Category Archive

Champ de Bataille Waterloo, Belgium Champ de Bataille Waterloo, Belgium

An hour’s train journey and a 5km bike ride transported Bob and to the battlefield where Napoleon’s final downfall took place. Rising above the flat farming lands below, the memorial mound constructed in commemoration of the wound the Belgian monarch took during the midst of battle, is the first object that draws the visitor’s eye. […]

Elba Elba

Gratis has just been anchored in Porto Azzuro, Isle of Elba. In a first, we had calm waters all the way across. A tidbit: it was here that Napoleon was exiled for a short while after his first major defeat, but only a few months since he managed to escape – avoiding all military forces upon his way […]

Saint Helena Tour

  As with all the small islands visited, St Helena had a mild climate controlled by the surrounding ocean and the trade winds: in this case, the combination of the South Atlantic high pressure and equatorial trough. The best way of exploring the island was by foot, but for those of us unable to to […]

Saint Helena Water Taxi

After a peaceful night in which the murmur of the waters as they rolled and met the cliff lulled us into a deep relaxing slumber, we awoke refreshed as the morning light of the sun rose above the mountains, creating a pastel rainbow of rose pinks upon the cloud. With the heating of the land, […]