Watch how the beautiful people live as our intrepid travellers guide you through the cultural and aesthetic delights of some of the most renowned cities. Brought to you by the producers of Globe Trekker - the most watched travel show in the world!
Sophisticated and chic, Florence has been a centre of style and status for 500 years.
KT Comer finds that the spirit of the Renaissance is still alive as she travels the streets, shops, markets, museums, hotels and hostelries of Tuscany's greatest city.
In this episode, she learns of the link between the money of the Medicis and the masterpieces of Michelangelo. She discovers the connection between the ancient artisanship of Florence that gives us our finest shoes, and the wealth which gives Florence its finest buildings, including the modern and extravagant Hotel Continentale. She tackles the excessive feast that is a Florentine lunch at the Grotta Guelfa and samples the finest Chianti wines. She takes lessons on fashion design from Ermano Scervino and on Florentine etiquette from a local socialite. She lusts over the gold of the Ponte Vecchio and tries to find a sculpture small enough to fit in her hand luggage.
Ian Cross is a fairly recent convert to the pleasures of golf; he took up the game in 1994 upon turning 40 years old and soon became a keen aficionado of the sport. He believes it's a perfect recreation for men of his age as it's not too strenuous, very healthy, and good for stress-busting for the busy executive. Although Ian has discovered the game comes with its own stresses - he's occasionally lost his composure and taken it out on the greens. Whilst filming for Adventure Golf on the King's Course in Gleneagles, he met his downfall at "Whaup's Nest", the 8th, where he took 18 shots to get out of a bunker. Bunkers are his most feared golf hazard.
Ian was born in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in Canberra where he began his sporting interests as a junior tennis and cricket champ. He began his professional career here as a cadet journalist for the Canberra Times. Ian's media career in newspapers, radio and television spans 30 years and three continents - the United States, his native Australia, and the UK where he now lives with his wife and two children. For three years he was European correspondent for ABC-TV, then in 1988 he produced the Beyond Tomorrow science series for Fox Networks in the United States.
When he's not on the course, Ian is the Managing Director of Pilot Productions, the television company he founded in 1991. Specialising in factual programming, in particular travel, Ian has been the Executive Producer of over 250 hours of quality television including 11 series of the multi-award winning adventure travel series Globe Trekker, the most watched travel program in the world, food and travel series Planet Food & World Café Asia, and Adventure Golf. The company now have offices in Los Angeles, London, and Singapore. After years spent sending film crews and presenters to some of the most exotic and intrepid places in the world, he thought it was about time he joined them on the road.
Ian is a handicap 18 golfer who leads a nomadic-cum-jet-setting golfing life; he has no homeclub but enjoys playing the game internationally - particularly in Northern France and Links Golf in Scotland and Ireland. During the first season of filming for Adventure Golf, Ian has experienced some of the greatest golf courses in the world in Scotland, Dubai, Southern California, Japan, South Africa, and Florida. He was bowled over by the high-tech and futuristic golf experience in Japan, in particular the Gotemba Course overlooking Mount Fuji.
His dream trip would be to take a year out to travel the four corners of the world, Phileas Fogg inspired, to play the world's best golf courses and explore the most exotic regions at a leisurely pace - notably Hawaii, Bali, and the little explored courses of Latin America. He enjoys international travel for work and pleasure and regularly jets off to his favorite spots of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, skiing trips, and city breaks in Paris and New York.
