Rick Steves' Europe

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

After visiting Germany's greatest Gothic Cathedral in Cologne, we'll enjoy the good life German-style at a top mineral spa and try our luck at the Versailles of casinos in Baden Baden, crank some old time music and explore the Open-air Museum in the romantic Black Forest.

In Scotland, legends of Bonnie Prince Charlie swirl with pipers and kilts around crumbling castles. We remember Highland massacres in Glencoe, and try tossing a caber (log) at a Scottish clan gathering in Culloden. We play hide-and-seek with the Loch Ness Monster, tour a whiskey distillery in Oban, 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 in Rila, meet two sculptors (dad does Stalin, son does nudes), and enjoy a traditional dinner feast at a local home.