Day 1 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Founded in the early 16th century, Buenos Aires was transformed from a colonial port into a cosmopolitan metropolis – the “Paris of the South” – by the cattle boom of the 1880s. As in the American West, boom was followed by bust. But that did not stop Buenos Aires from becoming the city it is today. With its air of haunted grandeur, Buenos Aires is a place of icy intellect and smoldering passion. It is a city where the elegant Colon Theater, one of the world’s great opera houses, stands in counterpoint to the working class barrios that gave birth to the tango. Perhaps the city’s enigmas and contradictions are best embodied by its two most famous citizens – the reclusive librarian and literary genius Jorge Luis Borges and the showgirl turned First Lady, Evita Peron.The “Paris of the South” flaunts its European heritage. One of the pleasures of Buenos Aires is simply absorbing its charm and flavor, from Parisian-style confiterias – cafés – to the city’s popular tango clubs.

Day 2 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Departs 05:00 pm.

Founded in the early 16th century, Buenos Aires was transformed from a colonial port into a cosmopolitan metropolis – the “Paris of the South” – by the cattle boom of the 1880s. As in the American West, boom was followed by bust. But that did not stop Buenos Aires from becoming the city it is today. With its air of haunted grandeur, Buenos Aires is a place of icy intellect and smoldering passion. It is a city where the elegant Colon Theater, one of the world’s great opera houses, stands in counterpoint to the working class barrios that gave birth to the tango. Perhaps the city’s enigmas and contradictions are best embodied by its two most famous citizens – the reclusive librarian and literary genius Jorge Luis Borges and the showgirl turned First Lady, Evita Peron.The “Paris of the South” flaunts its European heritage. One of the pleasures of Buenos Aires is simply absorbing its charm and flavor, from Parisian-style confiterias – cafés – to the city’s popular tango clubs.

Day 3 – At Sea

Day 4 – At Sea

Day 5 – At Sea

Day 6 – At Sea

Day 7 – At Sea

Day 8 – At Sea

Day 9 – Scenic cruising Inaccessible Island

Day 9 – Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena,Ascension & Tristan da Cunha

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Day 10 – Nightingale Island, St. Helena, Ascension & Tristan da Cunha

Arrives 07:00 am, departs 05:00 pm.

Day 11 – At Sea

Day 12 – At Sea

Day 13 – At Sea

Day 14 – At Sea

Day 15 – At Sea

Day 16 – At Sea

Day 17 – Richards Bay, South Africa

Arrives 07:00 am, departs 05:00 pm.

Day 18 – Maputo, Mozambique

Arrives 12:00 pm, departs 09:00 pm.

Day 19 – At Sea

Day 20 – Durban, South Africa

Arrives 07:00 am, departs 09:00 pm.

Day 21 – At Sea

Day 22 – Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa

Arrives 06:00 am, departs 05:00 pm.

Day 23 – Mossel Bay, South Africa

Arrives 09:00 am, departs 08:00 pm.

Day 24 – At Sea

Day 25 – Cape Town, South Africa

Arrives 06:45 am.

160 years after its discovery by Portugal’s Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, the Cape of Good Hope was still a part of primeval Africa. Sailors on passing ships impatient to reach the East or return home to Europe would leave messages under inscribed “post office” stones for other ships to carry forward. In 1580, Sir Francis Drake sailed around the Cape. The ruggedness and breathtaking beauty of the peninsula caused him to write, “This Cape is a most stately thing, and the fairest Cape in the whole circumference of the earth.” The Dutch East India Company, yielding to repeated petitions and recommendations from their ships’ officers, decided to establish a post at Table Bay in 1652. A stronghold was established and subsequently was replaced by the existing Castle of Good Hope – Cape Town’s first building.Cape Town continued to grow quickly under Simon van der Stel, who arrived as Governor in 1679. He turned vast regions into rich farmland, planted some 8,000 trees and designed and built the stateliest of the Cape’s historic mansions, Groot Constantia (named after his wife, Constance). The British seized the Cape from Holland in 1806 and the subsequent discovery of diamonds and gold in the country spurred growth and immigration. Cape Town became a municipality in 1840 and a liberal constitution was granted to the Cape Colony in 1853. Today, the “Mother City” and the Western Cape are home to South Africa’s parliament for half of the year (Parliament sits in Pretoria for the other half of the year) and much of its major industry.

Day 26 – Cape Town, South Africa

Departs 10:00 pm.

160 years after its discovery by Portugal’s Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, the Cape of Good Hope was still a part of primeval Africa. Sailors on passing ships impatient to reach the East or return home to Europe would leave messages under inscribed “post office” stones for other ships to carry forward. In 1580, Sir Francis Drake sailed around the Cape. The ruggedness and breathtaking beauty of the peninsula caused him to write, “This Cape is a most stately thing, and the fairest Cape in the whole circumference of the earth.” The Dutch East India Company, yielding to repeated petitions and recommendations from their ships’ officers, decided to establish a post at Table Bay in 1652. A stronghold was established and subsequently was replaced by the existing Castle of Good Hope – Cape Town’s first building.Cape Town continued to grow quickly under Simon van der Stel, who arrived as Governor in 1679. He turned vast regions into rich farmland, planted some 8,000 trees and designed and built the stateliest of the Cape’s historic mansions, Groot Constantia (named after his wife, Constance). The British seized the Cape from Holland in 1806 and the subsequent discovery of diamonds and gold in the country spurred growth and immigration. Cape Town became a municipality in 1840 and a liberal constitution was granted to the Cape Colony in 1853. Today, the “Mother City” and the Western Cape are home to South Africa’s parliament for half of the year (Parliament sits in Pretoria for the other half of the year) and much of its major industry.

Day 27 – At Sea

Day 28 – Luderitz, Namibia

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 05:00 pm.

Day 29 – Walvis Bay, Namibia

Arrives 12:00 pm.

Day 30 – Walvis Bay, Namibia

Departs 05:00 pm.

Day 31 – At Sea

Day 32 – At Sea

Day 33 – Luanda, Angola

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Day 34 – At Sea

Day 35 – At Sea

Day 36 – Sao Tome, Sao Tome & Principe

Arrives 07:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Day 37 – At Sea

Day 38 – Cotonou, Benin

Arrives 07:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Day 39 – Tema (Accra), Ghana

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Day 40 – Takoradi, Ghana

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 05:00 pm.

Day 41 – At Sea

Day 42 – At Sea

Day 43 – At Sea

Day 44 – Dakar, Senegal

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Day 45 – At Sea

Day 46 – Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

The Cape Verde Islands lie off North Africa’s tropical coast. Their name literally means “green cape,” but nature has played a cruel trick on the archipelago. Changing climatic and economic conditions have left the archipelago ravaged by drought. But the islanders are a hardy and courageous lot. With foreign investment and private enterprise, the Cape Verde Islanders are slowly pursuing a new economic dream for their home and working toward a more promising future.Time spent in the Cape Verde Islands teaches a new appreciation of man’s endurance and resourcefulness.

Day 47 – At Sea

Day 48 – At Sea

Day 49 – Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), Canary Islands

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

The Canary archipelago was sculpted by a period of intense volcanic activity; its islands possess a stark, near lunar beauty. Gran Canaria is the third-largest island in the group and is often described as the ‘Round Island’ for its near-circular shape. Las Palmas, its capital, is also the largest city in the Canaries numbering some 500,000 inhabitants. Despite the seemingly inhospitable landscape, farmers in Gran Canaria’s Angostura Valley cultivate abundant crops of tomatoes, onions, melons, and figs. Moreover the island’s climates, lack of rainfall, and fine beaches have long drawn Europeans seeking the winter sun.

Day 50 – Lanzarote (Arrecife), Canary Islands

Arrives 08:00 am, departs 06:00 pm.

Lanzarote is the fourth-largest island in the Canary chain. The most easterly of the Canaries, the island lies some 70 miles off the shore of North Africa. Like its neighbours, Lanzarote was shaped by a period of intense volcanic activity. The resulting landscape possesses a stark, near-lunar beauty: Over 300 now-dormant volcanoes left behind petrified lava seas and deep layers of volcanic ash. Today, visitors to these “Mountains of Fire” ride camels through the lava beds and even enjoy a volcano-broiled steak at the park’s restaurant. (Subsurface temperatures still reach 800F in the park.) Despite the seemingly barren land scape, island farmers grow abundant crops of tomatoes, onions, melons, and figs in addition to Malvasia, a clear yellow wine produced from malmsey grapes. Lanzarote’s rugged landscape, its warm climate, its lack of rainfall, and its beaches have proved attracted to travellers: Tourism dominates the island economy with some 2 million visitors arriving annually.

Day 51 – At Sea

Day 52 – Casablanca, Morocco (for Marrakech)

Arrives 06:00 am, departs 08:00 pm.

For many, the word Casablanca conjures up Hollywood’s vision of an exotic city of intrigue. But the reality is far removed from film fantasy, more complex and fascinating. Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city, the busiest port in North Africa, and home to nearly four million people. An important trading center since the days of the Phoenicians, Casablanca is an evocative blend of more new than old, more familiar than exotic. It is a modern commercial city with an old heart that is home to narrow, cobbled alleys, bazaars and souks, minarets and medinas.Casablanca is a modern city with beaches bordering the Atlantic and broad, tree-lined avenues. The city is also your gateway to Morocco’s interior and the exotic “Imperial Cities” of Rabat and Marrakech.

Day 53 – Tangier, Morocco

Arrives 09:00 am, departs 07:00 pm.

Tangier – the very name conjures up an air of mystery and adventure, a place where Berber tribesmen, Europeans and assorted adventurers meet and mingle in the narrow streets of the Kasbah. The city’s history and culture does little to dispel that sense of mystery. Founded by Carthaginians in the 5th century B.C., the city has seen great powers and would-be conquerors come and go; the city always abides. There is also the Tangier of the mind. Since the 19th century, European and American painters, poets and writers have been drawn to the narrow streets of old city. Delacroix first immortalized Tangier’s landscaped and publicized its charms, giving Europe a taste for the exotic. And American writers like Paul Bowles, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg made the city a veritable suburb of modern American literature.

Day 54 – Seville (Cadiz), Spain

Arrives 07:00 am, departs 11:00 pm.

Mention Spain and the images that inevitably spring to mind are images of Andalusia – shadows falling across the bullring, the staccato rhythms of flamenco, the waft of orange blossoms from a Moorish garden. Cadiz is your gateway to this storied land and the city of Seville. Visit Seville’s massive Alcazar fortress, modeled on the legendary Alhambra Palace of Granada. See the city’s cathedral, a 15th-century Gothic masterwork that boasts a Moorish patio, fountain and minaret. Seville is also the legendary home of Don Juan, Bizet’s Carmen and Rossini’s Barber of Seville.Cadiz is one’s of Europe’s oldest inhabited cities, dating from 1100 B.C., and your gateway to Seville and Andalusia.

Day 55 – At Sea

Day 56 – Lisbon, Portugal

Arrives 07:00 am.

Draped across seven hills, Lisbon was once the center of a vast maritime empire that stretched from the west coast of Africa to the Spice Islands of the East Indies. Then, on November 1, 1755, a violent earthquake destroyed two-thirds of the city in the space of 10 minutes. Only the Alfama, the old Moorish quarter, survived. Today, Lisbon is a stately city of Neoclassical buildings and wide plazas.