Venice and the Grand Mediterranea Transit of Venus Cruise Tour

Venice and the Grand Mediterranean

Transit of Venus Cruise Tour

June 4 - 13, 2004

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Among the great scientific undertakings of the 19th century were the long journeys made by astronomers to witness and study cosmic phenomena. The rarest of these were Venus’s two passages across the Sun’s disk in 1874 and 1882, historic events with much scientifically at stake. Armed with precise timings of Venus’s transits, astronomers were finally able to determine a fundamental quantity — the Earth-Sun distance — with unprecedented accuracy.

     On June 8, 2004, for the first time in 122 years, Venus will once again cross the Sun’s brilliant face. This long-anticipated spectacle will not be visible in its entirety from the Western Hemisphere. Instead, eager skywatchers are making plans to view the transit from locations in Europe, Africa, and Asia — journeying to distant lands much as their predecessors did.
     Sky & Telescope and TravelQuest International invite you to join us aboard First European Cruises’ luxurious European Vision to sail the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and witness the historic transit of Venus from the lovely Greek island of Corfu. Under special arrangement, our group will disembark the ship before dawn, well in advance of the beginning of the transit of Venus, and we’ll view the entire event from our specially selected site in this magnificent locale.
    Contact TravelQuest today to reserve your space!


	Unlike the sudden darkness of a total eclipse of the Sun, which lasts only a few minutes, transits of Venus typically play out slowly over several hours. On June 8, 2004, the planet’s ink-black silhouette will edge onto the solar disk over about 20 minutes and, after a 5 1/2-hour march across the disk, will take another 20 minutes to slide off. From Corfu, the transit begins at 8:19 am local daylight time and ends at 2:23 pm. The planet’s graceful transit will be appreciated best when viewed through a telescope with a safe solar filter, and Sky & Telescope will make sure plenty of suitably equipped instruments are set up on Corfu for this purpose. Travelers are encouraged to bring their own binoculars, telescopes, and solar filters too.

Itinerary:

Day 1 Fri, June 4, 2004
Arrive Venice, Italy
    Arrive at Venice Marco Polo International Airport according to your own schedule. After clearing customs, you will be met and transferred to the Hotel Michelangelo, in Venice Mestre, just 8 km from Venice’s historic center. Spend your day relaxing at the hotel, or venture into old Venice to explore its canals, bridges and famous landmarks. Consider arriving in Venice a day or two early; contact TravelQuest for details.
Overnight: Hotel Michelangelo (2 nights)      Meals aloft

Day 2 Sat, June 5
Historic Venice
    Venice is a wondrous maze of footbridges, canals, Byzantine churches, and Renaissance palaces. The landmarks are legendary — San Marco Square with its glorious basilica and Doges’ Palace, and the touching “Bridge of Sighs.” The shopping is legendary, too — from Murano glass to fanciful masks. The hotel concierge can help arrange tours of this amazing city, or enjoy the entire day exploring on your own.     B

Day 3 Sun, June 6
Venice & Padova Observatory
    After breakfast and checkout, we will board our private motorcoach for the drive to the Astronomical Observatory of Padova, located in an old medieval castle dating from the 13th century. There we will enjoy a tour of the observatory’s museum, Museo La Specola, which houses a magnificent collection of historic scientific instruments. Staff astronomers will be our guides. Before we leave town, we’ll stop at the University of Padova to see the podium from which Galileo lectured from 1592 to 1610.
    After lunch on your own, we will end the day’s travels at the European Vision, our home at sea for the next seven days.
Overnight: European Vision (7 nights)                   B/D

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Revised: January 26, 2007.
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