The 2012 Prairie Home Companion cruise will be an eleven-day voyage in late August along the coast of Spain and Portugal, a part of Europe that so many friends have said simply must be seen, and so here we go.
The ms Ryndam will carry us all, sailing from Amsterdam, the Venice of the North, on August 18 and landing in Barcelona on August 29. From the canals and gabled houses and the Rembrandt milieu of Amsterdam to the fresh olives in the tapas bars of the fishing port of Vigo, the medieval cobblestone streets of Lisbon, the city that launched Magellan, and the ancient cities of Cádiz and Seville with their great cathedrals and palaces - then a side trip to Tangier to walk under palm-shaded boulevards to the vast markets - we'll go to Málaga to see the Moorish castles, the Picasso museum (it's his birthplace), and visit the Alhambra and its great botanical garden - Valencia, a city of beautiful beaches and majestic gardens - and finally disembark in Barcelona to promenade through the winding streets of the Gothic Quarter and enjoy lunch to a flamenco beat.
It's a world unlike Lake Wobegon, a world of open-air markets, vineyards, the ghost of Hemingway, and we'll explore it together with our cast of fine musicians, naturalists and historians, and the gentle traditions of PHC cruises - the daily glee club, the dance lessons, the book club, the knitting circle, the storytelling evenings, the amateur show, the Embarkation Sing-Along, and the Last-Night Dance.
If this touches your fancy, look at the itinerary on our cruise website http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/features/cruise/2012.
Your faithful host,
Garrison Keillor
The ms Ryndam will carry us all, sailing from Amsterdam, the Venice of the North, on August 18 and landing in Barcelona on August 29. From the canals and gabled houses and the Rembrandt milieu of Amsterdam to the fresh olives in the tapas bars of the fishing port of Vigo, the medieval cobblestone streets of Lisbon, the city that launched Magellan, and the ancient cities of Cádiz and Seville with their great cathedrals and palaces - then a side trip to Tangier to walk under palm-shaded boulevards to the vast markets - we'll go to Málaga to see the Moorish castles, the Picasso museum (it's his birthplace), and visit the Alhambra and its great botanical garden - Valencia, a city of beautiful beaches and majestic gardens - and finally disembark in Barcelona to promenade through the winding streets of the Gothic Quarter and enjoy lunch to a flamenco beat.
It's a world unlike Lake Wobegon, a world of open-air markets, vineyards, the ghost of Hemingway, and we'll explore it together with our cast of fine musicians, naturalists and historians, and the gentle traditions of PHC cruises - the daily glee club, the dance lessons, the book club, the knitting circle, the storytelling evenings, the amateur show, the Embarkation Sing-Along, and the Last-Night Dance.
If this touches your fancy, look at the itinerary on our cruise website http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/features/cruise/2012.
Your faithful host,
Garrison Keillor