About Me

A good 40 years ago, fresh back from the Swiss army, I took my first seminar in business & social history at the University of Berne. On the list of mandatory readings was a book on trade in the Indian Ocean in the 17th century. It was the time when Dutch merchants replaced their Portuguese predecessors. Interestingly, the book also covered the exotic goods Europeans craved for, the progress in naval technology, how trade inspired innovation back home and how it helped creating the first truly global financial system. The fascination with these subjects never left. I dreamt of sailing along these routes one day. Now, as we do it, it is one of my passions. Arriving in a port where once the world met – be it Acre, Goa, Seville, Venice, Genoa, Alexandria, Knidos, Malacca, Macao or Istanbul – thrills me to this day. These places are reminders of a different past, a glorious world now gone but still full of its echoes. My travel  blog contains notes of all the travels since 2017. The first journey was from Venice to Jaffa (2017 – 2919) , the second from Genoa to Istanbul (2020 – 2022), the third from Genoa to the Baleares (2023). The experience continues this year with a journey following the route of Apostle Saint Paul when he was taken as prisoner to Rome. We will sail it from 2024 to 2026. Sadly, there are a few missing legs. The war in the Ukraine prevented us from Sailing from Istanbul to the Crimea and Georgia. Due to the war in Gaza, we have to start this year’s sailing in Cyprus instead of Alexandria. The trip from the Red Sea to India never got off the planning stage. One thing we learned during the seven years of sailing is that trade brings prosperity and war misery. It is to hope that peace returns to all these regions soon. The human cost for all this fighting are too high.