Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul

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Seven celebrities tackle a modern-day pilgrimage that promotes tolerance for all cultures.

Celebrities take a journey of a lifetime. They all have different faiths and beliefs - will stepping in ancient footsteps on a spiritual journey broaden minds?

The Road to Istanbul

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Lee Ingleby

Joaquim Badia

Matt Nicholson

Barbara Masullo

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Guy Crossman

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Michele Hickson

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Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Two - Pilgrimage, The Road to Istanbul, Episode 2

Life on the Sultans Trail begins to challenge the celebrities physically and spiritually.

Life on the Sultans Trail begins to challenge the celebrities as Adrian Chiles tells the group he is struggling with the purpose of pilgrimage in the face of their experiences.

In the second episode, the pilgrims are on their final day in Serbia, searching for a monastery hidden in the forests of the Sicevo gorge. After a difficult hike, the group make it to this historic building, where they are greeted by Sister Simeona, one of three Orthodox nuns who preserve the religious sanctuary. After exploring the church, the pilgrims are offered food and drink for the onward journey. Before they leave, Adrian leads the group in a ritual of remembrance, with each pilgrim leaving a candle for a loved one. Later that day, the group make it to a lookout point high above the gorge, where Amar scrambles to the very top for a final sunset photo in Serbia, much to Adrian’s obvious anxiety.  

With Serbia behind them, the group travel on to Bulgaria and the capital Sofia. They arrive on Bulgarian Independence Day, marking the moment when Ottoman rule ended here in 1878. Sofia is home to a so-called ‘square of religious tolerance', where all four major religions of the region are represented in proximity. Mim and Amar, both raised as Muslims, visit Sofia’s only mosque. Once there, Amar confides in Mim that he no longer goes to mosque to pray but wants to see how he feels now. Amar meets the imam and tells him how losing his sight made him question his faith.

Meanwhile, Dom takes Edwina and Fatima to visit the museum of socialist art, a memorial to Bulgaria’s communist past. The visit triggers a discussion about the difference between communism and religion with regards to faithful followers and iconography. The group reunite and follow the trail towards the Rila Mountains, the highest in the Balkans.

In the small town of Samokov, Edwina and Dom visit the house of a Jewish family who fled Bulgaria as communism came into the country. Next door is a ruined synagogue, where Edwina describes her Jewish upbringing and describes what seeing the marks of the Jewish people in the region means to her.

Walking back into the Rila Mountains, the pilgrims search for a hermit’s cave dedicated to St Ivan Rilski, Bulgaria’s patron saint. It is believed that if you can pass through the cave and exit via a small hole in the top, then you are pure of soul - and there is much discussion amongst the pilgrims about who will make it through.  

Having trekked through forests and over mountains, the pilgrims take the chance to rest their feet on an alpine railway, which takes them along the next section of the trail. During the journey, Adrian instigates a discussion on what the purpose of a pilgrimage is in the face of the clash of religions they are seeing.

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Seven celebrities of differing beliefs tackle a 2,200-km pilgrimage across Eastern Europe.

Seven celebrities of differing faiths and beliefs don backpacks and walking boots to tackle a modern-day, 2,200-km pilgrimage across Eastern Europe to the historic city of Istanbul.

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