Travel with Rick Steves

The director of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art tells us how a small city in Arkansas became home to a major art museum. Then author Rick Antonson describes how motoring west along the legendary Route 66 can reveal easily overlooked slices of Middle America. Plus, a Dutch tour guide discusses Amsterdam's reliance on bicycles — and what visitors should know before jumping into the bike lane.

At a time of year when, according to some cultures, the worlds of the living and the dead come a little closer together, a historian joins us to explain how vampire stories arose from eastern European legends of the "undead." Then Irish writer Fintan O'Toole describes the role of the supernatural in Celtic traditions and in more recent Irish literature. And listeners describe eerie encounters they've experienced while traveling in Europe.

Rick's inimitable Istanbul guide Lale Surmen Aran shares tips for eating well on the cheap in her city, where vendors and inexpensive cafeterias offer great local food amid the vibrant street scene. Then the curator of Paris' legendary Père Lachaise Cemetery describes what it's like to live among 70,000 graves, world-famous tombs, and surprising urban wildlife. And author Robert Macfarlane tells us about two of England's most mysterious landscapes.

David Beckmann, former president of the anti-hunger organization Bread for the World, explains why global progress in the fight against poverty is faltering and how compassionate Americans can still help turn the tide. Plus, author Timothy Egan explains the legacy of one of the most famous Irish American immigrants of the 19th century.

The most popular storyteller of our time, author James Patterson, shares insights he gained from talking to the people who work behind the scenes to make Las Vegas America's most extravagant tourist mecca. And a tour guide from Morocco invites us to imagine a very different type of desert experience as he describes sleeping under the dazzling night sky — the same that's guided travelers for millennia — that stretches over North Africa's vast Sahara.

A biking Brit explains how easy it is to find evidence of the people from centuries past along the backroads of England and Scotland. And a pair of British tour guides get us ready to visit England's magnificent and historically important cathedrals, from Canterbury to York Minster.

Hear what it's like to live on one of the windswept Orkney Islands, off the northernmost tip of Scotland, where people have made a home since prehistoric times. Then learn how redesigned urban centers in Europe have had a positive impact on quality of life — and get ideas for making your own city a more enjoyable place to be outdoors. And consider some of the world's most fascinating nomadic societies, from their often underappreciated role in history to their struggles in the modern world.

Paul Theroux hits the road from Newfoundland to Vancouver, chasing his own family history and seeking out the stories of people across Canada's vast, diverse landscape. And journalist Euny Hong explains a Korean system of nonverbal social skills, sharing how it can help in your travels — and in your life.

A self-described "Rome nerd" helps us picture what it was like to live in the Roman Empire and explains how much we can learn about the era from its now 2,000-year-old rubble. Then a tour guide from Bulgaria sings the praises of its cultural capital, Plovdiv — one of the oldest cities in Europe, possibly in the whole world. And listeners share serendipitous stories from their European travels.

A Cypriot businessman-turned-philosopher connects the act of travel with the larger journey of our lives, and shares how revisiting places we've been before can help us to see them — and ourselves — in a new light. Plus, a cultural historian based on Easter Island recommends ways to experience the diverse cultures of the far-flung nations of the south seas.