Michael Palin: New Europe

By: Michael Palin

Narrated by: Michael Palin

Michael Palin reads his own account of a journey into a new Europe. Michael Palin's New Europe starts with a simple idea: that only a couple of hours from home are a half of Europe that is for him as unknown and unexplored as the plateau of Tibet or the vastness of the Sahara. Cut off for most of his life by Cold Wars and Iron Curtains, Europe's eastern lands are now open for business - and Michael sets off to discover them. Visiting 20 countries, more than in his Himalaya and Sahara journeys combined, he encounters painful memories and exuberant celebrations.

Throwing himself into local life with his usual reckless curiosity, he samples pig fat with a brandy chaser, meets Romanian lumberjacks, drives the 8.58 stopping train from Poznan to Wolsztyn, learns about mine-clearing in Bosnia, treads the catwalk at a Budapest fashion show and watches Turkish gents wrestling in olive oil. It's New Europe, but vintage Palin.

©2012 Michael Palin (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Engaging

Wonderful to have the author as the narrator. Thought provoking and deeply relevant today, as the map of Europe continues to shift.

Parts of Europe people do not often visit

I guess I didn't like this book as much as other Palin travel books. Maybe it's because he visited parts of Europe not as known to me or to which it is more difficult to relate. It just took me so much longer to finish it. That won't keep me from reading other books. I love Michael Palin's delivery and his perspective.