Far Eastern Odyssey

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey episode 2

Rick travels down the Mekong River to Vietnam. The country’s light and fresh food, prepared using an abundance of herbs, includes lots of freshwater fish and flavoursome soups made with thin strips of beef and rice noodles.

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In Saigon, Rick visits the old stomping ground of his hero Graham Greene, and in Hanoi he meets up with a former employee who delights in the varied and delicious street food of Vietnam’s capital city. For the ultimate in al fresco eating, Rick tries the night food stalls in the heart of Bangkok.

Rick Stein takes the viewer on an epic culinary journey by sea, down rivers and overland to explore the Far East’s diverse food cultures, which have soared to the heights of popularity the world over.

Far Eastern Odyssey

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey episode 1

Rick Stein takes the viewer on an epic culinary journey by sea, down rivers and overland to explore the Far East’s diverse food cultures, which have soared to the heights of popularity the world over.

 

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey episode 1

He begins his odyssey in Cambodia, a country still recovering from the regime of the Khmer Rouge. Nevertheless, tourists are beginning to return to this land dotted with sugar palms, paddy fields and small villages. Rick discovers the joys of freshly caught swimmer crabs cooked with green peppercorns from Kampot, once the king of pepper.

Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey episode 1
Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey episode 1

He learns how to cook the most famous dish in the country, fish amok, made with lemongrass and coconut, and he samples lok lak, an extremely popular and delicious dish made with stir-fried strips of marinated beef. Rick visits the awe-inspiring Angkor Wat temple before joining a rice barge to take him down the mighty Mekong River to the border of Vietnam.

Art, Travel

An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 6 – St Petersburg

In the final episode of their entertaining series of cultural city breaks, Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke explore St Petersburg through its dazzling art and architecture. They want to see how art has been used to enhance prestige and power in this city, ever since it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great.

Surrounded by vast palaces, gilded domes and imposing Soviet monuments, Janina and Alastair make a flying visit to their personal selection of imperial, communist and modern-day sights. They discover a city where art has always taken centre stage.

An Art Lovers' Guide episode 6
An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 6

From the intoxicating beauty of the state rooms at the Winter Palace to the bejewelled confections of Faberge; from the dark tunnels where curators guarded precious artefacts during the deadly siege of the city in the Second World War, to the apartment piled high with protest art painted by the outspoken ‘dissident babushka’.

Art, Travel

An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 5 – Barcelona

In this episode, Janina Ramirez and Alastair are on a mission to get to know one of the most popular cities in the world through its art and architecture. Although Barcelona is famous for its exuberant modernista buildings, the Gothic Quarter and artistic superstars such as Picasso, Janina and Alastair are determined to discover some less well-known cultural treats.

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Escaping the crowds on the Ramblas, they seek out the designs of an engineer who arguably put more of a stamp on the city than its star architect, Antoni Gaudi. Alastair marvels at the Romanesque frescoes that inspired a young Miro, whilst Janina discovers a surprising collection of vintage fans in the Mares, one of the city’s most remarkable but rarely visited museums.

An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 5 – Barcelona

With a behind-the-scenes visit to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, a session of impromptu Catalan dance and Alastair adding the finishing touches to some Barcelona street art, it is a fast-paced and colourful tour of the city’s art and artists, revealing how Barcelona developed its distinctive cultural identity and how the long-running fight for independence has shaped the artistic life of the city.

An Art Lovers' Guide episode 5 - Barcelona
An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 5 – Barcelona

With sumptuous palaces, exquisite artworks and stunning architecture, every great city offers a dizzying multitude of artistic highlights. In this series, art historians Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke take us on three cultural citybreaks, hunting for off-the-beaten-track artistic treats – and finding new ways of enjoying some very famous sights.

Art, Travel

An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 4 – Amsterdam

In this episode, they head to Amsterdam, a city that pioneered so much of modern life, from multinational trade to the way we design our homes. To find out how, Alastair and Janina take us on a fast paced tour of the city’s cultural hotspots. Picking their way through the crowds queuing to see Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum, they also introduce us to the paintings of Jan Steen, a Dutch legend whose paintings capture the city’s freewheeling lifestyle.

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With sumptuous palaces, exquisite artworks and stunning architecture, every great city offers a dizzying multitude of artistic highlights. In this series, art historians Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke take us on three cultural citybreaks, hunting for off-the-beaten-track artistic treats – and finding new ways of enjoying some very famous sights.

An Art Lovers' Guide episode 4
An Art Lovers’ Guide episode 4