Medemblik is a coastal town on the IJsselmeer just before it opens into the North Sea. Our Cruise Director arranged to stop here so we could experience, if for a brief time, a traditional North Holland village. (The municipality dates to the 13th century.) Docking in Medemblik was also a reminder of the intricate inland waterways of Belgium and the Netherlands. We had traveled from Amsterdam south down as far as Ghent and back up north through Dordrecht and Amsterdam out into the man-made Markereer and IJsselmeer, all via interconnected rivers and canals. The IJsselmeer is a freshwater lake created out of the saline Zuidersee by dike and drainage. Some passengers explored the town in the early evening drizzle while I stayed close. From my vantage point, I could see Sint-Bonifaciuskerk (1404), the Medemblik railway station, ... read more

We traveled by motorcoach from Dordrecht to Kinderdijk, the land of windmills. This was the second visit Susan and I have made to this town of windmills. The first was in 2019, and you can read my blog entry from that visit and compare. Then we arrived by river, as Viking maintains a dock here. Gate 1 Travel does not, necessitating the motorcoach transfer. Arrival by road also meant we were given a view of the town of Kinderdijk itself. The windmills of Kinderdijk form the Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout UNESCO World Heritage site. There are 19 windmills to see here, the earliest dating to the 17th century. They are positioned along two rows. The Overwaard's wooden mills and Nederwaard's brick mills of 1798 use wind power to move water from the polders to the basins. ... read more

Monarch Empress made a morning stop at the delightful Dutch village of Willemstad. Founded by William of Orange as a fortified town in 1583 Willemstad remained a part of the Dutch North Sea defenses until 1926. The view from the harbor was of a peaceful pastoral setting. Yet we were looking at the remains of one bastion of a heptagonal star-shaped fort. One can still make out the seven-point-star fortress shape of the town. Now sheep safely grazed on the ramparts. Teena was our local guide for the walking tour of the village. The group began at the gateway to the village. Adjacent was the Arsenal of 1728. A large windmill anchored the opposite end of the village waterfront. All over town were linden trees that had been severely pruned. Teena explained that this was probably ... read more

Monarch Empress spent the morning sailing through inland waterways in the Netherlands. Shortly after we crossed the Belgian border, the Boudewijnsluis lock carried the vessel into the River Schledt just above Antwerp. At Boudewijnsluis, the lock chamber accommodated four vessels at a time. I had not seen such a lock as this. Every other lock I had seen, whether on the Panama Canal, the Douro River, or the C&O Canal, had all been designed to accommodate a single vessel in a lock chamber. The Antwerp petrochemical port is the second largest in the world. The waterway is lined with petrochemical docks on either side. Ocean-going ships share berthing space with tanker barges ready to travel to points along the Rhine. Arriving at Antwerp, Monarch Empress berthed close to the city center. Thus, the afternoon walking tour ... read more

Our return flight itinerary was scheduled to be Vigo-Madrid-London Heathrow-Washington Dulles. Viking had arranged a coach transfer from Santiago de Compostela to Vigo airport. (Like us, most of the Santiago group were flying to Madrid to make connections. Vigo appeared to offer a better outgoing flight than Santiago.) To accommodate our early morning departure, the Parador kindly provided a to-go breakfast. This included an apple, nuts, a juice drink, a ham sandwich and a pice of almond cake. The coach departed at 6:30 a.m. for the 9:20 flight from Vigo. Once there, we learned high winds at the Virgo airport caused Iberia to redirect the incoming flight to Santiago. We had already checked in, so everyone then had to collect their luggage and head for Iberia buses to take us and hour's drive back to Santiago! ... read more