Our next stop was 2 full days in Istanbul. Approximately 30% of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) is in Europe (measured by land mass) and 70% is in Asia. The two sides are separated by the Bosphorus Strait. About 16 million people live in the city, and many commute between the two continents for work. The […]
Read More »After two days in Greece, we moved on to Türkiye (Turkey), a country with a unique geographic position and an incredible history. It is partly in Europe and partly in Asia. A ferry shuttles between the two; it’s about a half hour ride. Most of the land mass is in Asia but most of the […]
Read More »Our next stop was the island of Rhodes. With a population of 56,000 in the city proper and 90,000 counting the outskirts, Rhodes is the principal city of the island of Rhodes. Built by the Hospitalliers, it is one of the best-preserved medieval cities of Europe, and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. […]
Read More »After leaving Malta we headed to the Greek islands. The first place we docked was the port city of Chania on the island of Crete. There we visited an ancient monastery and then went on a walking tour of Chania. One key factor has to be kept in mind when the Greek islands are being […]
Read More »We spent two days in Malta. Officially known as the Republic of Malta, it is a small island country located in the Mediterranean between North Africa and Sicily. It is a member country of NATO. While it may be small (population 525,000) it is a very wealthy state and densely populated. It is overwhelmingly Catholic. […]
Read More »First Stop Malaga Málaga We had the first truly rainy day in port since the start of our trip in January, but that did not make Málaga any less special. We walked through the town for hours, enjoying a guide’s explanation of its history. Then we stopped at a local tapas bar for some traditional […]
Read More »So here we are in Cádiz, Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz in autonomous Andalusia. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of Western Europe, but it is quite small. It has only about 115,000 resident citizens. It is often described as a typical Andalusian city brimming with historical […]
Read More »For the second day we decided to tour Lisbon proper. What is truly amazing is that Lisbon is spotlessly clean. Which is what we saw pretty much everywhere in Europe—so maybe it shouldn’t be amazing at all. One place we visited was a former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome that was secularized in […]
Read More »After leaving Portimão, we sailed to Lisbon (AKA Lisbao) and we docked there for 2 days. Upon arriving we headed out for Sintra, reputed to be a charming medieval town. I can report it was everything it was cracked up to be. Sintra is a small town with population about 385,000 people. It is densely […]
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