Great Continental Railway Journeys Catch up, Series 7: 5. Linz to Bratislava on BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

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 takes him through spectacular scenery, from the handsome Baroque buildings of the northern Austrian city of Linz, through Czech South Bohemia to Prague, the city of a hundred spires, and onto the canyons and caves of the Moravian Karst region near Brno. He finishes on the River Danube in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava.\n\nAlong the way, Michael explores a dark era in European history, beginning with the return to Linz in 1938 of Adolf Hitler, who lived there as a boy. Beneath the balcony of the old town hall in the city’s main square, Michael hears how cheering crowds welcomed the Fuhrer’s announcement of the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany. \n\nAt Prague Central Station, Michael meets 87-year-old Zuzana Maresova, who, as a seven-year-old girl, climbed aboard a train to travel to safety in London. She tells Michael she was among hundreds of Jewish children rescued from Czechoslovakia by British stockbroker Sir Nicholas Winton, as part of the Kindertransport. \n\nCzech gymnasts at the Sokol sports stadium in Ceske Budejovice put Michael’s flexibility and balance to the test and explain how their mass movement inspired the Czech nation at the time of his guidebook. Michael joins the great grandson of artist Alphonse Mucha to hear how the father of art nouveau helped define Czech national identity in highly political paintings and designs for stamps and banknotes. \n\nA luxurious steel and glass villa designed in 1930 by the German architect Mies van der Rohe in a suburb of Brno is today a Unesco World Heritage Site. Michael discovers its history as a wedding present to a Jewish couple, who had to leave it to escape the Nazis.\n\nMichael’s guidebook recommends a famous gorge, where he descends in a cable car to explore stalactite and stalagmite grottos deep in the subterranean river Punkva. \n\nCrossing the Czech border into Slovakia, Michael reaches his final destination, one of Europe’s youngest capital cities, Bratislava.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 10

Michael Portillo continues his scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle, steered by his 1936 ...

22-07-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 9

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 ...

18-07-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 8

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, Mou ...

16-07-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 7

Michael Portillo’s 1936 Bradshaw’s Continental Railways Guide brings him to the Italian 'treasure island' of Sicily, full of natural beauty and 'scenery of the great ...

15-07-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 4

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 crea ...

28-06-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

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

BBC 2

All episodes

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 ...

24-06-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

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 ...

24-06-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

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

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

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

All episodes