Great Continental Railway Journeys is a British television documentary series presented by Michael Portillo.[1] In the early series, Portillo explores the railway networks of continental Europe, but in later series he also ventured further afield. He refers to a 1913 copy of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, as he describes how the places he visits have changed since Edwardian times. The first series was originally broadcast on BBC Two in 2012, and the seventh and final series was first aired in 2020.
The first series was originally broadcast on BBC Two in 2012. Portillo made five separate journeys across France, Germany, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and the countries whose land made up the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Production of a second series included filming in Spain and Gibraltar in May and June 2013, following the Ronda–Algeciras railway line, built in the 1890s by British interests under the Algeciras Gibraltar Railway Company, for the benefit of British officers stationed in Gibraltar wanting to travel to Spain and the rest of Europe.[2] To avoid offending Spanish sensitivities, the line was built concluding in Algeciras, a town in Spain on the opposite side of the Bay of Gibraltar, rather than at the Gibraltar border. Despite it having no direct connection to the European railway network, a chapter was devoted to Gibraltar in the 1913 guidebook.[3]
From the Mediterranean port of Tangier to the Berber city of Marrakech. Michael visits Fez, and then heads to Casablanca and the desert city of the Berbers; he then travels to a souk, finally arriving in Marrakech.
From the Italian Riviera to the Austrian Alps. Michael visits remote villages of the Cinque Terre, then heads to Parma. Next up is the Alps, stopping off in Rovereto and ending at the Brenner Pass, home to one of the world's longest rail tunnels.
Armed with his trusty 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo travels to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Portillo learns more of the city's past under Soviet control. Next stop is Lviv, the seventh-largest city in Ukraine. Here he tries making Varenyky, the popular Ukrainian dumplings. Portillo boards the night express to the Black Sea city of Odesa.
Now using a 1936 edition of Bradshaw’s Continental Handbook, Portillo visits the city of Salamanca, in northwestern Spain, where he discovers his family’s past during the brutal Spanish Civil War. In Madrid, he views Pablo Picasso's famous Guernica painting. In Zaragoza, he gets to test drive a train and later learns to dance the jota. In Huesca, Portillo meets the son of author George Orwell, and then travels to Canfranc Station, near the border with France, and learns of its role during the Second World War.
Portillo begins his journey in Palermo, capital of the Italian island of Sicily. Whilst visiting the Palazzo delle Poste government building he learns of its connection to fascistdictatorBenito Mussolini. Portillo travels to the southern city of Agrigento, here he explores the ancient GreekTemple of Juno, the gateway to the Valley of the Temples. He then travels inland to Enna to visit the former Mafia stronghold of Gangi. In Syracuse, Portillo visits the controversial monolith – Monumento ai Caduti italiani d'Africa (Monument to the Italian Fallen of Africa). The final leg of the journey is to Mascali, to visit Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna. Portillo travels the Ferrovia Circumetneanarrow-gauge railway to take in the magnificent vistas around the volcano, before taking the Funivia dell'Etna cablecar to the summit.
