78 Eastern Europe - Then and Now

Travel with Rick Steves

Rick Steves

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

4.3 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2007

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

If you haven't seen Eastern Europe lately, you probably won't recognize it -- and that's just how the European Union wants it. Now that most of Eastern Europe is part of the E.U., the region is enjoying an extreme make-over. Looking at Eastern Europe then and now, Rick gets updates from a few of his friends who grew up "behind the Iron Curtain" on how these changes have impacted their daily lives, and what the region offers American tourists today. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Until 1989, Eastern Europe was a dark and gloomy region, part of what many Americans
0:06.0	called the Evil Empire. Today, the region's a booming festival of pent-up entrepreneurial
0:11.6	spirit. Hi, I'm Rick Steeves.
0:14.0	The obligatory greys and preachy reds of communism
0:17.0	live on only in Eastern Europe's history books and museums.
0:20.0	These days, Ketchy-themed restaurants serve dreary food from the 1960s.
0:25.0	Service people have a vocabulary bigger than yet,
0:28.0	and the profit motive has spawned an impressive new efficiency and influence.
0:32.0	Today's Eastern Europe has become a traveler's delight.
0:35.8	With so much change so fast, I've invited a few of my tour guide friends from the region
0:40.1	to join us on today's edition of Travel with Rick Steeves.
0:43.0	Our guests are Christoph Dressler, who grew up just east of the Berlin Wall,
0:47.0	and Marion Krescovic and Tina Heati, both raised in the former Yugoslavia.
0:52.0	We'll get an insider's perspective on Eastern Europe and the hour ahead on Travel with
0:56.2	Rick Steeves.
0:57.2	Stay with us.
1:00.6	Travel with Rick Steeves is brought to you by American Airlines. With their new Advantage Award booking tool, it's easier than ever to book to over 800 Advantage Award destinations online at AA.com.
1:12.0	American Airlines knows why you fly. If you haven't seen
1:15.9	Eastern Europe lately, you won't recognize it. And that's how the European Union
1:20.2	wants it. Now that most of what was the Warsaw Pact is part of the EU, the
1:24.7	region is enjoying an extreme makeover. The economy is booming and so is tourism
1:29.5	from Dubrovnik all the way to Gadansk. In the hour ahead on travel with Rick Steeves, we'll hear from a few of my
	...

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