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Series 7 (Shortened Versions): Episode 6
Michael Portillo continues his journey through Germany, guided by his 1936 Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide.\n\nAt 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 vision of how people might live in the 20th century.\n\nTravelling with author Julia Boyd to Nuremberg, Michael discovers that despite the First World War and the Third Reich, Britons and Americans loved Germany and German culture in the 1930s. Michael hears how one British tourist above all was welcomed by Hitler to Germany, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII.\n\nIn the medieval Bavarian city of Nuremberg, Michael visits the monumental buildings and parade grounds, which were the stage for vast Nazi rallies to publicise the regime around the world and arouse popular support at home. He finishes in Stuttgart, where an ambitious engineering project is underway that will integrate the city into a high-speed train route connecting Paris with Bratislava.\n\nMichael bags a ride in a high performance Porsche to the manufacturer’s Stuttgart headquarters and discovers that, in the 1930s, the founder designed an affordable car for mass production – the Beetle.
Source: BBC 2
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Great Continental Railway Journeys
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Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 7
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Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 3
Michael Portillo travels from the chateaux of the Loire Valley to the heart of the Champagne region at Reims.\n\nBeginning in historic Orleans, Michael follows his Bradshaw&rsqu ...
27-06-2024
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Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 2
Michael continues his rail journey through Spain with his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide. At the Museo Reina Sofia, Michael hears how the bombing of a small town in the Basque reg ...
24-06-2024
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 1
Michael Portillo sports a strikingly modern edition of his Bradshaw’s Continental Handbook, dated 1936. His destination lies close to his heart: the ancient kingdom of Sp ...
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Series 7: 6. Stockholm To The Arctic Circle
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 ...
19-03-2024
BBC 2
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Series 7: 5. Linz To Bratislava
Michael Portillo travels by train through Austria and the Czech Republic, following his Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, published in 1936. Michael’s journey ta ...
18-03-2024
BBC 2
Most popular episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 2
Michael continues his rail journey through Spain with his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide. At the Museo Reina Sofia, Michael hears how the bombing of a small town in the Basque reg ...
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BBC 2
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Series 7: 3. Berlin To Stuttgart
Michael Portillo embarks on a rail journey through Germany, steered by a Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide published in 1936. His unique window on Europe between the wo ...
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Series 3 - Reversions: 6. Warsaw To Krakow - Part 2
13-03-2019
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Series 3 - Reversions: 5. Warsaw To Krakow - Part 1
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Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 8
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Michael Portillo returns to his native Spain as he follows the railway lines travelled by the intrepid tourists of the Belle Epoque.
18-08-2014
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Series 2 - Turin To Venice
Michael Portillo takes the train from Turin to Venice. Along the way, he recreates the Italian Job, follows fashion in Milan and visits Shakespearean Verona.
19-08-2014
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Series 3 - Reversions: 7. La Coruna To Lisbon - Part 1
15-03-2019
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