Cruise through History

Cruise through History© — Itinerary III Ports of the Eastern Mediterranean, the sixth in storybooks for travelers, takes readers through Athens and islands of Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Israel. At each port are stories of the characters who built fortresses, palaces, ancient shrines and new museums. Once again stories are distilled from hundreds of source materials, mined for facts of saints and soldiers, who bequeathed the landscape of castles, churches and monuments of culture visited on a typical cruise itinerary. Accompanied by hundreds of images and original art to illustrate the stories, go beyond where guide books take readers, to deepen enjoyment of your travels. In Cruise through History — Itinerary III, enter the Parthenon Museum as the beneficiary of Melina Mercouri, who as Cultural Minister for Greece made a case for return of bits of the Greek icon from foreign museums. Known as the actress in Never on a Sunday, Mercouri endured death threats as she endeavored to recoup Greek treasures. In Mykonos the heroines are the well-known Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis and the not as well-known outside of Greece Manto Mavrogenous. Manto gave her fortune and sacrificed her love life for the good of Greek independence from Turkey. Jackie O fed a hungry island, then left a legacy of tourism that sustains it today. At Hagia Sofia in Istanbul meet Empress Zoë, the Golden Woman of the Hagia Sophia and her husbands and lovers. Also in Istanbul meet the self-impressed benefactor of the Chora Church and the Sultans who remade the city from Constantinople to the visitor favorite today.. Stories take readers to sacred caves and along travels of the Apostles and footsteps of Jesus, from the Cave of St. John on Patmos, to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Follow the Knights of St. John in Jerusalem, Acre and Rhodes. Then explore the ancient world of King Minos on Crete and Queens of Western Turkey who built cities of trade, led ships in battle and left lasting monuments to their accomplishments. In Troy, Delos and Crete, the heroes are archaeologists, who have brought ancient stories to life. Finally, swim the Hellespont with the unlikely character, the English poet Lord Byron.

Itinerary V of Cruise through History's latest release, eleventh in the series, includes tales found in ports of Arabia, through the Suez Canal, along the southern Mediterranean, to Atlantic Ocean islands and Morocco. Just as travelers left the beginning of human civilization in northeast Africa and traveled west across the north coast of Africa and to islands along the southern Mediterranean, so this Itinerary follows currents west from Arabia, down the Nile, through the Suez Canal, to Malta, Mallorca, Gibraltar and out to the Atlantic. In the Atlantic cruise to Madeira, the Canary Islands of Spain and Azores of Portugal, before returning to North Africa and ports of Morocco. As this Itinerary moves from port to port, it traverses timelines from deep into the ancient era of cave dwellers of Gran Canaria to recent history, including formation of the United Arab Republic in 1970. Meet the real Hatshepsut of ancient Egypt and the real Lawrence of modern Arabia. Be inspired by Gertrude Bell, whose maps of Iraq were relied upon by Winston Churchill in drawing the landscape of the Middle East, and the tenacious Knights of St. John in Malta. Follow antics of the angry artist, Caravaggio, who was a Knight of St. John for two months, and the devious Amaro Pargo, eighteenth century hero of Tenerife. This itinerary begins at the Red Sea, with a Little Political/Biblical history and moves forward to ancient Arabia in Oman, before displaying the contrast of Bedouins of the Desert with modern sheikhs of the UAE, investing in the most advanced city on the planet in Dubai. The leading city of trade in the ancient world, Petra has its own story, where the ruler of Nabatean Petra, intermarried with Herod's family in Judea and the two rulers played a game of intrigue with Cleopatra VII that would have impressed Caesar. Meet the Black pharaohs of the Kingdom of Kush, who united Egypt in the seventh century BCE and ruled Egypt for generations. Visit Ramesses in Luxor and Hat and Tut in the Valley of the Kings. Then solve the mystery of the Rosetta Stone, a competition between French and British scholars, as fierce as battles in this Itinerary and as great a feat as the story of building the Suez Canal. Enjoy the Long and Strategic History of Malta and the short and infamous tenure of Caravaggio as a Knight of Malta. Peer into the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Malta, the most opulent church in the world. Then island hop to Mallorca and ports of the Spanish Mediterranean to visit Bullrings without the Bulls. Gibraltar has its own stories of heroes in the little bit of Britain surrounded by Spain. History of Gibraltar is linked to the American Revolution, when Britain made Spain an offer to trade Gibraltar for Florida. Venture through the Pillars of Hercules, into the Atlantic and the lovely Portuguese island of Madeira, where the story is Wine, Wicker and the Women who saved the island economy with embroidery. Madeira history began in a Moroccan prison, then almost touched off a world war in 1907, when Germans came to build a health spa, that stole the view from a favorite hotel of British vacationers. In this island of flowers, visit Quintas, home of local royalty, host to royalty of the world. It is no chance of fate that Columbus came to Madeira to be inspired to discover a New World. Source of his inspiration, his mother-in-law, is its own story. End the voyage through Portuguese islands with a trip to Remote and Exclusive Azores. Discover how Dutchmen preceded Columbus to America. End this Itinerary at the Crossroads of Trade from Arabia to the Atlantic in Morocco in ports of Tangier and Casablanca. These fabled cities preserve the Kasbah and a real restaurant dedicated to fiction in the famous movie, Casablanca. Finish the tour in the Mosque of Modern Islam, built over the sea in Casablanca.

Sir Walter Raleigh left his mark on Trinidad during his search for El Dorado, the City of Gold. Admiral Nelson is a hero in this part of the world, such that he gave his name to a port in Antigua. He is rumored to have ended his days embalmed in rum. Peter Stuyvesant makes an appearance in Sint Maarten, where he lost his leg, before he fought to maintain New Amsterdam as a Dutch port. In Mexico the familiar characters include Cortez, Moctezuma also referred to as Montezuma, Poncho Villa, and a very young George Patton. Although Mexico is the nearest southern neighbor to the United States, few Americans can name two Mexican states and most have very little knowledge of Mexico's history. CTH offers a brief history of Mexico for gringos traveling from Gulf ports on the Atlantic to ports of the Pacific. As in other itineraries in this series, the stories in Cruise through History are chosen to entertain the traveler. The history of each of the countries in an itinerary cannot be fully represented in a few short stories. Cruise itineraries are chosen to give guests an enriching visit, even if only for a short stay. A Cruise through History seeks to make the most of those short visits, to entice the traveler to return, and to enjoy future travels.

Itinerary IV Ports of the Black Sea, takes readers around the inland sea of deep history, so little traveled by cruise ships. Ports of Sinope, Trabzon, Batumi, Sochi, Yalta, Sebastopol, Odessa, Constanta, Varna and Nessebar are home to colorful characters through history. Stories are, distilled from hundreds of source materials, mined for fun facts of ancient mariners and modern poets, who bequeathed cities, churches and monuments. Stories are, accompanied by images and original art to make the exotic inviting. In Itinerary IV Ports of the Black Sea, follow Jason and the Argonauts to Batumi in search of Golden Fleece; Greeks sail to Chersonesos in Crimea to grow wheat for hungry Athenians in sixth century BCE, and bickering Lords Cardigan and Lucan inspired the poem Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. Saints Cyril and Methodius came to shores of the Black Sea to bestow Cyrillic alphabet to write scripture, leaving people enfranchised with language from which to build an economy. Pushkin came to Odessa to write poetry. Aton Chekhov came to Yalta to write short stories, inspired by port scenes. Stories follow architects to Odessa for Catherine the Great. Premier Joseph Stalin held an international architecture competition for Soviet buildings in Sochi. Catherine's diplomat, Count Vorontsov, built palaces in Odessa and Yalta. Nessebar holds the world record for churches per capita. High on a mountain in Trabzon, in a cave, monks built a magnificent monastery. In Istanbul, sultans endowed mosques. Batumi hosted French architectural style. Still Black Sea waters inspired Orphic Mysticism, Ovid's Metamorphoses text, which informed painters of Renaissance art, and making of modern Turkey. Beloved Turkish poet, Sabahattin Ali was, imprisoned in Sinope. His work is now available in English.

This itinerary begins in Brazil and runs clockwise around the continent to Colombia. A recurrent theme running through the ports is their shared common beginning as lands of discovery and the conquest, or attempted conquest, of native peoples, once Christopher Columbus made his initial landings.

Read Cruise through History stories before you take a cruise, when planning travel, or just dreaming of travel. The stories are all well researched and true, yet they are entertaining and fun. History in school was never like this. Once again, the stories are distilled from hundreds of source materials, mined for the fun facts of saints and soldiers, who bequeathed the landscape of castles, cathedrals and monuments of culture visited on a typical cruise itinerary. Accompanied by hundreds of photos and original art to illustrate the stories, go beyond where guidebooks take readers, to deepen enjoyment of your travels. In Cruise through History stories, meet inspiring characters from history. Itinerary 12 of Cruise through History's latest release, ninth in the series, includes tales found in Ports of the North Sea, where kings, queens and generals step down to allow Vikings and merchant contributions to shine. Founding cities, typically the prerogative of royals, have lesser impact in the North Sea, where Vikings had mastery of the North Sea. As Vikings found new prime farmland, became Christianized and settled into calm, terrestrial pursuits, commerce flowed freely in the North Sea. Reigning mastery of the North Sea passed from Vikings to merchants. Merchants built cities.