Transoceanic from Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is a huge seaside city in Brazil, famed for its Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, 38m Christ the Redeemer statue atop Mount Corcovado and for Sugarloaf Mountain, a granite peak with cable cars to its summit. The city is also known for its sprawling favelas (shanty towns). Its raucous Carnaval festival, featuring parade floats, flamboyant costumes and samba dancers, is considered the world’s largest.

Recife, the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco, is distinguished by its many rivers, bridges, islets and peninsulas. Recife Antigo, on its own island by the harbor, is the historic old town center dating to the 16th century. To its south, popular Boa Viagem Beach is sheltered by reefs and lined by tall apartment blocks, modern hotels and restaurants.

Mindelo is a port city on São Vicente, an island in the volcanic archipelago of Cape Verde. It’s known for its music, nightlife and lively, Brazilian-influenced Carnival celebrations. Colorful colonial houses line the shores of Porto Grande harbor, which is set against a backdrop of rugged mountains. The Torre de Belém, by the harbor, is a scaled-down replica of a centuries-old tower in Lisbon.

Las Palmas is a capital of Gran Canaria, one of Spain’s Canary Islands off northwestern Africa. A major cruise-ship port, the city is known for duty-free shopping and for its sandy beaches. At Playa de Las Canteras, a coral barrier lines the beach and shelters swimmers. The annual Las Palmas de Gran Canaria carnival brings together flamboyantly costumed performers, music and dancing

Overlooking Morocco’s Atlantic coast, the port of Casablanca is the docking point of your Atlantic Ocean cruise to a modern, cosmopolitan and fairly liberal city.
From the harbour, in addition to the promenade where you can enjoy a stroll, you can quickly reach the medina on the northern side of the old city. Surrounded by walls dating back to the 16th century, the Casablanca medina is not very large, but the Souk el-Kebir has all the charm of a Moroccan market. Definitely very different but worthy of a look while on your cruise to Casablanca is the Habous district where the new medina was developed in the 1930s to solve the city’s housing shortage. The most important mosque is the modern Hassan II Mosque, completed in 1993. It stands on a promontory overlooking the Atlantic and the very high minaret serves as a beacon for the harbour. While in Casablanca, a shore excursion to the cathedral of the Sacred Heart is well worth the time. Once a Catholic church, it is now transformed into a cultural centre connected from the Park of the Arab League to the lively Maârif district, modern, full of bars and dominated by the towers of the Twin Center.

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain with three million inhabitants, a dominating port in northern Mediterranean with one of the most renowned and important universities in the world. The city is a very rich commercial centre, where industrial operations crucial to the Spanish economy take place.
In fact, Catalans have always considered their region unique compared with the other Spanish regions and we can find its roots in the power exercised by Barcelona for four hundred years at least on Spanish monarchy and on European commercial events.

Ένα ευχάριστο πράγμα που μπορείτε να κάνετε είναι απλά να καθίσετε σε μια από τις καφετέριες με θέα το λιμάνι της Marseilles και πίνοντας ένα Pastis, να παρατηρήσετε το τοπίο και τους ανθρώπους που το κατοικούν. Η Μαρσέιγ, που αποκαλείται επίσης “Πόλη των Πορπόζων “, είναι η πιο ηλιόλουστη πόλη της Γαλλίας, γοητευτική με τις ρεματιές της όπου μπορείτε να κολυμπήσετε, την ιστορία και τον πολιτισμό της και τα εστιατόρια με κοσμοπολίτικη κουζίνα. Δεν μπορείτε να φύγετε χωρίς να έχετε πρώτα περιηγηθεί στην “Cours Julien”, το δρόμο για ψώνια. Το λιμάνι της Μαρσέιγ είναι ίσως ένας τυπικός τουριστικός προορισμός, αλλά αξίζει να το επισκεφθείτε για το πλοίο που αναχωρεί από το Δημαρχείο και την παλιά εκκλησία, η οποία αντικατέστησε ένα κτίριο των Ναϊτών.

Above the port of Savona, the Priamar Fortress greets every departure and arrival of the Costa ships sailing in the Mediterranean. Genoa and its aquarium are nearby.
The port of Savona, which you can explore during your cruise in Italy, is one of the prettiest of the Italian Riviera. The lovely climate, summers that are never to hot, mild winters and the exceptional beauty of the sea near the town makes Savona an excellent base to set out to explore Liguria. Savona is notable for the Priamar Fortress, which has dominated the town since the 16th century, and also for its historic centre where you can visit Savona Cathedral. A stop in Savona can also be an opportunity to visit the nearby city of Genoa and its narrow, picturesque streets, known as “caruggi”.