TAPA.indb i 2/17/2009 3:23:29 PM Credits: Europe Through the Back Door Lead Editor: Cameron Hewitt ETBD Managing Editor:Risa Laib ETBD Proofreader: Lauren Mills Nation Proofreader:Jeff Georgeson Interior Design and Layout:Rhonda Pelikan Graphics:Rhonda Pelikan, Barb Geisler, Laura VanDeventer Photography: Rick Steves, Cameron Hewitt, Dominic Bonuccelli, Abdi Sami, Steve Smith, Anthony P. Lilly, Bill Adams Copyright © 2009 by Rick Steves Published by Nation Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group 116 East 16th Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10003 Nation Books is a co-publishing venture of the Nation Institute and the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address the Perseus Books Group, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. 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LCCN: 2009922566 ISBN-13: 978-1-56858-435-5 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 TAPA.indb ii 2/16/2009 7:07:57 PM Contents Introduction .................................................................................................iv 1 How to Travel as a Political Act ................................................................2 2 Lessons from the Former Yugoslavia: After the War .........................24 3 Europe Unites: Successes and Struggles ..............................................46 4 Resurrection in El Salvador ....................................................................84 5 Denmark: Highly Taxed and Highly Content ........................................112 6 Turkey and Morocco: Sampling Secular Islam ....................................126 7 Europe: Not “Hard on Drugs” or “Soft on Drugs”… but Smart on Drugs .................................................................................148 8 Mission: Understand Iran .......................................................................160 9 Homecoming ............................................................................................194 TAPA.indb iii 2/17/2009 3:23:35 PM Introduction O n a visit to Turkey, I met a dervish. Dervishes—who are sort of like Mus- lim monks—follow Rumi, a mystic poet and philosopher of divine love. (I like to think Rumi and St. Francis would hit it off well.) Th ey’re called “whirling dervishes” because they spin in a circle as they pray. Th e dervish allowed me to observe his ritual on the condition that I understood what it meant to him. Th e dervish led me to his fl at rooftop—a peaceful oasis in the noisy city of Konya—where he prayed fi ve times a day. With the sun heavy and red on the hori- zon, he explained, “When we pray, we keep one foot in our community, anchored in our home. Th e other foot steps around and around like this, acknowledging the beautiful variety of God’s creation…touching all corners of this great world. I raise one hand up to acknowledge the love of God, and the other hand goes down like the spout of a teapot. As I spin around, my hand above receives the love from our Creator, and my hand below showers it onto all of his creation.” As the dervish whirled and whirled, he settled into a meditative trance. And so did I. Watching his robe billow out and his head tilt over, I saw a conduit of love acknowledging the greatness of God. Th is man was so diff erent from me, yet actually very much the same. Th is chance interac- tion left me with a renewed appreciation of the rich diversity of humanity…as well as its fundamental oneness. Experiences like this one can be any trip’s most treasured souvenir. When we return home, we can put what we’ve learned— our newly acquired broader perspec- tive—to work as citizens of a great nation confronted with unprec- edented challenges. And when we do that, we make travel a political act. TAPA.indb iv 2/17/2009 3:23:38 PM Introduction v I enjoyed my most powerful travel experience ever on my fi rst trip overseas. I was a 14-year-old with my parents, visiting relatives in Norway. We were in Oslo’s vast Frogner Park—which, then as now, is fi lled with Gustav Vigeland’s great stony statues of humans of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Immersed in this grand, chiseled celebration of family and humanity, I gained a new insight into my little world. I noticed how much my parents were loving me. Th eir world revolved around me. Th ey would do anything to make me happy and help me enjoy a fulfi lling life. At great expense to their meager family budget, they were making it possible for me to travel. Th en I remember looking out over that park. It was speckled—like a Monet painting—with countless other parents…all lavishing love on their children. Right there, my 14-year-old egocentric worldview took a huge hit. I thought, “Wow, those parents love their kids as much as my parents love me. Th is planet is home to billions of equally lovable children of God.” I’ve carried that understanding with me in my travels ever since. On the same trip, I sat on the carpet with Norwegian cousins watching the Apollo moon landing. As Neil Armstrong took that fi rst step on the moon, my relatives heard his famous sentence translated into Norwegian: TAPA_00_Intro_v.indd v 3/4/2009 10:52:40 AM vi TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT “Ett lite skritt for et menneske, ett stort skritt menneskeheten.” Sharing the excitement of everyone in that room, I realized that while this was an American triumph, it was also a human one—one giant leap for mankind indeed—and the entire planet was celebrating. As an idealistic young adult, I struggled with what I’d do with my one life. I wanted to work hard at something worthwhile and contribute to society. I wondered if it was really noble to teach wealthy Americans to travel. As a child, my earliest image of “travel” was of rich Americans on fancy white cruise ships in the Caribbean, throwing coins off the deck so they could pho- tograph what they called the “little dark kids” jumping in after them. Th ey’d take these photos home as souvenirs of their relative affl uence. Th at was not the kind of travel I wanted to promote. Even today, remnants of that notion of travel persist. I believe that for many Americans, traveling still means seeing if you can eat fi ve meals a day and still snorkel when you get into port. When I say that at a cruise convention, people fi dget ner- vously. But I’m not condemning cruise vacations. I’m simply saying I don’t consider that activity “travel.” It’s hedonism. (And I don’t say that in a judgmental way, either. I’ve got no problem with hedonism…after all, I’m a Lutheran.) Rather than accentuate the diff erence between “us” and “them,” I believe travel should bring us together. If I’m evangelical about the value of travel, it’s the thoughtful and challenging kind of travel—less caloric perhaps…but certainly much more broadening. And so, since that fi rst trip back in 1969, I’ve spent a third of my life overseas, living out of a backpack, talking to people who see things diff erently than me. It makes me a little bit of an odd duck. For the last 30 years, I’ve taught people how to travel. I focus mostly on the logistics: fi nding the right hotel, avoiding long lines, sampling local delicacies, and catching the train on time. But that’s not why we travel. TAPA.indb vi 2/17/2009 3:23:41 PM Introduction vii We travel to have enlightening experiences, to meet inspirational people, to be stimulated, to learn, and to grow. Travel has taught me the fun in having my cultural furniture rearranged and my ethnocentric self-assuredness walloped. It has humbled me, enriched my life, and tuned me in to a rapidly changing world. And for that, I am thankful. In this book, I’ll share what has made my travels most rewarding, and how they have helped shape my worldview and inspired my activism. As a travel teacher, I’ve been fortunate to draw from a variety of rich overseas experiences. And, since just after 9/11, I’ve been giving a lecture I call “Travel as a Political Act.” I enjoy fl ying all over the USA, giving this talk to peacenik environmentalists in Boulder, high-society ladies’ clubs in Charlotte, homemakers in Toledo, Members of Congress and their aides on Capitol Hill, and at universities across the country. With this book, I fl esh out the message of that talk and trace the roots of my ideas to the actual personal travel experiences from which they origi- nated. While I draw from trips all over the globe, my professional focus is Europe, so most of my anecdotes are set in Europe. Europe is not that exotic, but it’s on par with us in development, confi dence, and impact on the developing world. Consequently, Europe provides an instructive parallel- yet-diff erent world from which to view the accomplishments of our society and the challenges we face. TAPA.indb vii 2/17/2009 3:23:43 PM viii TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT I enjoy bettering myself by observing others. And I appreciate con- structive criticism from caring friends. In that same spirit, I enjoy learning about my society by observing other societies and challenging myself (and my neighbors) to be broad-minded when it comes to international issues. Holding our country to a high standard and searching for ways to better live up to its lofty ideals is not “America-bashing.” It’s good citizenship. I’m unapologetically proud to be an American. Th e United States has made me who I am. I spend plenty of time in other countries, but the hap- piest day of any trip is the day I come home. I’d never live abroad, and I’d certainly not have as much fun running my business overseas as I do here at home. America is a great and innovative nation that the world understandably looks to for leadership. But other nations have some pretty good ideas, too. By learning from our travels and bringing these ideas home, we can make our nation even stronger. As a nation of immigrants whose very origin is based on the power of diversity (“out of many, one”), this should come naturally to us...and be celebrated. TAPA.indb viii 2/17/2009 3:23:45 PM Introduction ix Th is book isn’t a preachy political treatise. (At least, I hope it isn’t.) Since I’m a travel writer at heart, this book is heavy on travel tales and people-to-people connections. My premise is that thoughtful travel comes with powerful lessons. With this book, I hope to inspire others to travel more purposefully. I’ll draw conclusions throughout...not always confi dent that I’m right. My goal is not to be “right” all the time, but to learn with an open mind, to consider new solutions to old problems, to come home and look more hon- estly into the mirror, and to become involved in helping our society confront its challenges more wisely. By the nature of this book, you’ll get a lot of my opinions. My opinions are shaped by who I am. Along with being a traveler, I’m a historian, Chris- tian, husband, parent, carnivore, musician, capitalist, minimalist, member of NORML, and a workaholic. I’ve picked up my progressive politics (and my favorite ways to relax) largely from the people I’ve met overseas. And I seem to end up teaching everything I love: history, music, travel...and now, politics. Your opinions will diff er from mine because we draw from diff erent life experiences. As a writer, I’ll try not to abuse my bully pulpit. Still, rather than take the edge off of my opinions, I’ll share them with the knowledge that good people will respectfully disagree with each other. I’ve always marveled at how passionate I am when my Dad and I disagree on some political issue. He’s my fl esh and blood. Often his political assessment of something will exasperate me. I love him—but how can he possibly believe these things? While I don’t necessarily want him to change his mind, I want him to understand my perspective. Sharing it with him consumes me. In writing this book, I’ve discovered a similar passion. I want to share what I’ve learned with my fellow Americans...because I consider us all part of one big family. And I assume that you’re reading this book for the same reason that I wrote it: because we both care. In the following chapter, I lay out the framework—the fundamental skills—that have helped me open up my perspective. Th en we’ll travel together to seven very diff erent destinations. By the time we return home, I hope that—as on any good trip—we’ll have a richer understanding of our world. TAPA.indb ix 2/17/2009 3:23:48 PM TAPA.indb 2 2/17/2009 3:23:48 PM