In this special, it’s party time in Europe. In addition to all its epic history and high culture…

In the thin-air “thriller” special, join Rick Steves on an alpine adventure from Italy to Austria to Switzerland to France…

Travel expert Rick Steves sails beyond Europe for a one-hour special, Egypt: Yesterday and Today. Join Steves for an exploration of historic and cultural wonders, including the teeming metropolis of Cairo, the fabled city of Alexandria and the glories of the pharaohs in Luxor. He also brings viewers into a wonderland of back lanes and shops, meeting artisans, craft makers and vendors.

In the 1600s and 1700s, the art of "divine" kings and popes — and of revolutionaries and Reformers — tells the story of a Europe in transition. In the Catholic south, Baroque bubbled over with fanciful decoration and exuberant emotion. In the Protestant north, art was more sober and austere. And in France, the excesses of godlike kings gave way to revolution, Napoleon, and cerebral Neoclassicism.

Around 1400, Europe rediscovered the aesthetics of ancient Greece and Rome. This rebirth of classical culture showed itself in the statues, paintings, and architecture of Florence, then spread to Spain, Holland, Germany, and beyond. The Renaissance — from art-loving popes to Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" and Michelangelo's "David" — celebrated humanism and revolutionized how we think about our world.

After Rome fell, Europe spent a thousand years in its Middle Ages. Its art shows how the light of civilization flickered in monasteries and on Europe's fringes: Christian Byzantium, Moorish Spain, and pagan Vikings. Then, around A.D. 1000, Europe rebounded. The High Middle Ages brought majestic castles, radiant Gothic cathedrals, and exquisite art that dazzled the faithful and the secular alike.

The Romans gave Europe its first taste of a common culture — and awe-inspiring art. From its groundbreaking architecture to its statues, mosaics, and frescos, Rome engineered bigger and better than anyone before. At its peak, the Roman Empire was a society of unprecedented luxury, with colossal arenas for entertaining the masses and giant monuments to egotistical emperors. And then it fell.

In times of crisis and challenge, we ask ourselves: What is the true value of travel? Is it just hedonism...or something more powerful? After a lifetime of exploring Europe Rick Steves shares his reasons why. This special episode is a sonnet to travel — an introspective love story, set in Europe, that vividly celebrates the rewards of exploring our world and the joy that awaits those who travel.

Travel lovers unite! Rick highlights the places he'd love to visit when we can travel again, in a montage of destinations including Sicily, Mykonos, England’s Cotswolds, Tuscany and Romania.

In this one-hour special, Rick Steves travels across the Alps with scenic train rides, breathtaking lifts, majestic glaciers, and unforgettable hikes.