E - 173 : Calabria's Endless Beaches
There are many similar beaches in Calabria with the orderly and rentable deck chairs One of the few things the Genovese Merchants did not...
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hbanziger
Jan 15, 20214 min read
E - 177 : The Arab Agricultural Revolution moves to Sicily
Irrigation in Egypt in the Faiyum Depression close to Cairo My personal goal today was to write the blog on Calabrian and Apulian food I...
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hbanziger
Jan 12, 20213 min read
E - 180: Naval Sophistication in 400 BC
Replica of the Kyrenia Ship - there are three - I do not know which one this is Yesterday’s blog reminded me of my promise a few weeks...
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hbanziger
Jan 11, 20213 min read
E - 181: 12 Feet Under - How Sybaris and Thurii Were Lost to the Crati River
Sybaris Archeology Park - the former harbor is to the right A few days ago, someone asked me what the D-181 stands for in the blog title....
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hbanziger
Dec 21, 20203 min read
E - 201: Surfing the African Plate for Extra Barley Yield - the Geology of Magna Graecia
Was trying to find farm yield information for Sicily and Southern Italy all day yesterday but felt I was looking for the famous needle in...
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hbanziger
Jun 27, 20203 min read
D - 15: How do I get to ...? The Art of Map Making
Having seen the Carta Pisana as young student in the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris in 1981, I planned to write a blog about cartography...
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hbanziger
Jun 21, 20203 min read
D - 20: Can We Use 800 Years Old Weather Reports?
Would we need a weather report for our trip from Genoa to Tunis given that neither the Genovese nor the Pisan merchants had any such...
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hbanziger
Jun 19, 20203 min read
D - 23: The Unexpected Usefulness of the Tower of Pisa
Yesterday, we wondered about the marbles of the Tower of Pisa and where they were from. Today, we are going to talk about what the tower...
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hbanziger
Jun 17, 20204 min read
D - 24: How David got from the Seafloor to Florence
Less than thirty minutes after lifting anchor in La Spezia and putting the boat on a course South, the Apennine Mountains come back into...
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hbanziger
Jun 13, 20205 min read
D - 29: Did Africa push the Tower of Pisa?
Ever wondered why there is no big port between Genoa and Napoli when sailing down the west coast of Italy? There was one in Ostia at the...
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hbanziger
May 22, 20205 min read
D - 50: Gold - Linking Slavery to Volcanos
Ten days ago, I wrote about the Phoenician traders who ventured into the Western Mediterranean in search of silver and tin. They found it...
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hbanziger
May 20, 20204 min read
D - 52: Horses from the Green Sahara
Intended to write about the Tunisian cuisine today. But given that I have not been there for 47 years, I only have a faint recollection...
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hbanziger
May 19, 20204 min read
D -59: The Roman Climatic Optimum
When people talk about North Africa, they mostly think of it as desert, tourist resorts with sandy beaches and decade long and never...
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hbanziger
May 19, 20203 min read
D - 61: Following the Stars and the Winds
Ever wondered how the Phoenicians and Greeks sailed in the 8th - 6th century BC to the western Mediterranean? We will be crossing these...
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hbanziger
May 17, 20204 min read
D-55: How the African Plate powers the AFAED
When we leave Genoa on 11 July, we will sail along the Ligurian coast with its steep hills. Already on the second day they merge with the...
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hbanziger
Aug 11, 20192 min read
C + 16 : Sailing Over the Flooded Po Valley
Another a beautiful and quiet morning today. The sea could not have been calmer - ideal for long kaiaking rides and morning swims. We...
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hbanziger
Jul 24, 20192 min read
C - 1 : Dolphins!
Remember the many dolphins we saw when sailing in 2017 and 2018? Many of you asked whether we are going to see dolphins again this...
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hbanziger
Jul 20, 20193 min read
C - 5 : What did Galileo Galilei do in Venice?
We all know the story of the Italian physicist, mathematician and engineer Galileo Galilei who was draged before the Catholic Inquisition...
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hbanziger
Jul 19, 20193 min read
C - 6 : Why Sailors love Ports and hate the Bora
Remember the trees in the Rhone Valley in Southern France which are bent due to the strong Mistral? The area around Chantrou, our house...
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hbanziger
Jul 17, 20192 min read
C - 8 : A Little Ice Age in 536 AD?
Remember summer 2010 when air traffic over Europe was suspended due to the outbreak of Eyjafjiaalajökull, the volcano in Iceland? I spent...
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