|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Zegrahm & Eco Expeditions
CONTACT: Casey Marker
TEL: 800-628-8747
E-MAIL: caseym@zeco.com
WEBSITE: www.zeco.com
Click here for Media Kit.
Be the First to Explore Europe’s Ancient
Pomor Villages on New Voyage
SEATTLE, Washington—For avid travelers who claim “been there, done that” bragging rights, one travel company is still a step ahead.
Zegrahm Expeditions consistently offers its clients an impressive list of firsts every year. And 2007 is no exception. The company, which specializes in educational small ship voyages, will be the first to intimately explore the northernmost reaches of Europe via ship, Zodiac and land on two new voyages departing in August, 2007.
Guests on the Aug.14 voyage will be the first to step ashore in remote Pomor villages never-before visited by expedition ships. The Pomors (people of the coast) traveled from the Russian mainland in the east and settled permanently here in the 13th – 14th centuries. Along with reindeer herding and fishing for salmon, herring, and cod, their summer farming enterprise includes the dehydration of mushrooms and berries. Travelers will also explore the coast by Zodiac and witness countless seals and seabirds, including eiders and guillemots.
This White Sea to North Cape Expedition (Aug. 14-28) departs from the beautiful Baltic Seaport of St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703. The itinerary devotes a full day to this rich city, beginning with a tour of St. Isaac Square and Cathedral that continues to the Palace Square and its Baroque Winter Palace. Housed inside the Palace is the incomparable Hermitage Museum with its vast gilded rooms hung with opulent crystal chandeliers, its extensive galleries of Italian and Spanish art, and its private Impressionist and modern art collections. Its crowning glory, the Gold Room, houses a dazzling collection of jewelry by Russian, European, and Oriental craftsman, as well as the famous Scythian and Greek gold.
From St. Petersburg guests will fly to the city of Arkhangelsk, Russia’s first seaport, founded in the late 16th century at the mouth of the Dvina River Delta. Following a tour of the city’s historic sights and remaining old wooden architecture, the group embarks on the Clipper Adventurer and sails westward into the White Sea.
Over the course of three full days, guests set out by ship or by Zodiac to explore the fabled Solovetskiy Archipelago with six main islands, and multiple tiny ones, that have been a stage for many fascinating chapters of Russian history. Learn of ancient legends, view archaeological finds that reach back across millennia, stroll through island flora in the botanical gardens, and tour splendid architectural monuments that today are part of the World Heritage Site known as the “Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetskiy Islands. A full day is spent exploring Solovki Island, the main large island of the Solovetskiy chain, where in the mid-1400s the first hermit monks gathered and founded the Solovetskiy Monastery, which boasted a 500-year span. Guests will explore the an impressive system of canals built by the monks in the 16th century, and an amazing assemblage of architecture—a vast fortress (Kremlin), cathedrals, several hermitages, dry-docks, gardens, and homesteads
The voyage continues to the Kuzova Archipelago, home to prehistoric burial mounds, beluga whales and mystical labyrinths before sailing along the northern coast of the remote Kola Peninsula, a wilderness of vast tundra and mountains, salmon-choked rivers, lakes, spectacular waterfalls, and some of the most ancient forests in Europe. The voyage stops at Murmansk, the world’s largest city north of the Arctic Circle then continues to Kirkenes, Norway the capital of the municipality of Sor-Varanger where the three major cultures of Norway, Russia, and Finland converge.
This voyage comes to a close with stopovers in North Cape, situated at 71° latitude and commonly referred to as the northernmost point of the European continent; the village of Gjesvaer, inhabited for nearly 6,000 years; the islands of Gjesvaerstappan, where three million puffins nest; and the city of Tromsoe, known as the “Gateway to the Arctic” and home to the unique Arctic Cathedral.
Zegrahm offers a second itinerary, Spitsbergen and the White Sea, Aug. 3-19 that departs from Oslo taking guests into the world of polar bears, seals, birds and walruses; to the mining town of Longyearbyen in Spitsbergen; amidst fjords, glaciers, breathtaking wildflowers and beluga whales; to Ny Alesund, the northernmost permanent settlement in the world; historic whaling stations; through the Solovestky Archipelago and ends with a tour of St. Petersburg. Both trips offer an optional extension to visit Lake Onega and Kizhi Island.
Zegrahm Expeditions has mastered expedition travel, giving guests the rare opportunity to explore intimately by land and by chartered ship. The number of travelers on each expedition is intentionally kept small, so guests enjoy personal interaction with the company’s world-class lecturers and expedition leaders.
Zegrahm offers a list of voyages that are perennial favorites including Antarctica, the Galapagos, several Mediterranean voyages, the Black Sea, and Palau and Yap to name a few. Detailed itineraries, pricing information and a free 2007 Travel Calendar can be found at www.zeco.com or by calling 800-628-8747.
# # #
|
