Civilisations 2008/2009

A journey through antiquity, this Mediterranean cruise visits lands dominated by the classical empires of Greece and Rome and includes an exclusive excursion to Delphi.

An extraordinary Springtime Mediterranean voyage through two and a half milennia, you'll travel in the company of expert Civilisations lecturers, historian Kate Garnons-Williams and archaeologist/ historian Helen Poole.
You'll visit unforgetable Mediterranean places, including: Ancient Cartagena, founded in 227 BC; the Roman forum at Tunis; the Inquisitor's Palace in Valletta;Temple of Apollo at Delphi; the mythical 'birthplace' of Artemis and Apollo at Delos; the Doric city of Kamiros on Rhodes; the Greek city of Tocra near Benghazi, founded in the fourth century BC; Leptis Magna, near Tripoli; Gibraltar's siege tunnels; and the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

This colourful cruise around the coasts of France, Portugal and Spain takes in centres of historic European maritime and military rivalries, including Cape Trafalgar – site of the naval victory which established over 100 years of British naval dominance.

Sailing south to Cadiz, the cruise takes you through areas of European rivalries and Napoleonic battlegrounds. In particular, you'll visit Cape Trafalgar, the site of Nelson's famous victory over the combined Franco-Spanish fleets which sealed Britain's naval hegemony for a further century.  Dr Helen Doe will reveal the human element behind the sailing ships of the time. From the builders of warships to the owners of privateers, and from the smugglers who worked across the English Channel to the men who served on the ships.  While Colonel John Nowers will cover the military history of the Napoleonic period, including the hard fought Peninsular War which laid the seeds of Bonaparte's ultimate defeat at Waterloo.

Joining Black Watch in Singapore, we sail north through the Malacca Straits for Thailand and Phuket.  After a day exploring we rejoin the ship and following two relaxed days cruising reach India, to travel by land to Kanchipuram - one of the seven sacred cities of India known as 'The Golden City of a Thousand Temples' and also famous as a centre for silk production.

Crossing the Indian Ocean we sail into the sheltered waters of the Red Sea and land at Safaga in Egypt.  From here, across desert roads, we travel to Karnak and the Valley of the Kings - containing the tombs of no fewer than 62 Pharaohs. After rejoining the ship we sail for Sharm El Sheik and a day of tours of your own choosing.

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A voyage of discovery through the Baltic past, whose highlights include a visit to former East German Cold War bunkers and St. Petersburg excursions in the steps of Peter the Great.

A 17-night journey through the culturally rich and diverse Baltic region, accompanied by Russian scholar Catherine Pollock and Baltic expert Fred. M.Walker.  You’ll learn more of the impact of the Hanseatic League, the events that have shaped the history of Russia, the creation of modern Scandinavia, and the maritime history of the region from the roving Vikings to the present day.  As well as meeting the ancient Sámi people, whose traditional lands span the present-day countries of Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden.  You’ll even visit previously Top Secret Soviet installations in eastern Germany.

Visiting Spitsbergen and its spectacular glaciers, the Civilisations lectures include talks on Shackleton, Amundsen and Hempleman-Adams.

In the company of Professor David Owen, himself a former expedition logistics director for British explorer David Hempleman-Adams, and Chris Furse, artist, author and expedition leader, you’ll learn more about the fascinating and challenging history of polar exploration.  Including Nansen’s Greenland expedition of 1888,Admundson’s 1926 attempt to reach the North Pole by airship, Hemple-Adams expedition of 2000, and of Shackleton and Nordenskjold.
Highlights include: Spitsbergen; Giske Island, birthplace of Viking Chieftain Rollo; the Arctic Museum;Aarvak; and Polaria in Tromsø.

The most world's most northerly capital, Reykjavik is an exciting city of contrasts, surrounded by a dramatic landscapes geysers and glaciers.

Accompanied by historians Professor Derek Fraser and Alan H.Walker, you’ll explore the fascinating influences that have shaped the cultures of North West Europe. Our journey takes us from Anglo-Saxon England, through Celtic Cornwall and Ireland, to the Isle of Mull and Nordic Iceland.

One of the highlights of this adventure has to be the city of Istanbul, crossroads of history, Europe and Asia, but you'll also visit the Black Sea port of Odessa and the legendary city of Troy.

Sailing south in late September, this fantastic cruise takes you through the warmth of the Med, past the relics and battlegrounds of ancient empires to the Black Sea, scene of other later imperial rivalries between the British, Russian and Ottoman empires.  To emotive Gallopoli and the Crimea, to Yalta – scene of the crucial WW2 conference which redrew the boundaries of Europe – and to Odessa.  In the company of Colonel Oliver Lindsay (and a second lecturer whose name has yet to be confirmed), you'll also visit legendary Troy, Moorish Granada, ancient Messina, the Byzantine Hippodrome and Palace of the Ottomans in Istanbul, the Temple of Hercules at Empedocle and Gibraltar.

Highlights of this Mediterranean cruise include an examination of the Renaissance painting style in Nice and a visit to the ancient ruins of Roman Pompeii.

Your cruise through the Renaissance, in the company of art historian and novelist Dr. David Cross and architectural historian Ronald Gatepain, visits some of the most important places in the history of European culture – including Cadiz, Nice, Rome and Naples.

The three-day stay in Russia's old capital and still it's cultural heart, provides ample time to enjoy St. Petersburg's artistic heritage.

Accompanied by experts Professor Duncan Macmillan and Hugh Brian Martin, this artistic discovery cruise to St. Petersburg also takes in other treasures of the Baltic region.  Including those in the great cities of Berlin, Helsinki and Oslo. From Berlin's modernist Bauhaus Museum to the 40,000 works of art from 1,000 years of Russian art in St. Petersburg's Russian Museum, and from Edvard Munch's own collection of paintings to Gotland's 92 medieval churches, there's something for all artistic tastes and interests.

PLEASE NOTE THAT AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION THIS CRUISE HAS ONLY LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Crossing the South Pacific, you will see what it was about the capital of French Polynesia, Papeete, that so inspired artist Paul Gauguin to paint with such genius. Later visit Australia's ancient and unique O'Reilly Rainforest.

Former British South Pacific High Commissioner, Robert Alston and Dr. Olga Stavrakis, join Black Watch on its world cruise through the Pacific.  Highlights of your Civilisations package include: the island of Moorea, where Mutiny on the Bounty was filmed; Robinson’s Cove, landing place of Captain Cook in 1777; Rarotonga, where our guide is renowned carver and artist Te Aturangi Nepia-Clamp; a journey by traditional Fijian longboat; walk through the tree-tops of ancient rainforest near Brisbane; and a bush walk to discover aboriginal rock art.

With exclusive lectures by the 14th Astronomer Royal, excursions include visits to the Lisbon homes of some of the pioneering Portuguese navigators of the 15th century.

In the company of Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale, the 14th Astronomer Royal, and navigation expert Capt. John Hutchinson, we visit: Madeira, to learn the secrets of celestial navigation; the Columbus Museum in Las Palmas; and Lisbon - launch pad to the Portuguese Age of Discovery of the 15th & 16th centuries.

Taking in some jewels of the Caribbean, the cruise visits islands which were once part of the colonial empires of Holland, France and Britain. The reasons for the past colonisation were many, but included sugar and bananas, and on St. Kitts there's an exclusive Civilisations tour of a local plantation.

This fascinating cruise to some of the jewels of the Caribbean accompanied by historian John Lello, enables you to discover something of the colonial rivalries and differences which have shaped the economics and politics of this beautiful region.  You’ll visit British, French, Spanish and Dutch influenced islands – some of which still maintain very close links with their ‘mother’ countries. Islands once the haunts of pirates, important naval bases, producers of sugar, coffee and cocoa, or past centres of the slave trade.