Product Description

As seen on American Public Television. Each DVD has useful bonus features and travel tips! DVD 1: Molto Italiano! - Rome beckons with its ancient treasures and modern pleasures. Rudy makes the most of your visit with stops at Romes cafes and shops, and informative historic city walks. Your itinerary includes a detour to Vatican City. Rudy winds his way through Sicily with its vibrant mix of history, tradition, and intense cultural pride. A trek to a still-active volcano outside of Naples, a drive along the spectacular Amalfi coast, and explorations of the castles, vineyards, and walled cities of the hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria complete this unforgettable Italian travel adventure. DVD 2: Enchanted Italy - Join Rudy as he surrenders himself to the charms of some of Italys most magical cities. In Venice, Rudy tours the famous sites, and also shares his secrets of how to escape the crowds by visiting the neighborhoods of Dorsoduro, Cannaregio, and San Polo. In Florence, Rudy brings the Renaissance to life through the fabled citys glorious museums and architecture. Rudy explores Milan, a European center for finance fashion, then takes a train north to visit serene Lake Como. Old World elegance and La Dolce Vita await in Genoa and the Italian Riviera. DVD 3: The Heart of France - Paris is the city of style, art, and pastries. Hit the sites from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower, and then stroll through the parks, markets and cafes that make Paris Paris. Frances Burgundy region boasts exceptional French wines, world-class cuisine, and romantic canals. The Loire region offers magnificent chateaux. Rudy makes forays into Provences picture perfect villages and country-sides, and points out the glamorous French Rivieras hottest spots and most beautiful beaches. Rudy offers invaluable tips on riding the Metro, enjoying summer festivals, touring wine country, and renting a car. DVD 4: London and Beyond - Rudy answers Londons call with this expert tour of its traditional sights and contemporary and cutting-edge attractions. In Londons breathtaking countryside, Rudy points out mythic castles, browses in the real Alice in Wonderlands candy store, visits Jane Austens house, and gazes upon the mysterious megaliths of Stonehenge. Brussels and Belgium serve up superb chocolate and world-class beer. In the Netherlands, we bicycle to Amsterdams great art museums, and share a moving visit to the attic where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis. DVD 5: Fairy Tale Europe: Germany and Austria - From his base at Berlins luxurious and historic Hotel Adlon, Rudy offers a new take on the Old World with unforgettable visits to this dynamic citys world-class cultural sites. In Munich and Bavaria, Rudy is your guide to the lively Marienplatz with its outdoor cafes, shops, and street musicians, as well as magnificent palaces and spectacular vistas. In musical Salzburg, Rudy visits the house where Mozart was born. In Austrias Sound of Music land, visit magical ice caves and stroll picturesque spa towns once frequented by European royalty. DVD 6: Wondrous Europe - Join Rudy Maxa in the wondrous kingdom of legend and fairy tale - Denmark, where Vikings plundered and Hans Christian Anderson spun timeless childrens stories. Swedens luxuriant landscapes and Norways grand panoramas prove irresistible to adventurers. Finally, from windmills in Holland to underground ancient Etruscan tombs in Tuscany, Rudy is your guide to Europes dazzling getaways, each with its own unique charms.

Review

Don't even think of hitting the road unless you've consulted Rudy Maxa, one of the country's premier travel gurus. --Paul Theroux, Bestselling Travel Writer

About the Actor

Rudy Maxa, one of Americas premier consumer travel experts, is host and executive producer of Rudy Maxas World, the Emmy Award winning, public television travel series featuring destinations as diverse as Korea, Argentina, South Africa, Tuscany, and Thailand. Maxa is host and executive producer of 95 television episodes on the worlds great destinations that air on public television stations nationwide. His television episodes also air in 121 countries in 22 different languages on Travel Channel International. You may view episodes on Create Travel. Maxas latest edition to his Rudy Maxas World series is four episodes on Japan - showcasing the country as viewers have never seen it. In his Rudy Maxas World: Taste of Japan series, debuting nationwide in 2017, Maxa is joined by his friend Washington, DC, restaurateur Daisuke Utagawa, co-hosting four new episodes; a one-hour special that highlights three distinct regions of Japan by focusing on its food and the people who work the fields and waters, plus three individual:30-minute episodes on Tokyo, Hokkaido, and Kyushu. This is not a food show per se, says Maxa. This is a travel show that uses food and local producers to tell the story of a nation and its culture. Maxa is a fascinating and informative speaker on the subject of travel today and speaks extensively around the world. He is well known as public radios Savvy Traveler and an award-winning contributing editor with National Geographic Traveler magazine. He is a contributing editor to Deltas SKY magazine and Artful Living, the Twin Cities lifestyle magazine. The voice of National Geographic Travelers Walks of a Lifetime podcasts, he also hosts Americas most widely-syndicated travel radio show, Rudy Maxas World with The Careys, which airs on 230+ mostly news/talk stations in North America and via its own TuneIn.com channel 24/7/365. As a writer for Traveler, Maxas articles have earned him two Lowell Thomas Bronze Awards for Excellence in Travel Writing from the Society of American Travel Writers. He has contributed travel articles to GQ, Worth, Forbes, Modern Maturity, USAToday, the Washington Post, Town & Country Travel, the Los Angeles Times, as well as USAToday.com, MSNBC.com and ABC.com. Hes a frequent guest on national television networks and shows, including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and The View. And he speaks frequently to both public and industry groups. After 13 years as a Washington Post investigative reporter and personalities columnist, Maxa worked nine years as a senior writer with the city magazine, Washingtonian, before becoming Washington bureau chief of SPY magazine for two years. Political scandal reportage by Maxa was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by the Post, and he has written two non-fiction books. He wrote for the ABC-TV dramatic series Capitol News and for several years hosted a Saturday-morning, public affairs talk show on WRC-AM, the NBC owned-and-operated radio station in Washington, DC. Episodes of the Rudy Maxas World television series have garnered dozens of awards, including five regional Emmy Awards. He was named best regular columnist by the Florida Magazine Association for his writings in Ocean Drive. And as a Post reporter, he won the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism for a series of stories unmasking an international Ponzi scheme. His alma mater, Ohio University, gave Maxa the L.J. Hortin Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002.

About the Director

For twenty years, Small World Productions has produced award winning travel series for Public Television. The Seattle-based company has produced 143 half hour episodes and 6 pledge specials. Small World Productions has to its credit five 13 episode seasons of Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa, four series of Travels in Europe with Rick Steves as well as Travels in Mexico and the Caribbean with Shari Belafonte and Americas Historic Trails with Tom Bodett. Small World partners John Givens, Patricia Larson and Sandra Nisbet created the popular national series Smart Travels. In addition to their body of work with Small World, Larson and Nisbet have a background in theater, history, play writing, international travel and college teaching. Executive producer and CEO Givens has produced, directed and edited public television shows for more than forty years. In 2000, he was honored with a Most Valuable Producer Award from American Public Television. For Richard Bangs Adventures with Purpose, Small World will be joined again by our excellent team of award winning producers, photographers and editors. Patty Conroy has produced and written more than three dozen travel episodes for Small World. For her work on Smart Travels, she has been honored with an Emmy Award, four CINE Golden Eagle Awards, three Telly Awards and two International Communicator Awards. Susan McNally has produced and written more than two dozen travel episodes for Small World. Her work has been honored with an Emmy Award, three CINE Golden Eagle Awards, three Telly Awards and the Grand Prix at the Golden Pen Awards in Croatia. Editor David Ris brings great creativity and knowledge of high definition television production to the project. He has edited more than fifty HD travel episodes for Small World, including twenty Smart Travel shows that have been honored with national or international awards. Photographer Karel Bauer has scores of HD national credits including Smart Travels, Rick Steves Europe and Travels to the Edge with Art Wolf.