Leaving Lisbon for the countryside, we eat barnacles in a salty old fishing town, march with pilgrims on the anniversary of a miracle, ponder the local Romeo and Juliet, sample university life, and rummage through the riches of Portugal's Golden Age.

After marveling at masterpieces in the Louvre and strolling the Champs-Elysees, we explore a delightful Parisian neighborhood. We meet a pipe organist, drop by a butcher shop, design our own perfume, and cruise the Seine.

From the white cliffs of Dover to Land's End, we ponder Roman, Norman, and Nazi invasions. After exploring Admiral Nelson's flagship, we chase wild ponies across the moors and discover an ancient stone circle. For refreshment, it's cream tea and Cornish pasties.

After King Arthur country at Glastonbury, we go back in time to prehistoric Stonehenge. We sample hard apple cider in Wells, meet an eccentric lord in the Cotswolds, and visit an evocative ruined abbey in South Wales.

Rome welcomes the new millennium spiffed up as never before. We tour Rome's ancient sights from the Forum and Colosseum to the glorious Pantheon. Then, after hiking the Appian Way and exploring the catacombs, we track down the best gelato in Rome.

Rick teams up with his wife and kids to enjoy the good life, dipping into a classy mineral spa, trying our luck at a fancy casino, devouring chocolate-cherry cake, and exploring Germany's most romantic forest.

In Scotland, legends of Bonnie Prince Charlie swirl with pipers and kilts around crumbling castles. After tossing a caber (log) at a Scottish clan gathering, we remember Highland massacres. We play hide-and-seek with the Loch Ness Monster, tour a whiskey distillery, and take a ferry to sacred Iona.

Bulgaria is a time warp of old and new — from chic shops in the city to donkey cars in the country. We hike to a mountain monastery, meet two sculptors (dad does Stalin, son does nudes), and enjoy a traditional dinner feast at a local home.

After a pilgrimage to Michelangelo's Pieta, we climb to the top of St. Peter's Basilica. We seek out tucked-away Renaissance paintings and a cleverly-painted false dome. At the Borghese Gallery, it's exquisite sculptures by the master of marble, Bernini. Then we join the locals on an after-dark stroll, lacing together Rome's Baroque and bubbly nightspots.

After a Mount Ararat sunrise, we visit Abraham's 4000-year-old home town, tour one of the world's biggest dams, cheer on grease wrestlers, meet the gods atop Mount Nemrut, and dance with new friends in a village.

We whisper secrets across the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and eat our way through Soho. Then we check out the treasures of the new British Library, roll with the drums at the Changing of the Guard, and cruise the Thames to Kew Gardens.

We discover that Dubrovnik is still the "jewel of the Adriatic" while nearby villages decorate their dreamy archipelago with small-town Venetian charm. Ljubljana is like Salzburg without tourists. The Julian Alps glisten with pristine lakes as Lipizzaner stallions are eager to strut their stuff.

After going fishing for anchovies off Cefalu, we land in rough-and-tumble Palermo. Marveling at the eerie skeletons in a Cappuccin crypt, airy mosaics of Monreale, enchanting ruins of Segesta, and the fiery rim of Mount Etna, we enjoy the best of Sicily.

Beautifully filmed on location, this 3-part, 90-minute special distills Rick's 25 years of travel experience into practical tips on: planning a trip, overcoming the language barrier, getting around, finding accommodations, staying safe, and more. In this first of three shows covering travel skills, we'll visit the Netherlands and Germany to learn about transportation by train and car within Europe, changing money, and settling in upon arrival. How well you're able to enjoy the delights of Europe depends upon how well you plan and how skillfully you travel.

Beautifully filmed on location, this 3-part, 90-minute special distills Rick's 25 years of travel experience into practical tips on: planning a trip, overcoming the language barrier, getting around, finding accommodations, staying safe, and more. In this second of three shows focusing on travel skills, we'll visit Venice, Siena, and the Cinque Terre in Italy to learn about trip planning, packing, safety, and — perhaps the most rewarding skill of all — connecting with the locals. Going beyond the sights, Rick shares some practical tips to help make European travel fun and hassle-free.

Beautifully filmed on location, this 3-part, 90-minute special distills Rick's 25 years of travel experience into practical tips on: planning a trip, overcoming the language barrier, getting around, finding accommodations, staying safe, and more. In this third of three shows focusing on travel skills, we'll visit the Swiss Alps, Paris, and London while covering tips for finding the best accommodations, getting around in big cities, and enjoying Europe's cuisine. This information is key to making the most of your travel time and, if you're on a budget, can help you cut the cost of your travels in half.

Sorting through the monuments of magical Venice, we trace its decline from Europe's most powerful city to its most hedonistic. We cruise its main street - the Grand Canal - then get lost in its back lanes. We drink-in the art of Titian, Bellini, Donatello, and the Doge's Palace. We luxuriate in a venerable café on St. Mark's Square, enjoy calamari with locals in a canal-side pub, then find our own private Venice: on a gondola, under the moonlight.

Pulling on hip boots, we settle into the muck of Venice, then take a speedboat tour of the lagoon. On the mainland, we head for Padova to tour a once-illegal anatomy theater and track the restoration of Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel. In Vicenza, we admire elegant Palladian-style streets and villas. In Verona, we climb the Roman arena, jostle with tourists to rub the brass breast of Juliet, and taste-test grappa before riding the train to Ravenna for its dazzling 1500-year-old mosaics.

In the birthplace of the Renaissance, we look into the eyes of Michelangelo's David and Botticelli's Venus, learn tricks for touring the Uffizi art gallery, and climb the dome that kicked off the Renaissance. Then we delve into the Florentine good life: visiting a fragrant 400-year-old perfumery, sipping Campari on a rooftop, chasing the sunset on a Vespa, and sleeping serenely in a converted monastery.

In red-bricked Siena, we tour the town's innovative medieval hospital, lavish cathedral, and a bakery that makes panforte (like fruitcake, only delicious). Exploring the Chianti region, we sip Brunello di Montalcino — with its makers. Spending the night at a farmhouse, we meet the family and its sheep, learn of the Slow Food Movement, and enjoy a homegrown dinner. In Assisi, we follow the footsteps of St. Francis, from his humble chapel to the Giotto-frescoed basilica that holds his tomb.

In these five idyllic port towns, we sample village life: fishing for anchovies at midnight, savoring the best pesto, picking grapes, and cheering cliff divers as we hike the "walkway of love." Each pastel town is a delight, but my favorite is Vernazza - where Giovanni makes pasta and Granelli sells porcini mushrooms at the tiny street market. We side-trip to Carrara's historic quarries where Michelangelo selected his marble, then return to Vernazza to stroll its only street (with the entire village) as the sun sets.

Amsterdam stimulates all the senses, with Rembrandt's and stately architecture from its Golden Age, hidden churches and Holocaust memorials from its troubled times, and Van Gogh's and titillating street life from its modern age. Then, side-tripping into the countryside (and below sea-level), we hike dikes, climb windmills, tour the world's biggest flower market, and see how in Holland, "everything's just so Dutch!"

Newly energized Prague, slinky with sumptuous Art Nouveau facades, is perpetually playing Mozart and Vivaldi. Eastern Europe's top destination has Europe's best beer, biggest castle, liveliest pedestrian bridge, and most evocative Jewish Quarter. From Prague, we side-trip to Kutna Hora, once a silver-mining boomtown, to descend into its medieval mine and ponder its eerie chapel, decorated centuries ago with 40,000 bones.

Dublin's story is of feast and famine - from its 18th-century Golden Age to its 20th-century struggles for independence to its boomtime today. We explore the town's foreboding castle, patriotic jail, and Trinity College with its Book of Kells-a bright light in the Dark Ages. At night we party in Temple Bar, awash with Celtic music and frothy pints of Guinness. We side-trip to the prehistoric necropolis of Newgrange and the medieval monastery at Glendalough, tucked in the scenic Wicklow Mountains.

We find the icons of Ireland strewn along its fascinating south coast: Waterford's much-loved crystal factory; the Kennedy family homestead; the Dunbrody famine ship; and Kinsale's star-shaped fortresses. After learning why locals don't kiss the Blarney Stone, visit elegant Muckross House. Then savor the scenic charms of the Emerald Isle by driving the Ring of Kerry.