Using George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide, ex-politician Michael Portillo has been exploring the railways of Europe in the TV series 'Great Continental Railway Journeys'.
In season 4 of this popular show, Michael Portillo will travel the train lines around the Mediterranean area, from Barcelona, to Tarragon, Valencia and finally to Mallorca. He will focus on the train line that connects Inca and Manacor with filming taking place both on the trains and in the stations.
Filming is scheduled for the 21st and 22nd of April and then again at the beginning of May (5th and 6th) when Michael and the film crew will be visiting various places around the island.
"I'm embarking on a new railway adventure that will take me across the heart of Europe. I'll be using this - my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, dated 1913 - which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel for the British tourist. It told travellers where to go, what to see, and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks criss-crossing the Continent. Now, a century later, I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy, where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing. I want to rediscover that lost Europe that, in 1913, couldn't know that its way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war." - Michael Portillo.
