20 September 2026 Greetings! Hello from lovely Riga! I hope this finds you very well! Here, we continue to enjoy the balmy, early autumn weather and all the pleasures of the city. I am still excited by a marvelous concert I attended in the House of the Blackheads: one of Riga’s major landmarks. We were fortunate to be invited to a performance by the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and their performances of works by Scarlatti, Corelli, and Stradella with soprano Kateryna Kasper. The collection of...
7 days ago • 13 min read
13 September 2026 Greetings! Greetings from beautiful Riga. It is great to be home at the tail end of summer. As much as I relish my life at sea, there comes a moment when I am always ready for a little downtime and the comforts of home: a good cup of tea, a walk in Kronvalda Park, and a cozy evening at home by the fire. Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Click here for your own free subscription. Since I last wrote, we enjoyed a dazzling stay in Venice: three days filled with...
14 days ago • 8 min read
06 September 2026 Greetings! I am writing this to you on Saturday from Koper, Slovenia, which was one of the first ports on this two-month adventure aboard Seabourn Quest. Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Click here for your own free subscription. We finished up strong this week with an extended stay in Dubrovnik, which gave us just enough time after my final lecture to jump in a taxi and make it to PROTO for a bang up dinner to celebrate our 32nd anniversary. I feel very...
21 days ago • 11 min read
30 August 2026 Greetings! Greetings from Athens for the final time this summer! It’s hard to believe this is the last week on Seabourn Quest, but all good things come to an end. Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Click here for your own free subscription. I celebrated the almost-end of August with my monthly cheeseburger, and there is almost no better place to hold this monthly ritual than on a Seabourn ship, together with the incomparable Seabourn fries. I was very saddened by...
28 days ago • 14 min read
August 23, 2026 Greetings! I am writing this to you a few days before you will receive it, as Sunday is going to be a very busy day. We are just making preparations to leave Lefkáda, Greece, which is very green and lush, and as we sail out, we will pass Skorpios, Aristotle Onassis’s private island. We spent much of the morning working, then popped onto shore for a quick but very refreshing dip in the ocean, then back on board to finish up the day’s work. Did you receive this newsletter from a...
about 1 month ago • 12 min read
16 August 2026 Greetings! There is a cool breeze circulating on Deck 5 of the lovely Seabourn Quest, which is once again in Athens for our turnaround day. I would not say that there is a hint of autumn in the air, but to be bathed by a cool breeze feels novel. I can’t seem to recall the last time I saw rain…but it must have been in Norway or Riga. New Navigation for the Newsletter I’m delighted to announce that you can now browse past issues of the Destination Curation Newsletter by region!...
about 1 month ago • 12 min read
09 August 2026 Greetings! Greetings once again from Dubrovnik! Another week’s trip around the Adriatic. It’s been hot — very hot — but we’ve enjoyed our time in Kotor, Corfu, Split, Vis, and today in Zadar! Vis is a marvelous stop — we plugged for a beach day and really enjoyed a relaxing time with gorgeous cold and clear water. I’d love to come back and explore the town in more detail and visit the famous blue caves. Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Click here for your own free...
about 2 months ago • 10 min read
02 August 2026 Greetings from Dubrovnik! I hope your August has begun advantageously! We have enjoyed several days of beautiful sailing in the Ionian Sea. I wish I could say that we’ve been actively sightseeing, but the truth is that both Dmitry and I have been hard at work on our laptops onboard Quest. Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Click here for your own free subscription. I’m working on new talks on Ibiza, the Magna Graecia, Fortress Malta, and others, while Dmitry is...
about 2 months ago • 9 min read
26 July 2026 Greetings! Greetings again from lovely Athens! This has been a busy and enjoyable week onboard Seabourn Quest. Highlights included a beautiful day in Agios Nikolaos on Crete, the lovely island of Kos, and Ephesus. Longtime readers of this newsletter may recall my account of the marvelous evening performance at Ephesus I attended when working on Seabourn Encore last year. I was fortunate enough to repeat this signature Seabourn experience last week and it lived up to all my...
2 months ago • 10 min read