Voyage Of The Americas

This UNESCO City of Design is a delightful blend of European history, modern style and fresh-thinking.

The cradle of French civilisation in the New World, Québec City is a living testimonial to the grace of Old Europe. With its steep cobbled streets, beautiful buildings and rich history, it won’t take you long to fall in love with this charming Canadian city.

With its exceptionally delightful harbor side setting, early Europeans were first attracted to Halifax in 1749 with the establishment here of a military outpost by Colonel Cornwallis. The ports natural advantages of a well-protected harbor and close proximity to major fishing grounds resulted in its growth into a major military base and sea port. The peninsula has had several major immigrations during its history; English, French, German, Irish and Scottish have come in substantial numbers at various times. Travelers familiar with the South Pacific will find it interesting to know that Captain James Cook, whose explorations defined most of the Pacific Basin for Europeans, also spent four years in Halifax charting Nova Scotia and the waters of the St. Lawrence. A college town, Halifax has an exhilarating and youthful air about it, as evidenced by many bicyclists and skateboarders. The heart of Halifax offers wonderful restaurants and shopping, galleries, museums, and sites of historic interest including the Naval Dockyard, which dates from 1757, and St. Paul's Church. Heading out of town, the wonders of nature are to be found in the form of the sea, with the smell of salty air, cool ocean breezes, and the powerful force of waves crashing against the rugged shoreline.

Welcome to the cultural and commercial center of the state of Maine. Although it is only one-tenth the size of Boston, Portland is the most populous city in the state. Some say Portland is a city "too good to be true." Mainers boast about the quality of their lives and on today's call you see why. Perhaps it's the spectacular coastline, the restored waterfront buildings, a ferry boat ride, the delicious Maine lobster, a view from the rocks at Portland Head Light, or simply the smell of the clean fresh Maine air. However you choose to spend your day here in Portland, you are sure to enjoy your stay as the gracious Mainers welcome you to their handsome maritime city.

Located just 15 miles northeast of Boston, Salem’s quaint and atmospheric state today belies its long importance as a seaport for the burgeoning American colonies and republic. Where today it is best known for its distant past, it was once the hub of the East Indian spice trade in North America, Visitors can walk the decks of the Friendship of Salem, a replica three-masted East Indiaman docked at the town’s Pickering Wharf. Thanks to Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the world also knows Salem as the site of a series of witchcraft trials in 1692, and references to those are plentiful in the town. Houses that attract visitors are the Pickman House, the oldest building in Salem, dating from 1664, the Gedney House from 1665 and the House of the Seven Gables made famous by local novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. Another notable local Nathaniel was Mr. Bowditch, the mathematician who invented modern navigation technique. His home is also a popular site. The Peabody Essex Museum is the oldest continuously operating museum in America, and displays a treasury of Asian art and artifacts, especially a noted collection of Chinese export porcelains.

From the Statue of Liberty to Broadway theatres, you’re spoilt for choice for things to see and do in the Big Apple.

Expansive Charleston Harbor is a major seaport with an aristocratic, colonial city gracing its shores. Your first glimpse of the city's historical importance comes as you sail through the harbor and pass Fort Sumter. This national monument, constructed on a man-made island, marks the spot where the Civil War began. Once ashore, you will delight in strolling through the French Quarter, seeing the elegant homes of the Low Country dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, and shopping for that perfect treasure in one of the city's excellent antique stores.

Famous for sea, sun and swaying palm trees, Miami is a young and trendy city which dazzles visitors with its subtropical climate and cosmopolitan lifestyle.

Explore the lush rainforests, mangrove swamps, numerous volcanoes and crystalline waters of this Central American isthmus, then meet the laid-back 'Ticos' locals that call it home.

An important port city in the Province of Manabí, located in a dry forest area, with some of the most beautiful beaches in South America.

Located in the fertile lowlands near the Gulf of Guayaquil, Machala is said to be the banana capital of the world. Coffee and cacao are also important crops in the surrounding farmlands. The cathedral is impressive, and the church of Nuestra Señora de Chilla has an impressive depiction of the Virgin and child bedecked in golden finery, attended by a rustic, a dog and a goat. Further afield, the Petrified Forest Puyango is the largest array of fossil trees in the world, with some measuring over six feet in diameter and nearly 50 feet long.

The colourful capital of Peru, Lima has long been renowned for its rich history.

Pisco dates from 1640, and its Plaza de Armas is a Spanish colonial treasure. Another treasure is the Ballestas Islands, an offshore cluster of rocky outcroppings teeming with seabirds, penguins, sea lions, dolphins and other wildlife. Many visitors take the opportunity to take a scenic flight over the huge, mysterious Nazca Lines pictographs etched into the nearby desert surface 2,000 years ago. And still more belly up to a bar to sample a Pisco Sour cocktail made with the Pisco brandy distilled from locally grown grapes.

This major port on the southern coast of Peru is an important element in the current plan between the governments of Peru and Brazil to afford easy commercial movement between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans by both countries. Matarani is the gateway to Arequipa, where you discover its very interesting prehistory that spanned over 10,000 years, ending with the arrival of the Spanish in the 1530s. Arequipa is rich with not only Incan archaeology, but also various pre-Incan cultures, and even earlier nomadic hunter-gatherers.

Arica is fortunate to lie at the mouth of the fertile Azapa Valley, which is fed with water from the high Andes. In the middle of the 16th century, when a fabulously rich silver lode was discovered at Potosi (in present-day Bolivia), Arica became the shipping center and supply port for the mine. Located close to the Peruvian border and connected with La Paz by road and railway, it remains an important trade and shipping center. Because of its strategic location, Arica has been hotly contested among Chile, Bolivia and Peru. This is obvious in the unusually tight security measures you will find in the port.

Enjoy a performance of Chilean folk dances followed by a cocktail reception at Palacio Astoreca, a belle époque mansion from the ‘nitrate' heyday.

A busy port hard by the arid and mysterious Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. With the wealth generated by minerals flowing from the barren land, they’ve managed to build a pleasant town of parks and plazas, conquering, for a while, the emptiness beyond. See the English clock ensconced in the Plaza Colon by British residents, and the uniquely hybrid architecture of the Customs House. In the manicured gardens and verges along Avenida O’Higgins, soil imported as ballast aboard visiting ore ships was used to augment the desert sands and nourish the greenery.

This large, modern port serves Chile’s capital, Santiago, a city with Spanish colonial charm and a vivacious spirit. Encircled by the Andes and the Coastal Range, Santiago is centered around the Plaza de Armas, with several of the city’s landmarks: the 18th-century Metropolitan Cathedral the Palacio de la Real Audencia from 1808, the City Hall and the National Museum of History. North of San Antonio lie the picturesque old port and university town of Valparaíso and the colorful seaside resort of Viña del Mar. In between the coast and the capital are valleys filled with some of Chile’s most famous wineries, all inviting you to come and taste.