Great Continental Railway Journeys

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  • : 39
  • : 11
  • BBC Two
  • 21
  • Documentary Travel

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0x1
Season 1 Reversions: London to Monte Carlo (1)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo embarks on a railway adventure which takes him across the heart of Europe. Steered by his 1913 railway guide, Michael journeys through a prosperous prewar Europe of .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: London to Monte Carlo (2)
Episode overview
Armed with his 1913 railway guide, in the second part of his journey from London to Monte Carlo, Michael Portillo follows the most popular route of the Edwardian traveller through .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Hungary to Austria (1)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo continues his railway adventure which takes him across the heart of Europe. Steered by his 1913 railway guide, Michael journeys through a prosperous pre-war Europe of .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Hungary to Austria (2)
Episode overview
Steered by his 1913 railway guide, on the second part of this journey Michael Portillo continues to explore the once-great empire of Austria-Hungary, domain of the famous Habsburg .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Switzerland (1)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo continues his railway adventure which takes him across the heart of Europe. Following in the footsteps of early 20th-century travellers, on this journey Michael uses his .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Switzerland (2)
Episode overview
Following in the footsteps of early 20th century travellers, on the second part of this journey Michael Portillo uses his 1913 railway guide to explore Switzerland, whose remarkable .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Amsterdam to Northern France (1)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo continues his railway adventure which takes him across the heart of Europe. Steered by his 1913 railway guide, today Michael journeys through a prosperous pre-war Europe .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Amsterdam to Northern France (2)
Episode overview
Using his 1913 railway guide, in the second part of his journey through the low countries and France, Michael Portillo travels to the French sector of the Western Front, where from 1914, .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Berlin to the Rhein (1)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo continues his railway adventure which takes him across the heart of Europe. Steered by his 1913 railway guide, Michael's journey through Germany begins in Berlin, which .. show full overview
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Season 1 Reversions: Berlin to the Rhein (2)
Episode overview
Steered by his 1913 railway guide, on the second part of this train journey through Germany, Michael Portillo continues through the industrial Ruhr Valley to learn how imperial Germany .. show full overview
0x11
Season 2 Reversions: Madrid to Gibraltar (1)
Episode overview
Armed with his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo returns to his native Spain to discover what the intrepid tourists of the Belle Epoque experienced on their travels through the fading .. show full overview
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Season 2 Reversions: Madrid to Gibraltar (2)
Episode overview
Armed with his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo returns to his native Spain to discover what the intrepid tourists of the Belle Epoque experienced on their travels through the fading .. show full overview
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Season 2 Reversions: Turin to Venice (1)
Episode overview
Steered by his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo takes the train from the former political capital of Italy, Turin, to Casanova's capital of romance, Venice. Along the way, he .. show full overview
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Season 2 Reversions: Turin to Venice (2)
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Season 2 Reversions: Dresden to Kiel (1)
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Season 2 Reversions: Prague to Munich (2)
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Season 2 Reversions: Dresden to Kiel (2)
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Season 2 Reversions: Copenhagen to Oslo (1)
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0x18
Season 2 Reversions: Copenhagen to Oslo (2)
Episode overview
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0x19
Season 2 Reversions: Prague to Munich (1)
Episode overview
With his 1913 guidebook in hand, Michael Portillo explores the stunning art nouveau architecture of the Czech capital. In a café popular with artists of the time he discovers the dance .. show full overview
0x21
Season 3 Reversions: Tula to St. Petersburg (1)
Episode overview
Aboard the high-speed Sapsan to St Petersburg, Michael discovers the history behind the line, once the longest double-tracked railway in the world. From the Grand Hotel, Europe, .. show full overview
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Season 3 Reversions: Tula to St. Petersburg (2)
Episode overview
Aboard the high-speed Sapsan to St Petersburg, Michael discovers the history behind the line, once the longest double-tracked railway in the world. From the Grand Hotel Europe, .. show full overview
0x23
Season 3 Reversions: Rome to Taormina (1)
Episode overview
Braving the traffic, Michael begins his Roman holiday by weaving among the capital city's magnificent landmarks on the back of a 1950s Vespa. Following in the footsteps of early .. show full overview
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Season 3 Reversions: Rome to Taormina (2)
Episode overview
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0x25
Season 3 Reversions: Warsaw to Krakow (1)
Episode overview
Beginning in Warsaw, Michael is puzzled by how a city famously razed to the ground after the Second World War can appear so beautifully preserved. He hitches a ride in a 1913 carriage to .. show full overview
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Season 3 Reversions: Warsaw to Krakow (2)
Episode overview
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Season 3 Reversions: La Coruna to Lisbon (1)
Episode overview
Beginning in Galicia, Michael discovers the elegant city of La Coruna, a fashionable destination for Edwardian Britons, for whom the principal attraction was the tomb of a British .. show full overview
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Season 3 Reversions: La Coruna to Lisbon (2)
Episode overview
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0x29
Season 3 Reversions: Lyon to Marseille (1)
Episode overview
His journey begins in the capital of cuisine, Lyon, where he finds out about the early 20th-century Meres Lyonnaises, to whom the city owes its gastronomic reputation. Ever keen to try .. show full overview
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Season 3 Reversions: Lyon to Marseille (2)
Episode overview
At the Palais de la Bourse, Michael hears how, at the time of his guide, the city was still reeling from the assassination of the country's president and how a shocked French nation .. show full overview
0x31
Season 4 Reversions: Sofia to Istanbul (1)
Episode overview
Michael's journey begins in Sofia, where he discovers the then newly independent orthodox Christian nation, which had broken free of the decaying Ottoman Empire and found an ally in a .. show full overview
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Season 4 Reversions: Sofia to Istanbul (2)
Episode overview
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0x33
Season 4 Reversions: Vienna to Trieste (1)
Episode overview
Michael's journey takes him through a patchwork of nations which a century ago formed part of the Austro Hungarian empire. His destination is the Adriatic port of Trieste. In Vienna, he .. show full overview
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Season 4 Reversions: Vienna to Trieste (2)
Episode overview
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0x35
Season 4 Reversions: Pisa to Lake Garda (1)
Episode overview
Michael discovers from a British engineer how the leaning tower of Pisa was rescued from near collapse. In Carrara, he finds out how the marble used by Michelangelo is still quarried .. show full overview
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Season 4 Reversions: Pisa to Lake Garda (2)
Episode overview
Michael discovers from a British engineer how the leaning tower of Pisa was rescued from near collapse. In Carrara, he finds out how the marble used by Michelangelo is still quarried .. show full overview
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Season 4 Reversions: Athens to Thessaloniki (1)
Episode overview
Exploring the Acropolis and delighting in the tastes of moussaka and baklava, Michael discovers the many influences at play in the creation of modern Greece - from its classical past to .. show full overview
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Season 4 Reversions: Athens to Thessaloniki (2)
Episode overview
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0x39
Season 4 Reversions: The Black Forest to Hannover (1)
Episode overview
With his 1913 Bradshaw's in hand, Michael Portillo ventures deep into the Black Forest on a quest to discover the essence of Germany and discovers how Hansel and Gretel helped to unify .. show full overview
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Season 4 Reversions: The Black Forest to Hannover (2)
Episode overview
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0x41
Season 4 Reversions: Transylvania to the Black Sea (1)
Episode overview
Travelling through what was, at the turn of the 20th century, one of Europe's youngest nations, Michael sinks his teeth into a Victorian gothic best seller and uncovers an unlikely .. show full overview
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Season 5 Reversions: Transylvania to the Black Sea (2)
Episode overview
Steered by his Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo continues his journey through Romania, tapping into the nation's musical soul in Bucharest and loading cargo .. show full overview
0x43
Season 5 Reversions: Zermatt to Geneva (1)
Episode overview
Armed with his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo embarks on a journey from the Swiss Alps to the shores of Lake Geneva. Along the way, he marvels at the Matterhorn and is rescued from .. show full overview
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Season 5 Reversions: Zermatt to Geneva (2)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo uses his 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway guide to complete his journey through Switzerland. En route, he is caught up in a war zone with the Red Cross, takes to the .. show full overview
0x45
Season 5 Reversions: Genoa to Brenner Pass (1)
Episode overview
Michael Portillo embarks on a glorious action-packed adventure from the Italian Riviera to the Austrian Alps with his Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Guidebook in hand. Along the way, our .. show full overview
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Season 5 Reversions: Genoa to Brenner Pass (2)
Episode overview
At La Spezia, an important Italian naval base, Michael discovers how Italy's imperial ambitions put her at the forefront of modern aerial warfare. Michael is piped aboard the frigate ITS .. show full overview
0x47
Season 5 Reversions: Baltics (1)
Episode overview
A hundred years ago, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were part of the Russian Tsar's vast empire but, as Michael discovers, each country had a vibrant identity and culture of its own. Aboard .. show full overview
0x48
Season 5 Reversions: Baltics (2)
Episode overview
With his 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide in hand, Michael Portillo continues his journey through Latvia, Estonia and Finland. On this leg, he finds peace paddling a canoe on .. show full overview
0x49
Season 5 Reversions: The Netherlands (1)
Episode overview
In Rotterdam, Michael finds the great commercial activity mentioned in his guidebook has reached epic proportions through the port's automated terminal. He takes a water taxi along the .. show full overview
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Season 5 Reversions: The Netherlands (2)
Episode overview
Plucking up Dutch courage Michael takes to two wheels in Amsterdam's fast moving cycle lane and heads for the Indies district, where he samples a delicious "rijstafel" of dishes from the .. show full overview
0x51
Season 6 Reversions: Kiev to Odessa (1)
Episode overview
Beginning in the capital, Kiev, Michael explores the city described in his century-old Bradshaw as the 'Jerusalem of Russia'. At Kiev's beautiful St Sophia Cathedral, Michael seeks to .. show full overview
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Season 6 Reversions: Kiev to Odessa (2)
Episode overview
In Lviv, Michael learns to make Vareniki, the sour cheese-filled pasta, which is so popular in Ukraine, and encounters a much loved 19th-century poet before boarding the overnight .. show full overview
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Season 6 Reversions: Batumi to Baku (1)
Episode overview
Michael begins in the port of Batumi on the dazzling Caucasian Riviera. He savours the soul of Georgia in its wine and discovers a surprise 19th-century tea plantation in the West .. show full overview
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Season 6 Reversions: Batumi to Baku (2)
Episode overview
Skirting disputed Georgian territory occupied by Russians today, Michael discovers that a Briton was the first to conquer the highest mountain in the Caucasus range. To capture his own .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 1
Episode overview
He starts in the beautiful golden city of Salamanca, where his father was happy as a young left-wing professor. Michael visits the University to hear of opposition to the fascist .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 2
Episode overview
Zaragoza’s modern tram network takes Michael to a factory where he is invited to test-drive new rolling stock destined for Britain. In the shadow of the city’s splendid cathedral, .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 3
Episode overview
Beginning in historic Orleans, Michael follows his Bradshaw’s guide to the magnificent stained-glass windows of the Cathedral of Sainte-Croix, which tell the story of the heroine of .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 4
Episode overview
Arriving in Paris at the Champs de Mars station, Michael takes in an epic view of the city from the top of the Arc de Triomphe before heading for Montparnasse, where wildly creative .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 5
Episode overview
His unique window on Europe between the world wars takes him through a tumultuous period in German history, when the nation’s first democracy and its vibrant culture of art, design and .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 6
Episode overview
At the birthplace of Germany’s first democracy, Weimar, Michael investigates the beginning of Bauhaus design and visits the movement’s first building, a family house encapsulating a .. show full overview
0x61
Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 7
Episode overview
On a railway journey from the capital, Palermo, through the ancient town of Agrigento and the port of Siracusa, to Europe’s largest volcano, Mount Etna, Michael explores Sicilian life .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 8
Episode overview
Michael continues his railway journey from Sicily’s capital, Palermo, through the ancient town of Agrigento and the port of Siracusa to Europe’s largest volcano, Mount Etna. Michael .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 9
Episode overview
Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle, steered by his 1936 edition .. show full overview
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Season 7 Shortened Versions: Episode 10
Episode overview
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Characters