Meet the Cast
Our tour group experience was casted by Rick Steves and collectively formed by like-minded travelers (like us) with the shared desire to explore some of the best of what Europe has to offer. Upon the start of our tour, we were instantly immersed in a new environment guided by our primary tour guides (Dimitri and Jorge) and accompanied by knowledgeable and passionate local guides in each major city. And lets not forget our driver, Sandro whose advanced driving skills made for a comfortable and safe ride, not to mention his charisma and introduction of Lemoncellos and Belgium waffles which he shared with us along the way.
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Lead Tour Guide Dimitri Rigas
Meet Dimitri! He's very enthusiastic about his
tours, even at dinner time. |
Dimitri Rigas was a wonderful tour guide whose jovial and high-spirited personality made for a lively and entertaining tour experience! There was never a dull moment while in the presence of Dimitri. As you can see from the pictures, Dimitri always found a way to keep things fun and interesting.
Besides showing us a good time, Dimitri's knowledge of the areas we visited as well as his understanding of the political and cultural environment gave us a more intuitive and comprehensive experience. Dimitri kept our tour fun, educational and exciting; and he contributed to a memorable and unforgettable first time experience. |
Dimitri always knew how to keep us entertained. He even created table-games while we waited for our meals.
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Co-Lead Tour Guide Jorge Roman
Meet Jorge! He made for a more personalized and fun tour experience.
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Jorge Roman was our co-lead tour guide. He made sure stragglers like my husband and I (because of our constant stopping to take pictures) kept up with the group. We first connected with Jorge when we missed the light at the cross-walk because we stopped to take the first of many pictures of Nortre-Dame in Paris.
From then, we just clicked and the rest is His-Story... well not really. Its our story, but it was a lot of fun because Jorge was there. He helped us in our search for the infamous Steif Teddy Bear (the original teddy bear company - Germany) and he joined us in our many photo ops. Note: the picture above is a teddy bear we found at an auto-grill before we found a Steif bear. Jorge was a genuinely good-natured and fun guide to have with us and we were fortunate to have had him on our tour. |
Our Driver Sandro
Local Cast Members
Our primary tour guides helped give us the general information for all of our locations, but the local guides gave us a more detailed and personalized tour experience in each of the major cities we visited. They had the insight because they lived each day in the cities that they shared with us. They were introducing us to their homes and lifestyles, while including some of the history and the significance of what we were seeing around us.
These guides were important to our experience because they provided us with insight on the art and architecture that we would naturally be awed by, but not quite understand the stories behind if not for them being there to share them with us. One guide shared how environmental changes in Venice brought on by increased tourism has taken a toll on some of their locations with the increased rising of the sea levels. Another guide enabled us to visualize congruencies between how the Coliseum in Rome provided entertainment to the masses not unlike that which we get from watching TV today. They added a unique element to our travel experience that made us develop an understanding about the cities we visited that transcended well beyond what we would have discovered on our own or by merely visiting museums. They also helped us to see these cities through the eyes of the locals. We were able to take part in cultural experiences like the parade of boats in Venice and learn about Venetian mask making. We also learned about the Florentine artist, Ghiberti who spent over two decades of his life designing the church baptistery doors. They helped us to have a more rich and uniquely diverse travel experience. |