Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805) portraited in 1799 As someone with a keen interest in military history, I know quite a bit about Horatio Nelson. The British Admiral defeated Napoleon’s joint French - Spanish Fleet at Trafalgar in 1805 which prevented the invasion of England. One of London’s largest squares is named after his triumph. His column stands tall in the middle of Trafalgar Square. An uncounted number of English pubs carry Nelson's name. His victory paved the way for a

View over Salerno towards the 32 km long Beach to the South of the town A good 50 km southeast of Naples lies the town of Salerno, once the Norman capital for their lands in Southern Italy  (11 th century). The town is known for the world’s first medical school established in the 9 th century and the landings of British and American forces on 9 th of September 1943 during Operation Avalanche. The day before, the Italian Government had announced its capitulation and declared

Villa Jovis behind Capri as seen from Monte Solaro, the Island's highest Elevation High above the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the island of Capri, stand the ruins of the Imperial Villa Jovis. For ten years (27 – 37 AD), the second Roman Emperor lived and ruled from here. Tiberius’ old palace towers 334 m or 1066 feet above sea level. It was placed on Capri’s second highest mountain. To our ears, Villa Jovis does not sound like anything special – just "Jupiter House". For the Romans th

Etruscan Buccheri (simple pottery) exported to Sardinia, now in the National Archeology Museum in Calgari At times, I stumble on fascinating facts which stare into my face for years without me noticing. Happened again last week when I wrote about Campi Flegrei , the large cauldron west of Naples. As I was searching for craters, I came across the Greek colony of Cumae, a settlement with acropolis, port and long town walls. In 474 BC, 6 years after the Athenians destroyed the P

Staying in the Bay of Navarino last night was a good choice. The sea was calm. We were well protected from the westerlies. This morning,...

Sunrise over the location of the Navarino Battle today What a rocky start this morning. Swell from the west hit us hard after leaving...

Turkish Sailors surrender to the Greek Privateer Katsionis - Painting from his Crimean Villa Greek folklore is full of tales of heroic...

The Venetian Harbor of Chania with the Workshops to maintain the Fleet on the Left Sailing from Rethymnon to Chania was fun - albeit a...

Rethymnon in the Morning Light at 7 am - the Venetian Port is behind the Light Tower Rather heavy sailing today from Heraklion to...

We arrived at 09.30 am at the Palace of Knossos which is indeed a complex Labyrinth Knossos excursion today. Planned it luckily last week...

Riding out 2-Meter-Waves today was actually quite enjoyable We are lucky having sailed to Crete yesterday. Now on the way to Agios...

The tiny old Harbor of Kasos accommodates a few Fishing and Leisure Boats Last evening, we could not find a well-protected by on Kasos so...

The barren Island of Kasos has thousands of Terraces but little Vegetation and no Water Today, winds finally died down. We woke up to a...

After 9 months of planning and booking, the day has arrived. We are boarding the MYRA this afternoon. The adventure begins. The weather...

Francesco Morosini, Venetian Military Leader and Doge. He blew up the Parthenon As sad as it is, most people disappear in the grey ghoul...

One week to sailing – in exactly 168 hours we will board the Myra. Venetian Tower guarding the Port of Methoni - we visited once in 2017...

Tar has a high Viscosity and flows slowly but is still liquid at Room Termperature There are many unsung innovations in history. One of...

On 15th of May, Locals enthusiastically receive the Officers of the Greek Battleship "Averof" which just had arrived in Rhodes - it was...

Recognize this Naval Flag? A Russian Ship-of-the-Line sailing thru the Bosporus in 1798 Were we travelling 250 years earlier on our route...

Aerial View of Rhodes - at the Back the Ancient Acropollis with Stadion & Temple of Apollo Never underestimate the power of a Map. In...