Malta is nicknamed the “navel of the Mediterranean” since it is in approximately the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Its location has made Malta the object of conquest, starting with the Phoenicians, and followed by the Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, the Knights of St. John, French, and finally the British in 1813-1974, when Malta became an independent neutral country.
World Cruise
I write this blog with the Ukraine war present as a disturbing cloud on the mood of our pleasant cruise. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the cruise schedule is very busy in the upcoming weeks in the Mediterranean. In fact, we will be in port on seven consecutive days, including two days (and one night) in Venice. So my upcoming blogs will combine several ports, with as many photos as the ship’s internet will enable.
Malaga, Spain, has been called “the Florida of Spain.” It is an ancient city (second in age only to Cadiz) founded by the Phoenicians almost three thousand years ago.
Until today’s port visit, Cadiz was just a name I had encountered sometime in the past. I didn’t know anything at all about it. Now at the end of the day, I feel enriched by learning about this city, as well as having visited an historic village named Vejer de la Frontera.
What a difference the distance of three sea days between Cape Verde and Madeira makes! The country of Madeira, like Cape Verde, also discovered and settled by the Portuguese, is the opposite of Cape Verde. The population of both countries is similar, around a quarter[…]