Aboard the Golden Pass Express, Michael Portillo wends his way in style down steep mountainsides from Interlaken to the Swiss Riviera. In Lausanne, he contends with a knife-wielding robotic arm.

Michael Portillo's railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France's oceanographic fleet. He also learns how to make a sweet, buttery Breton cake called kouign-amann.