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Rick Steves’ Travel Blog

Here you can browse through my blog posts prior to February 2022. Currently I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions, and what's on my mind solely on my Facebook page. — Rick

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Advice for a New TV Show on Egypt

I have a New Year’s tradition: I lay all my travel dreams on the table, sort them out, prioritize, and begin the process of turning those dreams into reality. My spring 2013 trip will be, as always, heavy on the Mediterranean (Egypt, Israel, Palestinian territories, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Portugal). I’ll be scouting TV shows in the Middle East, shooting two shows in Turkey, and then updating guidebooks.

What I’d like is a little advice on Egypt from my good travel buddies here on my Blog.

I know Egypt is in a bit of turmoil and that tourism is way down, but I expect it will bounce back when things stabilize. A decade ago I did a single TV show on Egypt (featuring the predictable tourist attractions in Cairo and Luxor). This April, I hope to scout there for 10 days and then, in a year or so, take the film crew there to shoot two shows.

Here’s what I featured in my last show: Pyramids of Giza, a camel ride, Khan el-Khalili (medieval bazaars,   including a spice bazaar), smoking a sheeshaw, Cairo’s Egyptian National Museum, the night train to Luxor, great temples of Luxor, Valley of the Kings, a Nile ferry, a bike ride into village Egypt, and sailing in a felucca on the Nile at sunset.

In the next show I’ll have double the time and want to include the great city of Alexandria.

So, if you have any first-hand (or second-hand) experience from the road in Egypt, I’d love to hear about it.

Here are my questions:

• What’s it like for a Western tourist in Egypt right now?
• In what condition are the big, obvious “must see” sights for tourists?
• In Alexandria, Cairo, and Luxor, what would be some great sights and experiences (beyond the ones I listed above) to work into the script?
• Do you know a good and reliable local guide in Cairo or Luxor?

Thanks for the help and Happy New Year,

Rick

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Bloopers for the Holidays (Part 2)

This is a time of year when we think about what’s really important. One of my favorite thoughts: “These are the good old days.” Considering our beautiful lot in life here in USA 2012, I can’t imagine it getting much better. I’m making a point to enjoy where we’re at, to be thankful, and — as much as is honest — to give things a positive twist.

Below you can watch part two of the blooper reel from the just-completed new season of my public television series, Rick Steves’ Europe. Reviewing these clips, I’m reminded what a blessing it is to have work — especially work you enjoy and believe in — and how good it is to laugh while working hard with people you enjoy.

In this series of screw-ups, we see my producer Simon at work — carrying a huge tripod to the top of the Florence cathedral in case the cameraman might need it. While climbing, Simon repeats a phrase we all tell our children: “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

While I still prefer no “product” or makeup while working, we have discovered hairspray. After 20 years of cursing the wind and dribbling water on springy hairs, we now pull out the hairspray when needed. To be able to work with the wind kicking up has saved our hides many times.

Whether savoring delicious food with local friends, teaching ancient history on an ancient toilet, demonstrating the importance of a helmet deep inside the mine, imagining barbarians from present-day Scotland storming Hadrian’s Wall, finding a piano to pound on, pitching hay high in the Alps at Gimmelwald, or skipping through the rain at Castlerigg Stone Circle in the Cumbrian Lake District, watching these bloopers reminds me how much fun it is bringing home the wonders of Europe — either with our guidebooks, tours, or TV shows. Thanks for traveling with us, and Merry Christmas!

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

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Bloopers for the Holidays (Part 1)

With the release of each new TV series, we collect our favorite bloopers and wrap them up in a goofy little video package. We’ve posted this batch of the-camera’s-rolling screw-ups to brighten your holiday just a little bit and to share some of the fun we had while filming our latest season.

In reviewing these, I notice how I struggle to remember my lines, how we work hard to get just the right light (often in the last 30 minutes before sundown), how we scout just the right spot for “on-cameras” (like in the mud of the Venetian lagoon), how I’m determined to include the heavy history, and how I can hardly contain myself when it all comes together (like sitting in Casanova’s prison cell).

These clips also remind me how thrilling it is to be all alone in great places (like in Florentine palaces and with Monet’s water lilies)…and how we have no control over who veers into our shot. It seems we’re always dealing with limited time — either how long we’re allowed in a place, or how long we’ll have the good light. Many of the actual on-camera lines are crafted right there on the spot, when we better understand what we will have in the program (and with time running out). And another big concern is helping those making guest appearances on camera with me to be loose and have fun. I love to get other voices in on the program.

We have fun ongoing jokes with our crew. For a decade, I’ve been trying to sneak in my various favorite little factoids. For example, years ago I was told that the word “barbarian” comes from the Roman notion that non-Romans were little more than animals with a language that sounded that way: “bar bar bar bar.” But my crew always outvotes me on the veracity of that notion.

Anyway, enjoy these little bloopers as you enter into what I hope is a very happy holiday season for you and your family.

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

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Remembering Isaac, the Highlands Roadside Piper

One of the joys of my work is hearing from people I’ve encountered in my travels about how the things we do here as travel writers have impacted their lives. So many Europeans we meet are favorites of mine because of their passion for their culture and their gift for sharing it.

Recently, out of the blue, I received an email from the daughter of a dear man I met on a desolate roadside in the Highlands of Scotland. It was about twelve years ago, when I was scrambling to make a TV show about the Highlands. As if placed there by heaven’s Central Casting, this tender giant of a man was bagpiping to the birds, the passing clouds, and the occasional motorist. He chose a spot that seemed intentionally miles from nowhere. We stopped, and he graciously demonstrated his pipes to us, giving us a tour of that fascinating symbol of Scottish culture. I’ve never forgotten that wonderful chance meeting…and it ended up a fine little part of our TV show.

The piper’s daughter wrote to me just last week, saying, “I want to thank you for the video on YouTube titled ‘Rannoch, Scotland: Highlands Roadside Piper.’ The piper in the video was my father Isaac, who sadly passed away 5 years ago in 2007. I only learned of this video today and was utterly stunned to hear his voice and see him the way he was.” She went on to say how much the video meant to her and that she hoped we’d never remove it, because he was an amazing man and now she can see her father whenever she needs to. Apparently, this is the only video clip she has of her father doing what he so loved to do…play his bagpipes surrounded by the glory of his Highlands deep in Scotland. She said, “I can now see my Daddy any time I like and remember him for the great man he was, and hear his voice and music again.”

It was with great joy that I sent her a DVD of her dad with the entire Scotland show. And it’s with great joy that I share this video clip of Isaac, the Highlands Roadside Piper, with you.

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

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Rick Steves Community of Travelers Raises $65,000 for Bread for the World.

To the 650 people who donated $100 apiece to Bread for the World to help fund their work in protecting hungry and homeless people from the budget cuts our government needs to make: Thank you very much! This money will help very much in their important work.

For a little more insight into the situation from a caring and faith perspective, this article by Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine is interesting. Also, Jim visited our studio last year for an interview on my radio program.

Of course, when you need to get elected, you talk about the struggles of the middle class. But many people on our planet are struggling just to have the struggles of the middle class. We just gave many of them a bit of a Christmas present.