
For the next three weeks, travel with me via this blog on what I consider the best itinerary of what Europe has to offer: Amsterdam, the Rhineland, Rothenburg, Bavarian castles, Venice, Florence, Rome, the Cinque Terre, the Swiss Alps, Burgundy, and Paris. Of the 30 or so tours we offer, this is the granddaddy…the flagship.
For the next three weeks, travel with me via this blog on what I consider the best itinerary of what Europe has to offer: Amsterdam, the Rhineland, Rothenburg, Bavarian castles, Venice, Florence, Rome, the Cinque Terre, the Swiss Alps, Burgundy, and Paris. Of the 30 or so tours we offer, this is the granddaddy…the flagship.
Our bus drivers are an integral part of what makes a Rick Steves tour unique. They are part of the family. And Joe Stulens has driven more than a hundred of our tours.
Our bus drivers are an integral part of what makes a Rick Steves tour unique. They are part of the family. And Joe Stulens has driven more than a hundred of our tours.
We were in Amsterdam on the Dutch Memorial Day. Throughout Europe, various monuments remind people of the challenges societies have as dense and diverse populations struggle to live peacefully together. Amsterdam’s monument to the homosexual victims of the Holocaust was covered in flowers, providing a fine lectern for our guide, Reid, to give us some historical context.
We were in Amsterdam on the Dutch Memorial Day. Throughout Europe, various monuments remind people of the challenges societies have as dense and diverse populations struggle to live peacefully together. Amsterdam’s monument to the homosexual victims of the Holocaust was covered in flowers, providing a fine lectern for our guide, Reid, to give us some historical context.
I’ve long reminded people with serious dietary concerns to print them legibly on a small card, along with a local translation, so they can clearly communicate to waiters what they cannot eat. One of our tour members came well equipped with this card, and will eat better and with more peace of mind because of it.
I’ve long reminded people with serious dietary concerns to print them legibly on a small card, along with a local translation, so they can clearly communicate to waiters what they cannot eat. One of our tour members came well equipped with this card, and will eat better and with more peace of mind because of it.
My filming and research lately has taken me to the fringes of Europe. Much as we all like to get off the beaten path, the biggies remain the biggies. This Best of Europe itinerary is all about the biggies, and I’m enjoying revisiting them all. Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is newly opened after a long period of renovation. And it is a glorious place to display the very best of Dutch masterpieces…like Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.”
My filming and research lately has taken me to the fringes of Europe. Much as we all like to get off the beaten path, the biggies remain the biggies. This Best of Europe itinerary is all about the biggies, and I’m enjoying revisiting them all. Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is newly opened after a long period of renovation. And it is a glorious place to display the very best of Dutch masterpieces…like Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.”
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Bouncing Around Holland’s Polder Land

Exploring polder land with Majel, our Wetlands Safari guide, we learn that the ground is just a mat of vegetation, and below it is the inland sea — and when you throw your weight around, the world becomes your own private trampoline.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

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Wetlands Safari — Canoeing in Holland

An amazing thing about Amsterdam is that, in 10 minutes (by bike or public bus), you can be in the wide-open polder land — the vast fields reclaimed from the sea where cows graze, tiny canals function as fences, and only church spires interrupt the horizon. A fun way to experience this is by canoe with a local guide. And that’s the mission of Majel Tromp, a friend who runs Wetlands Safari (which I’ve recommended in my guidebook for many years). In a couple of months, I’ll be taking my film crew on a canoe ride with Majel.

Paddling through villages where front doors face the canal rather than the road is a reminder that there was a time when the main form of transportation in the Netherlands was by boat.
Paddling through villages where front doors face the canal rather than the road is a reminder that there was a time when the main form of transportation in the Netherlands was by boat.
In July, my film crew and I will be on Majel’s tour. So, this month I took her tour to preview what we might shoot. In this natural preserve, the water is shallow. When you stick your oar into the mud and twist you wring bubbles out of the sod: methane — natural gas. (You can smell it.) And, sticking a pole into the ground, you discover the “land” is thin — about a meter thick before you hit the water table underneath.
In July, my film crew and I will be on Majel’s tour. So, this month I took her tour to preview what we might shoot. In this natural preserve, the water is shallow. When you stick your oar into the mud and twist you wring bubbles out of the sod: methane — natural gas. (You can smell it.) And, sticking a pole into the ground, you discover the “land” is thin — about a meter thick before you hit the water table underneath.
There’s no dry ground in the polder land, so a Wetlands Safari picnic is always spread out on a plastic sheet.
There’s no dry ground in the polder land, so a Wetlands Safari picnic is always spread out on a plastic sheet.
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Bike Band in Haarlem

The TV crew has flown home with two great new shows in the can, and I’m in the Netherlands. How do I know? Where else would you find a “marching band” on bicycles!

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

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Post-Flood Cinque Terre

Two and a half years ago, horrific flash floods buried two of the five Cinque Terre towns in mud. My favorite town, Vernazza, was left uninhabitable for months as the Italian army and emergency workers helped dig it out. I wanted to be sure the Cinque Terre was ready for prime time before we produced our new show on the area — and thankfully, after lots of hard work, it is.

Imagine five wonderfully remote and rustic port towns dotting the most rugged part of the Italian Riviera. Here are two of those towns — each connected by very scenic trails.
Imagine five wonderfully remote and rustic port towns dotting the most rugged part of the Italian Riviera. Here are two of those towns — each connected by very scenic trails.
Throughout Europe, there are towns built along ravines where rivers run into lakes or the sea. As their town grows, someone gets the bright idea to pave over the ravine and build a practical main road, rather than a charming but impractical line of little bridges. Vernazza (whose name means “little Venice” in the local dialect, for its many long-gone bridges) was one such town. Generally it’s not a problem, and the stream runs peacefully in a canal under the main drag. But in October 2011, a year’s worth of rain fell in a couple of hours. The steep surrounding hills functioned as a funnel, a wall of water hit the town, and the underground stream got jammed up. The violent torrent washed cars and mud and rocks — anything in reach — through the city and into the sea, and buried every ground floor in mud. Today, Vernazza has made sure its drainage system is ready for violent weather — destructive weather that all the world likely will find routine in the future.
Throughout Europe, there are towns built along ravines where rivers run into lakes or the sea. As their town grows, someone gets the bright idea to pave over the ravine and build a practical main road, rather than a charming but impractical line of little bridges. Vernazza (whose name means “little Venice” in the local dialect, for its many long-gone bridges) was one such town. Generally it’s not a problem, and the stream runs peacefully in a canal under the main drag. But in October 2011, a year’s worth of rain fell in a couple of hours. The steep surrounding hills functioned as a funnel, a wall of water hit the town, and the underground stream got jammed up. The violent torrent washed cars and mud and rocks — anything in reach — through the city and into the sea, and buried every ground floor in mud. Today, Vernazza has made sure its drainage system is ready for violent weather — destructive weather that all the world likely will find routine in the future.
While the flood of 2011 was a disaster that swept several locals out to sea (their bodies actually washed up in France), one benefit of the flood in Vernazza was the creation of this wonderful beach at the edge of town.
While the flood of 2011 was a disaster that swept several locals out to sea (their bodies actually washed up in France), one benefit of the flood in Vernazza was the creation of this wonderful beach at the edge of town.
When I first came to the Cinque Terre as a scruffy backpacker, Monica’s father, Lorenzo, befriended me and made me welcome at his restaurant. That was back in the 1970s. Lorenzo is now enjoying an eternal view from a cemetery high above his town, and his daughter Monica, seen here, runs the family restaurant. Twelve years ago, Monica took me to the cemetery overlooking her town, with our cameras rolling. And with this visit she took time out (on the day her restaurant was opening after being closed for the winter) to take us up to the cemetery again. To follow my dear Vernazza friend Monica through her town’s cemetery and hear her remember her departed friends illustrated the beautiful function cemeteries provide.
When I first came to the Cinque Terre as a scruffy backpacker, Monica’s father, Lorenzo, befriended me and made me welcome at his restaurant. That was back in the 1970s. Lorenzo is now enjoying an eternal view from a cemetery high above his town, and his daughter Monica, seen here, runs the family restaurant. Twelve years ago, Monica took me to the cemetery overlooking her town, with our cameras rolling. And with this visit she took time out (on the day her restaurant was opening after being closed for the winter) to take us up to the cemetery again. To follow my dear Vernazza friend Monica through her town’s cemetery and hear her remember her departed friends illustrated the beautiful function cemeteries provide.