Tag Archives: Silversea

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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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”

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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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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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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

———————-

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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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.

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5 November 2014
Haifa, Israel: A Grand Mix

November 5, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Haifa is a mostly modern city with an ancient back story. Built on the green slopes of Mount Carmel, it has a waterfront with beautiful sandy beaches, and some of the best restaurants in Israel, a place where people very much enjoy their food.

Haifa’s skyline includes Jewish synagogues, Muslim minarets, Christian church spires, and the transcendent Baha’i gardens—the spiritual center of the Baha’i faith.

From near the top of Mount Carmel, looking down through the Baha’i gardens to the port. Photo by Corey Sandler

The earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age of the 14^th century BC. Over the centuries, the city was conquered and ruled by Phoenicians, Hebrews, Persians, Hasmoneans (the Kingdom of Judah), Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, the British, and the Israelis.

In the 9^th century, after the Arab conquest of Palestine, Haifa established trading relations with Egyptian ports. Prosperity ended in 1100, when Haifa was besieged and blockaded by the Crusaders and then conquered after a fierce battle between the Crusaders and the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants. For the next 700 years, the small town went back and forth between Islamic and Crusader rule, eventually part of the Ottoman Empire from about 1596. With a few gaps, including a failed expedition by Napoleon, the town remained under Ottoman rule until 1918.

THE BAHAI CENTRE

In 1909 Haifa became central to the Bahá’í Faith, when the remains of their prophet, the Báb, were moved to Acre and a shrine built on Mount Carmel. The Bahá’í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded in 19^th century Persia. There are an estimated five million Bahá’ís in more than 200 countries.

In the Bahá’í Faith, religious history is seen to have unfolded through a series of divine messengers, each of whom established a religion that was suited to the needs of the time. These messengers have included Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and others, and most recently the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. In Bahá’í belief, each messenger prophesied of messengers to follow.

Humanity is understood to be in a process of collective evolution, with the goal of peace, justice and unity on a global scale. The Bahá’í Shrine in Haifa is one of the focal points of the city, with its golden dome and beautifully landscaped gardens on 19 acres. A promenade with fountains leads from the top of Mount Carmel to the shrine and down to its base.

The Bahá’í Shrine is an extraordinary oasis in a special place. Photos by Corey Sandler

THE GERMAN COLONY

Haifa’s German Colony was established in 1869 by the Templar Society (not the same as the Knights Templars), whose members arrived from Germany with the goal of settling the Holy Land and preparing residents for the arrival of the Christian Messiah. The Templars founded seven colonies around the country.

In recent years the German Colony has been restored, turning it into one of Haifa’s liveliest and most attractive entertainment centers. The district is centered around Ben-Gurion Boulevard, above the port.

The German Colony is between the port and Mount Carmel. Photo by Corey Sandler

ACRE

Acre, or Akko, about an hour north of central Haifa, was the main port of Palestine for the Arab caliphates in the 7^th century. The port was captured in 1104 in the First Crusade by one of the more obscure figures of world history: King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. Baldwin was a Frenchman, born Baudouin de Boulogne.

Along with his brothers, he fought in Constantinople and then moved on to Jerusalem. He succeeded in taking Acre with the assistance of a Genoese fleet; it then became the most important port for the Crusaders.

After Acre was retaken by the Kurdish leader Saladin in 1187, there followed assaults by other European crusader forces including one from Pisa and then combinations of French, English, Swabian (Bavarian), and German armies. The Knights Hospitaller, which operated out of Rhodes and then Malta, took control in 1229. And then Acre went back to Egyptian control in 1291, falling again to the Ottomans in 1517.

On this visit we decided to spend the day in Acre, or Akko as it is also known. It was another chance to travel on time, and also to experience some of the mix that is modern Israel.

The Old City of Acre today is mostly Arab and Muslim, within the Jewish state of Israel. It’s alleyways include mosques, ancient synagogues, and Crusader-era ChristIan churches.

Acre, Israel. Photos by Corey Sandler.

NAZARETH

Nazareth—about 25 miles or 40 kilometers from Haifa—is considered by many Christians to be the childhood home of Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem near Jerusalem. Some scholars and sects, though, believe Jesus was born in Nazareth. Modern Nazareth is considered “the Arab capital of Israel.”

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3-4 November 2014
Ashdod, Israel: A Bridge Too Far

November 4, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We arrived in Israel, fulfilling plans, hopes, and dreams; for much of the summer it seemed we would have had to go somewhere else…if there is a place worthy of substitution. But a tense cessation of hostilities is in place in Gaza and Jerusalem, with hope–if not promise–of peace.

Ashdod is Israel’s largest cargo port, bringing in about 60 percent of the nation’s imported goods. Ashdod is in the southern district of Israel, about 40 kilometers or 25 miles south of Tel Aviv and 53 kilometers or 33 miles west of Jerusalem. And to the south: about 40 kilometers or 25 miles to Gaza.

I’ll write more about Ashdod later in this blog.

The port of Ashdod. Photo by Corey Sandler

JERUSALEM

Jerusalem is a truly inspiring city—for Jews, Christians, Moslems, and anyone who appreciates history and culture.

The Old City is the walled core of Jerusalem. About a third of a square mile, or one square kilometer in size, it is home some of the most important sites of the three Abrahamic Religions:

The Temple Mount and its Western Wall, for Jews

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians. And, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Photo by Corey Sandler

The Church of the Dormition in Jerusalem. Photo by Corey Sandler

Traditionally, the Old City has been divided into four uneven sections: the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian quarters.

Eleven Gates to the City

During the era of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, there were four gates to the Old City, one on each side. The current walls, built by Suleiman the Magnificent, have a total of eleven gates, but only seven are open. Until 1887, each gate was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise.

The Damascus, Lions’, Dung, Zion, and Jaffa gates were each built about 1540. The New Gate is from 1887. Herod’s Gate may be from about the same time.

The phrase “Twelve gates to the city” from the Book of Revelation and in the gospel-like song refers to Biblical Jerusalem, but the gates of present-day Jerusalem are much younger.

The Via Dolorosa, and an ecumenical gift shop in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem. Photos by Corey Sandler

Within the Armenian Church. Photo by Corey Sandler

Western Wall

One of the most important Jewish holy sites is the Western, or Wailing Wall.

Solomon’s Temple was said to have been built atop the Temple Mount in the 10th century BC, and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

The Second Temple was completed and dedicated in 516 BC.

The exposed section is about 187 feet or 57 meters. Other portions are concealed behind structures running along its length; there is also a small section in the Muslim Quarter.

It has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage from at least the 4th century.

At the Western Wall. Photo by Corey Sandler

As if we needed any further demonstration of the complexities of the Middle East, all you need do is look up above the Wailing Wall to the Temple Mount, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site for Sunni Muslims. Al-Aqsa means the Farthest Mosque, believed by Muslims to have been built in the seventh century.

Muslims believe Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during what they call Night Journey.

The Dome of the Rock is a separate shrine on the Temple Mount. It was first built in 691, a few decades after the death of Mohammed, and renovated many times.

Somewhere on the Temple Mount, perhaps within the Dome of the Rock, is the Foundation Stone, believed by some to have been the location of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple.

Tradition views it as the spiritual junction of heaven and Earth, the holiest site in Judaism. And it may exist inside Islam’s third holiest mosque, after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia and Al Masjid an Nawabi in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Nothing shows more clearly the interlinking and complexity of religion, and by extension politics, in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel and the Middle East.

TEL AVIV

We zipped up to Tel Aviv for the day, wandering the market and the Yemeni Quarter and on to the sea front before turning inland to the heart of the city.

Tel Aviv seems to us a place where no one walks; every is at a near full trot. We absorbed a bit of that energy, and a lunch of lamb schwarma with hummus and tahini.

Tel Aviv, old and new. Photos by Corey Sandler

ASHDOD

Ashdod is built on the site of an ancient city, but today exists mostly because of its port–the largest in Israel or anywhere else in the Middle East.

We set off in search of a monument–not an ancient one, but one of great importance to modern Israel: the Ad Halom Bridge.

Ad Halom. which means “up to here”. was the northernmost point reached by the Egyptian army in Operation Pleshet in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Egyptians were headed for Tel Aviv, but were stopped here.

In today’s Israel, Ad Halom has come to mean the last line of defense that must not be breached.

As part of the Camp David Accords in 1978, Egypt was given permission to erect a memorial obelisk to their fallen soldiers. It stands today, an almost forgotten memorial in a place of great importance to the State of Israel.

A piece of Egypt in modern Israel.

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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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1 November 2014
Rhodes, Greece: Less Than Obvious

November 1, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We returned to Rodos, the capital city of the island of Rhodes and found a hint of autumn in the air, a near perfect day in an always intriguing place.

We were just here four days ago; see my blog entry for 28 October for details and photos.

Rhodes is an extraordinary place, and we have been here dozens of times.

On today’s visit I decided to concentrate on the less-than-obvious.

Here is some of what I found:

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31 October 2014
Piraeus, the Port of Athens: To the Holy Land

October 31, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We’ve completed our voyage from the glories of Istanbul to the beaches of the Turkish Riviera. We stopped in Rhodes to pay our respects to the Colossus, had a revelation at Patmos, and enjoyed Nafplion almost to ourselves.

Arrived now in Piraeus, we bid arrivederci to some fellow travelers and benvenuti to new guests.

Silversea Silver Cloud at anchor in Nafplion, Greece. Photo by Corey Sandler

We head out now on a trip back to the source of much of the history of this region: the Middle East. Our schedule includes three days in Israel and then a return through the Mediterranean to Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, and eventually Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.

Here’s our plan:

I’ll be posting each port of call right here.

—————————

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.

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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30 October 2014
Navplion, Greece: Season’s End

October 30, 2014 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Nafplion is on the Pelopennesus Peninsula of the mainland of Greece. Technically it is an island because it is separated by the short and narrow Corinth Canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea.

We arrived to a near-perfect day, and even better our small ship brought just about the only tourists to town. My wife and I live on a tourist island and we understand the collective sigh or relief that arrives when the season is near its end, and we get back our beautiful place to enjoy. We saw that here today.

Photos by Corey Sandler.

The small town of Nafplion—today the population is just under 14,000—was the first capital of modern Greece, from 1829 to 1834.

The most significant pre-classical site is the Acronafplia (the Inner Castle), which incorporates some ancient walls. Until the thirteenth century, Acronafplia was a town on its own. When the Venetians and the Franks and then the Venetians and the Ottomans arrived, they made it part of the town fortifications.

Then in 1388 was sold to the Venetians, who held it for a century and a half. The city was surrendered in 1540 to the Ottomans, who renamed it as “Mora Yenişehri” (“New City of Pelloponnes”).

The Venetians retook Nafplion in 1685, and among the first things they did was build the castle of Palamidi. Actually it was possibly the last major construction of the Venetian empire overseas.

Palamidi is located on a hill north of the old town. It was a fairly ambitious project, a Baroque fortress. Only 80 soldiers were assigned to defend the city, and in 1715 back it went to the Ottomans, who held it until 1822 when it fell during the Greek War of Independence.

The fortress commands an impressive view over the Argolic Gulf, the city of Náfplion and the surrounding country. There are 857 steps in the winding path from the town to the fortress and a few hundred more to the actual top of the fortress.

After its capture by the modern Greeks, Nafplion—with its substantial fortifications—was made the seat of the provisional government of Greece, and then in 1829 the first capital of modern Greece.

Syntagma Square in Navplion. Photo by Corey Sandler

Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, first head of state of the newly-liberated Greece, set foot on the Greek mainland for the first time in Nafplio on January 7, 1828. But three years later, in October of 1831, he was assassinated by local warlords on the steps of the church of Saint Spyridon in Nafplio.

In 1832, Otto, prince of Bavaria, was made the first modern King of Greece.

Greece was a new independent kingdom under the protection of the Great Powers (the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire). Nafplion remained the capital of the kingdom until 1834, when Otto decided to move the capital to Athens.

Bourtzi Castle. Photo by Corey Sandler

The castle of Bourtzi is in the middle of the harbor; we should have a good view of it as we pass by on ship’s tenders. It was completed by the Venetians in 1473 as part of its fortification against pirates and invaders.

It served as a fortress until 1865, and then as the residence of the executioners of convicts from the castle of Palamidi.

Inside Agios Nikolaos church in Nafplion; it was built in 1713 and little has changed since. Photos by Corey Sandler

EPIDAURUS
About 45 minute east of Nafplion is the ancient city of Epidaurus, called Epidavros in modern Greek. This was one of the most popular Greek spas, a place with special baths and secret rites.

People in need of cure would come to Epidaurus and spend their first night in the enkoimitiria, a sort of dormitory.

After the introduction of Christianity and the silencing of the oracles, the sanctuary at Epidauros was still known as late as the mid-5^th century, recast as a Christian healing center.

There’s not a lot left of the old city except for foundations—with one exception: the spectacular Greek theater. It has survived through the ages because it was built into the ground and not above it. Designed in the 4^th century BC, the original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. It seats as many as 15,000 people.

Epidauros. Photos by Corey Sandler

As is usual for Greek theaters (and different from Roman ones), the view of the lush landscape behind the stage was considered part of the theater itself and was not to be obscured. The theater has exceptional acoustics, attributed in part to the limestone seats which amplify sounds from the stage and absorb extraneous noise from the audience.

CORINTH

Just over an hour north of Navplion is the once-great city of Corinth, on the narrow isthmus that leads to the mainland of Greece; from here, Athens is about 48 miles to the east.

The city was founded in the Neolithic Age, about 6000 BC. According to one legend, the city was founded by Corinthos, a descendant of the god Helios (the Sun).

Before the end of the Mycenaean period the Dorians (an ancient Greek tribe) settled in Corinth. It seems likely that Corinth was also the site of a Bronze Age Mycenaean palace-city, like Mycenae, Tiryns or Pylos.

In the 7th century BC, when Corinth was ruled by the tyrants Cypselus and his son Periander, the city sent forth colonists to found new settlements: Epidamnus (modern day Durrës, Albania), Syracuse in what is now Italy, and Corcyra (the modern day town of Corfu) among them.

It was during the reign of Periander that there was the first to attempt to cut across the Isthmus to create a canal to allow ship traffic between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulf. It was way beyond their abilities, but they did create the Diolkos, a stone overland ramp to haul small ships or freight.

Then came the Romans, who destroyed Corinth following a siege in 146 BC. The Roman Lucius Mummius put all the men to the sword and sold the women and children into slavery before he torched the city.

The city was all but abandoned for the next century until Julius Caesar refounded the city as Colonia laus Iulia Corinthiensis in 44 BC shortly before his assassination.

The ruins of Corinth. Photo by Corey Sandler

The apostle Paul first visited the city (AD 51 or 52), and presided for eighteen months. It’s all right there in the Book of the Corinthians. It was during his second visit, about 58, that Paul is believed to have begun his “Epistle to the Romans” and then the several Epistles to the Corinthians.

The first serious consideration of a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth was in 602 BC by Periander, Tyrant of Corinth and one of the Seven Sages of Antiquity. He was not sage enough to figure out how to dig the ditch.

In 307 B.C., about three centuries after Periander, work actually began on excavation. In 66 A.D., the Emperor Nero sent war prisoners from the Aegean islands and six thousand Jewish slaves to work on the canal.

It was the success in 1869 of Ferdinand de Lesseps’ Suez Canal that gave rise to the modern effort. (The Suez also helped bring about the Panama Canal and the Cape Cod Canal and many others at the end of the 19th century.)

The modern pathway follows—almost to the inch—the plans mapped out by Nero.

Sixteen million cubic yards (twelve million cubic meters) of earth had to be removed to cut out the entire passage.

A tight squeeze through the Corinth Canal. Photos by Corey Sandler

The Corinth Canal was completed and opened on July 25, 1893. The Canal cuts the Isthmus of Corinth in a straight line just short of four miles long.

The canal is 80.7 feet wide (24.6 meters) at sea level. Consider: Silver Cloud is 70.6 feet wide, although like many of us she carries her weight around the middle and higher. Ships of our size and a little larger can easily get through, though. But extra-wide megaships cannot.

But our ship will NOT be making a crossing. Not this time. But in 2016, Silversea will return to the Corinth Canal and I hope to be aboard. See you there?

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29 October 2014. Patmos, Greece
The Island of Apocalypse

October 29, 2014 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. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, War of the Worlds, Planet of the Apes, Celebrity Apprentice. You tell me which one frightens you most.

Patmos is a lovely, peaceful small island in the Aegean Sea, one of the northernmost of the Dodecanese islands of Greece.

Above Skala, the port of Patmos. Photo by Corey Sandler

It lies just off the coast of Turkey and the continent of Asia, west of the ancient Greek and Christian site of Ephesus. It’s only about 34 square kilometers or 13 square miles, and the population hovers around 3,000, give or take a few additional thousands when a major cruise ship comes in.

The earliest remains of human settlements, pottery shards at Kastelli, date to the Middle Bronze Age (about 2000 BC).

Jumping forward to the time of the Ancient Greeks, the Patmians identified themselves as Dorians descended from the families of Argos, Sparta and Epidaurus. Later came those from Ionian Greek tribes.

The Monastery of St. John the Theologian. Photos by Corey Sandler

APOCALYPSE WHEN?

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, APO-KALYPSIS means “un-covering.”

Over time and through countless religious analyses, it has come to mean unveiling of a hidden truth, a revelation. And that is the name in many cultures for that last book of the New Testament: the Book of Revelation

The book’s introduction states that its author, John, was on Patmos when he was received a vision from Jesus and wrote it down; in some recountings John had a helper, Prochorus, who did the transcribing.

John says that it was on Patmos that he “heard … a great voice, as of a trumpet,” commanding him to write a book and “send it unto the seven churches.” Most modern scholars believe it was written around AD 95, although some date it from around AD 60.

Some academics question the authorship of the book: John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, and John of Patmos. Some say they are three separate individuals. Some conflate John the Apostle and John of Patmos.

And for good measure, he is also identified in some places—including here in Patmos—as John the Theologian.

It is worth noting that this last book of the New Testament is a bit out there.

It is full of very rich, very extravagant, and very obscure references: the Whore of Babylon, the Beast. Its final section details a core Christian belief, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the anticipated return of Jesus to Earth.

Some theologians treat the Book of Revelation as just that, a description of some pretty unusual future events.

Others see in it a hopeful allegory of the fall of the Roman Empire. And then there are those who think of it as more symbolic: a reference to the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

Meanwhile, the people of Patmos enjoy their special place in the world, a mix of things sacred and secular.

Dancers at a taverna in Patmos. Photos by Corey Sandler

Around the World with Corey Sandler

Tag Archives: Silversea

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21 January 2015
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17 January 2015
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21-22 November 2014
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19 November 2014
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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

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

5 November 2014
Haifa, Israel: A Grand Mix

3-4 November 2014
Ashdod, Israel: A Bridge Too Far

1 November 2014
Rhodes, Greece: Less Than Obvious

31 October 2014
Piraeus, the Port of Athens: To the Holy Land

30 October 2014
Navplion, Greece: Season’s End

29 October 2014. Patmos, Greece
The Island of Apocalypse

Cruise Photos and Stories by Corey Sandler