Tag Archives: history

Freedom Trail Revisited

On my first trip to Boston as a cruise embarkation port, I spent a couple nights there pre-cruise. That trip I sailed with a couple aunts and an uncle. We stayed at a hotel near the subway and used it … Continue reading

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Petra

Many people who have never heard of Petra have actually seen a glimpse of this wondrous archeological site. The façade of the temple known as the treasury was featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Yes that building carved … Continue reading

Posted in Lirica, Middle East, MSC, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

San Juan Islands

Washington state’s San Juan Islands consist of the peaks of an ancient mountain range on the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. As this plate subducts under the North American Plate in the Cascadia Subduction Zone which runs from Vancouver Island … Continue reading

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Herculaneum

Pretty much everyone has heard of Pompeii, which was destroyed in an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Not so many know about the nearby town of Herculaneum. At our port stop in Naples on Carnival Vista we took … Continue reading

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Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney seems to be a popular thing to name a city.  There’s Sydney, Australia of course, and on the west coast of Canada, Sidney B.C. on Vancouver Island.  Maybe Canada has a thing for Sydney on islands because they also … Continue reading

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Walking Boston’s Freedom Trail

If you have a day to spend exploring Boston, walking the freedom trail brings you to a lot of historical sites and unless you choose to go inside any that have a fee or donation box it doesn’t cost anything.  … Continue reading

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Boston Trolley Tour and River Cruise

Boston, the largest city in New England and one of the oldest in the USA, was founded by Puritan settlers from England. The city had a key role in the American Revolution, which of course means it now has historical … Continue reading

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Port Arthur, Tasmania

On our cruise to Tasmania, Carnival Legend made its first stop at Port Arthur on a gray cloudy day.  Normally it costs money to see the historic buildings there, but the ship’s tenders brought us right to the dock in … Continue reading

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Port Townsend

At the northern tip of the eastern end of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula sits a quaint little town called Port Townsend. Victorian architecture dominates the waterfront district, on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.  Nearby Fort Worden, now a … Continue reading

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Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria

Ever since a brief evening stop in Victoria on the way back to Seattle from an Alaskan cruise on Holland America’s Westerdam, my sister, Aunt, and I wanted to go back for a longer visit.  We decided to set up … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, Day Trips, Port Cities | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments