Travel with Rick Steves

A tour guide from Sofia discusses how Bulgaria's changed since it joined the EU, professional foodie Fred Plotkin explains why coffee varies across Europe, and writer Elaine Sciolino reveals what she learned about the public and private sides of Iran since living in Tehran as a New York Times correspondent. Plus, hear why patron saints are so important to Italian culture. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Hear how author Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in a broken world through the people she's met in her travels to Italy and Rwanda. Also, Phil Borges reveals what he's learned from photographing indigenous people around the world, and playwright Peter Wortsman tells us why he loves the ever-evolving nature of Berlin. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Rick interviews ecologist Chris Morgan who says that saving the habitat for bears can save the planet for the rest of us. Get a taste of what wildlife photographer Marty Essen encountered from the Arctic Refuge to the Florida Everglades. Author Juan Villoro explains why soccer is as important as religion and shares an insider's perspective on life in today's Mexico City. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Learn why the Great Barrier Reef — one of Earth's greatest natural wonders — is facing serious threats to its survival. Then author J. Maarten Troost introduces us to the remote Pacific island nations of Kiribati and Vanuatu, whose people have lived for centuries on a series of coral atolls and rugged volcanic islands. And we'll get a first-hand report on traditional life in Papua New Guinea. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Rick shares notes on visiting Havana with Cuban travel expert Christopher P. Baker, then filmmaker Ken Burns discusses his documentary series celebrating the National Park Service's centennial. And Smithsonian historian Brent D. Glass recommends places to visit that make American history really come alive.  For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

As Ireland gears up for another All-Ireland Championship, find out how Gaelic sports reflect a distinctly Irish identity. Hear what it's like for an American travel writer to live in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Also, listeners recall some of their favorite travel memories from Ireland, Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Get tips for how to "do as the Romans do" in Rome's modern-day neighborhoods. Hear about the travel writer Will Hide's latest crazy rides, from cycling across the hills of Rwanda to driving what might be the world's "most dangerous road" up from Delhi into the Himalayas. Plus listen in as guides from Slovenia and Bosnia take listener calls to help plan fun trips to the countries of the former Yugoslavia. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Learn about the best places to visit in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to get a feel for what Communist-era life was like behind the Iron Curtain, now a quarter century in the past. Join us as we explore the allure of a flatlands road trip, where the unobstructed view makes the sky seem closer. And hear what kind of cross-cultural issues emerge when Europeans marry Americans. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Actress Joanna Lumley details her trip of a lifetime: a 4,000-mile trek up the Nile River all the way to its source, the swampy highlands of Rwanda. We'll hear how the river's personality varies over its course — past Cairo and Luxor, through Sudan and Lake Victoria — and about the sights she saw and people she met along the way. Plus, listeners share surprises they encountered on their own memorable adventures around the world. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Learn about the important role lighthouses played in the 19th century, and which are the most interesting to visit in the US and France. Then hear a tour guide from Wales explain the pride that comes from belonging to this distinctive corner of Great Britain, with its own language and traditions. And listen in as Rick visits England's Stanway House estate, a somewhat eccentric version of Downton Abbey that opens for visitors in the summer.  For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.