They went to Delphi, the Earth’s center, to visit Phoebus’ Oracle, and prayed to him to grant them his aid in their misery, to give them some oracle that would restore their health and put an end to the evils of their great city. The ground, the laurel tree and the quivers which the god [...]
Archive for March, 2008
High on Delphi
Posted in Aegean, Greece, classics, tagged ancient Delphi, Ancient Greece, Apollo, Delphi, Delphic Oracle, drugs, geology, Greece, luxury travel, Mediterranean, Mediterranean vacation, myth, mythology, omphalos, prophecy, prophesy, prophetic visions, Pythian Sibyl, travel, vacation on March 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Unbelievable striped icebergs in the Antarctic
Posted in Antarctica, tagged Antarctica, geology, glaciology, icebergs, natural history on March 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
If you are lucky, as you’re sailing with us aboard the Corinthian II in Antarctica, you might catch a glimpse of these absurdly beautiful banded icebergs. Formed by the pressurized compression of ice, plus rapid melting and re-freezing, they are truly stunning to encounter. Click here for some astonishing images.
Africa Rising
Posted in Africa, tagged Africa, African cruise, Ali Farka Toure, cruise, Mali on March 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A major article in the Boston Globe reports,
By many standards, Africa is doing better than it has in decades. The number of democratically elected governments has risen sharply in the past decade, and the number of violent conflicts has dropped. African economies, and African businesses, are starting to show impressive results, and not just by [...]
We are all Homer’s children
Posted in Aegean, classics, tagged classics, Homer, Iliad, Journey of Odysseus, Mediterranean, Odyssey, Western civilization on March 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Argentinian critic and translator Alberto Manguel has done something quite unique, and necessary for our time. He realized that writing a biography of Homer is impossible. Yet he understood that The Iliad and The Odyssey are, in fact, the foundations of Western civilization. But unlike most of us, who just accept that phrase — “the [...]
A Gift from the Gods: to Your Children
Posted in Aegean, Religion/Mythology, classics, tagged Ancient Greece, ancient Rome, archaeology, cruise, family learning trips, Mediterranean, mythology, summer enrichment on March 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last summer, The New York Times‘ travel section published a lovely piece by Jennifer Conlin on her “Zeus Trip”: a summer vacation in Greece specifically planned to teach her kids about ancient history and mythology. It’s written with deft tongue-in-cheek, as she learns, by trial and error, how to keep her kids interested and [...]
