Customer Reviews

Eastern Cities: Prague, Budapest and Istanbul [VHS]

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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.