Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, January 2022
A perch for daydreams amid castle ruins. Photo by Rick Steves.

South of Munich in the foothills of the Alps, I toured Hohenschwangau Castle. It was “Mad” King Ludwig’s father’s castle — and Ludwig’s boyhood summer home. When his father died, Ludwig became king. He was just a boy, 19 years old. And rather than live with the frustrations of a modern constitution and a feisty parliament in Munich reining him in, King Ludwig II spent his next years lost in Romantic literature and operas ... hanging out here with composer...

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Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, January 2022
Capri has attracted visitors since ancient times. Photo by Rick Steves.

Along the heights of the Amalfi Coast in Italy, every inch is terraced, connected by steep stony staircases that tempt visitors with twinkling — but treacherous — Mediterranean views. Climbing through terraced orchards of lemon trees, I’m hot and thirsty, fantasizing about fresh-squeezed lemonade.

And then, just like a fairy tale, I come upon the daughter of a farmer who seems to be waiting for a lost and parched American traveler. She welcomes me to her terrace to...

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Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, January 2022
A winding path in Switzerland's Berner Oberland region. Photo by Rick Steves.

It’s a glorious Swiss Alps morning. I’m spending my day walking with my schoolteacher friend, Olle, exploring the alpine landscape high above his home in Gimmelwald.

We come to a bluff and pause to look down at his village. It’s a pastoral setting — a zigzag in the narrow paved service road lined with traditional wood homes, many of them two centuries old. In this peaceful community, nearly everyone has one of two last names and the children don’t play...

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Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, December 2021
My dinner with Franklin: <i>Indimenticabile</i>. Photo by Rick Steves

When I'm not in Europe, I like to recall my favorite meals on the road. I especially love the way Italians enjoy their food.

I’m sitting down for a meal with a friend at one of my favorite restaurants, Enoteca Cangrande in Verona. Eating in a little restaurant like this one, you have contact with the chef. We were here a year ago and chef Giuliano remembers us. Once we’re comfortably seated, he consults with us. As is our tradition, we encourage him to bring us...

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Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, December 2021
Helsinki’s Lutheran Cathedral. Photo by Cameron Hewitt

There’s a definite energy on the streets of Helsinki tonight. My friend Hanne explains, “We call Wednesday our ‘little Friday.’”

People are filling up the city’s main boulevard. There are so many people that I wonder if it’s some kind of demonstration. Then I see their robes and sheets of music and realize that these are choral groups, each represented by a placard. From all corners of the country, some 800 singers converge on the massive...

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Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, December 2021
An elegant pool at the Caracalla Thermal Baths. Photo by Sandra Hundacker

Relaxing at the spa resort of Baden-Baden in southern Germany’s Black Forest, I see more naked people in two hours than many Americans see in their entire lives.

Ever since the Roman emperor Caracalla bathed in the mineral waters here, Baden-Baden has welcomed those in need of a good soak. In the 19th century, the town was Germany’s ultimate spa resort, and even today, the name Baden-Baden is synonymous with relaxation in a land where the government still pays for its...

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Rick Steves' Europe
This article appears in our Print Edition, December 2021 -- Page 25
To explore both the country and the barn, think of the cheese course as a tour of France. Photo by Rick Steves

Because I come from a backpacker travel heritage, where a good picnic is the answer to a prayer, it’s taken me decades to recognize the value of a fine meal. Now I can enthusiastically embrace a long, drawn-out dinner splurge as a wonderful investment of both time and money. Nowhere is this truer than in France.

My friend and coauthor Steve Smith and I head to a fine restaurant in Amboise, in the midst of France’s château-rich Loire...

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Rick Steves' Europe Supplemental
This article appears in our Online Edition, November 2021
As a boy (right), I met an eyewitness (left) to the start of World War I. Photo by Rick Steves.

Here are some thoughts about how and why one of the most rewarding aspects of my travels is connecting with people — old friends and guides who actually lived through the local history and make it real for me.

On one of my earliest trips to Europe when I was just 14 years old, a family friend in a dusty village on the border of Austria and Hungary introduced me to a sage old man. I remember thinking he was a caricature of a classic old Austrian, with a handlebar moustache, a...

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