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Rick Steves: Blog Gone Europe

I'm on the road in Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Montenegro and Bosnia — weaving my travel experiences into my business, and sharing what's on my mind. If you think it's inappropriate for a travel writer to stir up discussion on his blog with political observations and insights gained from traveling abroad, you may not want to read any further. — Rick

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Let me stoke your travel dreams for 2009 by sharing some of my favorite European experiences, roughly from northwest to southeast. Maximizing the experience is a dimension of smart budget travel that's just as important in challenging times as saving money. Imagine these...

Nobody does chocolate like the Belgians. There’s something elegant about dropping in on the most expensive chocolate-maker in town—there's one in every Belgian burg. Find a place that’s family-run, where locals buy their chocolate fresh, and people expect the shop to close on hot days because quality chocolate can’t survive the heat. Skip trendy “gourmet chocolatiers” who serve their chocolates with gimmicky flavors from gorgonzola to ginger—go for the purists.

A big percentage of American tourists visit Belgium as pilgrims…beer pilgrims, traveling all the way to that country to savor its plush and creamy beer. Hang out with devotees for a few nights and became a believer. My favorite Belgian evening is spent in an upscale pub, savoring a monk-made Trappist Blauwe Chimay (for example) with a rustic plate of bar food with locals who are both patriotic and evangelical about their Belgian brew.

In Holland, the “pilgrims” are more likely focused on the marijuana scene. Even if you’re not interested in smoking, drop by a "coffeeshop" for a whiff of its ambience. Baristas are patient in explaining to awkward Yankees how things work. Then, make an education out of the experience—talk to a local policeman, getting his take on why the Dutch stopped arresting pot smokers in 1976 and why this approach works. (I know, I just can’t pass up an opportunity to talk drug policy. To see the interesting “America’s Top Ten” list I just made in Coed Magazine, click here).

In Germany, my favorite castle experience is at Burg Eltz. Nestled in an enchanted forest just above the Mosel River, the Eltz castle is lovingly cared for by the aristocratic family that has called it home for centuries. The noble lady still puts out fresh flowers for her many visitors. Hike in from the train station and the experience gains a kind of magic. After an hour climbing under gentle trees through an ancient forest where you'd expect Friar Tuck and Martin Luther to be hiding out, the castle of your fantasies suddenly appears.

Every traditional German beer hall or Bierstube has a table for regulars—just look for the Stammtisch sign. To sample German conviviality at its best, make friends with the Stammtisch gang and get invited to join them at their table. Alternate between sniffing snuff (snorted from the “anatomical snuffbox” created by lifting your thumb high above your first finger) and drinking local schnapps. Before you know it, you’re leading the gang in a rousing rendition of “Country Roads.”

While perhaps the most touristy thing to do in Germany’s most-touristy town, following Rothenburg’s Night Watchman around on his evening rounds is a medieval hoot. Walk the town's dark and evocative back streets with Georg Baumgartner, the wildly entertaining character whose delivery makes you forget what century you live in. While mobbed with tourists in mid-day, Rothenburg empties at night, when its flood-lit ramparts are all yours.

Climb the shiny glass dome that now caps the Reichstag (parliament building) in Berlin—for me, the most energizing thing to do in Germany’s most-energized city. From the top, look down on Germany’s legislators at work. You're surrounded not by tourists but by Germans, who are determined to get politics right from now on.

Posted by Rick Steves on February 26, 2009
Comments (28)

Having a daughter studying at Georgetown means I have a steady stream of interesting reading coming into my email box. Jackie loves studying in Washington DC. Here's an excerpt from something Jackie just sent that is thought-provoking:

This is from her psychology textbook, Psychology: A Concise Introduction, Second Edition by Richard A. Griggs:

“Availability in memory also plays a key role in what is termed a dread risk. A dread risk is a low-probability, high-damage event in which many people are killed at one point in time. Not only is there direct damage in the event, but there is secondary indirect damage mediated through how we psychologically react to the event. A good example is our reaction to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Fearing dying in a terrorist airplane crash because the September 11 events were so prominent in our memories, we reduced our air travel and increased our automobile travel, leading to a significantly great number of fatal traffic accidents than usual. It is estimated that about 1,600 more people needlessly died in these traffic accidents (Gigerenzer, 2006). These lives could have been saved had we not reacted to the dread risk as we did. We just do not seem to realize that it is far safer to fly than to drive. National Safety Council data reveal that you are 37 times more likely to die in a vehicle accident than on a commercial flight.”

Posted by Rick Steves on February 25, 2009
Comments (18)

Two weeks ago in NYC, I was busy giving talks at the New York Times Travel Show. I made time for an interview at the request of the Wall Street Journal. They put me in a car and took me to a rough “but emerging” neighborhood in Brooklyn under the Williamsburg Bridge, and I shivered through an interview.

Reviewing this interview, I see the accidental evolution of my passion for teaching travel. After a decade of travel-on-the-cheap, I wrote my handbook on travel skills, Europe Through the Back Door. Then, after a decade of tour-guiding, my buddy Gene Openshaw and I wrote Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler. And now, a decade later, with my focus on travel as an invaluable, perspective-broadening experience, I've written my latest book, Travel as a Political Act (at the printer now, in the bookstores in early May).

These three guidebooks provide a pyramid…a kind of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for a thinking traveler. You start off with the basics: Pack light, stay safe, catch the train, and eat and sleep well. When those needs are met, you can appreciate the art, history, and culture. And then, reaching the goal of self-actualization, you gain a deeper understanding of our place on this delightful planet.

Put on a scarf and check out this interview.

Posted by Rick Steves on February 23, 2009
Comments (32)

I have a great relationship with my publisher. I’ve been with them from the start (1984). They like what I do, and I couldn’t do it without their support. A few days ago, they brought their staff who works most closely with mine to Seattle for our big annual review.

As the scope of our coverage has ballooned and the economy makes it more difficult to visit every place in every book in person every year (as I’d like to do), we have maintained that standard — unmatched in the publishing world — for our lead guidebooks. And the books covering less-visited destinations (with correspondingly lower sales) have become "biannuals," which means they're lovingly updated in person only every two years. (That's why some of my books no longer have the year printed on the front cover.)

An advantage of the biannual plan, along with the obvious savings in research expenses, is that we don’t need to let the shelves go empty each winter. It used to happen that, due to the time constraints of our production schedule, the new annual editions of our less-selling books wouldn't come out until springtime. Many booksellers took the previous edition off the shelves in December, when their year was up...leaving those books in sales limbo for peak sales months. Ironically, this made it easier to retail books that were not updated annually (i.e., no date on the cover) than the yearly editions. We’ve done biannuals long enough now to have hard sales results, and — as my all-knowing publisher predicted — sales didn’t go down with the biannual approach.

With the financial situation we’re all in, we are concerned with trends. Sales are down about 25 percent overall, but our market share continues to grow. I made the point that as a businessman/writer, I see sales totals as outside of our control. But as long as our market share is holding or growing, I’m satisfied. With the drop in sales and increase in costs to actually update with in-person visits, we need to be as smart as possible to maintain our high guidebook standards and stay in the black.

Every year I am pressured (for my own good) into producing more titles. My publisher has a huge appetite for getting more titles to sell. This is the only thing I dread about these meetings. This year (with the arrival of our new Athens & the Peloponnese guidebook in a few weeks), we have Europe pretty well covered. My publisher supports my priority to maintain the unique quality of our existing guidebooks before adding new destinations.

Bill Newlin, the boss at Avalon, is the ultimate guidebook publishing wonk. He internalizes all the sales data and lives and breathes ways to meet the market’s always-changing demands. I’m glad he’s on my team. He uses sales figures to make his case like a lawyer uses evidence. Back when we had a "Spain & Portugal" guidebook, he convinced me that the book would actually sell better if it were just Spain. We separated the two countries, and sure enough, Spain sales took off…and I had another book, to boot: Portugal. Two years ago, Bill said there’s a big appetite out there for Istanbul. I believed him. And now Istanbul is a solid part of our program.

Avalon would like guidebooks covering Barcelona and Scotland. But their new enthusiasm is for “full-color pocket guides.” Sales figures make it clear that customers want smaller books. Our competition is finding that the slimmed-down, pocket-sized, full-color versions of their established beefy country and city guidebooks are selling at least as well as the big books themselves.

As I begrudgingly accept this reality (I don’t want to enable travelers with a short attention span to base their trips on “lite” versions of my carefully researched books), I realize that the “lite” approach is already in my publishing DNA. A decade ago, my books were small and light — exactly what people are demanding today. In fact, on the back cover of each book, it said, “Don’t be fooled by overweight guidebooks.” Eventually these morphed into the full versions — Paris is now 570 pages rather than 200. While I’m satisfying the needs of people who want it all, I’m losing sales to people who like my work...but want a pocket guide more. They’ll pick up a lite version of the competition rather than a Rick Steves’ heavy. I'm now convinced that offering a small version won’t cannibalize sales of my big versions; it will just let me compete better in that new niche. So we are exploring ways to produce a parallel series of slimmer, more portable, full-color versions of some of my city guidebooks.

Another issue on the agenda was digital publishing. Sony and Amazon (Kindle) are battling it out for the electronic book market. E-books are already great for novels, but still clunky for reference works (such as guidebooks). I think guidebook information will eventually be used via digital screens. The iPhone format may eclipse the e-book format. My eyes glaze over whenever we get too deep into this, but I’m glad Bill is a futurist. I just repeat my mantra: “Content is king.” I will stay focused on creating the actual content...and let my publisher keep up with trends.

One digital opportunity that I am enthused about is iPhone apps. We agreed to aggressively come up with a way to design and share our various types of content (audio, video, and written). This will supplement our guidebooks and will be helpful to our travelers via their iPhones. Because of our archive of very practical podcasts, vodcasts, radio shows, and audio tours, we have a wealth of material to share with travelers who don’t even realize how helpful it would be...until they're in Europe, confronted with all that potential experience and joy, and wishing they had a little direction. I am determined to make our audio and video material available for free to anyone who can figure out the latest applications.

We are well into a long and costly revamping of all our maps, which makes them computer-generated but keeps the personality and user-friendliness that my talented map man, Dave Hoerlein, gives them. (I have over 70 work-mates at ETBD, and Dave was the first to join me back in about 1980. He knows Europe intimately from top to bottom and makes all our maps.) Computerizing our maps is necessary because when we morph into future digital applications, we don't want to be caught flat-footed with hand-drawn maps that can’t be manipulated for various emerging electronic platforms.

I asked Avalon about how my odd products are doing. Journals? I’m not talking about them enough, so, while nifty, they aren’t doing as well as they might. Maps? Borders carries them. Barnes & Noble does not. Phrasebooks? Hot, hot, hot. DVDs? Big hit with Costco.

What other European guides is my publisher also selling? They just partnered with the Let’s Go series for student travelers. Let's Go will maintain the Harvard student researcher formula. I love the series, see it not as a threat but as complementary to mine, and wish it well. Time Out guidebooks are distilled from a series of entertainment magazines produced by Europeans. It's top-notch and just right for a sophisticated European traveler or the American who wants that style of coverage. The Moon guidebooks, while still strong on the Americas and Asia, are pulling back on their Europe coverage.

According to the industry sales numbers, I’m happy with the way our books are doing. Our Rick Steves’ Italy, Paris, Ireland, Spain, and London — in that order — are in the top dozen best-selling travel books. They are the leading guidebooks to foreign destinations. The books that beat us are guides to Hawaii and Disney, and specialty/trendy titles like 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, and Getting Stoned with Savages (which I imagine would be a very good read). The first non-Hawaii/Disney guidebooks to make the list (after mine) are Fodors Italy, Lonely Planet Costa Rica, Dorling Kindersley’s Top Ten Paris, and Frommer’s Washington DC, in that order.

Thanks for your interest in our work as we continue gathering, organizing, and sharing all that information that helps us all travel smarter. Happy travels.

Posted by Rick Steves on February 17, 2009
Comments (54)

Yesterday I flew from Seattle to Washington DC, was picked up at the airport, and got to my hotel with 15 minutes to spare. I was there to accept the Citizen Diplomat Award from a huge gathering of the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) and to help kick off their annual convention with a talk about how I see the value of travel.

Plopping my bag in the hotel room and brushing my teeth, I marveled at how someone can fly clear across the country and get there with 15 minutes to spare...exactly as planned. While many enjoy complaining, I am forever impressed by and thankful for the airline industry here in the USA.

NCIV promotes citizen diplomacy with nearly 100 community organizations throughout the United States. Working with the US Department of State, their mission is to welcome and enrich the experience of people (mostly education, business, and political leaders) who visit our country. With 80,000 volunteers spread over every state, it is an inspirational group. And to be in a big hotel ballroom with hundreds of their leaders as part of their annual powwow was an inspiration for me. There’s always something uplifting about getting committed, caring people with the same passion together in the same room.

I enjoyed giving my "Travel as a Political Act" talk, and they seemed to gobble up the ideas. Even though I may have been preaching to the choir, there is a powerful, intangible value in such a pep rally (for me, as well as for my audience).

The Citizen Diplomat Award has been given six times. Senator William Fulbright received it first in 1987 for his work in establishing the Fulbright scholarship program, which pursues the same goals as the NCIV. I enjoyed time with Harriet Fulbright, who explained to me how she was keeping her husband’s heritage alive.

In 1946 Euro-visionaries, sitting on the rubble of their bombed-out continent, were realizing that something radical — like the creation of the European Union — needed to be done to prevent another such major war. That same year, broad-minded American visionaries, like Senator Fulbright, were also thinking outside the box to help our country learn from history and help build a more peaceful world. Throughout his long career, Fulbright provided global-minded leadership here in the USA.

In preparing for my award, I read the NCIV material (see www.nciv.org) and enjoyed seeing how a group with the same mission as my own company builds understanding between cultures that have a mirror-opposite agenda. At ETBD, we work to inspire Americans to travel with a mindset that helps make them more broad-minded and come home as better citizens of the planet. Meanwhile, NCIV works to help foreigners visit the USA and return to their homelands with a better understanding of our culture. While we’ve come up with our “become a temporary local” phraseology, NCIV has their “shape foreign relations one handshake at a time” and “you welcomed a stranger and sent home a friend” slogans.

After my talk at the main event, the NCIV president, Sherry Mueller, hosted a wonderful dinner party in her home — perfectly in keeping with the style of her organization, which does most of its best work in that grassroots kind of people-to-people venue. It was a joy for me to have our daughter Jackie (who’s a student at Georgetown — just a few blocks away — and is interested in citizen diplomacy) join me to meet the NCIV gang.

In working on my Travel as a Political Act book, I’ve been thinking about the value of people-to-people diplomacy. For instance, it’s great for parents to scrimp and scrape to give their student a foreign study experience. And it’s exactly as productive for people without their own students (or lacking the income to send a young person abroad) to host a visiting student here in the USA. It accomplishes the same noble goal.

The NCIV is frank about the lowly status of our nation’s battered image abroad and the importance of fixing it. I’ve realized lately how propaganda and sensational media distorts perceptions in both directions: causing foreigners to think less of us Americans, and causing us to misunderstand (and needlessly fear) people from distant lands.

NCIV knows that improving America’s image abroad is not a sales pitch spearheaded by a government-funded PR person. (We tried that and failed miserably.) It is actually the job of our citizenry in general. I remember when France had the very bad image from its proud and chauvinistic de Gaulle era. Then the French government actually inspired its people to be less judgmental and more welcoming — and today, that off-putting French snobbery is mostly a thing of the past.

The mission of NCIV is more than philanthropy. There’s an economic rationale, as the tarnished “Brand of America” is a business concern. People who don’t like us don’t want to buy our stuff. Many NCIV-types are excited about the Obama Administration. Obama is not a quick fix, but the arrival of a new administration gives us a fresh start and a chance for the world to give us another look. As a nation and as individuals, we can share, listen, respect, bend, and work together with the rest of the world.

Posted by Rick Steves on February 12, 2009
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Let me stoke your travel dreams for 2009 by sharing some of my favorite European experiences, roughly from northwest to southeast. Maximizing the experience is a dimension of smart budget travel that's just as important in challenging times as saving money. Imagine these...

On Ireland’s Aran Island, feel like the westernmost person in Europe as you lie on a rock with your head hanging over the cliff-edge, high above the crashing Atlantic at the Iron Age fortress of Dún Aenghus.

In Dublin, be the only tourist among 50,000 cheering fans in a stadium for a hurling match—that uniquely Irish game that's as rough and tumble as airborne hockey, with no injury timeouts.

Belly up to the bar in a neighborhood pub in Edinburgh and drink not beer, but whisky. Ask a local what they like best and why—you’ll find that whisky is as refined as wine, and suddenly you feel like an expert taster.

Hike the best-surviving stretch of Hadrians’ Wall, and picture being posted there back in ancient Roman times to keep out the scary Scots.

Sit in the choir for an evensong service in the York Minster—surrounded by men and boys singing their hearts out for the glory of God today, in a church built for the glory of God hundreds of years ago.

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Immersed in the wild and pristine vastness of England’s Dartmoor, trek from the hamlet of Gidleigh through a foggy world of scrub brush and scraggy-haired goats to find your own private Stonehenge. Arriving at a humble stone circle, sit and observe blackbirds and wild horses, and feel the echoes of druids worshipping and then partying right there thousands of years ago.

Posted by Rick Steves on February 10, 2009
Comments (17)

We are ready to kick off work on our next TV series, and will film three new shows this May in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. We did one show on both Slovenia and Croatia a decade ago. Now we know the area much better and can dedicate three episodes to the same region and do it right. The scriptwriting process is the first step. Then we set an itinerary, line up local friends, and get permissions. For these three scripts, I’m helped by Cameron Hewitt (co-author of my Croatia & Slovenia guidebook). Below you can see how I proposed the basic show structure and welcomed Cameron to volley back my rough outline with more flesh on it. Here are the just-fertilized eggs of three TV shows:

Show #1: Best of Slovenia (culture, food, local guide/friends Marijan and Tina?):
Ljubljana (market, Plecnik, Art Deco, prison hostel)
Bled, Lake Bled (Tito’s villa, castle, boat, island, traditions wedding, crème cake)
Julian Alps, Soca Pass loop (war sites, Kobarid museum, Italian memorial, the actual drive)
Skocjan Caves (better than Postojna)
Predjama Castle (so visual, not much beyond that)
Piran (finish with Venetian charm and Slavs in Speedos)

Cameron's Notes:
Ljubljana: architecture, especially Joze Plecnik -- NUK, Cobbler Bridge, his house
I know some good viewpoints for skyline shots of Ljubljana
Bled: skip the weddings since you covered it well last time?
Julian Alps: suspension bridges, watersports in Soca (look for kayakers), Hemingway connections
Predjama: Do a picnic there? Otherwise needs just a few seconds--not much there
Traditional Slovenian culture: beehives, hayracks, tourist farms (like agriturismos)
flight over Julian Alps? Local polka music--i.e., Avsenik?
In Karst (caves) section, visit a prsut-production facility? (prosciutto, very typical in Slovenia)
Consider Logarska Dolina? Very remote mountain region, more rustic than Bled
Consider Ptuj? Only interesting for Kurentovanje, but could get guys to dress up in the costumes
Skip Piran? It's so similar to Croatia, nothing unique about it--rather have more time for others
Smart to skip Lipica

Show #2: Best of Croatia
Dubrovnik (must include in this episode while actually covered in next, acknowledge too short a visit in this episode)
Korcula and boat to Split (town, Moreska Dance set up, sobe, actual ferry ride with island scenery)
Split (Diocletian, Paseo chic harbor front)
Plitvice (a good lamb on a spit bit)
Zagreb (naïve art, cathedral, square, the pilgrim spot in action, modern prosperity, freedom
Motovun/Istria, truffles, rustic meal)
Rovinj (climb tower, bike, commie monument, market action, old town, hotel/B&B, St Euphemia, ship builders’ museum, wine bar funky, wine bar chic, best meal)

Cameron's Notes:
Klapa Music in Split Vestibule is a must--maybe in lieu of Moreska?
Korcula: Did very well in last show, consider doing quickly--maybe in combination with Hvar to show two islands. Moreska Dance is OK but clichéd and well-covered before...skip it? Also since you already did the sobe routine on Korcula I'd do it elsewhere for this show (ideal in Dubrovnik).
Islands: Let's aim to make this quick & dirty, acknowledge the islands but move on right away. 30 sec each in Korcula and Hvar would do it.
Fishing Boat: One cool (and unique) way to do the islands might be to contact our friends in Split who have refurbished a traditional Croatian fishing boat and take tourists out for day-trips. I think they often work with an actual salty Croatian fisherman/captain. Might be more trouble than it's worth, but at least it'd be more interesting than sitting around a snack bar on a Jadrolinija ferry. Instead of spending a day in Korcula, could spend a day on the seas with this boat, go to Hvar, etc.
Split: Talk about local sculptor Ivan Mestrovic (works in town, gallery on outskirts)
Zagreb: Don't get hung up on "modern prosperity" and "freedom"--it's ancient news and was never really relevant in Yugoslavia anyway. Instead focus on the thriving urban side of Croatia (contrast to the idyllic coastline)
Motovun/Istria: Go to Konoba Astarea for traditional feast, esp. peka (lamb in copper pot at giant fireplace); could do a truffle hunt in Istria, but I think you already did this in Italy
Rovinj: I wouldn't linger on the wine and food stuff here--it's far better elsewhere in Istria (and Croatia). Focus instead on how picturesque/atmospheric the place is. Emphasize usefulness as a home base.
Hvar: Instead of/in addition to Korcula to give some balance (and not overemphasize this one island in two different shows). The Benedictine monastery where nuns make lace out of cactus fibers is fascinating, great views from fortress
Pula: very quick visit to show the amphitheater and ruins in Old Town (in context of Rovinj daytrip)
Opatija: for a taste of Habsburg opulence (ties in neatly with Istria) War Damage: Visit Otocac to show damaged buildings, cross made of shells, contrast Catholic vs. Orthodox church, roadside memorial just outside of town. Don't overplay the war, but acknowledge/explain well.

Show #3: Dubrovnik and Balkan Adventures
Dubrovnik (jazz, bar on wall, predictable sites, wall, war, story of Yugoslavia, Pero’s B&B)
Bay of Kotor (Kotor, Perast, boat to island, Lady of the Rock tour, Kotor town, switchbacks)
Sveti Stefan and Budva Riviera?
Cetinje, monastery in action?
Serb Republic, Trebinje, Nevesinje
Sarajevo (1914 stuff)
Mostar (bridge, jumping, commerce, church, reconciliation, war, cemetery, youth scene, modern life, hope)

Cameron's Notes:
Dubrovnik: Skip the jazz--not a big deal here. Hole in the wall bar is a must. Could combine Pero with visits to other great sobe (e.g., Jadranka) to emphasize value over hotels. Also consider monastery museums, Serbian Orthodox Church (maybe irrelevant because of trip to Serb areas), ice cream, beaches (some with great views of the Old Town), etc.
Old Fortress: The ruins of the old fortress are right above Dubrovnik. Great views, and also we know a driver who's a neat guy and was an actual veteran of the war, could take us up and give us his firsthand account. Could be a fresh look at the war, rather than just a rehash.
Bay of Kotor: I'd add the fortifications climbing the hill above Kotor, maybe even hike up there. Also add the super-scenic restaurant at the spring?
Republika Srpska: Good choices: rich town (Trebinje) vs. poor town (Nevesinje). In Trebinje, aim for market day? Not much else to see in town, but there's a huge church on the hillside above with glorious icons and historic ties to Kosovo--could provide good big-picture connection to "Serbia." If we show bombed-out mosque in Nevesinje, I feel it's only fair to also show bombed-out Serbian church in Mostar--powerful symbols of how the war was bad for all.
Near Nevesinje: I took a tour group to an ancient Orthodox church with a very charismatic local guide. It'd be fun to re-create. Mostar: Obviously this should be a major focus of the show. It's a fine balancing act: It's important to tell the story of the war and show the inspiring images of the survivors. It would be huge to get actual footage of the bridge being destroyed (like the movie in the museum) to splice into the show--really brings the story home. However, it's also essential not to ignore the more typical "tourist" sights of Mostar: mosque visit, Turkish houses (these are fascinating with a good guide), shops and galleries on Coppersmiths Street. It's a fine destination even without the war, so we don't want to let a fixation on the war overwhelm the show.
Other Mostar experiences: Balkan food (grilled meats, ajvar, burek); smoke a hookah at the cool Open Sesame bar; Alma can explain the social ritual of Turkish coffee
Sarajevo: Frankly, we might have a show even without Sarajevo. Could save that for next time.
Skip: I would skip Cetinje (redundant with Serbian church stuff in Bosnia; also, I find it boring in person, probably even more so on TV) and Sveti Stefan (I think it's still closed for renovation, and besides, it's nothing more than a silly footnote. Might only be worth mentioning since it's famous.)

From here, we decide which stops make the cut, establish a show structure, and actually write up rough eight-page scripts, which we’ll spend six days each on in May producing our new shows. We do that for ten more shows, and in October of 2010, we launch our next public television series.

Posted by Rick Steves on February 05, 2009
Comments (24)

I just found a travel expert who may just inspire the masses more than me. (Or at least inspire me to stop holding my daybag over my shoulder on one strap.) You might find this youtube bit worth two minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O_G03zqHf8

Happy travels… huh, huh, huh

Posted by Rick Steves on February 02, 2009
Comments (26)