8 June 2015
Koper, Slovenia: Emerging from the Shadows

June 8, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Koper, Slovenia is a beautiful, diverse, and culturally rich corner of the former Yugoslavia.

Slovenia touches Italy near Trieste, a border that has moved back and forth many times.

Slovenia and Croatia were the first new countries to emerge from the former Yugoslavia, on June 25, 1991.

Macedonia followed, although it wasn’t recognized for a few years. Bosnia and Herzogovinia, and Serbia and Montenegro began in 1992. Those last two countries had a sort-of-amicable divorce in 2006. And then Kosovo broke off from Serbia in 2008.

It’s all a bit confusing, but then again Yugoslavia was a cobbled-together country that never experienced cultural, ethnic, or religious unity.

A KOPER ALBUM

Slovenia has always been a crossroads of trade, culture, and conflict. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast.

On this visit, I went with guests to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana.

Please: let’s keep this amongst ourselves: Ljubljana is a gem, a bright and shiny and energetic place. Here are some photos from today:

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7 June 2015
Hvar, Croatia: The Trendy Isle

June 7, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The island of Hvar is one of Croatia’s trendiest destinations: Beaches, watersports, cafés, and shops.

The tourist bureau would have you think of it as the Saint-Tropez of Dalmatia.

It’s a very attractive place; the town of Hvar is mostly white and tan structures with orange or red roofs.

But going to Hvar means going to a place where, with the arrival of summer come flocks of tourists, along with eruptions of color in the interior of the island: vineyards, fields of lavender, and riots of wild flowers.

A HVAR ALBUM

On this visit I went with a group of guests on an off-road adventure into some of the mountains and valleys of Hvar.

We ventured through fields of purple lavender and yellow broom to isolated towns; one village is down to just seven residents, some of whom were refugees from an even more remote settlement now abandoned.

Here is some of what I saw.

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6 June 2015
Dubrovnik, Croatia: A History of Danger

June 6, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Dubrovnik has lived with danger for most of its existence.

Centuries of political and trade conflict with much-larger powers, a massive earthquake, and a war in the 1990s whose effects can still be seen.

What remains and has been restored is a sight to be seen, now one of the most popular places to visit in the growing tourist allure of Croatia.

Photos by Corey Sandler

We know the place today by its Croation name of Dubrovnik. The Italians reach back to an older name of Ragusa, which is based on the Roman settlement of Ragusium, and in turn the Greek port of Ragousa.

In the Middle Ages, the Republic of Ragusa was an important economic and political power, in the era of similar city-states like Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Venice.

By the 15th and 16th centuries, its thalassocracy–its empire at sea rather than on land—rivaled that of the Republic of Venice.

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5 June 2015
Kotor, Montenegro: The City in the Hill

June 6, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Montenegro is a nine-year-old nation with a thousand-year back story.

The nation, carved out of what was once Yugoslavia, is one of the smaller countries in the world: about 14,000 square kilometers or 5,300 square miles.

It’s smaller than The Bahamas, a bit larger than Qatar or Jamaica.

Montenegro’s coast line is on the Adriatic Sea, at its south-west border.

A KOTOR ALBUM

Photos by Corey Sandler

Croatia is to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Albania to the southeast, and Kosovo to the east. That’s a pretty rough neighborhood.

Montenegro, of course, means Black Mountain.

And the region has had a version of that name for centuries, but not always in a Romance Language.

As far back at the 14th century, the hilly area was called Tsrna Gora, which means…Black Mountain.

Today its name is an adaptation of the Italian-Venetian translation. Modern Italian would be montenero.

Today, the official language of Montenegro is Montenegrin, which is nearly the same as Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian.

Some people have called the Bay of Kotor “Europe’s southernmost fjord.”

That’s an interesting description. It has the feeling of a fjord in Norway or Chile.

We sailed a deep, twisting watery path from the sea about 17 miles into the interior.

But in technical terms, it’s not a fjord at all. A fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glaciers.

Nearly all of the earth’s glaciers are at or near the poles, with only a few way up high in mountains near the planet’s mid-section.

Kotor is at 42 degrees north, which is slightly closer to the equator than it is to the North Pole.

Instead, what we’ve got in Kotor is a drowned river valley. The river was long ago covered over by a rising sea level in the region.

On our sail-in, around the last bend ahead of us lay the Old City of Kotor.

The map of Kotor looks to me like a ski mountain: a city in the hill.

The city walls were built by the Republic of Venice when Kotor was an important trading port.

On this visit, I went to the ancient town of Budva, a seaside resort begun by Illyrian Greek tribes and then enhanced over the millennia by Romans and then local Slavs and Montenegrins.

It is also the home of a very exclusive (and expensive) resort on Sveti Stephan island.

A BUDVA ALBUM

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4 June 2015
Corfu, Greece: It’s Complicated

June 5, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Corfu is a little piece of Greece, the seventh largest of the country’s islands.

But its status is a lot more complicated.

The history of Corfu includes a long period of domination by the Venetians, a bit of French, and a few decades of British rule.

It was the occupation by the Venetians, though, and the strong fortress structures they erected that was one of the main reasons why Corfu was the only significant part of Greece never conquered by the Muslim Turks, the Ottomans.

A CORFU ALBUM

Photos by Corey Sandler

The island, along with a few smaller islets, forms the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island’s north-eastern coastline is just 3 kilometers or 2 miles away from Albania.

I said that the island was never taken by the Ottoman Turks, but that was not for lack of trying.

The Siege of Corfu in 1537 landed 25,000 soldiers from the Turkish fleet of Suleiman the Magnificent. They pillaged parts of the island and took 20,000 hostages.

But in the city, the castle held and the Turks withdrew because of lack of supplies and an epidemic.

The second great siege of Corfu took place in 1716, during the last Turkish-Venetian War.

On July 8 the Turkish fleet of 33,000 men was encountered by the Venetian fleet off the channel of Corfu and was defeated. Despite repeated assaults and heavy fighting, the Turks were unable to breach the defenses and were forced to end the siege after 22 days.

The 5,000 Venetians and foreign mercenaries, together with 3,000 Corfiotes, were victorious.

Once again Venetian castle engineering had proven itself once again against considerable odds.

The repulse of the Ottomans was widely celebrated in Europe, Corfu being seen as a bastion of Western civilization against the Ottoman tide.

Back in Venice, hometown composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote an oratorio: “Juditha triumphans.”

Today Corfu city looks very different from most Greek cities.

The Venetians set the tone for architecture, and also created a culture more open and diverse than existed in many other places.

Today I made a visit to one of the remnants of the many other cultures that touched Corfu: Achilleion Palace, built for Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary in 1890, named (and decorated) in tribute to her hero Achilles. After her death (by assassination in one of the complex steps that led up to World War I), it was purchased by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

Wilhelm, who also had a thing for heroes and large statues, had a huge version of Achilles installed in the garden, with the inscription “To the Greatest Greek from the Greatest German.” Humble, no?

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3 June 2015
Messina, Italy: Up From the Ashes

June 3, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Early Wednesday morning, we sailed south from Sorrento and Amalfi through the Tyrrhenian Sea into the funnel-shaped Strait of Messina.

Arriving at the Strait, on our left was the bottom of the mainland of Italy. To our right was the large island of Sicily, the football being kicked by the toe of Italy’s boot.

Entering the strait, the passage is as narrow as 2 miles, or 3 kilometers.

At its exit to the south, the strait is nearly 10 miles or 16 kilometers wide.

Almost anywhere the sea funnels into a strait, mariners expect strong and sometime treacherous currents.

That’s only one problem.

The Eurasian plate is moving down, or south, toward the African plate.

And one of the hotspots, where the plates grind against each other, is southern Italy.

Here, in a relatively small area, we have Mount Etna: the tallest active volcano in Europe, nearly constantly bubbling over like a bowl of Arrabiata sauce left on the burner.

Silver Spirit came to the dock in the once-handsome classic Sicilian city of Messina.

I say Messina was once-handsome, because on December 28, 1908 the city was all but leveled by a terrible earthquake that killed as many as 100,000 people.

Today, Messina is the third largest city on the island of Sicily; about 250,000 in the city itself and 650,000 in the surrounding area.

A MESSINA ALBUM

CHIESA DEI CATALANI, MESSINA

Messina reached a peak of splendor in the early 17th century, under Spanish domination. In 1783, an earthquake devastated much of the city, and it took decades to rebuild and rekindle cultural life.

Destroyed again by the earthquake of 1908, during World War II Messina was subject to massive aerial bombardment by Allied forces.

So, between the earthquakes and the wartime bombing, what you see in Messina today is almost entirely rebuilt. Handsome, interesting, but mostly no older than about 70 years.

There are some ancient remnants, though.

Parts of the Cathedral of Messina date from the 12th century. Contained within are the 13^th century remains of King Conrad, ruler of Germany and Sicily.

The sculptures and details of the exterior are phantasmagorical, well worth a visit on their own.

But the biggest draw of the cathedral is its bell tower. The tower holds one of the largest astronomical clocks in the world, built in 1933.

Be there at noon and watch the show.

PATRON SAINT DAY IN MESSINA

As luck would have it, we arrived on the day of commemoration of one of Messina’s patron saints: Madonna della Lettera.

According to local legend, when Saint Paul visited Messina seeking converts, he took back with him to Palestine some new followers who made a visit to meet the Virgin Mary.

May is said to have written a letter, in Hebrew, to bestow her blessing on Messina.

We stood by the cathedral and watched part of the procession.

MOUNT ETNA

And of course, there is Mount Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world; the tallest in Europe and the highest mountain of Italy south of the Alps.

Etna is about 100 kilometers or 62 miles from Messina.

It is very much awake, rumbling and spurting.

Etna stands about 3,329 meters or 10,922 feet tall, although every time it erupts it grows or shrinks. That makes it about two-and-a-half times the height of the next tallest Italian volcano, the one we saw recently in the Bay of Naples: Mount Vesuvius.

There are several very interesting small towns and villages in the shadow of Etna.

The most popular is Taormina, which occupies a former Greek settlement and still holds a remarkable Greek Theatre.

Its acoustics are exceptional: a stage whisper can be heard in the last rows. And behind the open stage, framed between columns, stands Mount Etna, a character in every play, opera, and concert presented there for millennia.

Another extraordinary sight is the tiny town of Castelmola which floats above Taormina.

About a thousand people live on the tippy-top of the hill, with cobblestone streets within ancient walls and spectacular views of Taormina…and Mount Etna.

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

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2 June 2015
Amalfi, Italy: Hugging the Coast

June 2, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Around the corner and below Sorrento is the Amalfi Coast, the Costiera Amalfitana.

This is an especially beautiful stretch of coastline in a beautiful part of the world.

And it is a lot more relaxing to visit on board a luxury cruise ship than by car or coach.

The alternative is to go down the Amalfi Drive. I’ve driven the drive, and lived to tell the tale, although the experience aged me greatly.

The road winds back and forth, hugging the sheer cliff walls on one side and edging up to the sharp dropoff to the sea below on the other.

Oh, and the road is also heavily populated with…how should I say this?….Italian drivers and tourists. The locals drive with what seems to be total abandon. The visitors, like me, clench their steering wheels in a deathlike drip.

The most famous towns are Positano, which hugs the cliff walls, and Amalfi. Past Positano is the city of Salerno.

AN AMALFI ALBUM

Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the 20^th century.

It began to attract large numbers of tourists in the 1950s.

John Steinbeck may have helped. In an essay in Harper’s Bazaar, Steinbeck wrote: “Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.”

The church of Santa Maria Assunta features a dome made of majolica tiles as well as a 13^th Byzantine century icon of a black Madonna.

According to local legend, the icon had been stolen from Byzantium and was being transported across the Mediterranean by pirates.

A terrible storm blew up near Positano and the frightened sailors heard a voice saying “Posa, posa!” (“Put down! Put down!”).

The precious icon was unloaded at the fishing village and the storm abated.

And so today, I came back to Positano. I skipped the beach, the ships, and the granita stands and climbed the hill on a photo safari.

A POSITANO ALBUM

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1 June 2015
Sorrento, Italy: Beauty and the Beast

June 1, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Campania is one of the most beautiful, dramatic, and dangerous regions in all of coastal Italy.

Silver Spirit at anchor off of Sorrento, with Mount Vesuvius in the background

On the mainland, it stretches from Naples south to Sorrento and down the Amalfi Coast.

The wide Gulf of Naples is framed by three major islands: the most famous is Capri just west of Sorrento. Offshore of Naples is Procida, and further out Ischia.

And from almost everywhere you can see the hulking threat of Mount Vesuvius: one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.

ON TOP OF OLD VESUVIUS

Photos by Corey Sandler

Directly connected, of course, are the famed ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, mute witness to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

There is no dock for ships at Sorrento, and so we put down our anchor outside the harbor.

Why do I say this place is so dangerous? Because the beast, Vesuvius, is most certainly not extinct. It has erupted numerous times before and after the major event in the year 79. In recorded history it has lost its head roughly every 80 years or so.

Over the centuries, most of its eruptions have been sudden and explosive.

It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last century. (The two other volcanoes in Italy are on islands: Etna on Sicily and Stromboli which is an island by itself.)

Campania has a population of about 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy after Lombardy (in and around Milan.)

When was the last time it erupted?

In an almost-forgotten event in World War II, Vesuvius erupted in 1944 as American troops and other Allied forces moved north up Italy.

That would be a bit more than 80 years ago…

A POMPEII ALBUM

CAPRI

OPLONTIS AND NERO’S WIFE

We have been to Sorrento so many times that the street vendors call us by name.

Sorrento, Naples, Capri, Paestum, Pompeii, Herculaneum. Been there, done that, enjoyed it very much thank you.

On this trip we decided to do something a bit out of the ordinary, a visit to one of the newest ancient sites of Campania: Oplontis, which includes the huge, spectacular Villa of Poppea, which may have been the seaside resort of Nero’s wife Poppea. That’s not certain, but whoever owned it was quite wealthy.

And whoever owned obviously never came back after it was buried under tens of metres of ejects from the eruption of Vesuvius.

Like Herculaneum, it was hidden in plain sight beneath the fields and strrets of modern Italy, in this case the town of Torre Annunziatta.

Here is some of what we saw: