Port Profiles | Portipedia

On a Baltic cruise? You can get to Berlin from the German port cities of Rostock and Warnemunde. You’ll need to prepare yourself to hit the ground running, however, as Berlin is nearly a three-hour journey each way. Here’s how to make the most of one day in Berlin.

Prepare for a long day for the 150-mile journey by train or bus to Germany’s capital.

Your goal is to see the major sites, including the remains of the Berlin Wall, historic Brandenburg Gate and the controversial Reichstag building. You can do all that, and you’ll also have time to walk Berlin’s most famous boulevards and sample one of the city’s many museums. No time for a long lunch, so fortify yourself with a Berlin favorite, currywurst, or sausage with a special curry sauce, which you’ll have no trouble finding.

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Shuffling my feet along a street made from marble slabs, I am following in the footsteps of the Virgin Mary, who, our guide tells us, lived near this ancient city, now part of Turkey, in the final years of her life.

The Marble Road cuts through the heart of what was the second largest city in the Roman Empire. Our guide points to grooves carved from the frequent traffic of chariots and carts, and to beautiful mosaic sidewalks alongside the road. Mark Antony and Cleopatra rode in procession here. St. John lived nearby.

Temples and businesses lined the Marble Road. Now only ruins remain. The two-story façade of the Celsus Library boasted 12,000 papyrus scrolls when it was built in the 2nd century. Across from it, a brothel, now roofless, has traces of frescoes and mosaics on walls still intact.

Walking the Marble Road is a walk through classical Greece and early Roman history. Ships call at Kusadasi, less than 30 minutes by bus from the ruins of Ephesus.

Stockholm may just be the most beautiful city in the world to reach by water. The journey begins nearly 50 miles east, at the tip of a beautiful archipelago comprised of 30,000 islands, islets and rocks. Many of the islands are uninhabited, rocky outcrops that are homes only to birds. Other islands are dotted with quaint red-and-white summer cottages.

If you are in Stockholm for a few days, you surely will want to venture out to the archipelago on ships that depart from the city center. It’s about a two-hour journey to Sandhamn, a small village where you can take lunch at Sandhamns Vardshus before setting out on kayaks for smaller, uninhabited islands just a few miles away. Return to relax in the sauna before boarding the ship back to Stockholm. The experience is quintessentially Swedish and one that should not be missed.

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A few key points that you should keep in mind if you are cruising to or from Stockholm:

Most cruise passengers arrive in Stockholm at one of two places: Arlanda Airport (Stockholm serves as the initial port of departure for many cruises); or for those arriving by sea, the city center.

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If there is one phrase that characterizes Quebec, it is ‘et pourquoi pas?’ The phrase, which translates to ‘and why not?’ seems to be on the tip of every Quebecer’s tongue. It is a ready response of permissiveness and tolerance, a defender of an important concept — the joie de vivre or ‘joy of living’ — that is alive and thriving in Quebec. Continue Reading »

It’s a 2.5-hour drive from Quebec City to the Saguenay region. We pointed our car toward La Baie, where we checked in to L’ Auberge des 21. Located on the shore of the Saguenay Fjord, the warm family inn also features fine regional (read: French) cuisine at a shockingly good restaurant for such a small inn. Continue Reading »

Quebec City offers beauty, fine dining and delightful diversions. And that’s just in the train station. Our three-hour train journey from Montreal to Quebec ended in what has been called ‘the most beautiful train station in North America.’ Reminiscent of similar grand terminals in Europe, Quebec City’s train station attracts those who come here not only to travel by rail but also to dine at the best steak house in town, according to our cab driver. The train station also houses a few shops and even a dentist office, should you want to dash in for a quick cleaning before the conductor calls ‘All Aboard.’ Continue Reading »

A bartender at Quebec City’s fashionable L’EChaude restaurant expresses mock indignation when a visitor asks how Quebec’s capital compares with the province’s largest city, Montreal. ‘They are not truly French,’ the bartender says, conveniently overlooking the fact that as a Canadian, neither is he. ‘In Montreal, people speak French 50, maybe 55, percent of the time.’ He steps back from the bar and folds his arms to proclaim, ‘Here, we speak French 95 percent of the time.’

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I had traveled the world before traveling to Quebec, and if my foot could reach my behind, I would kick myself for doing so. Of all the places I have visited, Quebec surely ranks in my top ten. The irony is that I traveled halfway around the world to visit less-inspiring places when Quebec was (and is) fewer than three hours by air from my home. The French-speaking Canadian province is practically in my own backyard, and yet it took a cruise (from Boston) and 49 years to get me there. Continue Reading »

YOU’VE GOT TO LIKE A TOWN WHOSE FIRST KNOWN EUROPEAN SETTLER WAS A PIRATE. Especially one who interrupted his illicit adventures to fight the heroically for the United States in the War of 1812.

That’s just what French privateer and smuggler Jean Lafitte did before returning to his old ways and setting up base camp in 1817 in the city that would become Galveston. Nearly 1,000 followers eventually came to live in the commune called Campeche, from which Lafitte and his pirates launched attacks against Spanish ships.

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