546a Greek Godmother; Lidia's American Dream; Promised Land

Travel with Rick Steves

Rick Steves

Rick Steves, Public Radio, 721132, Europe, Society & Culture, Places & Travel, Npr, Travel

4.3 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A Greece-based tour guide describes the elevated role of godparents in her adopted country, where godparents become a lifelong part of the child's family. Then TV chef Lidia Bastianich shares the story of her family's flight from Yugoslavia, and the successful family business they were able to start in America. And former NBC Middle East correspondent Martin Fletcher explains how his latest novel, set in Israel during its early years as a modern state, evokes the extraordinary drama of Israeli life in that era.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Get tapped to become a God-parent in Greece and the honor comes with expectations that you'll play an important role in the family.
0:07.0	You know, you take on the role of things like Christmas and Easter and name days that being there for their school parties and school presentations
0:15.0	and awards ceremonies and swim meets and all that kind of thing.
0:19.0	Coming up in the hour ahead, we look at what it takes to be a Greek Godmother.
0:24.0	Lydia Bastionic tells us how growing up in an Italian community in Austria in today's Croatia means you're Italian with a twist.
0:32.0	So I can't help talking about being Italian cooking sauerkraut without telling them the story.
0:38.0	You know, this is part of a Slavic area.
0:40.0	We'll hear how her family escaped to America and Martin Fletcher's making sense of what he's seen as a news correspondent in Tel Aviv by becoming a novelist.
0:50.0	What is this book? Is it a love story or is it a thriller? And then I realized actually Israel is both, isn't it?
0:55.0	It's all just ahead on travel with Rick Steves. Stay with us.
0:59.0	Visit Europe in 2022. Rick Steves Europe bus tours are designed to economically and efficiently share our love of Europe through my favorite places, people and experiences.
1:10.0	With small groups, strict health and safety protocols, great guides, and more than 40 itineraries, a Rick Steves Europe tour just might be the perfect fit for your travel dreams.
1:22.0	Learn more at ricksteves.com
1:25.0	Where do you think of as home?
1:28.0	In just a bit, the host of the Lydia's Italy TV cooking show tells us how her family had to flee their home when the communist government of Yugoslavia took over.
1:37.0	And how they eventually became proud Italian Americans and used their recipes to build a family business.
1:44.0	For years, Newsman Martin Fletcher has divided his time between Tel Aviv and New York.
1:50.0	Now that he's retired from journalism, he's writing novels and basing his characters on what he's observed as a former correspondent.
1:57.0	He joins us later in the hour to tell us about the family saga he's written set during the founding of today's Israel.
2:05.0	With the holidays gearing up, it's a good time to think about what we can do to make it special for the children in our lives.
2:11.0	Last Easter, when I was in Greece, I noticed how Godparents made time for their God children as they died Easter eggs together.
2:19.0	It got me thinking how, in America, we could do more to enhance the role of the extended family around special occasions too.
	...

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