With his Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide in hand, Michael Portillo ventures east to a land which a century ago was part of the Russian Empire and today is the independent state of Ukraine. His rail journey takes him from the grasslands of t... (more)he Steppe to the shores of the Black Sea. In this borderland where Europe meets Asia, Michael crosses swords with Cossacks, learns the secrets of Ukrainian cuisine and gets down and dirty in a mud spa.