ZECO TRAVEL TALK

Last fall, one of our wonderful and generous long-time travelers, who wishes to remain anonymous, came to us with the opportunity to jointly offer a Zegrahm Travel Scholarship. Its purpose was to fund a trip for a worthy teacher or educator who could apply what they learned to helping young people better understand our world. To find this recipient, we sent out an e-mail announcement to our past-traveled clients seeking nominations for the scholarship award.

Needless to say, we received many terrific nominations and thoughtful letters which we turned over to the donor for the final selection. It was clear to this person right away who would receive the scholarship: Patti Richter, from Conway, Washington, a 4th grade teacher at Conway Elementary School. Her nomination came from a Zegrahm traveler—the parent of two students at Patti’s school.

The detailed and heartfelt letters from Patti’s students demonstrated the love and respect they feel for her—as a teacher and as a person. They wrote: “She is the nicest teacher in the world…” And, “She is welcoming new people to another world of excitement…” And “She is very very very smart…” And, “She will be the happiest person that she will ever be…” And, “She deserves to have the time of her life…” And, “When she walks in she always puts a Big Smile on your face…” And, “You should pick her!” Read more

Circumnavigation Of The Black Sea

We had a wonderful time on board Le Levant, a luxurious cruise ship, circumnavigating the Black Sea for two weeks in September. The history and culture of that part of the world are fascinating, and the lecturers on board did a great job.

When we received the brochure for the trip from the MIT Alumni office—who sponsored a group of 22 people—we knew right away that this would be our 8th MIT-sponsored trip. We also knew that we had an extraordinary personal opportunity that no one else on the trip would have—to visit the city of Varna, Bulgaria, the last port of the trip and the birthplace of our adopted grandson. Read more

We’ve come back from our Romania trip with so many memorable images and moments to sift through… Despite the country’s ongoing battle with government corruption, it is such a beautiful place and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the medieval cities, such as Sibiu, Cluj, Sighisoara, and Brasov. The fortified churches and monasteries are out of this world, and the painted monasteries of Bukovina are still something I can’t get over. But beyond the major sights it was the villages, the landscapes, the fir-clad mountainsides, the horse-drawn carts, the horses decorated for a wedding, the “from another era” funeral ceremonies, the dancers… Those were the real highlights.

One of the best times was our visit with an older couple who single-handedly have collected an incredible assortment of objects: archaeological pieces from an dig the man participated in, wooden carvings, old vests, agricultural objects, paintings, and everything having to do with making butter. But his main legacy is–andwill be–that he has been teaching the children of the village the traditional dances and music. Read more

Algiers, Mediterranean Mosaic - Voyage II

Our time in Algiers was, simply, fantastic and the weather couldn’t have been better. We started at the Martyr’s Monument, then visited the small, wonderful Museum of Antiquties and Islamic Art. The highlight of course was the Casbah and we visited a traditional home there, hosted by very gracious Bahia, whose family—for four generations—was born and raised there. Everyone was delighted with this personal glimpse into Casbah life.

From the rooftop deck we had a stunning view and enjoyed delicious mint tea as we listened to the 4 o’clock prayer ripple down the streets of the Casbah. We then walked from the top of the Casbah to the bottom… what an amazing experience, arriving at the bottom among a sea of people rushing home to break the Ramadan fast. Once back onboard we were entertained by a famous local band and everyone really got into it. Then we had a BBQ in our Panoramique Restaurant as we sailed away from Algiers. It was an incredible day.

Annaba, Mediterranean Mosaic - Voyage II

Today, our first day in Algeria, was overwhelming, in the best possible way. We had two fantastic guides, and the tour was great. We had perfect weather, had the amazing ruins site of Hippo Regius completely to ourselves, and enjoyed meeting the Bishop of the Basilica of St. Augustine before coming back to the ship for lunch.

After lunch we headed into town (Annaba) for a visit to the Mosque where the Imam himself showed us around; it was a very special experience. We then went to Revolution Square for a walk through the old heart of the city. This evening we had a Q and A session with the guides and it was fantastic! The passengers had lots of questions and the guides answered them in a very straightforward and candid way — everyone enjoyed and appreciated it very much.

Our North Cape excursion ended the day with a great zodiac cruise around the seabird cliffs. The contrast between Norway and Russia is unbelievable and amazing to witness. Someone commented that it’s like going from a black and white movie to a color movie… from bleak Soviet-style apartment blocks to charming little houses with lace curtains, neatly manicured lawns, and lots of flowers.

The leaders and many passengers are still in heaven after seeing the nuclear powered icebreakers in port in Murmansk; we even saw the famous nuclear battleship named Peter the Great. Olga Stone plays the piano like I have never heard before and got continuous standing ovations throughout the two trips. All in all, the contrasts between Svalbard, Russia, and Norway - the amazing ceremonies and beautiful landscapes have made these trips truly special. The highlight today was the Sami reindeer herder standing in front of his tent telling us reindeer stories… When his cell phone went off and he had to get it out from under his reindeer skin tunic, everyone cracked up!

Solovetskiy Islands, White Sea to Norway

Today at Solovetskiy was totally unexpected —and so amazing that it’s hard to describe, but I am going to try. We ran a continuous zodiac shuttle for the passengers back and forth from the ship to the island where a ceremony was being held at the monastery to bless new bells that had been made and shipped over to the island.

The Archbishop of Russia, the second highest authority in the Russian Orthodox church flew out from Moscow for the blessing and to perform the ceremony in the Russian Transfiguration Church in the monastery’s Kremlin. Pilgrims from all over the country came to celebrate and pray, from old women in colorful babushkas (scarves) and skirts, to young people… all arriving en masse to take part in the ceremony. We were the only outside witnesses to this special event, and had to wait most of the morning, but it was really worth it. The pomp and ceremony was spectacular, with all the monks and priests carrying crosses and icons, dressed in long robes with huge hats, parading out of the church as they made their way to the bells. The Archbishop then got up on the bell platform and started flinging water around with large brush, blessing the bells with his holy water. Most of us got blessed as well! When we came back to the ship, everyone was so excited and some of the passengers even said that if they had to turn around and go home now, it was worth coming!

We ended the day with Olga Stone playing a Russian piece of music that was inspired by the ringing of church bells and Sergey did a toast with vodka with all our passengers. What a day… and we have pictures to prove it!

Wahlenbergfjorden, Spitsbergen to the White Sea

We had a great day again today… Went to a fjord called Wahlenbergfjorden and then up a side arm called Palanderbukta. We did a great walk on a glacier this morning, and in the afternoon we visited some absolutely amazing bird cliffs, Alkejfillet, where there were thousands and thousands of birds. The rock cliffs themselves were spectacular; we saw small chicks dive-bombing into the sea with their dads, then having to learn to swim… all in a couple of minutes. We saw gulls eating chicks… big drama, fast action, and everything you could imagine in this bird colony. In the evening we made a landing to view a large number of walrus and 71 passengers got out there to quietly watch and photograph the walrus. They got really close and had a great look at them.