03 | May | 2016 | Around the World with Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Dubrovnik has lived in 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 that still echoes in the ears of some.

But Dubrovnik has one other distinction, and not a happy one.

It was added to the UNESCO list in 1979 and scarcely a dozen years later many of its priceless treasures of humanity were under siege and bombardment.

Today, Dubrovnik is nearly recovered, and one of the most popular tourist lures of the Dalmatian Coast.

The prosperity of Dubrovnik has been linked to the maritime trade for nearly all of its existence. Today, they trade mostly in tourists.

These days we know the place by its Croatian name. But 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.

The Republic of Ragusa existed into the Middle Ages.

On the other side of the Adriatic and in the Mediterranean in Italy there were similar seafaring and trading city-states in places like Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Venice.

The city reached its peak of power in the 15th and 16th centuries.

We’re due to return to Dubrovnik on the next cruise, and I’ll have more photos and commentary in my blog entry for May 9.

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Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

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

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

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By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Brindisi is on the back of the heel of the boot of Italy on the Adriatic Sea, in the less-visited region of Apulia.

Because of its location, Brindisi was a very important place in the story of the pushback by Western Europe against the Muslim occupation of the Holy Land: the Crusades.

By sea, or overland, this was and is the path taken by ancient peoples and then the Greeks coming from the east.

The Romans moved the other direction to establish colonies all the way over to Byzantium which became Constantinople and then Istanbul.

And also further east into Cappadocia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia.

To the south, to Aegyptus and Judaea or Jerusalem and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity.

Brundisium was connected with Rome by the Via Appia and a secondary road along the coast called the Via Traiana.

The Appian Way was used by many of the Crusaders heading down to the ports of Bari or Brindisi to embark by sea.

Remnants of the road still exist throughout central and southern Italy.

On the other side of the Adriatics was the Via Egnatia, built in the 2^nd century BC to connect Durres in today’s Albania across to Constantinople, now Istanbul.

Brindisi became a place where Crusaders congregated, made plans and gathered provisions, and envisioned the Holy Land before they departed.

A theme park, if you will.

In Brindisi they could visit the Temple of Saint John Sepulchre, a circular church that was a faithful replica of the Anastasis Rotunda in the complex of the Holy City Selpulchre in Jerusalem.

And they could examine the scenes of the Holy Land depicted in mosaic on the floor of the Cathedral.

On this visit, I went with guests to the city of Lecce, at the very bottom of Italy’s boot. Lecce is a very handsome place, made wealthy through trade including export of the local Lecce stone, a form of limestone easily worked into grand cathedrals and statues.

They kept some of the stone for themselves, and we toured Lecce with an enthusiastic art school graduate.

A LECCE ALBUM