Great Continental Railway Journeys

Armed with a 1936 edition of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo ventures onto the European rail network in Spain.

Michael Portillo travels from the chateaux of the Loire Valley to the heart of the Champagne region at Reims.

Michael Portillo goes on a rail journey through Germany, beginning in the vibrant city of Berlin, where he visits the Museum of Modern Art in Kreuzberg.

On a railway journey from the capital Palermo to Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, Michael Portillo explores Sicilian life under Mussolini.

Michael Portillo travels by train through Austria and the Czech Republic, beginning in the northern Austrian city of Linz, where Adolf Hitler lived as a boy.

Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the Arctic Circle.