ZECO TRAVEL TALK

What and incredible day we had in Riga. Usually early summer has this Latvian city enshrouded in clouds and drizzle. Instead, we had clear blue skies and warm weather for our walking tour of the beautiful and colorful Old Town. The drab gray buildings of Soviet occupation have been renewed. The brightly painted, carefully remodeled and renovated architecture in the art nouveau style have reemerged and the city is a feast for photographers. Over 40% of the houses in Riga, more than any other European city (predating the seizure of power by Moscow in 1940), are built in this style, the Jugendstillart Nouveau. With the new renovations the colors and details had us wandering the cobblestone alleys in awe. Read more

Written by Dr. Colleen Batey, Archaeologist

An excellent way to start the day! Brunch, sunshine, and a full day tour of the stunning archaeology of the Orkney Islands. Of course, I confess to being somewhat biased in my enthusiasm—having spent some 30 years of my life digging in Orkney and discovering its Viking past—but enthusiasm is infectious! Read more

At 5 a.m., under leaden skies and a lazy, rolling sea, our vessel, the Island Sky, made its way into Village Bay at Hirta, the largest of the seven islets that make up the archipelago of St. Kilda—Britain’s most remote group of islands. No amount of reading could have prepared us for this dramatic scene; sheer mountains that explode from the sea, launched from the ocean depths by wild volcanic explosions, its peaks draped in a soft, gray fog. Read more

Written by naturalist, Jim Wilson

Today we were spoiled for choice.

Some of us opted for a trip to world famous Lismore Castle and Gardens. The trip gave them the opportunity to pass through some of Ireland’s most scenic countryside, looking its best in early-summer with lush green fields sprinkled with Elder bushes covered in large white blossoms. Lismore itself has won a number of heritage awards and was looking radiant in the sunshine. The castle itself is steeped in history. Built by Prince John of England in 1185, it was once owned by, among others, Sir Walter Raleigh who sold it to Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork. His son Robert Boyle, considered by many to be the father of modern chemistry, was born in the castle in 1626.

The rest of us opted for a 5am start and a landing on Great Saltee Island where we spent 10 hours amidst tens of thousands of seabirds with close-up encounters with Atlantic puffins, razorbills, guillemots (common murre), black-legged kittiwakes, and choughs. Apart from the stunning scenery, we spent time at the island’s gannet colony which, while not the largest in Ireland, is probably unrivaled in northwestern Europe for the experience at such close quarters. Those who visited Lismore did not miss out on a landing at Great Saltee with an evening trip to the island.

Written by botanist, Ian Cooke

The first landing of our Wild and Ancient Britain adventure began with a short Zodiac ride to the island of Tresco; one of the islands that make up the Isles of Scilly. Located at the southwestern most tip of the UK, these islands are subtropical in nature and allow a remarkable range of plants to be grown from South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, and the Mediterranean. With blue sky, sunshine, and a gentle walk to the gardens, what more could you ask for!

Our private guide, David, walked use through the gardens explaining the history of the Dorrien-Smith family and their residency at the Abbey and delighted us with details of plant cultivation. We were very pleased to be invited to view his vegetable, fruit, and cutting garden and to better understand how the team of four full-time gardeners and three students care for such a significant horticultural collection. This was truly an insider’s view of the gardens that I had never before experienced in all my visits here.

There was a brisk breeze blowing, but it was a sunny morning as we sailed into the great harbor at Syracuse and perhaps we had something of the same experience of those first Greek colonists from Corinth who arrived more than 2,700 years ago to their new land. Cautious people, they settled on the small offshore island of Ortygia where archaeological excavations have indicated there was already a settlement of native huts. I doubt that they suspected their town was going to become the largest city in area of the Greek world as well as one of the three most populous. Very quickly, however, the town began to grow and to spread over to the mainland. We only had a few hours and knew we could just hit the high points. Modern buildings cover much of this Greek city, but many archaeological parks have been preserved.

First, we headed for the great catacombs of St. John with thousands of rock-cut tombs about 20 feet underground. Our group was the first to arrive and the vast echoing galleries were ours alone. Wide street-like corridors ran like main arteries through the cemetery with smaller roads branching off at right angles, a real city of the dead, though, fortunately, the skeletons had long ago disappeared. Modest cubicles and big chapels comprised this democracy of the dead.

Next, it was off to the central archaeological park, the site of the major public buildings of the town: the huge Greek theatre which was being worked on for an upcoming spring drama festival; the even bigger Roman amphitheatre built much later after the Romans conquered Sicily; the 650-foot long altar of King Hieron II on which hundreds of bulls could be sacrificed at the same time; and, most striking, the great underground quarries from which most of the building stone of Syracuse was extracted 2,500 years ago.

Finally, some of us visited the spectacular archaeological museum with its rich collection of finds from hundreds of graves and dozens of excavations around town—huge pieces of sculpture and architecture were side-by-side small figurines of worshippers, offered by the hundreds in local sanctuaries. Others did a walking tour around Ortygia and saw a mid 5th-century B.C. Greek temple to Athena converted in the Middle Ages to the Christian cathedral of the city while elsewhere they admired the early 6th-century B.C. temple to Apollo, one of the earliest fully stone temples in the Greek world. Then, it was back to the Island Sky for our noon departure from one of the great cities of the ancient Mediterranean.

When we take a voyage we are most often thrilled with the wonderful visuals and intense learning experiences which a new destination affords. Zegrahm’s Black Sea voyage has certainly provided all of these things but is also, almost magically, set to music.

While exploring the Gelati Monastery high up in the Caucasus Mountain Range of Georgia we happened upon a service taking place. Looking out over the misty valley, we were enveloped by the haunting hymns of the small a cappela choir which filled the beautiful cathedral with heady strains of Ave Maria.

On Yalta’s Crimean Peninsula we found ourselves at Livadia Palace, the late summer residence of the Romanov’s— the last imperial family of Tsarist Russia. As we explored the palace, delicate Ukraine folk songs wafted through the windows from the garden courtyard. Read more

We entered the Danube Delta at 6 a.m. to take on the pilot in Romania’s Sulina Channel. Already we could see pelicans and coots rafting in the lakes just north of the channel which bisects this immense biosphere reserve. Our local boat, the Europolis, was waiting alongside in Crisan to take us deep into the reserve via narrow channels. The waterways were quiet and idyllic, overhung with willow trees and bordered by sweeping stands of phragmites, the reeds used to thatch the small houses on the nearby farms. Egrets and herons were particularly abundant and often allowed close approach for photos. Sitting or standing comfortably on the top deck we spotted squacco herons and the unusual pygmy cormorant. A soaring black stork, probably on its way down from Siberia, was a particular highlight! Read more