October 6 - Early in the morning while it was still dark we sailed up the Tagus River from the Atlantic to the ancient city of Lisbon.  We ate a last breakfast and said goodby to the friends we had made on our journey and then loaded into buses.  Since our flight was not leaving until late afternoon we were able to take a longish tour of the city ( Read more... )

October 5 - This morning we arrived at the old city of Oporto in northern Portugal at the mouth of the Douro River.  Oporto is a very old city dating back to the 4th century Roman occupation when it was called "Portus Cale", from which the later name of Portugal is derived.

In 1387, Porto was the site of the marriage of John I of Portugal and ( Read more... )

October 4 - In the early hours of the day we sailed across the last of a surprisingly calm Bay of Biscay nearing the juncture with the Atlantic Ocean.

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As a beautiful dawn broke over the sea we approached the Isle de Cies, a small group of three islands off the north coast of Spain that are part of the National Maritime Park.


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October 3 - After an early breakfast at pier-side we boarded buses to drive to the holy site of Santiago de Compostela, a place which has been the destination of Christian pilgrims since the 9th century.

[Read More]As we came up from the bus stop we passed the the Convent of San Francisco which was built in the 18th century.  St. Francis of Assissi visited ( Read more... )

October 2 - This morning we arrive at the port city of Bilbao in northern Spain.  Although the area showed signs of settlement going back to the 3rd century BCE, the town is best known after the 13th century, first for its position in the iron trade in northern Spain and later as a center of ship building which lasted well into the 20th century.

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October 1 - We arrived early in the morning at the lovely fishing village of St. Jean de Luz on the Basque Coast of France.  After having been largely along a coast that was mostly flat or at most rolling countryside it was a surprise to find ourselves looking out at some of the foothills of the Pyrenees.

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September 30 - We arrived at Ile d'Aix, a small island just off the Atlantic coast of France early in the morning just as the sun was rising and a full moon was setting over the island.

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September 28 - When we awoke this morning our trusty ship was tied to the pier in St. Malo.  After a very early breakfast we boarded the buses to drive to Mont St. Michel.

The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the 8th century AD been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. According to legend, ( Read more... )

September 27 - Today was to be dedicated to exploring the D-Day landing beaches from one end to the other.  We knew that this would be a day of mixed emotions as we thought on all of those young men who fought and died here to liberate Europe from Nazi rule.  One of our fellow passengers had been one of those young soldiers struggling ashore that ( Read more... )

September 26 - After an overnight journey to complete our voyage from Amsterdam we arrived in the canal leading to Caen in the morning.  Prior to beginning our day we were treated to a program about the Bayeux Tapestry by one of our historians.  I had brought along the reproduction of a portion of the Bayeux that I had done several years ago, so I ( Read more... )