A confederation of merchant guilds and market towns from the 12th to the 15th centuries, the Hanseatic League fueled unprecedented wealth along Europe’s northern coasts and laid the groundwork for the Renaissance. Set sail aboard the Ocean Albatros on this North Sea voyage from the south of England to Denmark, and explore the extravagant legacy of those riches in the great public buildings, private houses, and above all, the museums that these fortunes built and furnished. Transfer from London to Portsmouth, where you will embark the recently christened Ocean Albatros and sail to French Normandy. Call in Belgium for an excursion to charming medieval Bruges, or visit Ghent, where you will admire the sublime Van Eyck altarpiece. In Holland, choose between special museum openings exclusively for us at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum or The Hague’s Mauritshuis. Arrive in Germany for a day in Hamburg, with its massive UNESCO-listed district of brick warehouses, or delve into Hanseatic history at the European Hansemuseum in elegant Lübeck. Then navigate the picturesque, 61-mile-long Kiel Canal connecting the North Sea to the Baltic. Call in sparkling Rostock, the “Gateway to Scandinavia,” and spend a day in Copenhagen where the ship is overnight in port.
Day 1: Depart the U.S. for London.
Day 2: Arrive in London. Transfer to Portsmouth and embark the Ocean Albatros.
Day 3: Ouistreham, France - Caen
Day 4: Ostend, Belgium - Bruges or Ghent
Day 5: Scheveningen, Holland - Amsterdam or Keukenhof & The Hague
Day 6: Delfzijl & Groninge
Day 7: Hamburg or Lübeck
Day 8: Brunsbüttel - Kiel Canal Transit
Day 9: Warnemünde & Rostock
Day 10: Copenhagen, Denmark
Day 11: Disembark in Copenhagan. Return flight to U.S.
Faculty
John Stomberg is the Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Before joining Dartmouth, he served as the Director of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum and held leadership positions at the Williams College Museum of Art and the Boston University Art Gallery. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from Boston University. Stomberg focused on Northern European late Gothic art and architecture before turning to modern and contemporary American and global art.
Director Stomberg will share his expertise on art and architecture on visits throughout the trip, with special attention to the history of Mont Saint-Michel and late Gothic and Renaissance art in Belgium.
