After touring the Cesky Krumlov Palace, we made our way back to Linz and then departed for Dürnstein in the Wachau Valley early the next morning. Brunch was served on the riverboat so we could make our way to the sun deck in the early afternoon to enjoy the beautiful sites. The Wachau Valley is considered one of the most beautiful parts of the Danube and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, both for its architectural and agricultural history. It…
Our next port of call was Linz, Austria. From there we took a bus to Cesky Krumlov, a small town by the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. It was a feudal town founded in the Middle Ages. It attracts tourists because of the Cesky Krumlov Castle complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first castle was established before 1250 by the Lords of Krumlov. This family line died off in 1302. Other families that followed included the Rosenbergs, who…
Our next port of call was Gdansk, Poland, where we would be able to spend most of the day. In this post, I will focus on Malbork Castle, which was a highlight of our shore excursion. Malbork Castle was established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The UNESCO website has interesting information about the castle, some of which I will quote here. First, here is a very concise history of the castle: This spectacular fortress bears witness to…
After leaving St. Petersburg, we were headed to Tallinn, Estonia. We really didn’t know much about Estonia and thought it was probably a convenient stop between St. Petersburg and our port in Poland. But Estonia was much more – we could only spend a few hours here as we were due back on the ship around lunchtime. For our shore excursion, we chose a walking tour that would give us an overview of Tallinn. Estonia likely dates back to the…
Our next port of call was St. Petersburg, Russia where we would spend two days. St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. Today it is the second largest city in Russia and is considered Russia’s cultural center. It is one of three federal cities in Russia and is an important port on the Baltic. The pictures below are ones we took as we were driving through St. Petersburg on our way to to our first stop….
After our Tauck tour had ended, we spent an extra day in Malta and arranged for a private tour through Amy at guidedtoursmalta.com. Although Amy was unavailable on the extra day we had in Malta, she arranged for us to tour with one of her colleagues. We chose a full day tour of Gozo, but we were able to customize it since it was a private tour. Our guide picked us up at our hotel with a driver and we…
Our last port of call in Sicily was Siracusa or Syracuse. It has a 2,700 year history and was once a powerful city-state, one of the largest cities in the ancient world. It was founded by Greeks but was also ruled by the Romans. Because my husband is a retired physics teacher, I must mention that Syracuse was the birthplace of Archimedes. He is famous for Archimedes’ Principle, which says that the buoyant force of an object placed in water…
Our next port of call was Palermo, Sicily. We drove to Monreale to see the Cathedral of Monreale, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we looked at the exterior as seen in the first two pictures below, we would not have guessed the cathedral made the UNESCO list. There are two bell towers on either side of the porch which seems plain with the exception of the inlaid marble. The porch was added in the 18th Century. When you enter…
Back on board the Le Ponant, the sails were raised for the first time on our cruise. We had been at Tall Ships in Chicago and saw sails raised with ropes. On the Le Ponant, this process was mechanical – but still a beautiful site! When attending the briefing given by our tour directors, we learned that we would be passing the island of Stromboli overnight. Stromboli is home to a “constantly active volcano” and I decided to set my…
After we left Herculaneum we drove to Naples where we boarded the Le Ponant. It is a French ship and has three masts which can be used with the engine when there is wind. We were two of the 53 passengers on board. The cabins were small but efficient. The pictures below were taken as we left Naples and of the sunset our first night on board. The next morning we were anchored off the Amalfi coast and went ashore…