The best stop in southern Spain is Sevilla. The city is a delight from a sightseeing, eating, and live-music point of view. And it's always changing. After a few days in town with the help of excellent local guides, I am right up to date for the 2014 edition of...

For several years, I've been wanting to return to the Algarve (southern Portugal), my favorite stretch of Iberian coastline. I'm generally in Iberia in April, when the beach towns are pretty dead, so I don't bother. Being here in June this year makes a huge difference -- it's lively, warm,...

The most horrible thing happened to me while doing my work in Rome. An evil man pretending to be me did all sorts of wicked things. It's a long story...kind of a nightmare. But thankfully, three young and courageous girls -- forces for cuisine justice -- rescued me, and everything...

Milano may be Italy's no-nonsense business and banking capital, but locals still have a sense of humor. Here's a new listing (from my upcoming Rick Steves' Italy guidebook for 2014) about a new monument that has quickly become a fixture:

Piazza degli Affari and...

Even though I've been coming to Milano for a long time, I enjoyed some great new sights on my latest visit. Here's another first-time-ever listing that will be part of the new and improved Rick Steves' Italy guidebook for 2014.

Art from Milan's...

I capped my Italy travels this year in the great city of Milano. And even though I've been coming here for a long time, I enjoyed some great new sights. Here's a first-time-ever listing that will be part of the new and improved Rick Steves' Italy guidebook for 2014.

My Orvieto guide was excited to surprise me with a visit to a very special and obscure site: the underground, fresco-covered, Etruscan tomb of the Hescanas family, which dates back to the fifth century B.C. It happened to be a tomb I knew very well, as for many years (back...

I was doing my best to stay in my hotel room and finish some writing. But there was a Pentecost festival going on outside, and the energy was building. I could hear it out my window. I couldn't resist, and joined the multitude that had gathered on the square in...

Orvieto is one of the most striking, memorable, and enjoyable hill towns in central Italy. And part of the charm is arriving by train or car (parking in the big, free lot just beyond the train station) and joining the locals to climb the town's natural fortress hill on a...

A favorite research chore for me in Orvieto is checking my restaurants...and then trying to find even better ones. (Actually, I guess that's a favorite research chore almost anywhere I go. Hey, it's a job.) I appreciate what I call "personality-driven restaurants," where the owner is forever enthusiastic about sharing...

There's something about Italy's Amalfi Coast that makes people put up with horrible traffic, high prices, and having to climb up and down every time you want to get somewhere. And yet, it's been attracting holiday-goers for centuries.

With each visit to Sorrento, I book my favorite taxi driver, Raffaele Monetti (he's been in my Italy guidebook for years), and enjoy a day exploring the jaw-droppingly scenic Amalfi Coast. I can't imagine trying to enjoy the views while driving, not to mention worrying about parking in the spindly little towns along the coast. A driver costs some money. But what a luxury: You're dropped off and free to explore until you're ready to move on. This time, I also booked a local guide to be sure to wring the most value out of the day for the 2014 edition research. With all that help, it was a very productive day.

With a million vistas, each one different, I could look out the window all day.

My favorite town to sleep in is Positano -- much better than Amalfi or any other town on this stretch of coastline. It's one of those places made to order for a romantic getaway. And late in May, the weather is just right.

In even the most resorty of places, you can always find a rosticceria, where classic local dishes are cooked up and ready for you to buy by the weight and take out. I don't know a lot of Italian, but a key phrase I do know is "da portar via" -- for the road. You can take your rosticceria meal down to the beach, grab a nice perch, and enjoy a cooked meal at not much more than picnic prices.

Ravello -- famous for its views -- is perched more than 1,000 feet above the Mediterranean. And it takes full advantage of every vista. This bar's little balcony is at what's called "The Terrace of Infinity." When you go there, you'll know...

I just spent two days in Naples, and loved it. It's one of the most fertile, churning, exuberant, and fun cities in all of Europe. And the entire time, I wondered, "Where are the tourists?" Of course, Naples has a reputation of being dangerous. But I think that any reasonable...

At Rome's E.U.R., the Museum of Roman Civilization has no actual artifacts, but it does have dozens of rooms full of plaster casts and models which illustrate the greatness of classical Rome. The highlight is a plaster model of Trajan's Column sliced up and laid out so you can actually see the scenes. The original is one of the first great examples of "continuous narration" -- when a relief is carved into a column as if winding a scroll around and around a huge...

When they call Rome the "Eternal City," I always think "eternal" means I'll find visiting it fascinating and rewarding forever. At the risk of offending a billion people, I have to say the city's cuisine is head and shoulders above any cuisine I've experienced so far on this trip.

After the rough and rustic small towns and countryside, we finished our Turkey shoot in the country's modern capital, Ankara. It feels like a boom town and the traffic was horrific. No trip to Turkey is complete without spending a day in one of its thriving and cosmopolitan big cities.

I've never been big on ballooning. It's expensive, you need to get up really early, and I'm a little bit afraid of the whole thing. Ballooning is popular in France's Loire Valley and in Egypt's Luxor on the Nile, but it's even more popular in Cappadocia in central Turkey. I...

I have long found Turkey one of the most exciting destinations in (and around) Europe. We have two shows on central and western Turkey that date back to the turn of the century, and it's time to update things.

Everyone talks about "tough economic times" these days. It's human...

The tenor of towns in Turkey changes depending upon how religious and conservative they are. Among western-oriented, secular, cosmopolitan Turks, Konya is not a favorite place. More women wear scarves here, and it's filled with pilgrims who come to visit the tomb of Sufi mystic Rumi (better known to Turks...

I enjoyed updating our Istanbul guidebook's Grand Bazaar chapter. While the main streets of the vast market are jam-packed with cruise groups and other tourists, explore into the back lanes and you find yourself far from the tourist scene. I was able to peek into amazing and surprising worlds. At...

While I was in Cairo, I kept thinking the Egyptians should check out Istanbul. Both are megacities with over 10 million people. Both come from a poor and chaotic recent history. While Cairo struggles, Istanbul is zooming ahead. Just driving into town from the airport, I noticed landscaping along the...