Rick Steves' Europe Video

Just strolling through Berlin, Germany's delightful parks and neighborhoods gives a fun glimpse into today's good times. Life here, especially in what was dreary East Berlin, is a poignant — even jarring — mix of tragic history, hedonism, and a now thriving economy. At http://www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts...

Nicknamed “the brain of the Veneto,” the Università degli Studi di Padova was founded in 1222, one of the first in Europe. At the university is Europe's oldest surviving anatomy theater, where students watched professors dissect human cadavers.

With its huge scale and prickly silhouette, Château de Chambord is the most “must-see” of all of France's Loire Valley châteaux. If you hate crowds, you’ll like Chambord. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

Spain's Seville Cathedral is the third-largest church in Europe (after St. Peter’s in the Vatican, and St. Paul’s in London) and the largest Gothic church anywhere. When they ripped down the mosque that stood on this site in 1401, the Reconquista Christians bragged, “We’ll build a cathedral so huge that anyone who sees it will take us for madmen.” At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving tr...

Because half of the Netherlands is below sea level, the Dutch must battle the North Sea by creating and maintaining dikes. But at the sea-side resort Scheveningen, the Dutch play in the sea, rather than fight it. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland, is a lush city park and cheery lunchtime spot. Nearby, you can visit the museum at Number 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street for a step back into Dublin's Georgian era. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

The tradition of carpet weaving is integral to Turkish culture. While shopping in the big carpet stores throughout Turkey, remember that bargaining is expected and prices often build in a 20% commission for the guide who brought you in. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

The Spanish Steps and Campo de' Fiori in Rome, Italy, are two popular gathering places for locals and travelers alike. The Spanish Steps offer a place for romantics to savor the joy of being in Rome, while the Campo de' Fiori bustles in the morning with a vibrant market. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts,...

Copenhagen's Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is one of Scandinavia's top art galleries. From the delightful Wintergarden at the museum's entrance, you can go off to explore the museum's fortes: ancient Mediterranean art and 19th and 20th century French and Danish art. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on...

The best place to both remember and learn about the Holocaust is Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. This sprawling and beautifully landscaped memorial and museum is dedicated to chronicling, remembering, and learning from the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and...

Rick Steves and his co-author Steve Smith dine like kings at Château de Pray near Amboise, France. The pair discusses why a fine French meal is a lifetime memory. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

The powerful Rhine has long been treacherous to navigate. The most dangerous bend in the river swings around a rocky bluff called the Loreley. Just downriver from the Loreley is the pleasant town of St. Goar, founded in the sixth century by a monk famous for his hospitality. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcas...

Two things Scotland is known for are its convivial pubs and its great literature. To enliven its literary history, take the Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

Prague has long been a mecca for musicians — Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni, debuted here, and Dvořák lived and composed here. Box offices around town give you all the options, and tickets are about half what you'd pay in Vienna. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

At the flower auction in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, it’s clear: flowers are big business in Holland. Visitors are welcome to witness millions of dollars in the trafficking of flowers. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

A freak rainstorm and flash floods hit Italy's Cinque Terre in October 2011, but the townsfolk have rebuilt and Vernazza has recovered. Traditions survive in Vernazza, even today. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

For 600 years the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium, has stood as a memorial to the power and wealth of Bruges at its height. Across the street is a former hospital that has been converted into the Memling Museum, housing paintings from the Flemish Primitive master Hans Memling. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs...

A Turkish pizza is called pide. In Turkey, get off the main road — any little town will have the local equivalent of a pizza joint. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

La Défense in Paris, France, is a forest of skyscrapers nicknamed Paris’s “petit Manhattan.” La Grande Arche, inaugurated in 1989 on the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, is the centerpiece of this ambitious complex. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

Amsterdam's characteristic and canal-filled Jordaan district offers a quiet slice of Dutch urban life. Built in the 1600s for warehouses and to house workers, it’s now home to artists and inviting little restaurants and cafés. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

Taking a stroll through the old town of Vienna, Austria, offers opportunities to be delighted by elegant storefronts and lively people-watching. Grab a quick herring sandwich and a tiny Austrian beer called pfiff for lunch. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

At Enoteca Cangrande in Verona, Italy, an array of dishes and wines celebrate local Italian ingredients. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

In Jerusalem’s New City, we appreciate this culture’s fascinating mix of east and west, secular and sacred, modern and traditional. While it’s not convenient or economical to live in the medieval tangle of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, Israel, devout Jews find great joy in living and raising their families so close to the Western Wall. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips...

In Berlin, Germany, socialist realism — the art of the communist era — actually went beyond censorship. Art was legitimate only if it actively promoted the state. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

The Palace of Versailles outside Paris, France, was built along an eight-mile axis. The palace's lavish gardens were Louis XIV's way of asserting his total command over nature, while Marie Antoinette's Little Hamlet fulfilled the queen's rustic fantasy of peasant life. At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, an...