The island of Antigua (pronounced by the locals as Antika) is one of the islands in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, the two main islands are accompanied by a number of small islands many uninhabited. They are still trying to recover from Hurricane Marie that hit in 2017, and no sooner did they start to make some strides forward Covid hit. It has severely affected this country. We were the first to pull in, but were shortly followed by the Norwegian Gem. By the time we got back from our tour the Emerald Princess had pulled into the between us. The Catholic Church is Bright Pink Many of the churches, like this one are built of Ballast Stones that were on the old sailing ships. When the ship was empty they would fill the hold with ballast stones for stability, but when they had a load to take back to Europe, they would dump the stones and fill the hold. View from one of the many forts on the island The Guardhouse and Lookout These cactuses grew along the wa...
After Breakfast and another Covid test we took a walk to the old town of San Juan. It is a beautiful old town but with very narrow streets, so all the traffic is one way. Stopped for a refreshing drink at the waterfront, then a Taxi back to the hotel (more walking than we normally do in 3-4 days). Beautiful Coastline Capital Building Castillo San Cristobal Old San Juan Reminds me of New Orleans, you can really see the French influence on the architecture Statue of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) For Brian's Benefit Cocktails at La Casita San Juan and Boarding the Viking Sea
Kutna Hora and Sedlec (a small suburb of Kutna Hora) is a unique site about an hour outside of Prague. In the middle ages it was a site of pilgrimage. Legend has it that the Abbot at the time Abbbot Heidenreich had travelled to Jerusalem and brought back a fistful of soil from Akeldama (Field of Blood) establishing the first holy field in Central Europe. After a monk at the monestary here discovered silver in the second half of the 13th century, the population grew to about 80,000 making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time. With the black plague, mining accidents, etc. the cemetary grew to an unmanagable size of 3.5 Hectares (almost 9 Acres). At the time the solution was to build an Ossuary (a repository for the bones). Since tradition mandates that remains must be buried below ground the Church od All Saints was built with the bones carefully stored in the basement "Below Ground". Records show that are over 500 Ossuaries in the Czech Republic, but this on...
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