Product Details

• Actors: Lauren Bacall, Roddy McDowall
• Directors: Graham Loveridge
• Writers: Deborah Richardson, Lee Grant, Patricia Branch Larson, Rick Steves
• Producers: Tracy R. West
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Questar
• VHS Release Date: April 30, 2002
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1568551924
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,885 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Go beyond Spain and France with Rick Steves in Travel the World: Eastern Cities. This glorious hourlong program takes you to Prague, Budapest, and Istanbul, highlighting the little-known pleasures of these Eastern European urban centers. Walk the streets of Prague with the original Bohemians; see and hear the street musicians and performers who breathe vigorous life into the old, well-maintained city. Enjoy great art and strong coffee in Budapest as you relax into the flow of the Danube. Finally, travel to the eastern tip of Europe and experience the mix of familiar and alien cultures in Istanbul, gateway to Asia. The sights and sounds are vibrant and inspirational, and your host is charming and laid-back; you'll be buying tickets and renewing your passports in no time. --Rob Lightner

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fit the Bill, September 3, 2000

By 

"theodora_productions" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eastern Cities: Prague, Budapest and Istanbul [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A travelogue narrated in Rick Steves's monotone, this video is reminiscent of "The Lonely Planet" and "Amazing Destinations" Travel Channel programs, but without the annoying background music, and so down to earth that one might think of it as a home movie.

I bought it because of my interest in Istanbul, and got Prague and Budapest as a bonus. While watching it on tape was my alternative to expensive travel, I was soon shocked to discover that finding the tape was harder than booking a trip, as my extensive search yielded only two available titles.

Having resigned myself to making do with one third of a tape (Istanbul being one of three cities on it) I was pleasantly surprised by how much one can get on a short video. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.

I enjoyed the virtual tour of Hagia Sophia. The architectural drawings, written descriptions and innumerable photos that I had examined in the past could not impress me as much as Steves's camera panning and zooming around this 1,400 year old Cathedral, built on what was then the capital of the Roman Empire and the political center of the civilized world.

Unexpected pleasures included the boat trip across the Bosporus and views of other known sites. Walking or sailing past jam-packed shops, ancient homes and exotic palaces in busy streets, squares and water channels; hearing the cheerful sounds of this vibrant megalopolis and watching people eat and dance helped me imagine being there.

As a regular visitor to Istanbul, Steves found it appropriate to end with a short lesson in Turkish and a corny but telling phrase: "Never else have I found culture shock as enjoyable a package".

I now feel less remiss about not having spent time in the city that ruled the world for centuries, first as New Rome Constantinople and then as the capital of the Ottoman Empire.