Tag Archives: Silversea

27 June 2015
Katakolon (Olympia), Greece: The Naked Truth

June 28, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Katakolon, which we visited earlier this summer on June 15 (see that blog entry for more details) is the gateway to the ancient birthplace of the Olympic games.

During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from their countries to the games in safety.

During the truce, wars were suspended, armies were prohibited from entering the region of southern Greece on the Peloponnesos peninsula.

And legal disputes and the carrying out of death penalties were forbidden.

If only the Olympics could have been made permanent.

On this visit, I went with guests to the ancient site of Olympia and the impressive archeological museum. I’ve been there before, but always enjoy the sense of walking in the Nikes of Olympian past.

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26 June 2015
Piraeus/Athens, Greece: Ancient Gods, Modern Celebrity

June 26, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Even our wondrous small ship cannot sail into Syntagma Square in Athens.

We instead we dock at the port of Piraeus, about 10 traffic-clogged miles from Athens.

Safe travels to guests leaving us here. And welcome aboard to those joining us here for the next leg, from Athens to Venice.

Here’s our plan:

Athens is one of the great cities of the world, and holds a collection of spectacular ancient sites and museums.

The Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum, the National Archeological Museum, the National Historical Museum, the Byzantine Museum, and so much more.

If you’ve never been to Athens before, there’s really not much question about what to put at the top of your list: the Acropolis is fully deserving of a spot on anyone’s bucket list.

AN ATHENS ALBUM

The Acropolis was the fortified citadel and the state sanctuary of the ancient city of Athens.

It is perched on a flat-topped rock that rises above what is now the heart of the city of Athens.

And when I say ancient, I’m talking about peoples and civilizations that go back thousands of years before what we consider Classical Greece.

By the middle of the 8th century B.C., at least part of the Acropolis had been redeveloped into the sanctuary of the goddess Athena, the patroness of the city. Athena, as in Athens.

In the 6th century B.C., the first monumental stone, Doric temple of Athena is built on the Acropolis.

Even if you’ve been to Athens before, the Greeks—never mind all of their financial foibles—have done an extraordinary job with the design and construction of the New Acropolis Museum, which opened in June of 2009.

More than four thousand items are on display, including a portion of the frieze of the Parthenon—the part that is not in the British Museum, they will remind you.

In fact, some observers say one of the reasons the museum was created was to put pressure on the British Museum to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece where they could be displayed in their proper setting.

Good luck with that.

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25 June 2015
Mykonos, Greece: Ancient Gods, Modern Celebrity

June 25, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Mykonos is an island of beauty and a bit of history, but for many people it is best known as a party island: an Aegean version of Ibiza in the Mediterranean or Monte Carlo or St-Tropez.

I find it hard to imagine what the ancient Greeks would think of it all, especially when you consider that at one time Mykonos had as its principal role raising food and delivering supplies to the nearby tiny sacred island of Delos.

Delos was the religious, economic, and political hub of the Aegean.

The sacred island of Delos in the background, a sampling of mega yachts in the foreground. Photos by Corey Sandler

The Little Venice district along the water was once home to many of the old ship’s captains. Today it is home to fancy clubs where the captains most likely would not get past the bouncer at the door.

Delos, more or less in the center of the ring of islands in the Cyclades, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece. That’s saying quite a lot, in a country that includes the Acropolis of Athens, Delphi, and so much more.

Delos had already been considered a holy sanctuary for a thousand years before the Olympian Greeks declared it to be the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis.

Today, it is uninhabited except for thousands of tourists who make the visit by ferry from Mykonos to its ancient structures and ruins.

A MYKONOS ALBUM

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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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24 June 2015
Patmos, Greece: Apocalypse Now

June 24, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

When most of us think of the Apocalypse, we think in dire and dramatic biblical terms.

Or perhaps in explosive, cataclysmic end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it Hollywood blockbusters.

Which brings us to Patmos, a lovely, peaceful small island in the Aegean Sea, one of the northernmost of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. It lies just off the coast of Turkey and the continent of Asia, west of the ancient Greek and Christian site of Ephesus.

So why is this the island of Apocalypse? Because it is believed that it was here that the final book of the New Testament was written.

And that book, written in Koine Greek, received its title from its first word: apokalypsis. It does not mean “The end of time” or “the destruction of life as we know it.

Literally translated, apokalypsis means “un-covering.”

The book’s introduction states that its author, John, was on Patmos when he was received a vision from Jesus and wrote it down.

A PATMOS ALBUM

Many Christians come to Patmos on pilgrimage.

Others come to uncover yet another lovely Greek island with peaceful and beautiful revelations at every turn, including some handsome little beaches and pretty towns.

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23 June 2015
Santorini, Greece: Fire and Ice, Part 2

June 23, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We’re back for another visit to Santorini.

I’ve been here more times than I can remember. But its beauty still stuns.

For more details and pictures, see my blog entry for June 16.

A SANTORINI ALBUM, PART 2

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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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21 June 2015
Kusadasi, Turkey: Ephesus in Encore

June 21, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

As we return from Istanbul on our way to Athens and beyond, we are back in Kusadasi, gateway to the global treasure of Ephesus.

Silver Spirit at the dock in Kusadasi today

You can read more details in my blog entry for June 17.

Here are some new photos from ancient Kusadasi, including a statue from the renovated archeological museum in nearby Selcuk.

In the Classical Greek era, Ephesus was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. And then under the Romans, Ephesus was a major city.

In the year 100, it may have been home to as many as 500,000 people. That made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean.

An earthquake partially destroyed the town in 614.

The city’s importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Cayster River.

Nevertheless, today Ephesus contains the largest collection of Roman ruins in the eastern Mediterranean. Perhaps only 15 percent has been excavated.

The Temple of Artemis was completed around 550 BC. The Temple of Artemis was said to be the largest building of the ancient world, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

All that remains today is one imperfectly reconstituted column.

The Greek goddess Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana.

Together with the great Anatolian goddess Cybele, they were together identified as Artemis of Ephesus.

The Library of Celsus was originally built about AD 125 AD in memory of Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, the Greek governor of Roman Asia in the Roman Empire.

Before he died, Celsus paid for its construction from his considerable personal wealth, and he is buried in a sarcophagus beneath it.

From AD 52–54, Paul lived in Ephesus, working with the local Christians and—according to some—organizing missionary activity in the far reaches.

Also in the area was the apostle John. The Gospel of John may have been written in Ephesus, about A.D. 90–100.

AROUND KUSADASI

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20 June 2015
Dikili, Turkey: On the Road to Pergamon

June 21, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Dikili is a lesser-visited port of the great nation of Turkey. But it allows entry to a remarkable place of history: Pergamon.

Pergamon is cited in the Book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia. (Another was at Ephesus.)

Pergamon’s library on the Acropolis (the ancient Library of Pergamum) was the second best in the ancient Greek civilization, behind only the Great Library of Alexandria.

The library at Pergamon was believed to contain 200,000 volumes, which Mark Antony later gave to Cleopatra as a wedding present.

Pergamon was also a flourishing center for the production of parchment, which had been used in Asia minor long before the rise of the city.

The site is today easily accessible by the Bergama Acropolis Gondola from the base station in northeastern Bergama.

A PERGAMON ALBUM

All photos by Corey Sandler

The Asclepion, named after the god of health, is reached via a sacred road lined with monuments and architectural fragments.

The Asclepion was a center of learning and science, along with a rehabilitation center and a sacred spring: a little bit of everything.

There are some major ruins still in place, and descriptions of the city but the most significant piece of architecture lies about two thousand miles or three thousand kilometers away, in Berlin, Germany.

A major museum in the heart of the city completed in 1930, the museum holds the reconstructed Great Altar of Pergamon and the Market Gate of Miletus, both transported from Turkey.

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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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19 June 2015
Istanbul, Turkey: Astride Two Worlds

June 19, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

On this series of cruises aboard Silver Spirit, we are sailing in the pathways of the tangled and intermingled histories of Europe and Asia.

Istanbul is where they come together.

One of the great cities of the world, Istanbul is where East meets West, Asia meets Europe, Islam meets the Judeo-Christian world, and where ancient culture meets—sometimes smoothly and sometimes not—with modernity.

It never fails to fascinate.

AN ISTANBUL ALBUM

To those guests leaving us here, we wish safe travels and arrivederci: Until we meet again.

And to new guests: Welcome aboard. We’re headed for the Greek Isles and on the cruise after that to Istanbul’s one-time great rival, Venice. Here’s the plan for the coming cruise:

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17 June 2015
Kusadasi, Turkey: The Glories of Ephesus

June 17, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Like nearly all of the country, Turkey’s west coast has been a crossroads from the dawn of time.

To the South by land is the Middle East: Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. To the East is Asia: Iran, Afghanistan, China, Russia. A tough neighborhood.

The Silk Road reached Ephesus, nearby to Kusadasi, as early as 475 B.C., during the time of Herodotus.

The Persian Royal Road ran some 2,857 kilometers from the city of Susa to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea.

The Roman Empire took possession of the coast in the 2^nd century BC, and into the early years of Christianity.

Saint John the Evangelist came to the area, and according to some threads of Roman Catholic sacred tradition, so too did the Virgin Mary.

Today, to walk the main avenue of Ephesus is one of the best ways to experience time travel anywhere on the planet.

A KUSADASI ALBUM

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16 June 2015
Santorini, Greece: Fire and Ice

June 16, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Santorini is the picture-postcard Greek Island.

Whitewashed walls and aqua blue domes against steep hillsides, with lovely beaches and spectacular views that include active volcanoes in the caldera and offshore.

The approach to the town of Fira is one of the more spectacular sights in the Aegean, a half-circle of steep cliffs topped with two horizontal towns of white and blue.

The cliffs are actually the rim of a huge volcano. A huge dormant—not dead, just sleeping—volcano.

Allow me to put that another way: the island is the remnant of a volcanic cone whose top was blown off.

A SANTORINI ALBUM

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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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14 June 2015
Corfu, Greece: Between the Venetians and the Ottomans

June 14, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Throughout this cruise—indeed, throughout this region—the influence of the once-great Republic of Venice is everywhere to be seen.

It variously traded with and fought against the Venetians, the Ottomans, and other powers. It was also assaulted by pirates.

In 1386 the islanders placed themselves under the protection of Venice, which kept it for four hundred years; Kerkyra–one of the older versions of its name–was known as the “Door of Venice”.

AROUND CORFU

Photos by Corey Sandler

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

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

The second great siege of Corfu took place in 1716, during the last Turkish-Venetian War. On July 8 the Turkish fleet of 33,000 men was encountered by the Venetian fleet off the channel of Corfu and was defeated.

Despite repeated assaults and heavy fighting, the Turks were unable to breach the defenses and were forced to end the siege after 22 days.

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

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

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

Today, I went with guests to the Paleokastritsa Monastery outside of Corfu Town. It is frozen in time. Here is some of what I saw.

PALEOKASTRITSA MONASTERY

We were last here on June 4; see my blog entry for that day for more detail and photos.

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

June 14, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Montenegro, of course, means Black Mountain.

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

As far back at the 14^th century, the hilly area was called Tsrna Gora (“Black Mountain.”)

Today its name is an adaptation of the Italian-Venetian translation to monte negro. Modern Italian would be monte nero.

Not that they speak Italian or Venetian anyhow.

The official language of Montenegro is Montenegrin, which is nearly the same as Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian. In some areas, Albanian is the local preference.

A KOTOR ALBUM

Photos by Corey Sandler

We were last here just over a week ago; see my blog entry for June 5 for more detail and photos.

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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)

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11 June 2015
Ravenna, Italy: The Mosaic of History

June 11, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Ravenna is one of the jewels of Italy, which is saying quite a lot.

Tucked away in the northeast corner of Italy, below the much-more-visited city of Venice on the Adriatic Sea.

Ravenna only receives about two dozen cruise calls per year, and this year eight of them will be by Silversea ships.

What makes this place a treasure?

It’s all about the mosaics.

And the relative paucity of tourists, present company excepted.

Here are photos I took today at the Basilica of San Vitale, and the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.

BASILICA DI SAN VITALE

SANTA APOLLINARE NUOVO

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9-10 June 2015
Venice, Italy: La Dominante, La Serenissima

June 10, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Venice, the Dominant, the Serene, is one of the most extraordinary places on earth.

A city afloat. The grand remnants of a once-great Republic.

The City of Water. The City of Bridges. The City of Canals.

Depending who is doing the counting and sometimes on how high the water rises, modern Venice consists of about 124 islands that sit in the shallow and marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy between the mouths of the Po River to the south and the Piave to the north.

A VENICE ALBUM

Photos by Corey Sandler

It was during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that the Republic of Venice rose to become a major maritime power, along with Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi.

At its peak, in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Venetian Republic eliminated the pirates along the Dalmatian Coast, acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean, including Cyprus and Crete, seized and sacked Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, establishing the Latin Empire in the process and became a major power-broker, trading with Western Europe as well as continuing to deal with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world.

By the late thirteenth century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. At the peak of its power and wealth, it had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce.

From the 13th through 17th centuries, Venice’s leading families vied with each other to build the grandest palaces and support the work of the greatest and most talented artists.

Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city.

During the 20th century, when many artesian wells were sunk into the periphery of the lagoon to draw water for local industry, Venice began to subside.

The city is still threatened by frequent low-level floods (called Acqua alta, “high water”) that splash over the walls. Saint Mark’s Square floods more than 50 times a year.

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP

One of my favorite parts of my job is giving commentary from the ship’s navigational bridge as we sail in or out of some of the planet’s most beautiful ports.

Among them is Venice, and I was up top early on 9 June to help guests understand the great city.

Here are some photos from Venice, starting with the view from the bridge:

Photos by Corey Sandler

To those guests leaving us here in Venice, safe travels and arrivederci: Until we meet again.

And for those joining us for the next adventure, welcome aboard.

Here’s our plan for the next cruise, from Venice to Istanbul.

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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.

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7 June 2015
Hvar, Croatia: The Trendy Isle

June 7, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

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

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

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

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

A HVAR ALBUM

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

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

Here is some of what I saw.

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6 June 2015
Dubrovnik, Croatia: A History of Danger

June 6, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Dubrovnik has lived with danger for most of its existence.

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

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

Photos by Corey Sandler

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

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

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

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

June 6, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

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

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

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

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

A KOTOR ALBUM

Photos by Corey Sandler

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

Montenegro, of course, means Black Mountain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A BUDVA ALBUM

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31 May 2015
Civitavechia to Venice

May 31, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard.

We are embarked on a voyage that circles down and around Italy, from the ancient port of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea through the Strait of Messina to Corfu in the Ionian Sea and then north into the Adriatic Sea.

This cruise ends in Venice, once one of the world’s most dominant military, economic, and political powers, a thalassocracy of maritime colonies and trading partners that includes much of our itinerary as well as further east into the Aegean Sea to Constantinople, today’s Istanbul.

Here’s our plan:

I’ll be posting stories and photos from each port.

I hope you’ll follow along on our voyage.

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2 May 2015
San Diego, California: The Deep South of the West Coast

May 2, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

San Diego has a bit of a second-city complex.

A beautiful setting, a great year-round climate, a natural deepwater harbor, great beaches, and an economy based to a great extent on the U.S. Navy and tourism.

Sailing into San Diego

It is, in fact, the second most populous city in California after Los Angeles.

In my opinion, L.A. gets all the attention but San Diego—and San Francisco—deserve all the praise.

San Diego encompasses about 200 deep canyons and hills separating its mesas, creating small pockets of natural parkland scattered throughout the city lots of hills.

Most of the homes and businesses are on the flat mesas, with the canyons left relatively wild.

We arrived on May 2, but in San Diego’s Old Town, it was Cinco de Mayo for the weekend, a celebration of the Mexican heritage of many San Diegans and the city itself. Here is some of what we saw today:

CINCO DE MAYO FESTIVAL

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO

Our cruise from Florida through the Panama Canal to California followed the path of some of the celebrants who came to San Diego for the Panama–California Exposition in March, 1915 as part of the celebrations of the opening of the Panama Canal.

The exposition was held in San Diego’s large urban Balboa Park.

At a time when many architects were celebrating the over-the-top Beaux-Arts style, in San Diego they chose Spanish Baroque, which includes some Moorish Revival elements, and a bit of Spanish Colonial design.

The fair was decorated with more than two million plants of 1,200 different types. Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell made a three-day appearance in November 1915.

Some of the Exposition’s permanent buildings are still standing, including the Botanical Building, originally home to a collection of rare tropical and semi-tropical plants, the 200-foot-tall California Bell Tower, in the form of a Spanish ship, the Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Fine Arts Building , now part of the Museum of Man.

As impressive as Balboa Park is, for many the most important and most lasting remnant of the fairs is The San Diego Zoo, home to more than 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies, including the Giant Panda.

The second half of our long day in San Diego was a night game at Petco Park, which is not a place to walk your dog but rather the home of the San Diego Padres baseball team. The modern stadium is nestled within downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp District, a great way to keep a city lively. Petco is not quite Fenway Park in Boston, but it is of a similar atmosphere.

A NIGHT AT THE BALLPARK

ALONG THE WATERFRONT

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23 April 2015
Puntarenas, Costa Rica: Living La Pura Vida

April 23, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We arrived at our first port in the Pacific on a steamy morning in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. And then it got hotter: 92 degrees, and if there is such a thing as more than 100 percent humidity, this must be what it feels like.

We have been here many times, up in the mountains, along the rivers, tothevolcanoes. Today we stayed local, slowly making our way around the town of Puntarenas, a place that does not see all that many tourists. But we know we can count on friendly times amongst the Ticos.

Pura Vida, no matter the heat.

23 APRIL 2015, PUNTARENAS

Costa Rica means “rich coast.”

Yet another thing that Christopher Columbus got wrong.

First of all, Costa Rica has two coasts: Atlantic and Pacific.

And secondly, Columbus was a guy who believed in wishful thinking.

As we know, he was looking for India when he landed in the Bahamas, and so he called the islands there the West Indies.

And when Columbus sailed through the Caribbean to the dead end of Central America, he was looking for the Panama Canal…or a natural strait through the isthmus.

On September 18, 1502, Columbus set anchor offshore of Costa Rica, and Carib Indians paddled out in canoes to deliver a peaceful greeting.

Columbus was looking for gold, and that’s the “rich” part of the name: there just had to be gold somewhere.

Costa Rica has managed to survive the Spanish Conquistadors, the American filibusters who came south in hopes of annexing Central America, corrupt or venal politicians, United Fruit and its “banana republics” and various other indignities.

Today, the gold in Costa Rica is green. To their great credit the Ticos have decided their future lies in gently making use of the vast ecological treasures of the nation: rain forests, estuaries, mountains, volcanoes, and wild life.

A PUNTARENAS ALBUM

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Around the World with Corey Sandler

Tag Archives: Silversea

27 June 2015
Katakolon (Olympia), Greece: The Naked Truth

26 June 2015
Piraeus/Athens, Greece: Ancient Gods, Modern Celebrity

25 June 2015
Mykonos, Greece: Ancient Gods, Modern Celebrity

24 June 2015
Patmos, Greece: Apocalypse Now

23 June 2015
Santorini, Greece: Fire and Ice, Part 2

21 June 2015
Kusadasi, Turkey: Ephesus in Encore

20 June 2015
Dikili, Turkey: On the Road to Pergamon

19 June 2015
Istanbul, Turkey: Astride Two Worlds

17 June 2015
Kusadasi, Turkey: The Glories of Ephesus

16 June 2015
Santorini, Greece: Fire and Ice

14 June 2015
Corfu, Greece: Between the Venetians and the Ottomans

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

11 June 2015
Ravenna, Italy: The Mosaic of History

9-10 June 2015
Venice, Italy: La Dominante, La Serenissima

7 June 2015
Hvar, Croatia: The Trendy Isle

6 June 2015
Dubrovnik, Croatia: A History of Danger

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

31 May 2015
Civitavechia to Venice

2 May 2015
San Diego, California: The Deep South of the West Coast

23 April 2015
Puntarenas, Costa Rica: Living La Pura Vida

Cruise Photos and Stories by Corey Sandler