Michael Portillo is on the last stretch of his railway adventure through the Balkan countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. He enjoys a helter-skelter journey on the historic line from Sarajevo to Mostar, descending 600 metres through the Dinaric Alps, passing through over 90 tunnels and travelling across more than 40 bridges to the capital of Herzegovina. He reflects on the ethnic and religious divisions which tore apart the old Yugoslavia and his own experiences as part of an international commission seeking the bodies of thousands of missing persons.\n\nAdmiring the iconic bridge at the heart of the city, now rebuilt after its destruction during the conflict, Michael is keen to learn how the people of the city are rebuilding their lives. At the Mostar Rock School, he meets diverse young people from the community who play music together. En route back to Croatia, Michael inspects the handsome Peljesac Bridge, opened in 2022, which provides borderless travel over the Adriatic Sea from north to south Croatia, avoiding the need to cross into Bosnia.\n\nThe magnificent walled city of Dubrovnik is Michael’s final destination. He discovers it was once the independent republic of Ragusa and enjoys its traditional music and dancing.
Source: BBC 2
Series 8: 5. Mostar To Dubrovnik
Michael Portillo is on the last stretch of his railway adventure through the Balkan countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. He enjoys a helter-skelter journey on the hi ...
14-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 4. Sarajevo
In Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Portillo traces the fateful last journey in 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, which ended in the ...
13-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 3. Knin To Split
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches the Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar, once an important Venetian trading hub and still a centre for the production of a Venetia ...
12-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 2. Buzet To Pag
Ably assisted by Lila, an expert labrador, Michael Portillo hunts for truffles in the Istrian countryside near the hilltop town of Buzet. His railway adventure through the Balka ...
11-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 1. Pula To Pazin
Michael begins a journey across the Balkan countries of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Armed with shield and sword and weighed down by a heavy helmet, he mounts a valiant d ...
10-03-2025
BBC 2
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
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
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
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
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
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
Series 7: 1. Salamanca To Canfranc
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 Spa ...
11-03-2024
BBC 2
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
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
Series 6 - Reversions: 1. Kiev To Odessa Part 1
With his Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide in hand, Michael Portillo ventures east to a land which a century ago was part of the Russian Empire and today is the independ ...
14-05-2018
BBC 2
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
Series 2 - Madrid To Gibraltar
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
BBC 2
Series 1 - Reversions: 9. Berlin To The Rhein Part 1
23-02-2015
BBC 2
Series 2 - Reversions: 2. Madrid To Gibraltar: Part 2
04-01-2018
BBC 2