Canadian World Traveller Fallr 2016 issue American World Traveler Fall 2016 issue | Page 56

Geographic Explorer and food systems expert
to talk about the future of how food is grown.
Why? Because the greenhouses north of
Grenada in Spain are so vast they can be
seen from space.

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Their on-board cultural specialist, Miguel
Angel Rodriguez Arias, not only spoke about
the Muslim and Christian invasions of Spain,
but the accidental dropping of a US nuclear
bomb into the Mediterranean (at the very
point we were passing) near Palomares in
1966.
Cruise lines offer photo instruction. Lindblad
offers National Geographic photographers,
like Kike Calvo who lavish you with attention
no matter how basic your skills.

Expedition Cruising Offers Inside Access to Europe
By Bob Ramsay - Tully Luxury Travel

W

hen you hear the phrase “National
Geographic Expedition”, you don’t
think of a luxury cruise, especially
one from Barcelona to Lisbon.
But that’s what I just returned from, via the
seagoing expedition line, Lindblad National
Geographic.
Lindblad pioneered the whole idea of expedition seagoing travel “to the wild places”.
Indeed, this summer they celebrated the 50th
anniversary of founder Lars-Eric Lindblad taking the first visitors ever to Antarctica. Since
then the company, now headed by his son,
Sven, has become a world leader in sustainable tourism, pioneering cruising to the
Galápagos and the Seychelles and growing
to be a US$200 million a year operation.
A Subtle Distinction
So what is Lindblad doing in the
Mediterranean, plying a sea lane that’s been
carved out over thousands of years and that
serves literally millions of visitors via dozens of
cruise lines?
As Sven Lindblad has often said: “The world’s
been pretty much mapped out. But there are

lots of opportunities for nuances.”
And what better way to share those nuances
than by exploring ancient ports of call and
heading inland for more.
In fact, Lindblad this summer is offering 15
new expeditions, all anchored in Europe and
all on their National Geographic Orion. They
range in duration from 8 to 15 days, from
Sardinia to High Arctic Svalbard and circumnavigating Ireland and even Iceland.
My trip, “Portugal and Spain: From the
Algarve to Catalonia”, was an 8-day journey
that had us eager to repeat the Lindblad difference next summer.
The first difference is the ship. As Sven
Lindblad told the New York Times: “Cruise
ships focus inward. It’s the ships and amenities on board, the entertainment that is largely self-produced. What’s happening outside is
much less relevant. In expedition cruising, it’s
the reverse. It’s focused on what’s out there,
and the ship is a means to get there.”

While the National Geographic Orion isn’t a
luxury ship, we found it very very comfortable,
and the meals, curated by renowned
Australian chef Serge Dansereau of Sydney's
famous Bathers' Pavilion, were fabulous.
Other differences
Cruise lines have expert speakers. Lindblad
has experts so far out there that you gasp at
the brilliance of their selection. Instead of a
paella chef doing a demonstration onboard
(which you could get onshore in Valencia),
Lindblad invited Caleb Harper, a National

American World Traveler / Fall 2016

We even had an ethnomusicologist, Jacob
Edgar who not only unveiled a world of
Spanish music for us every night, but in our
land-tours during the day, he would bring his
Castillan ukulele and play for us as we walked
through the streets of Valencia, Malaga and
Cadiz.
And what were those land- tours like? As
good if not better than the top land-based
operators could offer. To visit the Alhambra in
Granada and the Picasso Museum in Malaga
with a private guide is one thing: to tour them
with Lindblad guides is quite another. They
were all articulate, funny, engaged and passionate about their subjects. The result? They
made you feel like an insider to some of the
most extravagant history and architecture
anywhere.
And what better way to learn about Flamenco
than a private performance at the Museo del
Baile Flamenco in Seville?
By the time we disembarked in Lisbon, we felt
we’d not just cruised the coast of Spain and
Portugal, but truly explored it.
Lindblad’s promise was delivered.
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