Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Belize is a 35-year-old nation that strives for economic and political stability; it still has a way to go.

It’s a hot place, but you’ve got to love a people who chose as their national motto: “Sub Umbra Floreo”.

“Under the shade I flourish.”

Belize is not quite as advanced in tourist infrastructure as Costa Rica—few places in this part of the world are—but that seems to be its goal.

And Belize has the added attraction of several significant Mayan sites and some spectacular offshore reefs.

One is the Classic Mayan political center of Lamanai, a word in Yucatec Mayan meaning “submerged crocodile.”

Lamanai has only been explored in the last 40 or so years, and it is still mostly covered and rather difficult to get to. It was occupied as early as the 16th century BC, and continued to be used up to the 17th century of the modern era.

How difficult? Our ship had to put down its anchor about a mile offshore to avoid damaging the spectacular offshore barrier reef (second only to the reef in Australia in size).

So, my trip to Lamanai (ancient Mayan for submerged crocodile) began with a long tender ride to shore. Then a 90-minute drive in a superannuated bus on a minimal road to the headwaters of the New River.

From there by open speedboat another 90 minutes into the deep jungle.

The good news: Lamanai was worth all the effort, and we had the place almost to our own, along with the bold and loud howler monkeys.

During the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, Spanish friars established two Roman Catholic churches here, but a Mayan revolt drove them out. When the British settled in Lamanai, they installed a sugar mill at the site.

Archaeological work has concentrated on the larger structures, most notably the Temple of the Masks, the Jaguar Temple, and High Temple.

A significant portion of the site remains under grassy earth or is covered in dense jungle growth.

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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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21 January 2016
Costa Maya, Mexico

January 21, 2016 Corey Sandler

‍By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Costa Maya is a genuine fake.

And I mean that in a nice way. There is no historic town at the end of the modern pier that extends out from the almost featureless landscape. Instead, what we have here is a manufactured village of shops, bars, and other lures for tourist dollars, pesos, euros, and pounds.

The genuine part is architecture and music and art that evoke some of the rich history of the Mayans and other peoples who once populated the region of Quintana Roo.

This is the deep south of Mexico, close to the border with Belize to its south.

Costa Maya is a relatively new way to gain access to the Caribbean coast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

This is an area that is well-populated by the ghosts of great Mayan cities, at least two dozen of them and probably many, many more.

The port of Costa Maya is a tourism version of “If You Build it, They Will Come.”

Until 15 years ago, the only way to get to the shore in this region was over a long and rough road from places far away and not all that attractive.

But then in 2001, private investors and the Mexican government created a pier near the town of Mahahual.

The pier, which is now visited by dozens of cruise ships each year, gives access to some interesting, lesser-known Mayan ruins in the area, as well as fostering all manner of modern tourist-oriented attractions, shops, bars, and restaurants.

Costa Maya is essentially fenced off from the real world of Mexico, with its own infrastructure and housing for employees. You can, though, take a shore excursion to nearby destinations or hire a car.

There may be many, many more ancient cities in the wilderness of Mexico and in Central America: Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, among them.

All through this part of the world, population has come to center around big cities, some of them huge, like Mexico City and Guatemala City. Out in the country, nature has retaken much of the land.

Explorers in modern times have found many great cities, mostly by accident.

In recent times, though, satellites have mapped much of the surface of the planet. And some of these satellites include scientific instruments that measure the temperature of the earth below.

Soil and vegetation retains heat. Buried stones and cities are much cooler. The satellites hint at the prospect of many, many sites yet to be explored.

Costa Maya is the closest port of access to Mayan ruins in the Yucatan including Chacchoben.

They are each interesting, but they are smaller and substantially less excavated than the better known pyramids of Tulum and Coba to the north, or Chichen Itza and Uxmal in Yucatan, which are three to four hours away on somewhat sketchy roads.

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20 January 2016
Cozumel, Mexico

January 20, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The island of Cozumel is located in the Caribbean Sea along the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

Mexico’s largest Caribbean island sits about 12 miles or 19 kilometers off the mainland; ferry service zips back and forth to Playa del Carmen.

Cozumel has a back story as a former Mayan outpost and a place of religious pilgrimage for women, and it includes several sites and structures from the ancients.

Between Mayan times and 30 or 40 years ago, it was a backwater dependent upon fishing.

Today it exists almost entirely as a destination aimed at fishing dollars, euros, pounds, and pesos out of the pockets of tourists: about two million per year.

The cruise port at San Miguel is quite busy as well. During high season, which runs from November to April, there are usually 20 to 30 ships in port per week, more than a few of them party boats on 4- or 5-day party cruises from Miami and New Orleans. You can spot their guests easily: they are wobbling even before they make it to the margarita bars along the malecon.

Tourism, diving and charter fishing comprise the majority of the island’s economy. There are more than 300 restaurants on the island and many hotels.

And there are beaches all around, some of them quite crowded and some nearly empty if you go out of your way to find them.

We spent the morning walking along the malecon, the seaside promenade. You have to look very carefully to spot vestiges of old Cozumel, sandwiched in between Senor Frog’s and Hooters and Diamonds International.

And we had to politely resist the near constant pitches of taxi drivers and vendors every few yards. We escaped with our wallets intact, and some colorful pictures of an island in the sun.

The lovely Silver Wind, nestled alongside another cruise ship at Cozumel, like a guppy in the shade of a whale. And our neighbor here is merely a large ship, not a megaship.

Vestiges of old Cozumel, more or less in plain sight amongst modern tourist attractions.

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18 January 2016
From the Gold Coast to the Mayan Coast

January 19, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard. We’re headed south by southwest from Florida’s Gold Coast to Mexico’s Mayan Coast, and then back by way of the Offshore Bank and the Conch Republic.

Allow me to explain.

We depart Fort Lauderdale aboard Silversea’s handsome Silver Wind headed first for the Mexican resort of Cozumel along the dead end of the Gulf of Mexico. And then we make a visit at Costa Maya, another tourist playground, a small place with a large history in the ancient cultures of Mexico.

From there we continue south along the Gulf Coast to the somewhat-less-visited port of Belize City in the somewhat-obscure nation of Belize (a former Imperial colony known as British Honduras until 1973). Belize is the only nation in Central America where the official language is English, albeit with a strong influence of Spanish and Creole.

After then to the island of Roatan in the nation now known as Honduras, before then as Spanish Honduras. It also was known as the original “Banana Republic”, a not-complimentary nickname bestowed on the nation and the region by an American writer in 1904.

We turn away from the coast to head to George Town, Grand Cayman–a most unlikely address for a large number of banks, accounting firms, lawyers, and multinational companies that come to worship the sun and very liberal taxation and regulatory schemes. There are some lovely beaches, too.

And finally, we have ahead of us an overnight at the very quirky port of Key West in Florida, the southernmost point in the continental United States. Just about anything goes here, and in fact the place even tried to go away from the mother country, an effort memorialized by Conch Republic flags.

I’ll be writing more about each of these ports in upcoming blogs. Here’s our plan:

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24-25 September 2015
Barcelona, Spain: Rambling Home

September 24, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Our cruise comes to an end in Barcelona, which is a great end…or beginning.

Barcelona is Spain’s second largest city; the metropolitan area is home to about 3.2 million.

Founded by the Romans, it became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona who had grand plans, eventually expanding their territory to include all of Catalonia.

The next expansion of Catalonia came in 1137 when the county of Barcelona merged with neighboring Aragon through dynastic union, a corporate marriage, if you will.

The Crown of Aragon went on to conquer many overseas possessions, ruling the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily, and as far as Athens.

And then came one more dynastic union, this time between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile.

The most famous street in Barcelona is Las Ramblas.

It runs up from the harbor through its historic districts and toward the Cathedral and La Sagrada Familia.

The street signs call it La Rambla, the Promenade.

But it’s actually a series of linked streets, so it is commonly referred to in the plural, Las Ramblas.

The Artists

Few cities are more imbued with the artistic vision of one man than is Barcelona.

The visions, and some of them are a bit strange—were those of Antoni Gaudi, one of the masters of the Modernist or Art Nouveau style.

There are works by Gaudi throughout the city.

Most begin with elements of Spanish Gothic, mix in Modernism, and finish off with phantasmagorical flights of fancy.

Gaudí began his work as a secular architect and artist, but in his later years he devoted his life to the Catholic church.

His crowning achievement was—or will be—La Sagrada Família, the Holy Family.

Technically, it is not a cathedral—home to a bishop. Its full name is the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family.

They’re still working at it.

The current expectation is that La Sagrada Familía will be completed in 2026, which would be the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death.

Like many of you I have visited hundreds of cathedrals all over the world, many of them many centuries years old.

Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia may well be the last monumental cathedral to be built, and it is amazing to watch the work underway.

Another artist with a wonderfully skewed view was Salvador Dali, born in Figueres, about 75 miles from Barcelona; Dali’s life from 1904 to 1989 overlapped Gaudi’s.

Today, not far away in the Barri Gotic, is the Picasso Museum.

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga. But he spent his youth in Barcelona.

The Museu Picasso is housed in a pair of 14^th century palaces. It includes more than 3,800 works in its permanent collection, much of it from his early days.

There’s one more hometown artist of note: Joan Miro, born in Barcelona in 1893.

His paintings, drawings, sculpture, and ceramics moved from the conventional past abstraction and into surrealism.

Arrivederci

We are heading home from Barcelona for our vacation. We look forward to seeing you on another Silversea ship in 2016.

Safe travels.

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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:

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

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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23 September 2015
València, Spain: Fallas, Fireworks, and Paella

September 23, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Valencia is Spain’s third largest city, after Madrid and Barcelona.

That’s pretty impressive company.

But Valencia can stand on its own as a wondrous old city, the former capital of the Old Kingdom of Valencia.

The birthplace of paella. The deathplace of the fallas.

The host city for the America’s Cup in 2007 and 2010.

And home to a massive modern architectural project by Santiago Calatrava.

The roots of Valencia reach back to a Roman colony founded in 138 BC on an island in the Turia River.

The Moors held this part of Spain from the 8^th to the 13^th century, with the exception of about five years from 1094 to 1099 when Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar—El Cid—broke their hold in Valencia.

Despite being on the Mediterranean Sea, there is still a local expression that says “Valencia has always lived with its back to the sea”, meaning that the spirit and the core of the city is not necessarily oriented to the water.

One of the most famous aspects of Valencia is a tradition that dates back several centuries, the Night of the Cremà, which takes place in March.

This is the burning of the Fallas, large wooden and papier mache dolls or effigies—sometimes representing politicians or celebrities or allegorical figures.

It is believed the tradition dates back to the carpenter’s guild of Valencia, who would celebrate the Festival of their patron Saint Joseph by gathering in front of their workshops to burn old tools, other wooden utensils, and candleholders they used to give them light during the winter season.

To me, a much more worthy exercise is the acquisition and consumption of Paella, the signature dish of Valencia.

The dish is named after the pan used to prepare it. You can, if you wish, think of it as a Spanish version of a wok.

Paella originated in the mid-nineteenth century near Albufera lagoon in Valencia. In many ways it brings together the Roman and Arab and indigenous flavors of the region.

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22 September 2015
Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain: Pirates, Giants, and Raindrops

September 22, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

There is something very special about the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.

Something that attracted ancient peoples, the Roman empire, the Moors, Pirates, and Vandals.

Also the great composed Frederick Chopin, the artist Joan Miro, the poet Robert Graves, and the great architect Antoni Gaudi.

Each came for short visits but left behind significant reminders of their genius.

Mallorca is Spain’s largest island possession, and its second-most populated island (after Tenerife in the Canary Islands.)

On this visit, we are avoiding the hustle and bustle of the principal city of Palma de Mallorca, and instead coming in to the charming resort village of Alcudia to the north

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21 September 2015
Sète, France: The Venice of Languedoc

September 21, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Sète is a commune in the Hérault department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.

So it is French, of sorts, although its ancient origins are as part of Occitania.

Occitan is a Romance language, still spoken in places here and there in the Languedoc region that includes parts of southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, and Spain’s Val d’Aran.

Languedoc means the Language of Oc.

Oc is the Occitan word for “yes.”

And so we have arrived in the Land of Yes. Take that for whatever you want.

What else is Sète?

Poetry, mystical sometimes indecipherable love songs, mussels, and oysters.

A city built around an ancient canal, a place that apparently is the world capital of the sport of water-jousting.

And a relatively obscure port that in 1947 was the embarkation place for 4,500 Holocaust survivors on a barely seaworthy former cruise ship that on its way to Palestine changed its name to Exodus.

On this visit, I went with guests on a visit to the charming town of Pezenas, once a wealthy trading center and home of the great French author Moliere.

A PEZENAS ALBUM

From there we went to the Abbey de Valmagne, which dates from the 13th century and later. In more recent times, it is home to spirits of a different kind: a wine cave.

ABBAYE DE VALMAGNE

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20 September 2015
Marseille, France: The Second City

September 20, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Marseille is the oldest city in France, and the country’s second-largest city population behind only Paris.

This is very much a working city: it is France’s largest commercial port.

Out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago of four islands. One of those, L’ile d’If, is the location of Château d’If, made famous by the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

There have been settlements in this area for almost 30,000 years.

The city of Marseille was founded about 600 BC as a Greek trading port; it was named Massalia. It became a link between inland Gaul and Rome, importing wine and other goods and exporting agricultural items and slaves to Rome.

Skipping forward, in 1792, Marseille sent 500 volunteers to Paris to support the French Revolution.

The song they sung on their march from Marseille to Paris, a call to arms that became known as La Marseillaise, is now the national anthem of France.

For many visitors to southern France, the gem is Aix-en-Provence, about 20 miles north of Marseille.

And on this glorious Sunday morning, with a hint of autumn in the air, I returned to Aix with guests.

The settlement of Aix or Aquae Sextiae was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus.

Aix flourished after the 12th century, when, under the houses of Aragon and Anjou, it became an artistic center and seat of learning.

Aix-en-Provence is situated in a plain overlooking the Arc, about a mile from the right bank of the river.

The main thoroughfare is the beautiful Cours Mirabeau, planted with double rows of plane-trees. It is bordered by fine houses and punctuated by decorative fountains.

Aix Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d’Aix) is built on the site of the 1st century Roman forum of Aix.

AN AIX ALBUM FOR TODAY

Built and re-built from the 12th until the 19th century, it includes Romanesque, Gothic and Neo-Gothic elements, as well as Roman columns and parts of the baptistery from a 6th century Christian church.

A MARSEILLE ALBUM

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19 September 2015
Saint-Tropez, France: The Headless Saint and the Creation of Woman

September 19, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

When you say Saint-Tropez most people think of Brigitte Bardot in a bikini, or perhaps modern Children of the Sun lounging around on the beach in no bikini at all.

But Saint-Tropez has a more substantial history, including a martyred saint from Pisa after whom the town is named, a Japanese sumarai who came on a voyage of exploration in the early 1600s, and an almost-forgotten World War II invasion site.

There was also the painter Paul Signac, one of many greats who were drawn to the beaches and the special light of maritime places, long before there were fancy bistros and outrageously priced shops.

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18 September 2015
Monte Carlo, Monaco: The Gem of the Côte d’Azur

September 18, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Monaco has (almost, depending on your particulars) all the ingredients for adult fantasy.

A seven-hundred-year monarchy in a country smaller than New York City’s Central Park.

The romance and heartbreak of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly.

The other royal wedding of 2011, between the playboy prince and a lovely and nervous Olympian bride.

A prestigious Formula One automobile race through its winding streets.

A major tennis tournament.

A major jewel heist by the Pink Panther gang, still unsolved.

Sandy beaches, spectacular yachts, don’t-ask-the-price shops, don’t-look-at-the-bill restaurants, and a fabled casino where—in our mind’s eye, at least, the men are all dressed in tuxedos and the women are dressed to kill.

And us.

For those guests leaving us here, we wish you safe travels.

We’re headed out on a cruise that will follow the south coast of France, then venture south the lovely island of Mallorca, and then return the mainland at the remarkable city of Valencia and the even-more-remarkable grand city of Barcelona.

Here’s our plan:

Welcome aboard!

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17 September 2015
Cannes, France: Front Row Center

September 17, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

It requires more than a little bit of suspension of disbelief, but Cannes was once a small and humble fishing village.

It is no longer small, by no means humble, and today’s fishing is aimed at the wallets of visitors.

It is, though, a very interesting place with grand architecture, high-end shops and restaurants, and a back story of movie stars, high fashion, and romance, fabulous festivals, and jewel heists.

Oh, and a beach.

In postwar times—since 1946—Cannes is most famous for its film festival, held each May.

Producers shop for financing or hope to strike distribution deals.

Actors come to see, but mostly to be seen.

Antibes is on the Mediterranean between Cannes and Nice, in the direction of Monaco. It is a handsome seaside resort, with snowy Alps in the background.

The city was founded in the 5th century BC as a Greek Colony of Massilia, which we know now as Marseille. It was named Antipolis, literally the “city across.”

Pablo Picasso came to Antibes in 1946 and was invited to stay in the castle.

During his six-month residence Picasso painted and drew, and crafted ceramics and tapestries.

When Picasso departed, he left a number of his works to the municipality. The castle has since become the Picasso Museum.

Another worthy trip is to the perfume city of Grasse or to the lovely mountaintop village of St-Paul de Vence in Provence.

This region, stretching along the coast from east of Monte Carlo and west to the Italian border, is part of the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it still retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity.

A CANNES ALBUM

On this visit, we ventured about 30 minutes away to the handsome city of Antibes to visit the Picasso Museum and stroll the streets of this very French place.

AN ANTIBES ALBUM

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15-16 September 2015
Livorno, Italy: The Glories of Florence, A Tower in Pisa, and the Rooftops of Lucca

September 15, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Livorno is a city that has some worthy places, although most visitors pass on by.

That’s because for those of us arriving by cruise ship, Livorno is the gateway to the great city of Florence.

Oh, and also one of the world’s iconic sites, a certain tower in the town of Pisa. And also beautiful Tuscany, Siena, and Lucca.

We’re here for two days, which is about 363 days too short for a proper exploration. We’ll just have to make do.

A FLORENCE ALBUM

A PISA ALBUM

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14 September 2015
Genoa, Italy: The Treasures of the Ligurian Coast

September 14, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Our original itinerary had called for a visit to Portofino. No one would ever blame you if thought the name of this lovely town and harbor meant “Fine Port.”

Alas, that’s merely a coincidence. Portofino is truly a fine port. But according to Pliny the Elder, the great Roman chronicler of the first century, Portofino was founded by the Romans and they named it Portus Delphini, or Port of the Dolphin, because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited the Tigullian Gulf.

The dolphins are mostly gone now, replaced by swarms of tourists who come to see the fine harbor, its nearby Paraggi beach, and the surrounding area including Camogli and Rapallo.

We were scheduled to put down our anchor offshore of Portofino. Alas, we have run into some rough seas and wind–not enough to make our travel aboard the lovely Silver Wind uncomfortable, but greatly affecting the operation of our ship’s tenders.

And so we instead tied up at the dock in nearby Genoa, the largest port in Italy.

Here are some photos from previous visits to Portofino, and then done photos from today in Santa Margherita di Ligure and Rapallo.

A PORTOFINO ALBUM

The Abbey of San Frutuoso

A SANTA MARGHERITA ALBUM

A RAPALLO ALBUM

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13 September 2015
Calvi, Corsica: Napoleon, Nelson, and the Vendetta

September 13, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Corsica, at least in the wishes of its people for centuries, has always been a place unto its own.

A French flag, Italian heritage, and a Corsican culture.

It is an island of jagged granite mountains and dense, dark forests. It even has its own odor, a scent of the maquis: fields of aromatic herbs and shrubs.

It was a beautiful day in Corsica as we were at anchor, but the wind and seas were a bit on the wild side at midday, and the tender ride from shore to the ship was . . . exciting.

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12 September 2015
Olbia: Sardinia’s Emerald Coast

September 13, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

“Sardinia, which is like nowhere. Sardinia, which has no history, no date, no race, no offering.

“They say neither Romans nor Phoenicians, Greeks nor Arabs ever subdued Sardinia. It lies outside; outside the circuit of civilization.”

So said D.H. Lawrence in his book, Sea and Sardinia.

Very evocative. Not fully true, although it certainly is an unusual place.

Sardinia is part of Italy, while its neighbor Corsica is part of France.

Although French Corsica is closer to Italy than France.

And Italian Sardinia is closer to France (at Corsica) or Tunisia than it is to Italy.

In Olbia, much of the older architecture and a bit of the culture is still heavily influenced by the Spanish and the Habsburgs who ruled here for many centuries.

The newer construction in Olbia and in nearby modern gathering places like Porto are a little bit Las Vegas, a little bit San Tropez.

And they call the region the Costa Smeralda: The Emerald Coast.

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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:

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

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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11 September 2015
Civitavecchia, Italy: Treasures of the Med

September 12, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Two ships in one day, with an airplane flight in between. We started the day in Lisbon at the end of a wondrous cruise from Southampton to Normandy, Asturias, and Portugal.

We bade arrivederci to Silver Cloud, hopped a flight east across Europe to Rome, and have met up with sister ship Silver Wind on a journey that will take us through the west coast of Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Cannes, and on to the Oz world of Monte Carlo.

I would have much preferred to sail down and around; airplanes are so déclassé.

So here we are on Silver Wind.

On this cruise we’re going to go just about every direction we can:

West from Civitavecchia through the Tyrrhenian Sea to Olbia on the Italian island of Sardinia.

North and then west through the Strait of Bonifacio before going north again to Calvi on the French island of Corsica.

North to the mainland of Europe and the fine port of Portofino in Italy.

Southeast along the Riviera di Levante to Livorno, the port for Florence in Italy.

Then west across the Ligurian Sea to Cannes, France.

And then finally, northeast to Monte Carlo in the Principality of Monaco.

Here’s our plan:

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11 September 2015
Lisbon, Portugal: What Fates Impose…

September 12, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Lisbon is one of the most interesting and intriguing of European cities. It’s a little bit Spanish, a little bit Arab, and a whole lot of only-in-Portugal.

Lisbon, the capital and largest city of Portugal, sits on the coast at the place where the river Tagus flows into the Atlantic Ocean, the westernmost capital of mainland Europe.

With its central location and port, Lisbon became the capital city of Portugal in 1255.

During the last centuries of the Middle Ages, the city expanded substantially and became an important trading post with northern Europe and Mediterranean cities.

And then, in the Age of Discovery from the 15^th to 17^th centuries, Lisbon was the port of departure for many of the great Portuguese expeditions, most notably Vasco da Gama’s trip to India in 1497.

Lisbon is a rich stew of architectural designs: Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Baroque, modern and post-modern along with a few Moorish styles.

The Museu Calouste Gulbenkian is one of the lesser-known jewels of Europe, a rich collection of ancient and classical art along with some modern pieces.

It was assembled in the early 20^th century by Calouste Gulbenkian, a tremendously rich British businessman of Armenian extraction.

Santa Maria de Belém is about 4 miles west of the city. Its name comes from the Portuguese for Bethlehem.

Belém is the place from which many of the great Portuguese explorers set off on their voyages of discovery.

Perhaps Belém’s most famous feature is its tower, Torre de Belém.

The tower was built as a fortified lighthouse late in the reign of Dom Manuel (1515–1520) to guard the entrance to the port at Belém.

A more modern monument in Belém is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Monument to the Discoveries.

The 171 foot (52 meter) concrete monument was erected in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator.

Shaped like a ship’s prow, it includes statues of Henry and important explorers.

Also in Belém is the fabulous Mosteiro dos Jerónimo, one of the reasons why the Torre de Belém was built.

The Jerónimos Monastery was begun in 1502 on instructions from Manuel I and took fifty years to complete.

Its role was as a monument to Vasco da Gama’s successful voyage to India; the great explorer’s tomb is inside.

This is the end of this cruise, and I wish safe travels to friends old and new.

We’re debarking as well, heading to the airport for a quick flight to Rome to meet up with sister ship Silver Wind.

I would have much prefered to sail down and around; airplanes are so déclassé.

But this is what fates have imposed.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

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)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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10 September 2015
Porto (Leixões), Portugal: Tripe, Wizards, and Port

September 12, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Our penultimate port of call on this cruise is Porto, not the most famous of places in Portugal.

It is, literally, the Second City of Portugal, its second-most-populous place with 1.8 million people in the metropolitan area.

Porto has always been a mercantile city, and this is evident in the style of the buildings lining the Avenida dos Aliados, the core of the downtown area. The center of town, unlike other major Portuguese cities, which tend towards the baroque, is granite and monumental.

Lisbon is the grand city of palaces and monasteries and monuments and a metropolitan population of about 2.8 million, and it lies ahead of us.

Porto, well, it’s a place of broad shoulders and hard work, in some ways the economic heart of the country.

The city is located along the Douro river estuary.

Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale, is said by some historians to be the source of the name “Portugal.”

We’ll celebrate tonight with a glass of fine Port after dinner.

Port Wine is named for Porto, and in particular the caves of Vila Nova de Gaia.

The reaches of the valley of the Douro River have a microclimate that is optimal for cultivation of olives, almonds, and especially grapes.

Vinho do Porto is a fortified wine, typically a sweet red wine although there are also dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.

The wine is fortified by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente in order to stop the fermentation, leaving residual sugar in the wine, and to boost the alcohol content, usually to about 19 to 23 percent.

The Douro valley where port wine is produced was defined and established as a protected region, or appellation in 1756, making it by some measures the oldest defined and protected wine region in the world.

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9 September 2015
La Coruña, Spain: The Crystal City at the End of the Earth, and Santiago de Compostela: The Way of Saint James

September 9, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

La Coruña is in the autonomous community of Galicia.

In recent history, La Coruña was the political capital of the Kingdom of Galicia from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Spain has 17 autonomous communities, a first-level political division that came out of the Constitution of 1978 which was intended to retain the autonomy of the nationalities and regions of the Spanish nation.

On this visit, we ventured about an hour south to the town of Santiago de Compostela, a place of pilgrimage for Christians for centuries.

We visited the cathedral, saw the vendors offering walking sticks topped by a carving of a scallop shell–proof to some of the accomplishment of their peregrino or pilgrimage, and topped it all of with tapas and a music and dance performance by a Galician folk troupe: Celtic bagpipes of northwest Spain.

La Coruña is sometimes called “The Crystal City.” That nickname is derived from its many galerías, or glazed window balconies.

Naval architects adopted the design of the windowed stern of a warship and applied them as balconies to many places in northern Spain, including Galicia and the Basque region.

The first settlement was believed to have been on the peninsula that extends out from the present city, probably established by the Artabrians, a Celtic tribe.

Then came the Romans in the 2^nd century BC.

They were attracted to the strategic position at the edge of Iberia, and they called the region Finis-terrae, the end of the world.

Its name in the Galician language evolved from that to Fisterra.

Under the Romans, the settlement they called Brigantium became important in maritime trade, and even drew the notice of Julius Caesar who visited in 62BC.

Commerce in metal and other materials grew, with connections what is now France, England, and Portugal.

Brigantium reached its peak in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries, but declined after the 4th century and especially with the incursions of the Normans, which forced the population to flee towards the interior of the Estuary of O Burgo.

It was in the 2^nd century that the Farum Brigantium was built.

Farum is the Latin version of the Greek work pharos, meaning lighthouse.

The other name for the farum was the Tower of Hercules.

That tower, restored and elaborated a bit over 1,900 years, still stands on the peninsula about 2.5 kilometers or 1.5 miles from the center of La Coruña.

It has been in more-or-less continuous use since first built, and may well be the oldest lighthouse still in existence.

According to some, it may have been modeled after the great Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

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)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Around the World with Corey Sandler

Category Archives: Uncategorized

22 January 2016
Belize City, Belize: Searching for Success (and Shade)

21 January 2016
Costa Maya, Mexico

20 January 2016
Cozumel, Mexico

18 January 2016
From the Gold Coast to the Mayan Coast

24-25 September 2015
Barcelona, Spain: Rambling Home

23 September 2015
València, Spain: Fallas, Fireworks, and Paella

22 September 2015
Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain: Pirates, Giants, and Raindrops

21 September 2015
Sète, France: The Venice of Languedoc

20 September 2015
Marseille, France: The Second City

19 September 2015
Saint-Tropez, France: The Headless Saint and the Creation of Woman

18 September 2015
Monte Carlo, Monaco: The Gem of the Côte d’Azur

17 September 2015
Cannes, France: Front Row Center

15-16 September 2015
Livorno, Italy: The Glories of Florence, A Tower in Pisa, and the Rooftops of Lucca

14 September 2015
Genoa, Italy: The Treasures of the Ligurian Coast

13 September 2015
Calvi, Corsica: Napoleon, Nelson, and the Vendetta

12 September 2015
Olbia: Sardinia’s Emerald Coast

11 September 2015
Civitavecchia, Italy: Treasures of the Med

11 September 2015
Lisbon, Portugal: What Fates Impose…

10 September 2015
Porto (Leixões), Portugal: Tripe, Wizards, and Port

9 September 2015
La Coruña, Spain: The Crystal City at the End of the Earth, and Santiago de Compostela: The Way of Saint James

Cruise Photos and Stories by Corey Sandler