POLE TO POLE WITH MICHAEL PALIN: MEDITERRANEAN MAZE (TV)
Summary
Part three of this eight-part series of travel programs which has host/explorer Michael Palin traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole, visiting fifteen countries and four continents. In this program, Palin and crew make stops in Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt. Highlights in Turkey include: Palin being given a rigorous massage and bath by a Turkish masseur; a visit to the Istanbul hotel, Pera Palas, where mystery writer Agatha Christie penned "Murder on the Orient Express"; the host dickering with Turkish street merchants over the price of a carpet; and footage of Turkish mosques and the port of Marmara. Highlights in the segment from the Greek island of Rhodes include: footage of surviving castles; a conversation with astrologer Patric Walker, who tells Palin what the stars reveal about the timing of his pole-to-pole trek; Cypriots explaining their obsessive attitude toward sports; and an old-fashioned Cypriot wedding with 3,000 guests, some of whom pin gifts of paper money to the bride's wedding gown. Highlights in the segment from Cairo, Egypt, include: footage of ships going through the Suez Canal; a cruise ship journey down the Nile River; Palin's tour of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings directed by a Coptic Christian guide; and Palin -- again aboard the cruise ship-- dressed in a costume version of ancient Egyptian garb (as per the ship's touristic custom), reciting the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem, "Ozymandias." The balance of the program features the ferry trip that transports Palin from Aswan to Lake Nasser, then to Wadi Halfa and Khartoum, in the Sudan. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: A&E
- DATE: January 10, 1993 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:26
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:35475
- GENRE: Specials
- SUBJECT HEADING: Astrology; Cyprus; Egypt; Greece; Marriage customs and rites; Travel; Turkey; Weddings
- SERIES RUN: A&E - TV series, 1993
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Anne James … Executive Producer
- Clem Vallance … Producer, Director, Created by
- Roger Mills … Director
- Michael Palin … Host, Narrator, Writer
- Paddy Kingsland … Music by
- Patric Walker … Guest
- Agatha Christie
- Percy Bysshe Shelley