The Intentional Travelers

Cruising and the Alaska Glaciers

Cruising Alaska has been gaining in popularity for a number of years and it doesn’t seem like interest will taper off any time soon. All the major cruise lines offer itineraries as do a number of the smaller cruise lines.

A cruise ship approaches Hubbard Glacier

Cruising up The Misty Fjord towards Dawes Glacier

If you’re looking for a cruise recommendation Alaska’s glaciers is high on most lists. Alaska has a lot to see and almost any cruise will be a memorable experience but there are differences to understand.

First, some information on the general environment. Coastal Alaska has a limited number of ports and locations so there is a lot of cruise similarities. The major cruise ports are Skagway, Juno, and Ketchikan and each has a lot to offer and all are very popular with passengers. There are also a couple of less visited stops with the most common being Hanes. Another common stop on Alaska itineraries is Icy Straight Point. Both of these are more opportunities to take tours than an actual destination port. There are also a couple of “cruise only” destinations. The first is the Misty Fiord which is usually a half day of cruising up thru the narrow fiords. The other is Hubbard Glacier where the ships cruise up near the face of the glacier. There is also the port of Seward and it is the farthest north of the itineraries with most one-way cruises going it up to Seward with it being a jumping off point for trips to Denali with it being a start of the Alaska Rail Tours.

Cruising Alaska has a lot to offer from coastal mountains, to whales and wildlife but the most spectacular sights are the glaciers. You should make that a prime consideration when selecting a cruise line and its itinerary. Because the number of ships allowed to go up near Hubbard Glacier are limited, it’s recommend that your first priority is to select a cruise that includes either Hubbard or Dawes glaciers. Hubbard is a huge glacier that terminates into a bay and is famous for “calving” huge chunks into the water constantly. In addition the bay is filled with icebergs and flowing chunks of ice with seals being a common sight.

Mendenhall Glacier is another popular destination and usually all you need is a bus ticket from Juneau. The glacier is a National Park with a good visitor center and great hiking trails and it really is only a half hour bus ride from town. Almost all Alaska cruise passengers have an opportunity to visit Juneau and this glacier.

A third glacier of particular note is Dawes Glacier located at the end of Tracy Arm Fjord. It also terminates into water with calving being a frequent event. Unfortunately it is not on many ship itineraries because there is also a limit on ships allowed all the way up this fjord. Tracy Arm Fjord is a branch off the Misty Fjord and while cruises often include Misty Fjord, few make it up to Dawes Glacier.

A fourth frequent glacier opportunity is a helicopter tour up on the Juneau Ice Field. These tours are available from Juneau as well as Skagway. One tip that can save you some money is to book the tour on your own rather than thru the ship. You can call using U.S. cell service at most points near the popular towns and often book at the last minute. The tours only take a couple of hours so it is easy to fit into a port day as well.

Again regardless of which cruise line you prefer you need to pay attention to the available itineraries and try to get a cruise that includes either Dawes or Hubbard. Most cruise offers will list Hubbard on the cruise itinerary but you will probably have to make some inquiries regarding if Dawes glacier is on an itinerary.

Helicopter tours up to a glacier in the Juneau ice field are usually available in Juneau or Skagway.

The Port of San Diego

Port of Call San Diego in Southern California

What’s not to like with a near perfect year-round temperature, 70 miles of coastline and beaches, a major U.S. Naval Base, an interesting historic area and world famous Balboa Park that features 17 museums, numerous galleries and performing arts venues including the incredible San Diego Zoo. It isn’t hard to fall in love with San Diego.

Popular with cruise lines for trips up the coast, over to Hawaii and south through the Panama Canal this is a world class port of call.

Where Your Ship Docks

Most cruise ships will dock right downtown at the B Street Cruise Pier. The pier features a cruise terminal with public facilities. Across the street from the pier are a number of good hotels and just another block up is a rapid rail stop. A little over a half mile south of the terminal is Seaport Village with an interesting collection of shops and restaurants also on the water. The aircraft carrier Midway Museum is also nearby along with a number of other historic ship exhibits.

Transportation

San Diego has an economical public transportation system featuring a light rail system that includes over fifty area stops. Just two blocks from the pier is a light rail stop where you can catch a trolly down to Old Town for a fare of $2.50. You can purchase one to 30-day passes for the transit system right from your smartphone and use them immediately using the Compass-Cloud app.

Currency

The U.S. Dollar is the accepted currency with credit and debit cards welcome almost everywhere. Changing foreign currency can be a challenge with facilities available mostly at the airport.

Attractions

OLD TOWN was the original historic heart of San Diego. Created in 1769, Old Town San Diego was California’s first settlement with only a mission and a fort. Stroll the lush gardens or browse at one of the many specialty shops for treasures from around the world. To get to Old Town by Trolley take the Green Line that runs right along the waterfront.

First and foremost is The San Diego Zoo, one of the best zoos in the United States. It is a non-profit zoo and wildlife sanctuary featuring over 3,500 rare and endangered animals representing more than 650 species and subspecies, and a prominent botanical garden with more than 700,000 exotic plants.

San Diego is also home to one of the SeaWorld parks along with the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. Birch Aquarium is a public exploration center of the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Sitting on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the aquarium features more than 60 habitats of fishes and invertebrates from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico and beyond.

In addition to the zoo and aquariums San Diego has a lot more to offer. There is a good hop-on hop-off bus that travels all around the city and out to Coronado. Coronado sits right in the middle of the harbor and often is referred to as an island but actually is attached at the southern end to the mainland. It is also features a Naval Air Station, a Naval Amphibious Base and is home to the Navy SEALS. If you want to rub shoulders with a SEAL stop in at Mc P’s Pub, a local hangout founded by an ex-SEAL more than a few years ago. It’s not far from the “The Del” (Del Coronado Hotel) a famous hotel on Coronado beach.

If you are catching a cruise from San Diego we recommend allowing a couple of days extra to see this beautiful city. Balboa Park is worth a whole day itself and try and fit in a visit toSeaport Village, with its waterfront shops and restaurants, located just south of the cruise pier. For good food try the Little Italy neighborhood or all along the waterfront for great seafood.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens

View from 4th floor gallery Acropolis Museum

Sitting at the base of the Acropolis in Athens and just two blocks from the Acropolis Metro station is the Acropolis Museum. The Acropolis Museum, one of the ten most important museums in the world, was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes. Discoveries date from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It was also built over the ruins of Roman and early Byzantine Athens with its foundation carefully designed and built in a way that protects and provides access to the archaeological sight.

The museums main entrance over the archaeology site

This ultra modern museum is dedicated to restoring and protecting the amazing buildings associated with ancient Athen’s Acropolis. Seriously damaged over centuries by looters, war and vandalism the recovery, preservation and restoration of the sites major buildings is a massive undertaking. Working from drawings, historic photographs and actual artifacts from the British Museum, the restoration is intended to specifically restore the Parthenon to its original condition. That will include the statue of Athena, the East and West building pediments, the metopes of the peristyle, and the continuous frieze of the cella and the temples exterior with its abundance of sculptures.

The collections of the museum are exhibited on three levels with a fourth middle level that houses the museum shop, the café and offices. On the first level of the museum there are artifacts from the slopes of the Acropolis with its long and rectangular hall whose floor is sloping to resemble the ascension to the Acropolis. At the top the visitor finds a large hall which houses additional findings that include artifacts and sculptures from the other Acropolis buildings such as the Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaea and artifacts from Roman and early Christian Athens. The top floor features a movie on the Parthenon along with exhibits on the statuary restorations and an amazing gallery with its glass wall looking directly at the Acropolis.

The museum is normally open from 8 to 4 on weekdays and 8 to 8 Saturday and Sunday. General admission varies by season: 10€ from April through October and 5€ from November to April.

Travel Poster Collection Bangkok

Working with The Crafts Mart, an online store, we are making a number of our travel photographs available as high quality prints. These prints are produced using fade resistant inks on museum grade archival, heavy weight paper. Available in different sizes these prints are perfect for framing and are great for decorating to show off your travels. Most prints are available as a travel poster design and some as an unembellished photographic print.

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings at the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (Thailand) since 1782. The grounds encompass the palace and a number of Buddhist temples right in the heart of Bangkok and is a major attraction for visitors to the city.

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A Confusing Saturday In Valencia Spain

On Oct 09, 2021 we were in Valencia Spain with plans for a walking tour of the old Gothic city. Starting at the Serranos Tower, which is the largest Gothic city gates in all Europe, we strolled toward the cathedral and into the beginning of mass demonstrations around the city.

Located in Catalonia, Spain, Valencia along with its sister Barcelona to the east, are the front lines in the free Catalonia movement. There has long been a feeling among Catalans that while they pay a majority of the taxes to Madrid, they get way too little in return. Things started spiraling out of control when on 27 October 2017 the Catalan Parliament voted in a secret ballot to approve a resolution declaring independence from Spain by a vote of 70–10. While the vote was considered illegal by the Spanish government for violating a decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court it demonstrated how strong the Catalan people felt about Madrid. As the Spanish central government cracked down by sending in national police and arresting Catalan political leaders, support for the Catalan independence movement grew.

The day we arrived in Valencia the U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona had issued a warning to Americans concerning the possibility of violent riots in Barcelona and Valencia. They warned that the verdict in the trial of pro-independence Catalan leaders is expected to be announced soon. It was expected that significant and maybe violent demonstration activity may take place throughout Catalonia.

Not being aware of the call for demonstrations or the warnings, we entered through the gates of the Serranos Tower heading into the Gothic city walking toward the cathedral. Within a couple of blocks we were surprised by the number of well equipped police out and when we reached the square at the cathedral we found police armored cars three and four deep up several alleys, maybe a hundred police, many in riot gear, also helicopters where circling the square. In the center of the square were maybe a hundred or two demonstrators mostly wearing firemen’s gear or printed tee-shirts talking through bull-horns and passing out papers. Asking some locals what was going on we were told that Madrid had cut funding to the city and the city, in response, was laying off a number of first responders thus the protest. If the firemen were going to cause trouble they were going to have a hard time getting through those large police lines.

As we walked on toward the central city the police presence kept growing with police helicopters starting to hover overhead. More armored cars sitting on side streets and mounted police in parks. The crowds were growing a lot larger with the Catalan flag everywhere and often draped over peoples shoulders. Attempts to take pictures of the police got immediate reactions convincing me that it wasn’t something I should do. Paying attention to the patches on police uniforms and insignia on armored vehicles it seemed the local police were way outnumbered by the Spanish Civil Guard and National Police Corps. Both of those being para-military arms of the central government.

On leaving the area after a number of hours our impression was that the crowds and demonstrators were actually very orderly and well behaved and the police presence was a huge over reation. Our Spanish isn’t that good but what we heard and later read was a lot of talk and discussion about left wing groups, extreme right wingers, antifascist, fascists and much praise for the progressive political and social majority of Valencians.

If anyone has a decent understanding of current Spanish politics and the Catalan independence movement we’d love to hear about it.

Two Museums In Piraeus Greece

A Liberty Ship Museum Near Athens Greece

I admit I have a special fondness for these WWII antiques having spent over two years at sea on one. So I was really surprised and pleased to find one set up as a museum in Piraeus harbor.

During World War II American shipyards launched almost three thousand Liberty Ships. These amazing cargo ships played a major role in winning the war by shipping ammunition, troops, food and military equipment across the Atlantic. This class of cargo ship was built in the United States from a British design for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty Ships came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial might.

When the job was done and the war ended all those cargo ships were seen by some as a huge business opportunity. Put up for auction nobody took better advantage of them than Greek shipping companies and a number of Greek families became very rich as a result.

One Liberty Ship built by the California Shipbuilding Corporation in 1943 was bought at auction in January 1947 and registered in Piraeus, Greece. This ship, one of almost one hundred bought by Greek companies remained in service until 1967 when it was retired. Restored it now it sits tied up to a pier in Piraeus harbor as a floating maritime museum.

A few other of these ships still survive restored as floating museums. Today in the United States, only three remain intact, the John W. Brown, docked at Baltimore, the Jeremiah O’Brien in San Francisco and the American Freedom in Tampa Bay.

If you find yourself in the Athen’s port city with some free time, pay a visit to the fourth, the Hellas Liberty. She’s well maintained, has a number of historic exhibits and admission is free. A great way to spend an hour going back in time.

Hellenic Maritime Museum In Piraeus, Greece

Another museum worth a visit while in Piraeus is next to the Marina Zeas (the Piraeus small boat harbor). Another jewel of a museum, the Hellenic Maritime Museum celebrates Greece’s impressive naval past from antiquity to the 20th century. This modern building sitting at the mouth of the marina has exhibits that include miniature vessels, naval instruments, weapons, furniture, and wonderful paintings, maps and engravings. One section of the museum is devoted to the private collection of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, a trove of sea-related treasures that once adorned his extravagant yacht, the Christina.