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The weather on the morning of June 19th was overcast and rainy, hardly the conditions that the organizers of SAIL 250 were hoping for when the impressive assemblage of international tall ships was scheduled to weigh anchor at Lynnhaven Inlet at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and proceed to Norfolk’s waterfront. The presence of the […]

A day without end! Tuesday started with a 3:30 AM wake-up in Istanbul for a 7:30 AM flight to Munich. After our Munich to DC flight was canceled for a mysterious maintenance malady, we were rebooked to Norfolk through Newark, which is where I started tapping out these paragraphs with very bleary eyes. But hey,

Well, I searched high and low for Hector but apparently, he left town when he heard I was coming. Mythology aside, it’s likely that there was a war fought here between the Greeks and Trojans in the 10th or 11th century BC, probably for the usual reasons – control of resources, expansion of territory, etc.

Ephesus (May 7th) Today we docked in our first Turkish city – Kusadasi – which is about a 30-minute drive to Ephesus. This city has a long history, but its main claim to fame was that the Apostle Paul spread the word of Christianity here from 53-56 AD. Apparently, he was a bit too successful

Holy history, Batman! Today we were in Heraklion, the largest city on the Greek island of Crete. We learned that this area has been continuously inhabited for at least 7,000 years. With its turquoise waters, the coastline is absolutely stunning. Perfect weather made it even more special. We got to visit what remains of the

Athens 3-4 May Athens is truly one of the world’s most important historical cities. Everywhere we looked, we saw evidence of the civilizations that came before. Of course, we walked the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, the massive temple to Athena who Athens was named for. The entire site was religious in nature and included

Corfu (May 1st) Not much to report on Friday’s stop in Corfu. This beautiful and magnificent island is yet another victim of out-of-control tourism. Six cruise ships in port didn’t help. The charming old city that I remember when I visited 30 years ago was so jammed with tourists that we could barely move through

Another day, another country – Kotor, Montenegro. A bit of liquid sunshine in the morning didn’t dim our spirits as we hoofed around this old walled city. It’s quite small, so we were able to walk the entire city with its narrow stone streets in just a couple of hours. In Kotor, cats are everywhere,

Our Croatian ports of call – Split and Dubrovnik – are in the books. It’s always magical when perfect weather marries up with wonderful scenery and interesting places. Split April 28th Split is a medium-sized modern city wrapped around the ancient palace of the Emperor Diocletian, who was born in this area and ruled the

We’re back onboard the Viking Sea with Venice in the rear-view mirror. We head next to Split on Croatia’s beautiful Dalmatian coast in the Adriatic Sea. But first, let’s talk Venice… Its many canals, bridges, gondolas, churches, museums, and restaurants, along with its stunning architecture and interesting people, make Venice one of the world’s truly