Tag Archives: Around the World with Corey Sandler

Corey Sandler is a bestselling author of more than 250 books on travel, cruises. sports, business, computers, and high technology. He travels about half the year as a Destination Consultant for Silversea Cruises, giving lectures about ports of call around the world. In his blog, “Around the World with Corey Sandler” includes photos and commentary.

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Our first port on this cruise is the “island of the clouds”. That’s the meaning of Bequia in the language of the pre-European settlers, the Arawaks.

Bequia is part of the independent nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, about 9 miles or 15 kilometers south of the nation’s capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent.

And then below Saint Vincent is a chain of small islands called the Grenadines, a chain of more than 600 specks of sand and rock in the Windward Islands. The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles. As a group they start from Dominica and reach southward to the North of Trinidad & Tobago.

Bequia is the second largest island in the Grenadines, second only to Carrioucou, which might make you think it is big, but it is only 7 square miles or 18 square kilometers.

The population of Bequia is about 5,000 people, which is less than the capacity of some of the monster cruise ships that sail nearby.

The good news, though, is that the huge ships pass it by. We are the only cruise ship at the island. I’ll drink to that.

Modes of transit in Port Elizabeth

The path from Port Elizabeth to Princess Margaret Beach, around the corner.

A hot dog in Bequia

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25 January 2015
Bridgetown, Barbados: Cricket and Rum

January 25, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Here in Bridgetown, one cruise comes to an end and another begins. We are headed south from Barbados to the fragrant island of Grenada and the infamous Devil’s Island before entering into the South American continent and sailing up the Amazon River to the forest city of Manaus. Here’s our plan:

To guests leaving us here in Bridgetown, safe travels. And to new guests, welcome aboard.

Barbados, along with Jamaica, is one of the most English-like islands in the Caribbean.

That stands to reason…since its first permanent settlers arrived from England in 1627 and to some extent never left…although the population today are mostly descendants of African slaves or indentured servants from India.

Barbados became an independent state in 1966. Queen Elizabeth II is still the constitutional monarch.

And so on Barbados they love their cricket and their rum, often combining the both under the Caribbean sun. Sometimes with a break for tea.

About 90 percent of Bajans are of African or mixed descent, with small groups from India, China, Ireland, and the Jewish diaspora.

Here in Barbados, the big party is not Carnival. Instead it is the Crop Over festival, held for most of the month of July into early August. The origins of Crop Over can be traced back to the 1780’s, a time when Barbados was the world’s largest producer of sugar.

Nearly everyone gets into the parade or the musical performances, colorfully dressed (or barely dressed) for the occasion.

In recent years, a guest at Crop Over is a hometown girl who made good: the pop singer Rihanna. She was born in Saint Michael, Barbados in 1988, which means that most of us have shoes older than she is.

Rihanna grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street. Forbes estimated her 2012 earnings at about $53 million, which would be about $106 million Barbadian dollars, in a place where the per capita income is about $16,000.

Good for her, I suppose. To her credit, at least some of those tens of millions of dollars have made their way back home.

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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.

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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24 January 2015
Castries, Saint Lucia: Helen of the West Indies

January 24, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Like so much of the Caribbean, it is easy to look at Saint Lucia and see only a pretty, green island fringed by sandy beaches and lorded over by some unusual geological formations.

It is all of that. But it is also a place with a bit of history, an independent nation now part of the British Commonwealth that in its first 150 years of recorded history ping-ponged back and forth between England and France 14 times.

The island bears the name of a Sicilian saint. It has an English heritage now, but holds on to French influence.

It has gone back and forth between admirers so many times that some early historians puckishly called it the “Helen of the West Indies.”

There are only two Pitons on Saint Lucia, but they are almost impossible to miss. They can be seen from almost everywhere on the island. They’re on the flag, one of the more handsome standards I’ve seen.

And they’re on the local beer, which naturally moves the Pitons onto billboards and t-shirts, and carnival floats.

The Pitons are volcanic plugs, part of the Soufriere volcanic complex, remnants of huge collapsed stratovolcanoes. A plug is created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano.

This particular vent is believed to be dormant and over time the surrounding hill has been eroded away, leaving only the plug.

And luring the tourists.

Some with beer.

Today, I went with a group of guests to the rainforest.

There we rode up the mountain on an aerial tram and then–wearing a triple-secure harness–we flew from one platform to another, 90 feet above the ground on a zip line.

It was a peak of a different kind.

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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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23 January 2015
Roseau, Dominica: A Hot Spot in a Hot Place

January 23, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant

We are arrived in Dominica, a place whose name often gets confused with the much larger country of the Dominican Republic which occupies about half of the island of Hispaniola near Jamaica and Cuba.

Silver Cloud at the dock in Roseau, Dominica

Dominica got its name from the Latin/Spanish words for Sunday (Dominica) or the Italian equivalent (Domenica).

Here in the Caribbean, it is pronounced DOH-men-EEKA, in a not-often-successful attempt to distinguish the place from the much larger and unrelated Dominican Republic.

At the market in Roseau, a small port town that retains much of the flavor of the Caribbean before many islands were invaded by massive cruise ships and relentless armies of tourists. We are the only ship in port today.

The bestower of the name was Christopher Columbus, who must have been running out of saints on November 3, 1493; he named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, Sunday.

Dominica sits midway along the Eastern Caribbean archipelago, just a few miles from the French islands of Martinique to the south and Guadeloupe to the north.

The island was not considered a high priority for the Europeans and they mostly left it alone in the first century of colonization.

The Arawaks and the Kalinago/Carib tribes were already hiding when European settlers got around to paying attention to Dominica. They did not fully escape; there is a waterway on Dominica called the Massacre River. It is said the river ran red with blood for days after incursions by French and British settlers.

Nevertheless, Dominica has one of the few remaining groups of Carib or Kalinago people. About three thousand self-identified Caribs live on Dominica; some have intermarried with other races or cultural groups.

Today the descendants of the Caribs have a six-square mile (15-square-kilometer) territory on the east coast of the island.

The island is perhaps the youngest of the Lesser Antilles; it is still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity. If you’re truly interested in things like that, on Dominica you can visit the world’s second-largest boiling lake, about 7 miles or 11 kilometers east of Roseau.

What we have is a flooded fumarole, an opening in a planet’s crust usually found near volcanoes, which emits steam and carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen sulfide and other gases. Superheated water turns to steam as it emerges from the ground and its pressure suddenly drops.

On Domenica, Boiling Lake is about 200 feet or 60 meters across; it is filled with bubbling greyish-blue water that is usually enveloped in a cloud of vapor.

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22 January 2015
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten: Both Sides Now

January 22, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

One relatively small island, about 34 square miles or 87 square kilometers.

Two countries: the constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the southern side, and the French overseas collectivity on the north.

Three names: Sint-Maarten to the Dutch. Saint-Martin to the French.

Four dominant cultural heritages: African, French, British, and Dutch.

Silver Cloud docked in Philipsburg on the Dutch side, one of the largest cruise ship ports in the world.

And today, five cruise ships in port. One is the largest floating passenger carrying machine in the world with nearly 6,000 guests and 3,000 crew. Three others are merely huge.

For the record, although the French side is larger and in some places more attractive with the better beaches and restaurants, the Dutch side has the significant harbor of Philipsburg.

Depending on your point of view, on a good day (for business) or a bad day (for people who seek a bit of solitude) there can be as many as six large ships in port: there could be twenty thousand guests and another ten thousand crew headed for the narrow alleys of Philipsburg.

The Dutch side also has Princess Juliana International Airport.

This is probably the only place they could have put a flat runway on the oddly shaped island. But there is so little available land on Saint Martin that this is what they came up with: one end is a public beach and the other is Simpson Bay with a range of thousand-foot hills.

I am much happier to be coming in and departing aboard a handsome small cruise ship.

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21 January 2015
Gustavia, St. Barts: Tres French, in a Swedish Way

January 21, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Saint Barts is tres, tres French…in a Swedish kind of way.

Its European history began, as much of this region did, with Christopher Columbus. On his second voyage, he sailed past—he did not land—an island he named Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles.

In 1648, the French were on the prowl in the Caribbean and they claimed the island. They renamed the place with a Gallic version: Saint Barthélemy.

For much of the next century, the principal industry of Saint Barts was piracy. French privateers (or buccaneers, as they were known) would set sail from the island’s natural harbor to prey on Spanish galleons.

In 1784, as France began to totter toward Revolution, the French crown gave Saint Barts to Sweden in exchange for the right to engage in trade with the developing port of Gothenburg in the Baltic.

The Swedes wanted a foothold in the Americas as a place to sell iron ore and products. They renamed the village at the harbor Gustavia after King Gustav III and they founded the Swedish West India Company. That brought Swedish governors and Swedish merchants and Swedish slave traders to the Caribbean. That’s right: Swedish slavery.

In 1878 Sweden sold Saint Barts back to the French.

And today, the narrow lanes and handsome harbor are patrolled by tourists, oligarchs, and those that make a handsome living indulging them quite well.

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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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20 January 2015
San Juan, Puerto Rico: South Side Story

January 20, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The flagpoles at the massive El Morro castle in San Juan customarily fly three flags: the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Cross of Burgundy.

The last one, Las Aspas de Borgoña, was the standard widely used by Spanish armies around the world from 1506 to 1785.

That makes sense for this handsome part of the United States, a place where English is the second language, and the population are Americans with most of the rights of other citizens except for voting representatives in Congress.

Puerto Rico is one of the gems of the Caribbean, a green and mountainous island with handsome beaches and a tropical rainforest, a now-cosmopolitan capital city with one of the most impressive fortresses of the new world, several other significant cities each with its own allure, and a vibrant culture of music, literature, and food.

Puerto Ricans sometimes call the island Borinquen, a version of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, which means “Land of the Valiant Lord”.

The island, of course, was noted by Christopher Columbus, the Forrest Gump of the Caribbean. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of the Catholic Saint John the Baptist,

And the eventual capital city was named Ciudad de Puerto Rico (the City of the Rich Port.)

Over time, the names reversed. The entire island became known as Puerto Rico, while the city took the name San Juan.

Puerto Rico remained Spanish territory despite attempts to capture the island by the French, Dutch, and the British.Like Cuba, Puerto Rico remained a Spanish colony until 1898 when the Americans took over.

And then came the Americans.

Puerto Rico had been on the to-do list of the Americans for some time, although the big prize was seen as the huge island of Cuba.

The dominos fell in the short but decisive Spanish American War of 1898, essentially an American choice to intervene in the Cuban War of Independence.

American attacks on Spain’s possessions spread from the Caribbean to the Pacific, and American involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately the Philippine–American War.

The most dominant structure in San Juan is El Castillo San Felipe del Morro, or Morro Castle. This citadel was begun in 1539 on orders of King Charles V of Spain.

The fort was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan from seaborne enemies including the English, Dutch, and Pirates.

Its last, brief and unsuccessful battle, came when the Americans landed in 1898.

And they’re still there: the citizens who live there now and millions of tourists who come by cruise ship and jet to La Isla del Encanto, the enchanted isle.

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17 January 2015
Nassau, Bahamas: Uncovering the Past

January 17, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We sailed out of tony Fort Lauderdale on Friday evening, saluting—and being saluted—by many of the residents of condominiums who have their own version of a waterfront veranda. Almost every day during the winter season, half a dozen or so ships sail by in the channel.

This morning we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas.

There were five major ships in port, along with the elegant (comparatively tiny) Silver Cloud. By my math, about 17,500 guests and crew arriving by 9 am, departing before dinner.

Ships (not ours) double and triple-parked in the harbor at Nassau.

As destination consultant, I always tell guests in this part of the world that it is one of my goals to help they understand that the Caribbean is much more than Diamonds International and t-shirts that change colors in the sun. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but many of the islands have been so heavily plastered over with tourist lures and generic shops that it is easy to forget these are places of considerable history.

To understand Caribbean islands you need to get beyond the tourist district. Visit the remnants of Colonial power, the old churches and cemeteries, and in some places the small vestiges of the indigenous peoples: the Taino, the Arawaks, the Caribs among them.

A remembrance of Queen Victoria in Nassau.

On our visit today we left the ship early and headed for Christ Church Cathedral.

This is the Mother Church of Anglican churches in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In 1670, King Charles II granted the colony of The Bahamas to the proprietors of Carolina and directed they build a house of worship.

They did, and it stood until 1684 until it was destroyed by the Spaniards. The present building, which incorporates some of the old fixtures, was built in the late 18th and early 19th century.

It is a simple, attractive wooden structure, home to the Anglican Episcopal community—a remembrance of British times at the corner of King and George streets.

Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau.

Our focus was on the memorial plaques that line its walls; each one tells a story, and together they explain the culture that lies beneath today’s tourist makeover.

Among many evocative memorial plaques was one remembering crew from HMS Peterel who died of Yellow Fever in Nassau in 1862. I’m going to take an educated guess here and say the following is quite possible: the British ship may have been directly or indirectly involved in blockade running, trading with the Confederate States during the U.S. Civil War.

Yellow Fever and Malaria outbreaks were common in tropical and subtropical ports, and both The Bahamas and Bermuda were used as transfer and supply points for the blockade runners.

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16-17 January, 2015
Floating on a Cloud into the Caribbean

January 16, 2015 Corey Sandler

Silversea Silver Cloud from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Bridgetown, Barbados

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

After a vacation at home for the holidays, we’re back on the Cloud for a journey to the southern Caribbean and, on later cruises, to South America and up the amazing Amazon River.

We sail from Fort Lauderdale, with our first stop the bustling island of Nassau where we will not be alone.

This cruise includes several of the obvious suspects: well-known places like Nassau, San Juan, St. Barts, and Sint Maarten. Not that there’s anything wrong with them; they are well-known for good reason.

But there are also some less-visited gems including the lush green islands of Dominica, St. Lucia, and Barbados.

I’ll be posting photos and commentary throughout; I hope you’ll join me here.

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21-22 November 2014
Funchal, Madeira: Now on Vacation

November 21, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We have arrived at the green and lush island of Madeira, about 1,000 kilometers or 625 miles west of the coast of Portugal. It’s a great place to visit, but for many guests it’s time to hitch a ride home.

Here are some photos from recent visits I have made to Madeira.

A MADEIRA ALBUM

All photos by Corey Sandler.

We’ve been onboard the lovely Silver Cloud cruise ship for two months and it’s time for vacation. I’ll be back onboard with Silversea in January, headed from the Caribbean to Devil’s Island and then up the Amazon River to Manaus and back; you can keep track of my schedule at

http://www.silversea.com/life-onboard/enrichment/destination-consultants/?staff=6417

Until we meet again, safe travels.

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19 November 2014
Málaga, Spain: In Sweet Repose

November 19, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Málaga is the capital of the Costa del Sol, the Sun Coast, its very name brings to mind sweet repose, and sweet wine.

Both are conducive, I suppose, to great art, and it was here that Pablo Picasso was born and it is here that members of his family contributed pieces—some well-known and others quite obscure—to a small but rich museum.

MALAGA AND THE ALCAZABA

Above the bullring in Malaga is the Alcazaba, a Moorish fortification from the 8^th to the 11^th century. Alcazaba comes from the Arabic al-qasbah, meaning the citadel, and this is the best-preserved example in Spain.

RONDA

About an hour west of Málaga in the inland hills is Ronda. Ronda was first settled by the early Celts, but what you see today is the result of later Roman and Moorish rulers. Catholic Spain took control of the town in 1485, during the Reconquista.

Ronda is in a very mountainous area about 2,500 feet above sea level (750 meters) (2,500 feet). The Guadalevín River bisects the city with the steep El Tajo gorge.

Three bridges cross El Tajo: the Roman, the Old, and the New. All of them are old.The Puente Romano (the Roman Bridge, also known as the Puente San Miguel), dates from Roman times at least one thousand years ago. The Puente Viejo (“Old Bridge”, also known as the Puente Arabe or “Arab Bridge”) is a mere four centuries old, built in 1616.

The Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) was begun in 1751 and took until 1793 to complete. This is the tallest of the bridges, towering 390 feet or 120 meters above the canyon floor. There is a chamber beneath the central arch that was used as a prison. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939, both sides were alleged to have used the chamber to torture prisoners, killing some by throwing them to the rocks below.

Another important site in Ronda is the 1784 Plaza de toros de Ronda, the oldest bullfighting ring still in use in Spain. The partially intact baños árabes (“Arab baths”) below the city date from the 13^th and 14^th centuries.

Ernest Hemingway spent many summers in Ronda’s old town quarter, La Ciudad. Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls describes the murder of Nationalist sympathizers early in the Spanish Civil War.

Another frequent visitor was actor and director Orson Welles. About Ronda, Welles said, “A man is not from where he is born, but where he chooses to die.” Welles’ ashes were scattered in the Ronda bull-ring in 1985.

A MALAGA and GRANADA ALBUM. Photos by Corey Sandler

Downtown Malaga, fronted by the cruise terminal. Photos by Corey Sandler

The Alcazaba of Malaga. Photos by Corey Sandler

Inside the Malaga Cathedral. Photos by Corey Sandler

Some of the glories of Granada. Photos by Corey Sandler

The bullring, the gorge, and a palacio in Ronda. Photos by Corey Sandler

GRANADA

One of Spain’s most spectacular and famous cities is Granada, just under two hours to the northeast of Malaga. Granada sits at the base of Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers.

The city has been inhabited for thousands of years. The original settlers were perhaps Ibero-Celtics. Then came Phoenicians, Carthagenians, and Greeks. By the 5th century BC, the Greeks had established a colony they called Elybirge.

The heraldic symbol of Granada is the pomegranate: Granada in Spanish. A Jewish community was established outside of the city, called “Gárnata al-yahud” (Granada of the Jews). In 711, the Jewish community worked with Moorish forces to take the city, which became known as Ilbira or Elvira.

The city became the capital of a province of the Caliphate of Cordoba. The city was mostly destroyed in war in 1010. When it was rebuilt the Gárnata was incorporated into the city, and from that we have the modern name of Granada.

In January 1492, the last Muslim sultan in Iberia surrendered control of Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella, Los Reyes Católicos (“The Catholic Monarchs”.)

The Alhambra, Arabic for “the red one”, or the red fortress, was built in the mid-14^th century. It originally was the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their court. With the reconquest by the Spaniards, it became a Christian palace.

Within the Alhambra, a new palace was erected in 1527 by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. After falling into disrepair, the Alhambra was “rediscovered” in the 19th century. It is now one of Spain’s major tourist attractions.

It exhibits the country’s most famous Islamic architecture, together with Christian 16th-century and later improvements. Like a house that has been built, rebuilt, and expanded dozens of times over centuries, the Alhambra is a bit of an architectural mess.

That’s actually one of its charms

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Here’s where to order a 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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18 November 2014
Cartagena, Spain

November 18, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Cartagena is on the Costa Cálida, the Warm Coast of Spain’s Murcia region.

This is one of Spain’s more historically significant places because of its superb and easily defended naval port. As far back as the 16^th century Cartagena was one of Spain’s most important naval ports; it still is one of the homes of the Spanish navy, including a contingent of minesweepers and submarines.

The original settlement was called Mastia. About 227 BC, Hasdrubal the Fair established a town at the great harbor. He called the place Qart Hadasht, “New City”: The same name as where he had come from: Carthage, across the water in what is now Tunisia.

Hasdrubal used the port as launching point for the conquest of Spain.

Roman general Scipio Africanus conquered it in 209 BC and renamed it as Carthago Nova, which—a bit confusingly—means “New, New City.” At least that helped distinguish it from Carthage.

The Romans, from Julius Caesar to Octavian and beyond used Carthago in their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In 298 Diocletian constituted a new Roman province in Hispania called Carthaginensis and placed the capital in this city, a role it would hold for more than seven centuries until it was destroyed by the Vandals in 435.

When the first wave of Islamic tribes came to Hispania—the Umayyad invasion—the port was one of the landing places they used, along with Gibraltar.

Today Cartagena is a handsome coastal city, holding within a section of ancient Punic or Phoenician wall, a Roman amphitheater (only rediscovered on 2000), Moorish fortifications, 16th century Christian sites including churches and crypts, and a beautiful downtown lined with Modernist or art nouveau buildings.

Here are some photos from my visit today.

A CARTAGENA ALBUM

MURCIA and FUENSANTE

About 50 kilometers or 35 miles north of Cartagena in the interior is the town of Murcia, the provincial capital and university town, a much larger city of 440,000.

Murcia has a similar back-story to Cartagena, a mix of Roman, Moorish, and Spanish cultures.

Just outside of Murcia is the Monastery of the Virgin of Fuensanta, the patroness of Murcia.

In Murcia itself is the exquisite 19^th century Murcia Casino, with an exterior inspired by the Alhambra in Granada; inside it is more like a British gentleman’s club, a place to socialize and play billiards.

A MURCIA ALBUM. Photos by Corey Sandler

The Murcia Cathedral. Photos by Corey Sandler

Monastery of the Virgin of Fuensanta. Photos by Corey Sandler

Within the exquisite Murcia Casino. Photos by Corey Sandler

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16 November 2014
La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia

November 17, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Tunisia needs a better public relations agency.

It’s not a country that has been high up on many people’s list of must-see, historically and culturally important places on the planet.

For most of its existence—and we’re talking here about the past two or three thousand years—it has been a backwater, a relatively small and powerless piece of real estate.

Except when it hasn’t.

Except when it was the birthplace of Hannibal and the great Carthaginian Empire.

Except when it was one of the principal crossing points for the Islamic invasion of Europe, with wave upon wave of Moors coming from the Middle East.

Except when it played an important role in some pivotal action in World War II.

And except for 2011, when it was the first domino to fall in the Arab Spring, a seemingly unlikely place to overthrow a repressive dictator and set off a rolling earthquake in the Middle East and parts of Africa.

And even today, it is in some ways teetering on a razor’s edge as it attempts to build a stable democracy at home at the same time as it nervously worries about the possibility of radical Islamists coming back home to Tunisia from Syria or Iraq.

Tunisia is at the center of the Arab Maghreb—the Arabic word for the “place where the sun sets”—the western extension of the Moorish wave that swept out of the Middle East into Africa.

From Morocco, hordes crossed the narrow Mediterranean into Europe to occupy Spain, Portugal, and parts of France.

Tunisia is in many ways a straddle, a keystone at the top of Africa.

With about 98 percent of its population Muslim, it has strong links to the Arab League and Arab nations. It also participates in the African Union.

And then there are relations with the European Union and in particular France, and—in recent decades—a mostly strong relationship with the United States.

On this visit, I went with a group to the Cap Bon peninsula, a part of Tunisia not often visited by tourists. It includes the northernmost finger of land in all of Africa as well as the ancient Phoenician ruins of Kerkouane. Here are some photos I took:

CAP BON, TUNISIA

And here are some more photos from previous visits.

A TUNISIA ALBUM. Photos by Corey Sandler

Les Roses des Sables. Sand roses from the desert

Ancient Carthage

Museé Nationale de Carthage

Sidi bou Said

The Bardo Museum, Tunis

The Great Mosque of Kairouan

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Here’s where to order a 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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15 November 2014
Valletta, Malta: Castles in the Sea

November 15, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

At the considerable risk of jinxing a remarkable run of good weather, we returned to the wondrous island nation of Malta today for a reprise of summer.

Here are some photos I took today in the late November sun.

Sailing into Valletta, Malta in the early morning.

Our ship, Silver Cloud, at the dock. And a street scene in Valletta.

The spectacular Co-Cathedral of Saint John in Valletta, with a detail from the amazing frescoes by Italian artist Mattia Preti. Figures seem to lean out from the corners toward we mere mortals below.

For more about Malta, see my earlier Blog post of October 7, 2014 by clicking below.

http://blog.sandlerbooks.com/2014/10/08/7-october-2014-valletta-malta/

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14 November 2014
Trapani and Erice, Italy: Salt of the Earth

November 14, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We returned to Trapani on the island of Sicily, and our reception could not have been warmer.

In mid-November, with winter around the corner, we enjoyed a superb summer-like day along the sea and up in the mountains.

On this visit, I went with a group of guests up the mountain to Erice, starting at the sea salt pans in the harbor and then climbing the switchback road up the hill.

Some photos follow. For more about Trapani, see my blog entry from October 6, 2014.

A TRAPANI AND ERICE ALBUM

Erice above Trapani

The salt pans of Trapani

Looking down from Erice at Trapani

The Cathedral at Erice

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13 November 2014
Naples, Italy: Beneath the Mountain

November 13, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We are back in Naples, our last visit of the season to Campania. Silver Cloud is heading now for Sicily, Malta, Tunisia, the south coas of Spain and on to Madeira before crossing the pond to the Caribbean and South America for the winter.

Many guests headed off to Pompeii or the on enchanting isle of Capri.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we’ve done that and more many many times.

See some recent blog posts: 11 November 2014 and 4-5 October 2014 for photos and stories.

Instead, on today’s visit we choose to go underground: to two of the ancient catacombs below Naples.

Up on the hill of Capodimonte above Naples are the Catacombs of San Gennaro and nearby in the working class district of Sanita are the Catacomb of San Gaudioso.

Photos by Corey Sandler

Unlike the Catacombs of Rome, these underground cities were not built as refuges for really Christians hiding from persecution. Instead, here in Naples, the catacombs are remnants of ancient burial cults.

Some date back several hundred years before the Christian era. The two we visited include some ancient chambers as well as Roman and Christian tombs.

The catacombs on Capodimonte have only been reopened to the public since 2009; they were cleaned and lit by a cooperative established by local students and parishioners. This year they expect to receive about 50,000 visitors. Today, there were eight of us–and the former tombs of perhaps three thousand former residents.

At San Gaudioso, the 3rd century Christiana had elaborate routes that including doing of bodies, separation of the head from the test of the body and the veneration and display of the skulls on a special chamber.

I almost joined the display myself: I clanged my head on a low hanging beam. I left the catacombs with an indelible memory and a temporary lump on my forehead.

———————-

Here’s where to order a 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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12 November 2014
Out of the Mediterranean from Civitavecchia

November 12, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We begin now a journey from Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, toward the Pillars of Hercules between Africa and Europe and beyond.

Welcome aboard to new guests.

We have ahead of us the glories of Naples, Sorrento, Capri, the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, and so much more. Then down to Trapani on ever-fascinating Sicily, and on to Valletta on timeless Malta.

We continue moving outward bound with a scheduled port call at La Goulette, the port of Tunis in Tunisia in North Africa. And then we hop back to Europe for resplendent Cartagena and Malaga in Spain.

This cruise will conclude at the lush island of Madeira, an offshore island of Portugal. Here’s the plan:

A ROMAN HOLIDAY

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11 November 2014
Naples, Italy. Calm Before the Storm

November 11, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We arrived this morning in Naples, Italy. That had not been the original plan, but weather conditions at Sorrento–where we were supposed to lie at anchor for the day–were threatening and the captain made the decision to head for the surety of the cruise terminal at Naples.

The city is at the north end of the Bay of Naples. From here the wonders of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, and Capri are reachable by various means.

And just off our ship is the chaotic, frenetic, and always entertaining city of Naples.

To our guests leaving us tomorrow in Civitavecchia, the Port of Rome, we wish safe travels. It had been a thrilling voyage, from Piraeus, Greece to Rhodes, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Crete, and Italy. Let ‘s do it again, somewhere in this wonderful world.

And for those staying on board and new friends boarding in Civitavecchia: we head out of the Med through the Pillars of Hercules to Madeira. The other side of the pillars–between Gibraltar and North Africa–was once considered the limits of the known world.

It is ours to rediscover.

Cathedral of San Gennaro, Naples

The Naples Archeological Museum, home to many of the recovered treasures of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The Wonders of Pompeii.

Via Krupp on the enchanting isle of Capri.

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10 November 2014
Messina and Mount Etna

November 10, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant

Early Monday morning, we sailed north along the coast of Sicily and into the funnel-shaped Strait of Messina. On our right was the toe at the bottom of mainland of Italy. To the left was the large island of Sicily, the football being kicked by Italy’s boot.

When we entered from the south, the strait was nearly 10 miles of 16 kilometers wide. Near Messina, the passage narrows to less than 2 miles, or 3 kilometers.

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

That’s only one problem. In the same neighborhood, the Eurasian plate is moving down—south, if you will—toward the African plate. And one of the hotspots, where the plates grind against each other, is southern Italy.

And so we are in the proximity of Mount Etna: the tallest active volcano in Europe, nearly constantly bubbling over like a bowl of Arrabiata sauce left on the burner.

Today I went with a group of guests to Mount Etna. I have made this trek many times, but on this mid-autumn visit we were between the clouds down below, fresh snow on the volcano, and blue sky above.

In a word: magnifico.

Here are some photos from today:

A MESSINA, ETNA, and TAORMINA ALBUM. Photos by Corey Sandler

The Cathedral of Messina, with its famous mechanical clock

Inside the Cathedral

The Santuario di Montalto, above the port

Taormina

Overlooking Mount Etna from Taormina, as if you could

The Greek Theatre at Taormina, which has Etna for a backstage

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8 November 2014
Agios Nikolaos, Crete: Saint Nicholas and the Tsunami

November 8, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Crete is the largest Greek island, at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea.

In ancient times, from about 2000 BC to 1500 BC, it was the center of the great Minoan civilization, home of the Palace of Knossos which influenced places as far away as Spain and the Middle East, with outposts in places like the Greek island of Santorini.

Around 1500 BC, the Minoan civilization centered on Crete collapsed.

What happened about 1500 BC?

Santorini blew its top: one of the largest volcanic explosions in the history of the planet.

In addition to destroying most of the island of Thera or Santorini, the explosion rose up a tsunami that moved about 90 miles across the Aegean sea to reach Crete.

AGIOS NIKOLAOS

Agios Nikolaos is Greek for Saint Nicholas. Nicholas is the patron saint of those who sail at sea, which I suppose includes us.

(In some places, he is also the patron saint of merchants…and thieves. Which I suppose says something about something.)

Actually, there’s a connection. Nikolaos was a fourth-century Bishop in Myra which was part of Greece but now part of Turkey. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in shoes. Saint Nicholas became the model for Santa Claus, with his modern name coming out of the Dutch version, Sinterklaas.

Agios Nikolaos was settled in the late Bronze Age by Dorian Greeks.

The inner harbor at Agios Nikolaos and scenes around the island. Photos by Corey Sandler

SPINALONGA

The island of Spinalonga, officially known as Kalydon, is about 11 kilometers or 7 miles north of Agios Nikolaos.

Spinalonga was not always an island. During Venetian occupation in the 15th century the island was carved out of the coast for defense purposes and a fort was built there to fend off Arab pirate attacks that intensified after the fall of Constantinople.

What is it about Venetians and canals?

The Venetians were said to be unable to understand the Greek name for the town, stin Elounda (meaning “to Elounda”) and so they came up with their own version: spina lunga, meaning long thorn. They were borrowing from the name of an island with that name near Venice called Spinalunga; today it is believed to be the island of Giudecca.

Spinalonga, frozen in time. Photos by Corey Sandler

Spinalonga remained in Venetian hands even after the rest of Crete fell to the Ottomans in the Cretan War of 1645 to 1669. These three forts defended Venetian trade routes and were later used by Christians escaping persecution from the Ottoman Turks.

The Venetians held on to the small territories on Crete until 1715, when the Ottomans finally prevailed. Although they lost control of the island in the 1860s, a small community of Turks remained on the island until 1903.

The island was subsequently used as a leper colony from 1903 to 1957, one of the last active leper colonies in Europe. The lepers’ entrance was a tunnel known as “Dante’s Gate”, because the patients did not know what was going to happen to them once they arrived.

The facilities were apparently decent, a great improvement over living in caves, which had been the lot of lepers before the colony was opened. Today, the island is unoccupied.

KARDIOTISSA

The Monastery of Kera Kardiotissa is northwest of Agios Nikolaos, in the direction of Heraklion. It is believed the monastery was built in connection with what was said to be a 9^th century icon of Panagia, the Virgin Mary.

According to the tradition, during the iconoclastic era when works like this were being deliberately destroyed, this particular icon was moved to Constantinople. Somehow, though, it returned to Crete: a miracle, or at least a mystery.

Then, during the period of the Venetian rule, the icon was stolen from a wine merchant and taken to Italy, where it is now at the Church of San Alfonso in Rome.

The beautiful little stone church has been expanded and elaborated over the years; 14th century frescoes only hint at their one-time magnificence. Today Kera has changed from a monastery to a nunnery.

THE LASSITHI PLATEAU

The surrounding region of Lassithi is one of the more beautiful places in the Aegean, and home to the remains of a number of ancient towns and slowly decaying fields of windmills.

Up on the Lassithi Plateau of Crete. Photos by Corey Sandler

KNOSSOS

But for some the most intriguing site of Crete is the ancient ruins of Knossos near Heraklion.

Knossos—the Labyrinth—is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete. The ancient Minoans are believed to have built the palace of Knossos about 2000 BC.

The site has been partly restored and rebuilt—we’re not sure how accurately.

The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square. Some of the walls bear detailed images of ancient life.

The Palace of Knossos. Photos by Corey Sandler

The site was substantially restored by archaeologist Arthur Evans, an English gentleman of independent means who purchased the site about 1900. Some of the wall paintings and some of the restoration was entirely of Evans’ creation without historical evidence, at least according to some modern archeologists.

What we do know is that Knossos was an intricate collection of more than a thousand interlocking rooms, some of which served as artisans’ workrooms and food processing centers.

The site has had a very long history of human habitation, beginning with the founding of the first Neolithic settlement about 7000 BC.

Around the World with Corey Sandler

Tag Archives: Around the World with Corey Sandler

26 January 2015
Port Elizabeth, Bequia: The Island of the Clouds

25 January 2015
Bridgetown, Barbados: Cricket and Rum

24 January 2015
Castries, Saint Lucia: Helen of the West Indies

23 January 2015
Roseau, Dominica: A Hot Spot in a Hot Place

22 January 2015
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten: Both Sides Now

21 January 2015
Gustavia, St. Barts: Tres French, in a Swedish Way

20 January 2015
San Juan, Puerto Rico: South Side Story

17 January 2015
Nassau, Bahamas: Uncovering the Past

16-17 January, 2015
Floating on a Cloud into the Caribbean

21-22 November 2014
Funchal, Madeira: Now on Vacation

19 November 2014
Málaga, Spain: In Sweet Repose

18 November 2014
Cartagena, Spain

16 November 2014
La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia

15 November 2014
Valletta, Malta: Castles in the Sea

14 November 2014
Trapani and Erice, Italy: Salt of the Earth

13 November 2014
Naples, Italy: Beneath the Mountain

12 November 2014
Out of the Mediterranean from Civitavecchia

11 November 2014
Naples, Italy. Calm Before the Storm

10 November 2014
Messina and Mount Etna

8 November 2014
Agios Nikolaos, Crete: Saint Nicholas and the Tsunami

Cruise Photos and Stories by Corey Sandler