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Prague to Munich - Part 1

Michael Portillo explores Bohemia and Bavaria, sampling the sulphurous waters of Marianske Lazne and riding a piece of German railway history.

With his 1913 guidebook in hand, Michael Portillo explores the stunning art nouveau architecture of the Czech capital. In a cafe popular with artists of the time, he discovers the dance craze of the day - the tango - and gamely gives it a go. In the spa of kings, Marienbad, now known as Marianske Lazne, Michael samples the sulphurous waters and wallows in peat and mud. At the Skoda factory in Pilsen, he investigates how the machine products of peacetime gave way to the manufacture of armaments for war and test-drives a state-of-the-art passenger train locomotive made there today.

Crossing the border from Bohemia to Bavaria, Michael encounters a fire-breathing dragon in Furth-im-Wald, and in Nuremberg he rides German railway history - made in Britain. Arriving in Munich, he finds a blue horse created at the time of his guidebook and discovers an early 20th-century pioneer who laid the foundations for the city's pre-eminence in science and technology today.

30 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Michael Portillo
Series Producer Alison Kreps
Executive Producer John Comerford

Broadcasts

Steam Railways

A collection of programmes from the 成人快手 archives on the beauty of steam locomotives.