Beaches and Butterflies in St. Thomas

A US Virgin Island

I’ve visited St. Thomas a few times, each time each experience better than the previous.  That is not to say I think St. Thomas is an exceptional island.  It is one of my least favorite spots in the Caribbean, which the links at right show I have a pretty big sample size.  It’s not that St. Thomas isn’t a beautiful Caribbean island with beautiful quartz sand beaches abundant with marine life.  St. Thomas is all of those things.  The problem with St. Thomas is that I am much less one to sit on a beach and soak in the sun.  I’d rather be touring a whiskey distillery, hiking a volcano, or learning a foreign language.  St. Thomas offers none of these options, instead limiting itself to soaking in views and sun.  I think each of my St. Thomas experiences has gotten better, because each time I have relented to accepting what St. Thomas has to offer, and going with the flow instead of making the island something it is not.  

I take in the sun at Magen's Bay in St. Thomas relenting to soak in the sun, with sun screen applied of course.

Santiago De Cuba

Birthplace of Revolutions

Santiago was the last of the seven cities founded by Spain in Cuba, and it bears the namesake of one of Spain’s favorite saints, the apostle James.  Santiago was also the birthplace of both of Cuba’s revolutions, first of independence from Spain and then the ejecting of the US controlled government. We spent the day in Santiago learning about these times in Cuba’s history, while gaining more insight into the daily lives of modern Cubans.

I stand in the fort Castillo de Morro that guards the narrow opening of the bay of Santiago.

City of One Hundred Fires Cienfuegos

Cuba's French Roots

Cienfuegos is located on the south coast of Cuba, only a few hours drive from Havana.  The name of the city translates literally to one hundred fires, and I think most foreigners at hearing this would think some great traumatic event must have occurred for the city to garner this name.  However, the city was named for a Frenchman of the same Surname.  This French heritage is what makes Cienfuegos so unique in Cuba.  It was the only city founded by the French, the influence of which can be seen all over the city.

I stand in the main square of Cienfuegos, surrounded by French architecture and a statue of the ever present Jose Marti.

Two Days in Havana

A Contrast in Old and New

Havana is the capitol of Cuba and one of its largest cities.  Therefore it occupied more of our trip to Cuba than the other cities we visited.  I did not know what to expect from Havana.  So much of what I thought it would look like was influenced about American-made movies that took place in the 1950’s.  What I found was a city not much updated since then.  Many of the cars are American made cars from that era, cars maintained more out of necessity than anything else since new cars are hard to come by in Cuba.  Many of the building were from that area or even dated back to the early days of the city.  These oldest building are located in old Havana where our walking tour occurred on our first day in the city.

These practitioners of Santeria (known as Voo Doo in the US) perform traditionally dances accompanied by narrations.

I Cruised to Cuba

The Deal With Cuba by Cruise Ship

You may have noticed that the Why Travel Why Not homepage has not been updated recently, or maybe you haven’t because you don’t pay that close of attention to my blog.  Most of my lapse in posting has been because I am going through some major life changes (getting a new job and moving to a new city).  This past week however, I spent cruising to Cuba, touring famous cities, eating tasty food, limping through conversations with local with my rusty Spanish, and writing posts in my down time.  In all I visited Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santaigo de Cuba on Fathom’s Adonia.  In the weeks to come (on my regular posting schedule of Thursdays) I will post about each of these cities, but for this post I am going to broach some of the big questions about why Americans can all of the sudden cruise to Cuba and why.  I will also give a few of my first impressions.

 

I watch Cuba pass by as we sail along its east coast.

Wandering Around Reykjavik

Iceland's Cultural Center

After spending almost a week exploring the geologic history and waterfalls of Iceland, we were left with a free day in Reykjavik.  We and no definitive plan, just to wander around the city.  That was all the plan we needed to learn about Iceland's human history.  There were enough monuments and plaques to teach us about Iceland's human past without us having to spend much effort to search it out. 

I pose with a statue of Ingolfur Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland.

Paradise Island. . . More Like Meh Island

Exploring the Most Touristy Island in the Bahamas

While the Bahamas do have some gems of activities, after visiting a few times, I started running out of new things to do and places to explore.  The last time I visited this island nation via Nassau there was one gaping gap in activities I had not yet touched, Paradise Island.  With nothing better to do, we decided to go for a stroll around Paradise Island and see what all the fuss was about.  

The famous pink Atlantis Hotel is the largest attraction on Paradise Island.

Iceland's Waterfalls

All of Iceland's Most Waterfalls

Visiting Iceland I intended to see all of the famous geologic sites.  I paid little attention to visiting its waterfalls ahead of time, but as the trip wore on we stopped to see waterfall after waterfall after waterfall.  Every water fall the the most something.  By the time my trip was nearing, I was bored with waterfalls.  At point when we pulled into another waterfall's parking lot I refused to even leave the car, that was at least until I found out we could walk behind the waterfall.  I begrudgingly got out of the car for the hike.  Here I've made a list of some of the most impressive we saw.

The first waterfall we visited in Iceland Hengifoss was beautiful, but required ascending a steep hike the end of which was more jumping from rock to rock across freezing cold water than hiking.

Virgin Gorda's National Park

Hiking at the Baths

I said once upon a time, as in last December, that I would return to the British Virgin Island to visit the Baths National Park.  I hope with this post I prove as I have shown many times to my friends I do what I say I am going to do.  

Hiking in the Baths is a mixture of aquatic trails and volcanic boulders.

Chichen Itza As A Shore Excursion

The Most Famous Mayan Ruins

I am not the biggest fans of taking cruises to Mexico.  I've just always found the activity options on land less than fantastic.  I was however super excited when I found out that cruise lines started offering shore excursions out of Cozumel to the Granddaddy of Mayan ruins: Chichen Itza.  Within a year I was cruising to Mexico anxiously awaiting my excursion to Chichen Itza.

Standing in front of El Castillo, which resembles as much Aztec as Mayan architecture.

Iceland's Volcanic Past and Present

A Geologist's Wet Dream

Iceland is literally like no other place on earth; I mean that from a technical point of view.  Let me explain.  The earth is made up of layers, the outermost of which is the hard crust we live on.  Just underneath the crust is the molten mantel.  The crust is broken up into sections on the surface of the earth called tectonic plates.  On some areas of the earth these plates bump against each other creating mountains and earth quakes, and in other areas these plates pull apart, with new crust constantly forming between them from the molten mantle.  Areas where the plates pull apart are called divergence boundaries, and every single one of them is completely submerged miles beneath the ocean, except for the small portion that rises above the surface of the ocean.  That place is called Iceland.

Evidence of volcanic activity is all over Iceland.  Here I present a fumerole, a crack int he ground from which superheated steam fueled by hot magma beneath the surface escapes.

Home of Bacardi and History

A Day in San Juan

To say I was excited to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico would be an understatement.  San Juan was high on my list of places to visit, because when I turned twenty one I made a list of breweries and distilleries I wanted to visit.  It was not a long list, and having already made it to the Guinness St James Gate Brewery in Ireland and the Markers Mark Distillery in Kentucky I only had one left on the list: the Bacardi Distillery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  With the one day I had in San Juan on a cruise I made the Bacardi Distillery Tour my prime objective, although there would be time for more than that.

Waiting for my tour of the Bacardi Distillery to start in Puerto Rico.

Barcelona: High Hopes and A Weak Stomach

My Least Favorite City in Spain

Oh Barcelona, I so wanted to love you, to be enthralled by your Catalonian culture.  The stakes were high, its true, especially after how much I enjoyed Madrid and Granada.  I was wholly unprepared for the huge disappointment you would be.  Between food poisoning and tradition severely water downed by too much tourism, you stand as my least favorite city in Spain.  

Gathering my strength, I pose for at least one photo in front of the Grada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished cathedral in Barcelona.

Cagliari and Sardinia

An Outlying Italian Island

In a word Cagliari was just okay.  Located on the island of Sardinia, about half way between mainland Italy and Spain, it is probably my least favorite city in Italy.  While we didn’t have any major set backs like in Malta two days prior, the city’s few attractions and bad neighborhoods limited our attention to a few hours.

Standing in the shade of one of the narrow streets of old Cagliari.

Miserable Malta, Well Kind Of

An Island Country of the Mediterranean

We had a miserable stay on Malta.  It’s not to say that Malta is a dull island filled with nasty inhabitants.  In fact I think Malta would be a lot of fun and offer many enriching activities to visitors under the right circumstances.  The circumstances we visited the island under, between overcast weather, the day of the week (a Sunday when much is closed), and being sold a tour that wasted most of our time, Malta marked a down point on our tour of the Mediterranean. 

The new cities of Malta look typical of the Mediterranean.

All Rhodes Lead to the Best City in Greece

Ancient Wonders of the World with Byzantine Knights

As much as I enjoyed my time on Crete and in Athens, I think my favorite city in Greece has to be Rhodes.  The city of Rhodes within the island of Rhodes combines the best of Crete with secluded streets, delicious food, and friendly merchants (a local came up at one point just to welcome us to his island) with the historical sites and significance of Athens.  We only had one day in Rhodes, but we made the best of our time, sampling all Rhodes had to offer.

Once the site of a the Colossus of Rhodes, a huge bronze satiates and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, these pillars now adorn the entrance to the ancient Rhodes harbor with statues of deer.

Photos from Bergen, Norway

A Showcase in Norway's Natural Beauty

I think by now it's evident how much I enjoyed the cities of Oslo and Stavanger in Norway for their cultural, artistic, and scientific attractions.  Bergen, further up the coast from these other cities captured my heart for a whole other reason, its easy access to Norway's outdoors.  Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains, mountains used by locals and visitors alike for hiking and views of the city.  After a short walk from our cruise ship, we hopped on a funicular (a sort of cable car meant for very steep grades) up to Mount Floyen.  From the viewing platform at the top we spent hours hiking the adjacent woods looking for trolls and views.  Afterwards we spent some time exploring the historic harbor before heading back to our ship.  Below is a collection of photos that summarize our explorations of Bergen.

Views of Bergen from the top of the funicular on Mount Floyen are expansive.  Our cruise ship is docked in the far right.

Ancient and Modern Turkey in Kusadasi

Learning Some of Turkey's Reputation is Deserved

I was nervous about visiting Turkey.  Amidst the refuges crisis, seeing Europe flooded with migrants using Turkey as a springboard to Greece I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The month before our trip, Europe saw the largest number of migrants enter its borders through Turkey in a single month ever.  Things were getting worse not better.  Even cruise lines were cancelling over night stays in the country, ensuring they left port before sunset. 

The library and gates to the market at ancient Ephesus, one of the cities mentioned in the book of Revelations.

The Most Famous City in Greece, Athens

Parthenon, Acropolis, and More

I had one goal in mind when preparing for my trip to Athens, see the all famous Acropolis and Parthenon.  Due to luck and good timing my day in the capitol of Greece turned out to be filled with touring much more than this one famous monument, much to my delight. 

A little disappointed the face of the parthenon was covered in scaffolding during our visit,  but I was not going to pass up a photo opportunity.

Chilling in Chaina, Crete

Where I First Learned Greece How Awesome Greece Can Be

Crete was my introduction to Greece and it was everything that I expected a Greek Island to be.  So many times when visiting a new country for the first time I have these high expectations that are no where near met, or the country is still awesome but in a completely different way than I imagined.  The island of Crete is one of the rare occasions where I had an idea of how I wanted to spend my time and what it would be like and my expectations are actually met. 

A covered market in Crete, where dozens of vendors sell olives, cheese, and meats.  We bought some olive oil, olive oil hand cream, and pumice stones.