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September 14, 2017January 5, 2018

Video: Public Television at Your Service!

My TV crew and I are on a Mediterranean cruise, filming a special that will air on public television across the country in January 2019. Today, after an exhilarating (but, frankly, brutal) day of shooting on hot and arid Santorini, we caught the last tender back to our ship. When the security guard scanned my ID card, I was literally the last person to check back in out of the 3,000 travel mates I’m sharing this ship with. (You scan in and out of the ship so they know at any moment exactly who is on board and who is on shore. When you scan, they see a mug shot of you on their screen to make positive identification.)

The sun was low and the caldera of Santorini (with the lip of its crater lined with dazzling whitewashed buildings) was injecting my crew with a little more steam — and I had a notion it would be fun to whip out my iPhone and capture the process. Take a moment with this clip to see my producer Simon Griffith and cameraman Karel Bauer at work. I’ve worked with these two for 20 years now. (I must have spent 800 days filming with Simon, as he’s been with me for every moment of shooting in Europe.)

Also, take a moment to appreciate how public television works. There is no big advertiser shaping our content. This will be the only piece of travel journalism you’ll ever see that shows cruising in a frank, honest, and consumer-oriented way (with no agenda pro or con…simply driven by a passion for helping our viewers know their options and travel smarter, more economically, and with more meaning).

Forgive my little pledge pitch here, but this can only happen with your support. There are so many ways public television helps us live more open and enriching lives, with a positive and outward-looking spirit rather than a fearful and inward-looking one. If you recognize that, you know it’s more important than ever to keep public broadcasting alive and well in our community.

(To see more of me, Simon, and Karel at work, watch The Making of Rick Steves’ Europe.)

September 13, 2017January 6, 2018

Video: Summiting the Greek Island of Delos

I’m old enough now to take particular joy in revisiting places I experienced as a teenage vagabond. I’ll never forget hiking to the summit of Delos as a 19-year-old and learning how important — and literally central — to the Greek islands this now-uninhabited little island (a half-hour from Mykonos) once was.

I’ve returned now with our local Mykonos guide Antonis Pothitos, after having caught an early-morning tender from my cruise ship. And I’ve affirmed my notion that — even with 3,000 tourists on my ship, and even with four such ships in port this morning in Mykonos — if you get an early start and reach for the back lanes or rocky summits, you can be all alone with the wonders of the Mediterranean (and be back on your ship by sunset for a cocktail and a little dancing poolside in your loafers).

September 12, 2017January 5, 2018

Video: A Quiet Moment on the Little Island of Malta

Malta is a hot and windy rock between Sicily and Africa with a distinct culture and language (Maltese is actually a Semitic tongue), a rich and fascinating history, and delightful people still living within some of the most imposing fortified walls in Europe.

I’m here with my TV crew, filming a special about Mediterranean cruising that will air on public television in the fall of 2018. It’s so hot and windy, and our crew is working with such focus, that I didn’t take any videos on my phone while we were outside. But in a quiet moment inside the Cathedral of St. John, I was inspired to share a little of what I discovered and learned today on this once-upon-a-time formidable island.

September 11, 2017February 2, 2019

Video: Let’s Be Cruise Partners!

I’ve long wanted to make a one-hour public television special about cruising. And we’re doing just that now. My TV crew and I are on a Mediterranean cruise, filming a special that will air across the country in February 2019. It won’t be pro or con cruising — just a candid and honest look at this travel option, one of the fastest growing kinds of travel.

For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting daily as we cruise to destinations ranging from Barcelona in the west to Rhodes in the east. In this clip, I’m just in from a hot day of filming on shore. I took an amazing shower (any shower would have been amazing, the way I was feeling), changed into my casual cruise wear, and am enjoying a quiet, private sunset on my balcony with no land in sight — but curiously surrounded by lots of ships.

Stay tuned for lots of Mediterranean fun and learning.

September 7, 2017

Exploring the Unique Museums of Lausanne, Switzerland

Lausanne is an elegant town on Lake Geneva with a fine old town, towering cathedral, and charming lakeside promenade. While I was there this summer, I made a point of visiting its two main museums, the Olympic Museum and the Collection de l’Art Brut. Both are unique and worth a look.

The Art Brut Collection is like nothing else you’ll see in Europe: a museum filled with art produced by untrained artists, many labeled (and even locked up) by society as “criminal” or “insane.” Read thumbnail biographies of these outsiders, and then enjoy their unbridled creativity.

In 1945, the artist Jean Dubuffet began collecting art he called “brut” — created by untrained, highly original individuals who weren’t afraid to ignore rules. In the 1970s, he donated his huge collection to Lausanne, and it has now expanded to 70,000 works by hundreds of artists: loners, mavericks, people on the fringe, prisoners, and mental ward patients. Dubuffet said, “The art does not lie in beds ready-made for it. It runs away when its name is called. It wants to be incognito.”

About 800 works are on display at any given time. As you tour the thought-provoking collection and learn about the artists, ponder the fine line that separates sanity and insanity when it comes to creative output.

Known as the Olympic Capital, Lausanne has been home to the International Olympic Committee since 1915. The Olympic Museum celebrates the colorful history of the games, with a century’s worth of ceremonial torches and a look at how medals have changed over the years. Surveying gear from each sport (such as Carl Lewis’ track shoes and Sonja Henie’s ice skates), you can follow the evolution of equipment that was clearly state of the art — in its day.

Back at my Lausanne hotel, my hotelier surprised me by pulling out a little stack of old Steves family Christmas cards. For nearly 20 years, we had a tradition of sending a family Christmas card to all our favorite hotels and restaurants in Europe. For Andy and Jackie, it was an annual chore they dreaded — signing their names to several hundred cards all spread out on the kitchen table.

Thinking back on this tradition, it’s clear to me that this is a good example of how we have always enjoyed and stressed the people-to-people aspect of our work. To this day, we strive to build our huge gang of hoteliers and restaurateurs into an extended family of friends who understand that we are partners in helping our travelers enjoy the best possible experiences for the best possible price. If there is one aspect of our guidebooks that distinguishes us, perhaps it’s the esprit de corps between us, the legion of small businesses in Europe we recommend in our guidebooks, and our traveling readers.

(Next up on the blog, I’ll be bringing you along on a Mediterranean cruise…stay tuned!)