Tag Archives: Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Victor Hugo said, “Take Versailles, add Antwerp, and you have Bordeaux.”

That’s a pretty good lineage, especially when you mix in Bordeaux wine, Bordelaise sauce, and a handsome mix of architecture and culture.

Even better, we are here overnight. Party on!

LES GRAND VOILIERS

It was a gray and gloomy Friday in glorious Bordeaux, but not to mind: we arrived in the heart of the Bordeaux-Fête-le-Vin, the wine festival of wine country in a wine-obsessed country. Wine tastings, gourmet food carts, fireworks, and a collection of about 20 Grand Voiliers, Tall Ships.

I spend the day exploring with my camera, concentrating on a pair of beauties: first the Kruzenshtern, the second-largest tall ship afloat. It was built in 1926 by the Germans a s a cargo vessel and was taken by the Soviet Union in war reparations in 1946.

She is a four-masted barque of 114 meters length (or 374 feet) now operated by the Russian Navy from a base in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave carved out of a piece of Baltic coastline. The ship has a black hull with a broad white stripe down its length that is broken by black rectangles; from a distance they look like gun ports, but they are just for show. Which says something about something.

And the second object of my attention was INS Tarangi, the pearl of the Indian Navy. She is a more modern vessel, built in 1997 as a sail training vessel. Square-rigged on the fore and main masts and fore-and-aft rigged on the mizzen mast.

Her name means “waves” in Hindi, and she is almost constantly in service in training or races around the world. She left India in April and will be in Norway in July, where those of us on Silver Wind just may have the opportunity to see her again. I hope so.

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Bordeaux’s nicknames include “La perle d’Aquitaine” (The Pearl of Aquitaine), and “La Belle Endormie” (Sleeping Beauty).

That second name referred to the pollution-blackened walls of the old town center; the walls have now been cleaned and the pearl shines most everywhere.

I will leave the fine points of oenology to the wine experts and our sommeliers aboard ship. Not that I don’t enjoy an occasional glass of wine. But it’s not my specialty.

I’ll just say that this region produces what some say are the best cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes and wine, as well as some other varieties.

Grapes were introduced to the region by the Romans, probably in the 1^st century. They liked what they got, and it has been a constant ever since.

Bordeaux now has about 116,160 hectares (287,000 acres) of vineyards. There are about 10,000 wine-producing chateaux, and 13,000 grape growers and amongst them they produce about 960 million bottles per year.

Bordeaux produces large quantities of vin ordinaire or table wine, as well as some of the most expensive wines in the world.

The fancy stuff mostly come from the region’s five premier cru (first growth) red wines (four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves.

We shall conduct tastings and report back, if we can read our notes in the morning.

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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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14 June 2018:
Bilbao, Spain:
Ancient Peoples, Modern Art

June 14, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

After a relaxing day at sea across the top of northern Spain, we have arrived at Bilbao.

The city is on the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula about 19 kilometers or 12 miles from the Bay of Biscay, the largest municipality of the autonomous community of the Basque Country.

Depending on your political point of view, that makes it either a part of Spain…or a place within Spain. It is an issue that remains highly contentious in (or within) the country’s various regions.

It is believed the Basques are the distant descendants of some of the earliest inhabitants of Western Europe. Genetic studies indicate Basque tribes predated the arrival of planned agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula, about 7,000 years ago.

Today, Bilbao is most known for its museum centerpiece: the Guggenheim Bilbao, designed by architect Frank Gehry and opened in 1997.

Built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao, it is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

It features permanent and visiting exhibits of modern art works by Spanish and international artists.

The museum came about because of an effort by the autonomous Basque government to have a rebirth of the city’s decrepit port area.

In 1981, the government offered to fund a Guggenheim museum, covering the $100 million U.S. cost of construction, a $50 million acquisitions fund, and to subsidize the annual budget.

Not a bad deal if you’re a foundation looking to add a new museum to your collection.

Now, I realize I am somewhat out of the mainstream in my appraisal, but for what it is worth: I am not a fan of Frank Gehry.

His buildings, to me, always look like the aftermath of some terrible industrial accident.

But the Guggenheim Bilbao, to me, is among his better works.

And the glories of Bilbao are reflected in its metallic shell.

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12 June 2018:
La Coruna, Spain:
Seeking Enlightenment

June 12, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We have crossed the border from Portugal into Spain, and many Spaniards call this interesting, somewhat remote port La Coruña.

But we are also in the autonomous community of Galicia, and there the official name of the port is A Coruña.

If you want to venture into the obscure, the English called the place Corunna and you will see some reference to that name in history books.

And if you want to go from the obscure to the archaic, then let’s throw in The Groyne.

You can’t go wrong with any of the first three.

La Coruña is sometimes called “The Crystal City.” That nickname is derived from its many galerías, or glazed window balconies, said to have been adopted from the windowed stern of warships.

They help bring a lot of light into the homes here, in a place where the sun regularly seems to be absent. Here are some photos I took today in grey Galicia.

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

About an hour away from La Coruña is the city of Santiago de Compostela, a handsome place that had its origin in the establishment of the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the city’s cathedral.

The shrine was the destination of the Way of St. James, a leading Catholic pilgrimage route begun in the 9th century.

According to legend, the remains of the apostle James were brought to Galicia for burial.

In 813, according to medieval legend, the light of a bright star guided a shepherd to the burial site. The shepherd quickly reported his discovery to the bishop, who declared that the remains were those of the apostle James and immediately notified King Alfonso II in Oviedo.

To honor St. James, the cathedral was built on the spot where his remains were said to have been found.

The story ties in with one possible explanation for the name Compostela, which would be from the Latin Campus Stellae, “field of the star.”

Modern scholars think the name may have a less lofty origin, from the Latin, composita tella, “burial ground.”

The Way of Saint James, the Camino de Santiago, has seen a resurgence in recent decades

And today tens of thousands of people make the pilgrimage each year.

You are supposed to start from your own doorstep, although many follow a path from the French border.

That trip is about 800 kilometers or 500 miles, and the trip usually requires about one month.

Some people make the pilgrimage in a single trip, while others perform portions of it stretched over several years.

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11 June 2018:
Oporto, Portugal:
Sweet Forgiveness

June 11, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Porto is not the most famous place in Portugal, unless you have a particular affinity for a particular form of liquefied grape.

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

Porto (also known as Oporto) 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.

Porto is instead a place of broad shoulders and hard work, in some ways the economic heart of the country.

But it is the home of a form of liquid gold. The reaches of the valley of the Douro River have a microclimate that is optimal for cultivation of olives, almonds, and especially grapes.

Douro may come from ancient Celtic tribes, for whom the word meant water. In Roman times, the river was personified as the god Durius.

Or, and this definition is much preferred by modern Portuguese (especially in the tourist bureau), the name may mean “River of Gold”, as in Rio do ouro.

The most famous of the wines is Vinho do Porto, a fortified wine, typically a sweet red wine although there are also dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.

Port 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 wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a cave (pronounced “cahv”) before being taken from that storage cellar to be bottled.

The Douro valley was defined as a protected region for winemaking, an appellation, in 1756, making it by some measures the oldest defined and protected wine region in the world.

Over a hundred varieties of grapes are sanctioned for port production, although only five are widely cultivated and used.

We’ll raise a toast with a few after dinner tonight.

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10 June 2018:
Lisbon, Portugal:
The All-Glories Tour Commences

June 10, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We’re back in Lisbon after a short break.

Welcome aboard for the start of a cruise that begins in the warmth of Portugal, Spain, and France and concludes with a glorious procession up the River Thames and through the London Tower Bridge.

We are embarking on Silver Wind, the smallest and most intimate ship of the Silversea cruise fleet. We have no rock-climbing wall, no water slide, no indoor ice capade arena, no seven-deck atrium with neon lava lamps. Just fine food, a small amount of fine company, a great crew, and luxury. If that’s what you’re looking for, this is a fine example.

Here’s our plan. I hope you’ll join me here in these pages.

We came to Lisbon ahead of the ship and worked off a bit of jetlag with a visit to the spectacular Calouste Gulbenkian Museum.

Calouste Gulbenkian was born in Turkey of Armenian heritage, and amassed a huge fortune at the end of the 19th and into the early 20th century as one of the first oil traders. He spent a great deal of his fortune on a collection of art from around the world and across many cultures. The museum is worth a visit all by itself.

Here are a few photos from our visit to the Gulbenkian Museum.

We are sailing out of Lisbon in the late afternoon, which is even more glorious than sailing into Lisbon in the early, early morning.

I’ll be here with more photos and commentary every day.

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21-22 May 2018:
Lisbon, Portugal:
What Fates Impose

May 21, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Silver Spirit made a triumphal procession up the River Tagus to the dock at Santa Apolonia this afternoon.

Along the way we passed abeam of many of the great sights of Lisbon including the Tower of Belem, the Jeronimos Monastery, and the Monument to the Discoveries.

We will overnight here in Lisbon and debark in the morning.

I am headed home to change socks, returning in just about two weeks to our smaller, still lovely little sister Silver Wind for a series of cruises that start here in Lisbon, visit parts of Spain and France and moves on to a grand procession up the River Thames and through the London Tower Bridge.

A LISBON ALBUM

When we return to Silver Wind we’ll go to the top of Scotland, across to Iceland for an aqueous circle of the island nation, back to the Faeroe Islands and the Shetland Islands, into London again and then up the west coast of Norway all the way to the top.

I may need more than one pair of socks.

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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”

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20 May 2018:
Cadiz, Spain:
The Frontier

May 20, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Cádiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Iberian Peninsula, and possibly the oldest in all of southwestern Europe.

Think of it as a frontier town, the Wild West of Europe.

Today I went with a group of guests to the splendid city of Seville, about 90 minutes away. The gems of Seville include the Alcazar, a palace constructed for the Catholic royalty but mostly designed by and built by Moorish artisans after the reconquest of Spain.

SEVILLE, SPAIN: THE ALCAZAR

SEVILLE: THE CATHEDRAL

The spectacular Cathedral of Seville includes the tomb of Christopher Columbus…or someone like him…or maybe not. Nice tomb, though.

A CADIZ ALBUM

Cádiz was part of the Muslim realm of Al-Andalus, now the Spanish region of Andalusia.

Its history and culture are built on a base of Moorish or Muslim cultures, and by earlier forces: the Iberians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Roman Empire, the Vandals, and the Visigoths.

The Phoenicians built an outpost here about three thousand years ago and called it Gadir, which means walled stronghold. And for most of its existence, that was its role: a fortress and an armory.

During the Age of Exploration, the city was re-energized.

Christopher Columbus sailed from Cádiz on his second and fourth voyages.

By the middle of 16^th century, when the Spanish Empire ruled or traded with much of the world, Cádiz was the receiving end of the treasure train from Asia and the New World.

Spanish Galleons would pick up gold, silver, and other treasure from Mexico, South America, Japan, China, the Philippines and other parts and try to get it past the real Pirates of the Caribbean.

The intermediate goal was one of their local strongholds including Cartagena in Colombia or Havana, Cuba. And then from there they would cross the Atlantic to bring the treasure back to Spain, through Cádiz.

CADIZ, SPAIN

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19 May 2018:
Casablanca, Morocco:
You Must Remember This

May 19, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

We have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Europe to the mainland of Africa, continuing a bit more than 200 miles down the northwest coast to Casablanca, a fascinating city in a country with a rich culture and the inspiration for one of the classic films of Hollywood. You must remember this.

You can see at a glance the geographic relationship between northern Morocco and Spain.

Today only about 9 miles or 14 kilometers separate Africa from Europe. As recently as 5.3 million years ago, a few moments in geological time, the two continents were bridged by land.

Now let’s think what that means: the Mediterranean was essentially a huge lake, with land closing off the connection to the Atlantic Ocean. There was also a land bridge beyond Istanbul that made the Black Sea into another large lake.

On this visit I went with guests to the truly grand Grand Mosque of Casablanca, a huge structure with space for 25,000 within and 80,000 outside. The Hassan II mosque was completed in 1993.

At 689 feet, the Great Mosque’s minaret is the tallest structure in Morocco and the tallest minaret in the world. Here is some of what we saw today:

FROM PREVIOUS VISITS

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18 May 2018:
Gibraltar, UK:
On the Rock

May 18, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Gibraltar is one of the planet’s strange corners, immediately recognizable for its unusual geology: The Rock.

But the oddity does not stop there.

It is a British territory clinging to the bottom of the Iberian Peninsula of Spain, to some eyes, the last remaining colony in Europe. To many residents, a place more British than Britain.

Africa is about eight miles away.

Silver Spirit at the dock in Gibraltar

Europa Point, the southernmost spot in Gibraltar.

A place called Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, from between 24,000 and 128,000 years BCE is believed to have been the last holdout of the Neanderthals.

Jumping forward to recorded history, the first inhabitants are believed to have been Phoenicians, about 950 BCE. Carthaginians and Romans also established settlements.

In modern times it was a place of conflict and military emplacements by the Spanish, their sometime-ally the French, and the British. And then it held on very tenuously as a British base during World War II, with German spies and forces in “neutral” Spain.

Today I went with guests inside the rock to view some of the World War II tunnels constructed by the British and Allied forces as parts of the defense of the territory. We also stuck our heads out of a hole in the rock for a view of the strange airport which includes a roadway across the runway.

FROM PREVIOUS VISITS

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17 May 2018:
Malaga, Spain:
Gateway to the Costa del Sol and Granada

May 17, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Málaga: its very name brings to mind sweet repose, and sweet wine.

The town is handsomely set between the mountains and the sea. On a bluff above are the rust-colored walls of the Alcazaba fortress. In the town, the dramatic flair of Spanish architecture.

All are conducive, I suppose, to great art, and it was here that Pablo Picasso was born. There’s a very life-like statue of an adult Picasso seated on a bench in the center of town.

For all of these reasons and more, Málaga has wrapped itself in a mantle of art.

Near the port is The Centre Pompidou Málaga, a “pop-up” extension of the famed Parisian museum. In the center of the city is the Picasso museum, a small but rich collection of pieces—many of them from the private holdings of the great artist’s family.

And nearby is the Carmen Thyssen museum, an outpost of a great Spanish collection.

Today was a spectacular early summer day. The jacaranda and other flowers were in full bloom and fresh paint awaited the arrival of peak season in a few weeks. We had quiet enjoyment.

FROM EARLIER VISITS

GRANADA

One of Spain’s most spectacular and famous cities is Granada, just under two hours to the northeast.

Granada sits at the base of Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers.

The city has been inhabited for thousands of years and about 12 centuries ago it was a center of Islamic and Jewish culture. The city became the capital of a province of the Caliphate of Cordoba; it was mostly destroyed in war in 1010.

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

By the 16^th century, Granada took on a Christian and Castilian character, as immigrants came from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula.

Although many Muslim buildings were destroyed by the Catholics, those that remain represent the most complete group of Moorish domestic architecture in Europe including Granada’s public baths, including El Bañuelo or the Alhambra Baths, and the complex of Arab public fountains and wells, unique in Europe.

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.

After falling into disrepair, the Alhambra was “rediscovered” in the 19th century.

It is now one of Spain’s major tourist attractions.

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16 May 2018:
Cartagena and Murcia, Spain:
The Warm Coast

May 16, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Cartagena is one of Spain’s more historically significant places because of its superb and easily defended naval port.

But Cartagena is less-known than many other coastal cities of Spain,

In fact, its distant namesake, Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia, may be much better known. Cartagena, Colombia grew as one of the principal Spanish fortresses to hold the treasure taken from South America, the Caribbean, and Asia. I will be the last to complain; just a few months ago I was in that other Cartagena aboard ship.

Cartagena, Spain has long been a crossroads of civilizations and navies.

It has a spectacular Roman Theatre and remains of Phoenician, Byzantine and Moorish structures capped by a fine collection of early 20^th century Art Nouveau buildings.

On this visit, I returned to the wondrous city of Murcia. We visited the Church of Fuensanta, a lovely spot in the hills above town, and then its corresponding cathedral in Murcia itself.

And then we went to secular treasure of Murcia, the Royal Casino.

It was founded in 1847 as a gentleman’s club for the very wealthy of Murcia, later extended to people of the feminine persuasion. It has rooms with exquisite Moorish or Arabic style, an English-style library, a formal ballroom, and much more.

I’ve been there many times, and still manage to find new ways to make its portrait:

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15 May 2018:
Ibiza, Spain:
Your Right to Party

May 15, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Ibiza is about 120 kilometers or 75 miles southeast of Valencia in the Mediterranean Sea, the little sister of the Balearic Islands of Spain.

Mallorca, as in major, is Spain’s largest island possession. The second largest of the islands is Menorca, as in minor, at least in comparison to Mallorca.

This morning dawned clear and bright, and I got up early to catch a photo of Ibiza town at sunrise and then an early light image of a portion of town:

The Balearic Islands are very attractive in many ways. Rich and fertile land. Safe harbors. And located on the ancient trading routes for long-vanished peoples as well as for wave upon wave of empire builders including the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Vikings, the Spanish, and the English.

And then they were right along the watery highway for incoming Islamic tribes, and later for outgoing Crusaders.

Today the islands are close enough for invading holiday makers to hop on a ferry or a flight from the mainland to the beach for the weekend.

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14 May 2018:
Valencia, Spain:
Fallas and Fireworks

May 14, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

It was a beautiful day in Valencia, but I repeat myself. It is always beautiful here.

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.

And home to a massive modern project by Santiago Calatrava that used the old riverbed of the city as the cradle for a phantasmagorical city within the city, a place–I imagine–Antoni Gaudí would have enjoyed. That is, as far as I am concerned, as high an honor as a Spanish architect could hope for.

TODAY IN VALENCIA

The City of Arts and Sciences in the noonday sun

The Silk Exchange in the heart of the city

The ingredients of Valencia at the public market

FROM PREVIOUS VISITS TO VALENCIA:

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12-13 May 2018:
Barcelona, Spain:
New Works of Art Afloat and Ashore

May 12, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

We have arrived in the glorious city of Barcelona, a place that is in love with art of all forms.

We docked at the World Trade Center near the base of Las Ramblas.

The Silver Spirit, one week out of the shipyard where she was extended by 15 meters or 49 feet, is the newest work of art in town.

On this visit, I made a pilgrimage to the newest old showpiece in town: the rejuvenated and restored Casa Vicens, the first major building designed by Antoni Gaudi. Work began in 1883 and was completed in 1888, and for nearly all of past 130 years or so, it has been a private residence.

Five years ago it was purchased by MoraBank of Andorra, and just a few months ago it was opened to the public. Casa Vicens is not as phantasmagorical as Casa Pedrera or Palau Guell or as spiritually uplifting as La Sagrada Family. But it offers an amazing view of the developing skills of Gaudi; he was all of 30 years old when he received the commission.

Casa Vicens was built alongside a cloister that had a wall of ivy, and Gaudi continued that theme within the home. Here is some of what we saw:

CASA VICENS

To those guests who are leaving us here, I wish you safe travels, buen viaje, until we meet again.

And for those joining us here, bienvenido. Welcome aboard.

We’re going down and around, from Barcelona to the equally differently wondrous city of Valencia and then out into the middle of the Mediterranean to the island of Ibiza.

From there, back to the mainland to call at Cartagena and Malaga before politely leaving Spain for two days to visit the British exclave of Gibraltar. From there we cross over to Africa for a call at Casablanca.

Then back to Spain for Cadiz before heading north to Lisbon.

Here’s our plan:

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11 May 2018:
Marseille, France:
The Land of Aix

May 11, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Marseille is the oldest city in France, and the country’s second-largest city population behind only Paris, and very much a working city, the country’s largest commercial port.

Until fairly recently, Marseille was a rather rough place. But in the past two decades it has seen a renaissance, reborn as a very attractive port and city. We arrived this morning to a spectacular blue sky and a lively place.

Along with all of its other regular attractions, the circus was in town. In fact, it was installed right alongside our ship at our dock on the edge of the old city.

MARSEILLE TODAY

The city of Marseille was founded about 600 BC as a Greek trading port; it was named Massalia.

Facing an opposing alliance of Etruscans, Carthaginians and the Celts, the Greek colony allied itself with the expanding Roman Republic. That helped defend the city, but even more importantly it expanded trade.

Massalia became a link between inland Gaul and Rome, importing wine and other goods and exporting agricultural items and slaves to Rome.

Further 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.”

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10 May 2018:
Cannes, France:
Rolling Out the Red Carpet

May 10, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

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, and a film festival.

And we are right in the middle of things, surrounded by glitz, papparazzi, and celebrity.

The 2018 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 8 to 19, and afternoon and evening screenings and parties are just getting underway.

Here is some of what we saw today:

Alas, we depart at 9 in the evening, and I expect that will be too early for me to take the stage to pick up my Palme d’Or for blog production and lecturing.

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9 May 2018:
Portofino, Italy:
A Fine Port, With or Without Dolphins

May 9, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

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.

I went with a group of guests up the hill on the promontory on the left side of the harbor to Castello Brown. Here is some of what we saw:

Castello Brown is a former fortification, now converted to a private residence. The hike up the hill and the stairs at the castle were quite a workout, but well worth the effort.

Midway to the castle we stopped at the Church of San Giorgio, where the castle was framed by a cemetery with one of the world’s best views.

Back down in town, Portofino was as attractive as ever.

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8 May 2018:
Livorno, Italy:
Gateway to Florence, Pisa, and Tuscany

May 8, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

We’re here in the city of Livorno, Italy’s second-largest port (after Genoa.)

I’ve been to Livorno many times and I always find it interesting, perhaps because almost all tourists have headed elsewhere, mostly to its famous inland neighbors: Pisa, Florence, Lucca, and Sienna among them.

Livorno, home to about 160,000 today, was considered an ideal, or model town during the Italian Renaissance, among a small number of Italian towns that was actually planned.

At the end of the 17^th century it was within fortified town walls—a few still stand—and crossed by navigable canals.

LIVORNO

On this visit, we stayed in town and made a pilgrimage to an unusual church: very unassuming on the outside, with an unadorned exterior around its octagonal core. Within, something very different.

The church of Santa Catarina was completed in 1753 in the New Venice district. Its dome is 63 meters or 207 feet., higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The altar includes a painting by Giorgio Vasari.

FLORENCE

Florence is just under two hours northeast by car or train.

It is a place that is famous for the its amazing art and architecture, and it never fails to deliver on that promise.

At its center is the Basillica di Santa Maria dei Fiori, begun in 1296 and completed in 1436. It is topped by Filippo Brunelleschi’s dome, one of the world’s largest, and for that reason it is known as Il Duomo, the dome.

PISA

Then there’s this city with the defective tower. (The Tiltin’ Hilton, as it was nicknamed by American G.I.s who were tasked with taking the city from German occupiers and somehow managed to do so without destroying the tower.)

Pisa is on the right bank of the junction of two rivers, the Arno and the Serchio, a city of about 87,500.

In 1063 admiral Giovanni Orlando, coming to the aid of the Norman king Roger I, liberated Palermo from the Saracen pirates.

The gold he took from the Saracens allowed the Pisans to start building a cathedral.

The Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo).

Construction began in 1173. Almost immediately, the tower began leaning to the southeast.

The reason was quickly apparent: an insubstantial foundation on loose and wet soil.

Construction halted for almost a century.

In 1272, construction resumed. To try to compensate for the tilt, engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other.

The tower began to lean in the other direction. Because of this, the tower is actually curved, banana-like.

The seventh floor was completed in 1319, and the chamber with seven bells added in 1372.

On January 7, 1990, after several heart-stopping sudden shifts, the tower was closed to the public. The bells were removed to take some weight off the top, and cables were fastened around the third level and anchored several hundred yards away.

The tower was straightened slightly by removing soil beneath the raised end.

In May 2008, engineers removed even more earth from the high side of the tower, and they declared it had been stabilized to the point where it had stopped moving for the first time in its history.

Prior to the restoration, the tower leaned 5.5 degrees.

Today the tower tilts a mere 3.99 degrees southwest.

As corrected, the top of the tower is 12 feet, 10 inches (3.9 meters) from where it would be if the tower were perfectly vertical.

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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”

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

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7 May 2018:
Porto-Vecchio, Corsica:
Napoleon, Nelson, and the Vendetta

May 7, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Napoleon was born here.

Nelson left behind a body part.

Everybody claims Columbus.

And we are here, in Porto-Vecchio, an Italian word meaning “Old Port” except that Corsica is officially part of France. They speak French, often with a Corsican grudge; in the dark interior, they speak Corsican with a bit of a French sneer.

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

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.

Deep in the woods, bandits once roamed. And generations of Corsicans maintained blood feuds: vendettas.

Today this not-quite-autonomous fortress island has opened the gates to invaders from around the world: tourists bearing Euros.

I took this photo today in near noontime, when the overhead sun highlighted the layers of the island of Corsica: sea, sand, rock, hill, the calanques, the maquis, the mountains, and the threatening sky:

And this photo was on a different visit to Corsica, to the town of Calvi:

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6 May 2018:
An Expanded Welcome from Civitavecchia, Italy:
A Renewed Spirit Returns

May 6, 2018 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Welcome aboard the Silver Spirit, fresh from one of the most spectacular renovations in luxury cruise ship history.

I think the hyperbole is warranted.

Silver Spirit entered a drydock in Palermo at the start of March as a handsome ship of 195.8 meters (642.4 feet), and emerged in early May stretching 210.7 meters (691 feet).

Photo courtesy Silversea Cruises.

How did they do that? It was not a stretch but rather a matter of cutting and pasting.

Shipyard workers cut the ship into two pieces in the drydock and then carefully maneuvered a 15-meter or 49-foot-long new section into place.

There followed weeks of welding, reattachment of cables and pipes, and a stem-to-stern refresh of the interior decor and amenities.

All this for a ship that before the operation was already one of the most luxurious and attractive vessels in service, first put into service in 2009.

Here’s a photo I took of the ship from across the Golden Horn in Istanbul a few years ago:

Silver Spirit now has 34 more suites, several more restaurants, a larger pool and spa.

And later today, we sail will from Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, on her first cruise in her new configuration. We’ll cross over to Porto-Vecchio on the island of Corsica, then back to the mainland of Italy for Livorno and Portofino. From there to Cannes and Marseille, France and in a week’s time pull into a 49-foot-longer parking space in Barcelona.

Here’s our plan:

I hope you’ll join me here for details.

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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)

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

Tag Archives: Sandler

15-16 June 2018:
Bordeaux, France:
Les Grand Voiliers for a Two-day Taste

14 June 2018:
Bilbao, Spain:
Ancient Peoples, Modern Art

12 June 2018:
La Coruna, Spain:
Seeking Enlightenment

11 June 2018:
Oporto, Portugal:
Sweet Forgiveness

10 June 2018:
Lisbon, Portugal:
The All-Glories Tour Commences

21-22 May 2018:
Lisbon, Portugal:
What Fates Impose

By Corey Sandler

20 May 2018:
Cadiz, Spain:
The Frontier

By Corey Sandler

19 May 2018:
Casablanca, Morocco:
You Must Remember This

By Corey Sandler

18 May 2018:
Gibraltar, UK:
On the Rock

By Corey Sandler

17 May 2018:
Malaga, Spain:
Gateway to the Costa del Sol and Granada

By Corey Sandler

16 May 2018:
Cartagena and Murcia, Spain:
The Warm Coast

By Corey Sandler

15 May 2018:
Ibiza, Spain:
Your Right to Party

By Corey Sandler

14 May 2018:
Valencia, Spain:
Fallas and Fireworks

By Corey Sandler

12-13 May 2018:
Barcelona, Spain:
New Works of Art Afloat and Ashore

By Corey Sandler

11 May 2018:
Marseille, France:
The Land of Aix

By Corey Sandler

10 May 2018:
Cannes, France:
Rolling Out the Red Carpet

By Corey Sandler

9 May 2018:
Portofino, Italy:
A Fine Port, With or Without Dolphins

By Corey Sandler

8 May 2018:
Livorno, Italy:
Gateway to Florence, Pisa, and Tuscany

By Corey Sandler

7 May 2018:
Porto-Vecchio, Corsica:
Napoleon, Nelson, and the Vendetta

By Corey Sandler

6 May 2018:
An Expanded Welcome from Civitavecchia, Italy:
A Renewed Spirit Returns

By Corey Sandler

Cruise Photos and Stories by Corey Sandler