in Port Experiences-Part 1

Classes are taught aboard the ship while we are sailing.   I will have one-day field trips for each of my three classes (in Accra, Cape Town, and Buenos Aires).   The rest of the time in ports we can travel and sight see on our own, or, by purchasing SAS organized tirips.

Today is the final preregistration day for signing up for SAS sponsored trips while we are in port.   We can still sign up for more onboard the ship or organize our own in-port experiences.

We decided some time ago not to overdo the pre-registration, limiting ourselves to those things that are absolute priorities that we don't want to miss, while leaving ourselves flexibility to respond to things that appeal to us once we've gotten to know other people on the ship who we may want to take excursions with.

One of our priorities in signing up for trips was scheduling those that support the teaching I'm doing in World Religions and Liberation Theologies.

So, here's what we have planned:

In Southampton England, I am the faculty leader for this trip:

SPIRES OF WINCHESTER-The City of Winchester is the former capital of England, and is located just a 45 minute drive from Southampton. You will commence your morning with a guided tour of the city. You will discover many buildings of historical importance, including Winchester College and Winchester Cathedral. After your tour you will visit the famous Cathedral, which was originally built in 1079 and is the longest Cathedral in Europe. After free time for lunch and to explore you will return to Southampton, having experienced one of England's most beautiful cities.

That evening I'll be meeting with two members of the faculty or religion at the University of Winchester with whom Shenandoah as cooperation agreement.

We have also signed for round trip transportation to London and a hotel room in on our second night in port.  This will give us two days to tour London on our own.

From Antwerp, Belgium

This is our big self-organized adventure.  We will taking the train from Antwerp to Heildelberg, Germany where we have a reservation in a nice Bed and Breakfast near the center of the city.  After an evening exploring Heidelberg, we will rent a car and drive the various villages nearby where the people who settled Madison County, including Jayne's ancestors came from.  Not far away, in Mattstall, France is the place Heinrich Haller left to come to America.  He is my great, great, great, great, great Grandfather.

In Cadiz, Spain—

SEVILLE: THE ALCÁZAR, LA GIRALDA & THE CATHEDRAL

The passage of the various people instrumental in its growth has left the city of Seville with a distinct personality and a large and well-preserved historical center. The city was conquered by the Moors in 712 and became an important center in Muslim Andalucía. It remained under Muslim control until falling to the Christian, Fernando III, in 1248. The city has kept many of its Moorish features, though none as elaborate or evocative as the Alcázar—originally founded as a fort in 913, the Alcázar has been expanded or reconstructed many times in its 11 centuries of existence.

Seville's Cathedral, on the site of a former mosque, is one of the largest in the world: the main building is 126 meters long and 83 meters wide. It was completed by 1507 and was originally all Gothic. The mosque's beautiful minaret, La Giralda, still stands on its eastern side, but the cathedral's bulky exterior gives few other hints of the treasures within, including the burial place of Christopher Columbus.

This visit to Seville will offers the opportunity to examine the fundamental distinctions between the Islamic and Christian aesthetic and allows participants to consider the differing assumptions of the concept of paradise and its earthly intimations as evidenced in the art and architecture.