Where is Chris - World Heritage Site

Traveling around the world, we've seen many UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  Can you name this site and determine where it is located?  For bonus credit, why did we select this destination today?

There are several challenges in our post today that can be used to #KeepTheKidsEngaged. 

We hope you are enjoying this series of  "Where is Chris" posts.  We'd love your feedback on our social media.

Where is Chris?

Where is Chris - Answer Tomorrow

Here is today's post: See if you can guess where I am. 

As promised, we've updated yesterday's post, Where is Chris - Blue Domed City, with the answer to the puzzle.  Revisit that post and just scroll over the image to reveal the answer.  You can also click on the link below the picture to read more.    

Make sure to follow us on our social media, so you don't miss any destinations. 

If you can't wait for tomorrow for the answer, you can take my quiz in my Instagram story.

Follow Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers

Hammerfest World's Northernmost Town

Hurtigruten Classic Voyage Norway

With temperatures soaring into the 90's in most parts of the United States this weekend before the 4th of July, we decided to return to our winter coastal voyage of Norway. We continue our journal on day eight. Our ship, Hurtigruten  Ms. Vesteralen, visited Hammerfest, the northernmost town in the world.

Meridian Column

On arrival here, we boarded a bus which took us to the Meridian Column, which is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites and commemorates the first official measurement of the exact size and shape of the Earth. From there we had a spectacular view of Melkøya and the Snøhvit field.

Mount Salen

From Meridian Column, we headed up Mount Salen. Our guide explained more about Hammerfest’s unique history, including an insight into both Sámi history and culture and Europe’s first LNG factory (Liquid Natural Gas).

Hammerfest was established in 1789 at the site of an ancient anchorage. The first part of the name, 'Hammer', derives from the Old Norse word, 'Hamarr', which means 'steep mountainside'. The second part of the word, 'fest', comes from the Old Norse word, 'festr', which means 'fastening' (for boats).

 From Salen there are great views over the town and our waiting ship. Before we returned to the quay, we drove past the town church which features unusual architecture inspired by fish drying racks.

Additional photos can be found on our Norway Shutterfly page

Hammerfest





Click on the image to the right for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow Us On

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers

Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat 

Kinderdijk - Old Meets New

click images to enlarge

Kinderdijk Windmills
Unique & Iconic Water Management

Much of Holland is below sea level, but yet it doesn't flood.  Why?  A visit to Kinderdijk gives you the extraordinary opportunity to visit a UNESCO World Heritage in Holland and answer the question for yourself.

During your visit you can see 19 windmills from the 18th century and even go inside one to see what it was like to live there.
Read More: Inside a Kinderdijk Windmill

Nowhere else in the world can you find the complete history of water management at a single location. The windmills and pumping stations drain the excess water from the Alblasserwaard into the river Lek via the Elshout sluices. Subsequently, the river discharges the water into the sea.

There is a wealth of information on Kinderdijk's website.  You can even play the Battle Below Sealevel Game to explore the timeline. 

Our Second Visit

During our Avalon Waterways Rhine & Moselle river cruise, we stopped in Kinderdijk on our way to Amsterdam.   We had visited before during our previous cruise to Holland during tulip time.   This is a destination that can be visited multiple times and still leaving more to be explored.

Tip:  Purchase a ticket for one or both of the Tourist Vessels

The Canal Hopper Prins Friso takes you to four of our visiting points. The electric ‘whisper’ boat starts at our Visitor Centre Wisboom and then sails to the Parking Area, Museum Mill Nederwaard, Musuem Mill Blokweer and back to the Visitorcentre. You can get on and off at all visiting points. The Prins Friso is an open ‘terrace’boat. It completes its tour in 30 minutes and is suitable for wheelchairs.

 

The Canal Cruiser (Ferry No 6) takes you for a tour that starts and ends at the Parking Area. It takes you along the windmills in about half an hour. 

 

We have yet to do this - since we were part of an organized tour.  We could have gone on our own and had time to do at least one of the boat rides.   Learn More

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:

Kinderdijk

Inside Kinderdijk Mill

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc
   

Inside a Kinderdijk Windmill

Welcome to Windmill 2

Kinderdijk

Journey with me to South Holland to Kinderdijk, which is situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard, at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers.  Here you can step back in time to the 1740s where you'll find 19 windmills that were built to control the water levels in the area.   Today, these are no longer in use, but they have been preserved and are part of a UNESCO Heritage site.

What Was Life Like in a Windmill

You've probably seen the television commercial where a boy is telling his grandpa how good kids have it these days.   That made me think back to many centuries ago and wonder just what was it like to live in a windmill?

We visited the Kinderdijk during our Rhine & Moselle River Cruise last July and also on our Tulip Time river cruise a few years ago. We dusted off these pictures from the first trip to share them with you.  Click here for more images.

Approaching the windmill, you see signs of life in the shuttered windows - it looks cheerful and very inviting.

Stepping inside the windmill, the first thing you notice is a very small, but functional living space.  A lamp supplements the lighting coming in through the windows.  The room is filled with living essentials. There's a sewing machine, chairs, stove, pots and pans, and a table to name a few things you see.  In fact everything you need is neatly in its place.

A made-up bed is tucked into an alcove in the wall with just enough room for someone to sleep comfortably. Everyone has their private "bedroom" in the walls.

There are no squared corners in this house inside a windmill.   The rounded structure necessitates organizing belongings such that it fits in the small area.   The walls are part of the storage space with boots hanging there for easy access.

It was necessary for the occupants to get access to the top of the windmill, to make repairs for example.   Wooden staircases provide access to the upper stories of the windmill.

This was a working structure primarily with the family accommodations required so that the windmill could be monitored constantly.   The other people in the area depended on these families.    Before the windmills, there were problems with the water level.   Keeping these windmills working was very critical.

We hope you've enjoyed your short visit to this windmill in Kinderdijk. 

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc
   

Grevenmacher to Trier

click images to enlarge

Early Morning Arrival

Artistry II arrived in Grevenmacher around 4 AM.   It served as a base for our visit to Trier which was a 30 minute drive away.  The town Grevenmacher is not too exciting.

Scenic Overlook

Our complimentary tour of Trier began with our bus departing the ship at 8:30 AM.   We made a stop at a scenic overlook with a fabulous view of Trier.   Along the way, we past several of the Roman ruins.   We'd had a choice to tour Roman Trier, but since we've seen other Roman ruins, opted for the Trier City Tour instead.

Arriving in Trier

For the newly arrived guest, the Porta Nigra is the best place to begin a tour of Trier. The gate dates back to a time (about A.D. 180) when the Romans often erected public buildings of huge stone blocks (here, the biggest weigh up to six metric tons).

Trier is Germany’s oldest city. Some say Trier is even older than Rome and that it was populated over a thousand years before the Romans arrived. Many Roman remains have survived, including a 20,000-seat amphitheater; the Porta Nigra, the only surviving fortified gate from the original Roman settlement, which still gives access to the town’s center; imperial baths; and the Roman bridge, Germany’s oldest bridge with stone pilings dating from 144-152 AD—all evidence of this once grand Roman city. Trier also offers pleasant market squares, Germany’s oldest Christian church, and a cornucopia of architectural styles—Roman, baroque, neo-classicism, renaissance, and gothic.

Porta Nigra

The Porta Nigra is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. We will continue our tour of Trier in additional posts.

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:

Grevenmacher to Trier

Porta Nigra

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc

Stained Glass Around the World Part 2

Searching #GreatINDOORS 

for Stained Glass Art

Canterbury Cathedral

In conjunction with co-hosting this week's edition of #FriFotos on Twitter, we've been on the hunt for images of #stainedglass to share. 

Our next stop is Canterbury Cathedral in England. It is the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Cathedral is both a holy place and part of a World Heritage Site.   



 

Join Us Friday for #FriFotos #greatINDOORS

This week's Twitter  #FriFotos theme is #greatINDOORS. #FriFotos is a weekly photo forum by @EpsteinTravels @TravelDesigned @CharlesYap. Theme is revealed every Tuesday 12pm ET.

 

(Click images for larger view)


We are very excited to be guest Co-Hosts this week.   As avid followers and participants in this weekly photo adventure, we have enjoyed countless hours searching through our photo archives for those perfect representatives that demonstrate the given theme.   Equally exciting has been exploring the images of our fellow contributors.   We have virtually traveled around the globe and anxiously await each Friday's image collection.

 





YOU should participate.  It's easy - just tweet your images on Friday (any time / in your time zone - across all time zones if you like).   Simply add a description and include #FriFotos #greatINDOORS.  See all the rules here.

There are some rather unique stained glass windows inside Canterbury Cathedral.  Here are just a few of the windows you'll see there.   Plan on spending several hours exploring the interior of the cathedral.

We are just getting started with our #stainedglass tour across the globe.   Where we we be in our next post?   Follow us on Twitter and here on our Blog to find out.

Inside a Kinderdijk Windmill

Welcome to Windmill 2

Kinderdijk

Journey with me to South Holland to Kinderdijk, which is situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard, at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers.  Here you can step back in time to the 1740s where you'll find 19 windmills that were built to control the water levels in the area.   Today, these are no longer in use, but they have been preserved and are part of a UNESCO Heritage site.

What Was Life Like in a Windmill

You've probably seen the television commercial where a boy is telling his grandpa how good kids have it these days.   That made me think back to many centuries ago and wonder just what was it like to live in a windmill?

We visited the Kinderdijk during our Tulip Time River Cruise a few years back and thought we'd dust off these pictures and share them with our readers.   Click here for more images.

Approaching the windmill, you see signs of life in the shuttered windows - it looks cheerful and very inviting.

Stepping inside the windmill, the first thing you notice is a very small, but functional living space.  A lamp supplements the lighting coming in through the windows.  The room is filled with living essentials. There's a sewing machine, chairs, stove, pots and pans, and a table to name a few things you see.  In fact everything you need is neatly in its place.

A made-up bed is tucked into an alcove in the wall with just enough room for someone to sleep comfortably. Everyone has their private "bedroom" in the walls.

There are no squared corners in this house inside a windmill.   The rounded structure necessitates organizing belongings such that it fits in the small area.   The walls are part of the storage space with boots hanging there for easy access.

It was necessary for the occupants to get access to the top of the windmill, to make repairs for example.   Wooden staircases provide access to the upper stories of the windmill.

This was a working structure primarily with the family accommodations required so that the windmill could be monitored constantly.   The other people in the area depended on these families.    Before the windmills, there were problems with the water level.   Keeping these windmills working was very critical.

We hope you've enjoyed your short visit to this windmill in Kinderdijk.  We'll share more about our visits in Holland in other posts.

Concordia Disaster Rekindles Venice Restrictions

Seabourn Spirit Docked in Venice, Italy

Could Concordia Disaster Impact Cruises to Venice

UNESCO has called on the Italian government to restrict access of large cruise ships to culturally and ecologically important areas, particularly Venice and its Lagoon which are visited by some 300 large cruise ships a year.

 

Arriving in Venice on Star Princess
Docked Next to RCCL Voyager of the Seas

UNESCO World Heritage Site - Venice

In a letter sent to the Italian Environment Minister on behalf of Director-General Irina Bokova, the Assistant Director-General for Culture Francesco Bandarin writes that “the tragic accident [of the Costa Concordia on 13 January] reinforces longstanding concern over the risk that large cruise liners pose to sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, particularly the Venice Lagoon and the Basin of San Marco." 

After presenting UNESCO’s condolences for the tragic loss of life caused by Costa Concordia accident and praising the efforts of the rescue teams and local population in dealing with the disaster, the letter urges the government to act quickly to develop alternative plans for maritime traffic around the World Heritage site of Venice. 

UNESCO contends that the cruise liner traffic in Venice is particularly damaging because of the fragile structure of the city. The ships cause water tides that erode the foundations of buildings. They contribute to pollution and impact the cityscape as they dwarf monuments in the heart of the city.

Venice Canals from Star Princess Deck

 Sailing into Venice

Those that follow our blog on a regular basis know that we were on Star Princess last May/June for a 12 Night Greek Isles & Mediterranean Cruise - Rome to Venice. Our captain urged us to be up on the outside decks before 7 AM to see the ship entering into Venice harbor.   It was an amazing sight - seeing Venice from a different perspective.

View our photo album on our Facebook Fan Page:

Arriving in Venice by Cruise Ship

As you can see from these images, the pier where we were docked was far from the heart of the city. In fact, one must take a water taxi or use the people mover to get into the city proper.

What Does the Future Hold

UNESCO's plea is not a new one, but it seems to have some new life as Italy's environment minister, Corrado Clini, appeared to take up the cause Tuesday.

"The aim is to free St. Mark's basin from the big ships once new canals have been dug," Clini was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying during a public appearance in northern Italy.

But Clini added that "in the meantime, it will be up to the port authority and to the city to decide which (sea) traffic is sustainable and compatible" with Venice's particular situation."

Venice officials have said that since tug boats guide the big cruise ships through the part of the lagoon weaving through the city, the risk of accidents is virtually eliminated.

In a city where "cars" are replaced by gondolas and small water craft, it is unthinkable that there could be a ban on larger vessels.   Let us hope that the cruise industry, UNESCO, and Italian authorities can work out a plan which protects Venice for years to come and still allows future generations the pleasure of seeing this amazing city of canals from the perspective of a cruise ship.

If a Mediterranean cruise, that includes Venice, is on your bucket list, you might want to plan that trip now in case restrictions are indeed put in place in the near future.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Connect With Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers


Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat