Otranto Cathedral: Where You Can See The Remains Of Catholicism’s Newest Saints

by Sean McLachlan on


Pope Francis has beatified a long list of religious figures in the first creation of saints of his papacy, the Guardian reports. Included in this list are the 813 Martyrs of Otranto. These were victims of a massacre in the southern Italian town in 1480 when Ottoman soldiers beheaded them for refusing to convert to Islam.

It was common in Medieval and Renaissance Europe to display the remains of martyrs and saints, and the Martyrs of Otranto were no exception. They are on display in a huge ossuary in the Cathedral of Otranto. It’s a fitting home since many Otranto residents took shelter in the cathedral during the Ottoman attack on their city. Eventually, the Ottomans broke in, took away the people and turned the cathedral into a stable. The cathedral was reconsecrated the following year when the Italians recaptured Otranto.

The cathedral, first consecrated in 1088, has more to offer than the arresting sight of hundreds of bones stacked up on a wall. The floor is covered with one of the most impressive medieval mosaics in Europe – a complex 12th-century work of art showing Biblical scenes, Heaven, Hell and the Garden of Eden. There are also traces of early frescoes on the wall, a gilded ceiling and some fine Gothic tracery.

Some of the remains of the Martyrs of Otranto are kept in Santa Caterina a Formiello in Naples. Italy is one of the best countries to see bits of holy people from the past. There are numerous saints’ relics in Rome, including a crypt of mummified monks. The city even has a Purgatory Museum. The Basilica of Mary Magdalene at Vézelay, France, has Mary’s bones. Further east in Sozopol, Bulgaria, is a church with the bones of John the Baptist.

[Photo courtesy Laurent Massoptier]

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Darwin Awards Contenders Foiled By Observant Cafe Customer

by Sean McLachlan on


Four men who could have become strong candidates for this year’s Darwin Awards have been saved by a Good Samaritan who was enjoying some coffee nearby.

The BBC reports that a customer at a cafe in Oxwich Bay, Wales, spotted four men in a dinghy clutching onto a buoy and desperately trying to get the attention of those on shore.

It’s unclear if the men were consciously trying to win the Darwin Awards, given out every year for people who get killed in stupid ways and thus improve the gene pool of our species. Nevertheless, they proved their candidacy by setting out in an inflatable dinghy into worsening weather with no life jackets and no flares. Winds had reached up to force six on the Beaufort Scale by the time they were saved. Force six is just short of a gale, with waves rising up to 13 feet.

The person who spotted them alerted the coast guard, who sent out a lifeboat to save them. If it wasn’t for this observant coffee lover, these wannabe sailors may have replicated the famous “Raft of the Medusa,” being adrift at sea for weeks, slowly expiring from hunger and thirst until desperation led them to gnaw on one another to survive. It would have given a whole new meaning to the term “Welsh rarebit.”

If you must try an alternative diet, try vegetarianism instead. It’s far more benign. Also familiarize yourself with weather conditions before setting out and practice these sea safety guidelines. Now that spring is here and everyone wants to get out in the water, it’s important to know how to play safe.

[Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

New Cruise Line Sets Sail In 2014 With Small, Luxury Ships

by Chris Owen on

New cruise lines are about as rare as new hotel chains; there is just not a lot of action on that topic. Like hotel chains, airlines and other travel-related companies, most cruise lines have been around for a long time too. Still, there are those who see a need in the marketplace that existing companies just can’t fill. Such is the feel of new Pearl Sea Cruises, which will set sail in 2014 cruising the Canadian Maritimes, New England and the Caribbean.

Starting out by building just one new ship, the 210-passenger Pearl Mist, Pearl Seas Cruises will operate various seven-, 10- and 11-night Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, Canadian Maritimes and New England cruises during their 2014 inaugural season.Currently undergoing final outfitting by Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Maryland, the Pearl Mist will be a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, first departing June 28, 2014, on an 11-night inaugural sailing from Baltimore to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On a total of 17 cruises planned for the 2014 season that runs through November, itineraries include:

  • Atlantic Coast– 11-night cruise from Baltimore to Halifax & reverse that showcases scenic areas long the U.S. East coast.
  • The Canadian Maritimes – 10-night cruise from Halifax to Québec focusing on Eastern Canada’s scenery, history and beauty.
  • St. Lawrence Seaway and Thousand Islands –seven-night cruise from Québec to Toronto & reverse taps international and old world charm via history, culture and scenic beauty.
  • Great Lakes and Georgian Bay – 10 and 11-night cruises from Toronto to Chicago & reverse features the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth, sailing through four of the Great Lakes and Georgian Bay.
  • Southeast United States – 11-night cruise from Baltimore to Nassau, Bahamas – this trip down the East Coast stops in the various iconic cities of the south and ends in the Caribbean.

Bringing the current destination focus of small-ship cruising to North America on a new luxury ship, Pearl Seas Cruises brings the latest in comfort, safety, technology and communication. Not that cruising the waters of North America is something new; river cruise lines have been doing that for quite some time. Pearl Seas will sail the coast on new ships, in luxury.

Unique to Pearl Seas are oversized staterooms, all with a private balcony and most with sliding glass doors, a spacious dining room, and a variety of lounges. Combined with on-board enrichment and entertainment programs as well as exclusive shore excursions, Pearl Seas Cruises looks like a new cruise line that should do well here.



[Photo credit – Pearl Seas Cruises]

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield Makes First Music Video In Space

by Sean McLachlan on


It’s official. We Canadians rock. If William Shatner and Bryan Adams aren’t enough for you, there’s Chris Hadfield. He’s an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency and has become hugely popular with his videos about life aboard the International Space Station, answering such profound questions as how to cut your nails in space.

Now Hadfield is coming home. He’s turned over command of the ISS to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and will be departing on a Soyuz module, which will land in Kazakhstan today at 10:31 p.m. EDT. As a final sendoff, he’s made the first music video in space, a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Hadfield isn’t a bad musician, and the video has beautiful visuals of him on the ISS.

Put it on full screen, sit back and enjoy. It’s a great day to be Canadian.

And The Best Restaurant City In The World Is …

by David Farley on

If you’re an avid restaurant observer, a voracious diner, a food aficionado, someone whose travel itinerary is determined by what food is being served out of street carts or what ingredient may be in season in a certain part of the planet, then read on.

I recently attended the James Beard Foundation Awards, the Oscars or Grammys of the restaurant world, where every top toque in the United States congresses to (hopefully) receive awards, shake hands, talk food, have a good time and, of course, eat.

As per usual, the awards were held at New York City’s Lincoln Center. And as chefs and food personalities were walking in on the red carpet, I accosted them and asked one simple question:

What is the best restaurant city in the world right now?RICK BAYLESS
Chef at Frontera Grill, XOCO, among others, Chicago
Chicago. But really, when I think about it, you could go to a place like Des Moines and find something great to eat. There are amazing restaurants everywhere these days.

DANIEL BOULUD
Chef at Daniel and many other restaurants, New York
London. There’s a lot happening there right now. Many great chefs are cooking there and you can see a lot of diversity, one that’s different from New York or Tokyo.

ANDY CHABOT
Sommelier and director of food and beverage, Blackberry Farms, Walland, Tenn.
New Yorkers and other eaters of big cities forget about the great food cities of the world. I was in Budapest last year and I ate really well. Paris is still great, too. I think the great food cities remain the great food cities.

CECILIA CHIANG
Former chef and owner of Mandarin, San Francisco
Los Angeles. Specifically for Chinese food. Why? Because there are a lot of wealthy Chinese who live there and who visit there and they demand really great food. You find a rich variety of Chinese food in Los Angeles now.

CHRIS COSENTINO
Chef at Incanto, San Francisco
I was recently in Japan and it was one of the most eye-opening game-changers I’ve ever had. The intensity of the technique was amazing and the fact that some people there have been doing the same thing for generations.

TODD ENGLISH
Chef at Olives, and a gazillion other restaurants, Boston and New York
I used to think it was San Sebastian. But New York really takes the cake. It moves so fast. There’s always an edge here that don’t see anywhere else in the world.

STEPHANIE IZZARD
Chef at Girl and the Goat, Chicago
I think in the U.S. some of the smaller cities like Portland. They have such great ingredients and produce. Of course, I have to say Chicago, too.

MELISSA KELLY
Chef at Primo, Rockland, Maine
New York. It has such a broad range of types of food and cuisines. And not just the top-end sort of restaurants. Casual too.

EMERIL LEGASSE
Celebrity Chef, New Orleans
New York, for sure. Paris has got it going on but New York – Jeez – if you can’t eat well here than you can’t eat well anywhere. Sinatra should have sung that one.

DEBI MAZAR
Actress, host of “Under the Tuscan Gun” and “Extra Virgin,” Brooklyn and Tuscany
New York. You have everything here. You can go to any place between Hunter’s Point and Battery Park and always find a great place to eat.

JACQUES PEPIN
Food God
New York. Because there are 20,000 restaurants here and the open mindedness of the people who live here. In France or Italy, for example, you have a lot of people just eating their own national cuisines. But here the people are eating Albanian one night, Thai another night, Mexican the next night.

NAOMI POMEROY
Beast, Portland, Ore.
I’ve had the chance to travel a lot lately and I’m going to go with Yangon. The street food was great and the cool thing about it was that it’s really authentic. They’re making street food for themselves; not for tourists or anyone else.

CHRIS SHEPHERD
Chef at Underbelly, Houston
Houston. It has such a diversity of cuisines. You can pretty much get whatever you want. And all in one little area.

JONATHAN WAXMAN
Chef at Barbuto, New York
London. It’s a complete surprise. It’s totally amazing and it has really hit its stride. It reminds me a lot of New York in the ’80s.

CATHY WHIMS
Chef at Nostrana, Portland, Ore.
Portland. We have the most amazing accessibility to ingredients there. We also have the support of great, generous people who keep the dining scene fresh and vibrant.

ANDREW ZIMMERN
Host of the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods and Bizarre Worlds.”
Chengdu. There’s such a great amount of flavors there. Everyone associates it with only things like hot pot but people forget it’s the breadbasket of China. Just as here where we’re finally appreciating where our food comes from, in Chengdu they’ve been doing that for a long time.

[Photo of Andrew Zimmern by David Farley]