this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. this week on the travel show, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite recent adventures. in mexico, we're hands—on with a salamander... oh, my god! it's so smooth, it's so lovely! ..face—to—face with italy's stolen art... wow, it's beautiful. ..and up to my neck in it in rural estonia.

hello and welcome to switzerland. i'm in the town of chateau—d'oex. it's known for its gruyere cheese, which is delicious, and the international balloon festival, held in the valley behind me every winter. but let's start somewhere a little warmer. mexico city's ancient canal network was first built by the aztecs. it stretches 180 kilometres, and these days, the whole district of xochimilco is a unesco world heritage site, but one that could do with a bit of a clean—up. we sent eva zu beck

there to find out why. check out all these amazing boats, they're so colourful. these are called trajineras. i was honestly expecting to go on a quiet little boat ride, but this place is a real fiesta. we're stuck in a trafficjam of like ten different boats — tourist boats, shop boats. man sings the moment you leave behind the super busy embarcaderos of xochimilco, it feels like you enter a completely different world. there's so much wildlife here, so much greenery. it's just so serene. but even out here in the more remote areas of the wetlands,

the pollution is endangering one of mexico's most iconic animals — the strange—looking but much—loved axolotl. what's so special about these little creatures? i can't believe this is happening. i'm about to hold an axolotl! oh, my god, it's so smooth! it's so lovely, it's like holding a baby! the axolotl is not only endemic to mexico. its population is limited

to these wetlands and the worsening pollutions is threatening its very survival. 0k, put him back. thankfully, the conservation project armando runs here has been a great success, and as a result, axolotl numbers are now increasing across the wetlands. armando�*s work is brilliant, but to fully restore the area to its former glory, ultimately, the pollution needs to be tackled. eva zu beck there in mexico city. and next up, we're back in europe, in the italian capital of rome, and if if you have ever visited the city, you'll know that seemingly

around every corner, there's a priceless work of art, right there on public display. that might be a total delight for tourists and art lovers, but it also makes them vulnerable to theft, as ade recently found out. # la donna e' mobile... there are just over 100 known works by the artist caravaggio. this is one that tourists can come and see and you can understand why he's able to make a name for himself. this one is just so explicit. but what's really cool is that you can also see his masterpieces in everyday spaces all around italy, like in churches, for example. but sadly, making artworks more readily accessible also leaves them vulnerable to theft, and one of the most famous examples in history is the disappearance of a massive caravaggio

from a sicilian church. it's estimated that around $6 billion worth of plundered art is being traded on the global black market every year. the carabinieri's cultural protection heritage squad have retrieved more than 4.5 million stolen artefacts and relics over the past 50 years. and i've come to their hq because i've been given special access to the vaults where they keep all the stolen treasures that they've managed to recover. could you take me on a tour? i'd love to see more. it feels a bit like an aladdin's cave in here, with lots of strange and wonderful things to look at and the paintings,

rows and rows of them. and what's the story behind this artwork? it looks incredible. so, they'lljust take a little section of the artwork and make money from that? yeah. but there are some success stories. i'm heading an hour north of rome to cerveteri and the town's museum. this 2,500 year—old pot, euphronios krater, being its most famous artefact — looted, trafficked,

traded and found — it was eventually negotiated back. and who knows? maybe, just maybe, a certain caravaggio painting will make its way back home, too, one day. ade there on the case of italy's stolen art, and let's hope that caravaggio makes its way back to where it belongs very, very soon. and speaking of priceless finds, did you know that last year marked the centenary of one of the world's most famous discoveries? in 1922, king tutankhamen's burial chamber was uncovered under the dust and sand of the egyptian desert outside luxor. it caused a sensation, and to this day, his burial mask is one of the most instantly recognised symbols of ancient egypt. credit for this find is usually given to british archaeologist howard carter, but we sent rajid to discover how 100 years on, the egyptian side

of the story is finally being heard. the abdul—rassoul family run a cafe these days, but generations of them have farmed along the banks of the nile, and as such, have an intimate knowledge about what lies on and underneath the dust and sand. so, this is the 12—year—old boy that they said really discovered the tomb. nuby claims it was actually his father who first found the tomb of tutankhamen. ahmed abdul—rassoul was just a child at the time.

now, egyptian perspectives like these are being acknowledged more widely, and one of the ways that's happening is by huge landmark public projects... ..like the brand—new grand egyptian museum due to open in 2023, and it'll be the largest archaeological museum complex in the world. and this too, the avenue of the sphinx, buried under sand for hundreds of years and last year opened to the public for the first time. it runs from luxor temple to here — the magnificent

complex of karnak. this was an exclusive area. it's only for the priests, only for the members of the royal court, only for the selective few. the ordinary people like ourselves would have never had any glimpse of the inside of the temple. heba is an amazing storyteller, but ask her about the story of the abdul—rasouls and who really discovered the tomb, and she believes there's a wider issue. i think to focus on this is to miss the point. the whole point is the contribution the whole abdul—rassoul family and the many egyptian families who were involved in archaeological excavations, without whom howard and many of the foreign estimators would not have managed to make any of these discoveries all together. and this is connected to how egyptians are portrayed in this world of archaeology? we're not even portrayed, we're totally written out. we're written out from the whole process of knowledge production. whenever it's an egyptian, he would have stumbled

on a step, as you said, or stumbling riding a donkey, etc. it could could never be out of real knowledge. it has to be a mistake. while the egyptian clearly played a huge part in the discovery, the persistence of howard carter and the money of his wealthy aristocratic backer were also vitally important for success. now the desire is for both parts of that story to be recognised. for the rest of his life, ahmed abdel—rassou told visitors to luxor about his adventures with howard carter, an account like so many others rarely told in the west. fascinating stuff there from raj, exploring luxor, ancient egypt's historical capital. do stick with us because still to come... we're about to go out on stage. let me just check my levels. and - 11.7. ..managing diabetes when parties are part

of yourjob. it looks like someone's just spilt some berries on the ground. and the hidden treasures of estonia's boggy paradise. laughter. bit sour! not that sour. we've come now to interlaken, a beautiful town that draws adventure sport enthusiasts fro across the world. but not everyone wants adrenaline on their holidays. some are just after music and dancing and fun, and that's what we're heading to do next. the spanish party island of ibiza hosts countless big—name djs every summer. for many, it's the perfect place to gig with a merry and receptive crowd. but when bbc radio 1xtra dj reece parkinson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, he wondered how he'd manage it on his travels, so we went with him to find out.

reece: i'm heading to the location of my gig, the ibiza rocks hotel. but after a good old catch—up the night before and having more alcohol than normal, i'm feeling a little worse for wear. after the lack of sleep, i'm riding on adrenaline. this 45—minute dj set sees me supporting some of the biggest names in the european dance music scene, so i have to be on top of my game. so, we're about to go out on stage, we've literally got five minutes until the start of the set. just checked my levels and... ..11.7. .. ..which is pretty high. but the risk is if you inject yourself now, there's a high chance it could go too low during the set, i'd have to down all of thatjuice. it isn't the end of the world, i'm not going to die, but, yeah, just in the

perspective of always being in control of it, this is one of those moments where it's got control of me. my name is reece parkinson, bbc radio 1xtra. the gig begins and i am loving it. dance music. but my levels are slowly beginning to climb. dance music builds. 0h!

he exhales. mate. done! and, 13.1. all right, it's climbing. i am going inject myself now, so let me give myself... let's say three. an extra one for luck. over 9 million people have type 1 diabetes globally. i'm still learning to live and travel with this condition. but what this trip has taught me is, wherever i go in the world, type 1 will always be there with me. it's a case of knowing not everything will be perfect all the time, but if i treat myself with kindness, then there's nothing that will stop me seeing or doing anywhere i decide to visit. all the very best to reece there as he stays on top of his diabetes. now to one of my recent

personal highlights — and trust me on this — we're off to the bogs of estonia. believe it or not, this swampy environment is the perfect adventure playground, offering hiking, foraging, skating, and even swimming. around 7% of estonia is made up of this — bogland. and it's fair to say in the past, not everyone was a huge fan. in fact, people would regard a landscape like this with horror because folklore said that this is exactly the kind of place where you might be waylaid by evil spirits. times have changed, though, and it's now becoming apparent just how useful these bogs are. it's so effective at storing carbon, that in recent years, the estonian government has started re—bogging vast areas of land in an effort to help

tackle climate change. hello, i'm christa, good to meet you. nice to meet you. it looks like mud, but is this peat? yes, it's peat. actually, if you look, it's almost decayed, but not totally decomposed material. oh, you can still see the fibres. why is it important to restore these peatlands? it is important for carbon emissions. we want to stop carbon emissions here, we want that this peatland would store carbon, not emitting it. but people here are also finding out what a stunning playground this environment is. glad to meet you. good to meet you, too. i've got my gumboots ready. very good. ready to hit the bogs? let's go. avyar is a guide who lives, works and plays in soomaa national park. he floats through the bogs in his canoe, skates and sledges on them in the winter, and stomps through them in these. any tips? it's not that

difficult, actually. you just walk, and one important thing, when you want to turn back, you always come with a u—turn, you don't step like this because of this, but the u—turn works well. 0k, these are one—way bog shoes. yes, only forward. bogshoes are a bit like snowshoes, and our crew soon discovers the importance of wearing them. it's ok, too. there's a lot. yeah, there's a lot. jordan has just emptied about a litre of water out of his boot. and that is why you wear bog shoes. so, what's all of this made up of?

yeah, it's mostly made of the moss. more specifically, sphagnum moss. so, this is the plant here. ah, 0k. and if you take some of it there, like... so, you can see. oh, it's really like a sponge, isn't it? it's like... it is growing up, so it is rottening down there, becoming peat. but in the top, it is growing. it's a vine, yeah? you know, like a... yes! so, you can see, it's living. it's sort of... and it's full of water. doesn't look like water, but if you squeeze, it you can see. oh, wow, look at that! it may look like a barren landscape, but there's plenty here to forage. it looks like someone has just spilled some berries on the ground. you want to taste? ido! i've had cranberryjuice before, but i've never had a cranberry. are they sweet?

0h! laughter. they're very sour! not that sour. 0h, hang on. laughter. they're very sour! not that sour. and there's just one final, chilly treat that avyar�*s keen to show me. are you sure about this? not really. is this a good idea? splashing. 0h! oh, god. i can already feel how cold it is. actually, quite cold. laughter. this water makes you feel like your skin is soft and makes you feel a bit younger. well, it would want to, cos it's really cold. 0h! she yelps. it's really cold! oh, it's really, really cold! i can see how after working up a bit of a sweat bogshoeing, this would be a nice shock to the system. laughter. so, how far does this go down? a few metres. so, if you... there is no bottom, yeah? i think the verdict

for the bog swimming is absolutely freezing cold. but i mean, wow — i mean, what a setting. and if you want a tip from me — go when it's warm. it took a real stiff drink to warm me up after that one. ok, that's for the programme this week, but coming up next time... cheering. ..i'm in another chilly part of the world — the shetland islands — to take in the famous viking festival, up helly aa... cheering. ..and to find out why, after 200 years, it's only now that women are welcome to take part. fire crackles. this is an incredible experience.

and it does make you kind of feel like maybe this is something the vikings would've done all those years ago. in the meantime, you can find lots of our recent adventures on bbc iplayer and you can check out our social media to find lots of great travel content from around the bbc. but that's it for now. see you next time. hello there. wednesday brought our first appreciable rain for some time. in fact, or eastern england, more rain than we've seen all february so far. but the other element was, of course, a cooler day. temperatures dipped from the 13 in harden on tuesday to just 8 on wednesday, which is about average for the time of year.

and the change was due to a change in wind direction behind this rather raggedy looking weather front on our satellite picture, the north—westerly wind developed and that north—westerly wind is blowing our cloud away further south, although we've had a smattering of snow across the moors and the south—west. so, it is cold air. we could see something a little bit wintry on the hills as that continues southwards through the rest of the night. behind it, temperatures are dropping to freezing and of course, where we're seeing any wintriness. so with the surfaces damp, it could well be quite icy. so that's something we haven't seen for a while, either. so, a cold and frosty start for many of us in the morning. 0ur weather front and its cloud still in the south. so, a cold and frosty start for many of us in the morning. 0ur weather front and its cloud still in the south. the next one starting to approach the north. but the high pressure in between does promise more sunshine for many across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, wales. this cloudier zone, cool. some bits and pieces of rain drizzle takes a while to clear, and later on something more significant comes back into the north and west and the northern isles, along with a strengthening

and quite gusty wind. so, that will make it feel chillier. but some sunshine elsewhere, and temperatures similar to those of wednesday, which as i say, is about average for this time of year. then through the evening, that weather front will weaken. the rain amounts almost peter out as it pushes its way southwards. and so behind it, the cloud breaks. and ahead of it we could see some frost as well. so colder to start friday morning. again, a cold start across central and southern areas, but the high pressure is just relinquishing its grip for a while. now, these weather fronts will introduce more cloud and also that northerly wind. so i do think it'll feel quite chilly on friday even when the cloud starts to break with some sunshine for the north—east of scotland, eastern england, there's a bracing wind and we will still have some rain on this weather front. again, it doesn't look like anything significant, but it will introduce more cloud across the skies and give us some patchy nuisance rain. but as i say, a little bit chillier than the 9 or 10 would suggest. and then the high pressure's back for the weekend. a strong high pressure building, keeping those weather fronts at bay once again. so as we look towards the end of february and through the weekend, there could be quite a bit of cloud around, some drizzly showers, fog and frost, but not a lot of rain is in the forecast.

..which is pretty high.

welcome to bbc news, i'm lisa—marie misztak. our top stories: ahead of the first anniversary of the russian invasion of ukraine, president putin once again defends his special military operation. translation: there are battles going on right now on our- historical frontiers, for our people. courageous warriors are fighting. china's top foreign affairs official is in moscow for talks, with beijing expected to unveil a possible peace plan. 11 palestinians are killed and more than a hundred injured in an israeli—raid on the occupied west bank. british and irish political leaders condemn the shooting of an off—duty policeman in northern ireland. he's in a critical condition.

and, burning to save the world, the environmentally—friendly