'For most of my lifetime, half of my own continent had been chilled by a Cold War and concealed behind an Iron Curtain. Now there was the prospect of being able to travel through once-forbidden lands; of making a voyage of discovery on my very own doorstep . . .'

In New Europe, Michael Palin embarks on a very different kind of adventure: a journey around the Europe he has never known. Along the way he meets Romanian lumberjacks, celebrates the summer solstice in Latvia and takes in some traditional olive oil wrestling in Turkey. This is an unmissable odyssey through twenty different countries from one of our most beloved travel writers.

"He observes shrewdly, writes wittily; laughs with, not at, the people he meets, and charmingly slips in a huge amount of information. His approach still towers above its imitators" - Independent

"Palin makes a wonderful travelling companion ... his humour is set at exactly the right pitch" - Daily Telegraph

"A glorious travel book. There's never a dull moment, either, in the stunning photography or the entertaining travel notes" - Daily Mail

"Palin is the Python we all want to go abroad with" - Observer

"The ultimate armchair travel book" - Guardian