Michael Palin explores the countries that were for much of his life hidden behind the Iron Curtain but now are very much part of the new Europe of post-Soviet times. From high in the Julian Alps of Slovenia, along the magical coast of Croatia and deep into Bosnia and Serbia, he discovers new countries coming to terms with the bloody wars that created them and now enjoying the peace that prevails. From Dubrovnik, he sails to Albania where he finds a country adapting to a new openness.

From the tiny, breakaway state of Transdniester to the rolling hills of sunny Moldova, across the Carpathians mountains of Northern Romania and through Transylvania to the Danube, this is a journey into some of the poorest and most beautiful parts of south-eastern Europe.

Moved by Tatiana's theatre group, who warn teenagers of the dangers of people trafficking, to lunch with Olga and her mum in the sunny south of Moldova, Michael then passes the Byzantine painted churches of Bucovina, eats pork fat and brandy with lumberjacks in the forests of Maramures, and delights in the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta where the painted tombs are witty celebrations of life.

In Saxon Sighisoara and the imposing Bran Castle, made famous by Bram Stoker's Dracula, the truth behind the Transylvanian hero is unravelled.

In Bucharest he sees for himself Ceausescu's legacy in the People's Palace, but discovers a people who have survived the communist rule and are embracing the freedoms within a united Europe.

Tennis ace Ilie Nastase gives him a very personal view of that period, before National Theatre actor Dan Badarau takes him up the Danube through the famous Iron Gates towards the very heart of Europe.