England, Germany and Belgium: North Sea Heritage and History

Arrive in Edinburgh and transfer to the city center. Known throughout time for its hill fort, and now the iconic Edinburgh Castle, Scotland’s capital offers a variety of experiences throughout its streets. Explore the city at your own pace before embarking the ship in the afternoon.

Edinburgh is to London as poetry is to prose, as Charlotte Brontë once wrote. One of the world's stateliest cities and proudest capitals, it's built—like Rome—on seven hills, making it a striking backdrop for the ancient pageant of history. In a skyline of sheer drama, Edinburgh Castle watches over the capital city, frowning down on Princes Street’s glamour and glitz. But despite its rich past, the city’s famous festivals, excellent museums and galleries, as well as the modern Scottish Parliament, are reminders that Edinburgh has its feet firmly in the 21st century.Nearly everywhere in Edinburgh (the burgh is always pronounced burra in Scotland) there are spectacular buildings, whose Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian pillars add touches of neoclassical grandeur to the largely Presbyterian backdrop. Large gardens are a strong feature of central Edinburgh, where the city council is one of the most stridently conservationist in Europe. Arthur's Seat, a mountain of bright green and yellow furze, rears up behind the spires of the Old Town. This child-size mountain jutting 822 feet above its surroundings has steep slopes and little crags, like a miniature Highlands set down in the middle of the busy city. Appropriately, these theatrical elements match Edinburgh's character—after all, the city has been a stage that has seen its fair share of romance, violence, tragedy, and triumph.Modern Edinburgh has become a cultural capital, staging the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe Festival in every possible venue each August. The stunning Museum of Scotland complements the city’s wealth of galleries and artsy hangouts. Add Edinburgh’s growing reputation for food and nightlife and you have one of the world’s most beguiling cities.Today the city is the second most important financial center in the United Kingdom, and the fifth most important in Europe. The city regularly is ranked near the top in quality-of-life surveys. Accordingly, New Town apartments on fashionable streets sell for considerable sums. In some senses the city is showy and materialistic, but Edinburgh still supports learned societies, some of which have their roots in the Scottish Enlightenment. The Royal Society of Edinburgh, for example, established in 1783 "for the advancement of learning and useful knowledge," remains an important forum for interdisciplinary activities.Even as Edinburgh moves through the 21st century, its tall guardian castle remains the focal point of the city and its venerable history. Take time to explore the streets—peopled by the spirits of Mary, Queen of Scots; Sir Walter Scott; and Robert Louis Stevenson—and pay your respects to the world's best-loved terrier, Greyfriars Bobby. In the evenings you can enjoy candlelit restaurants or a folk ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee, a traditional Scottish dance with music), though you should remember that you haven't earned your porridge until you've climbed Arthur's Seat. Should you wander around a corner, say, on George Street, you might see not an endless cityscape, but blue sea and a patchwork of fields. This is the county of Fife, beyond the inlet of the North Sea called the Firth of Forth—a reminder, like the mountains to the northwest that can be glimpsed from Edinburgh's highest points, that the rest of Scotland lies within easy reach.

Spend the day exploring the estuaries and beaches of Northumberland, the northernmost county in England, home to more than 400 different bird species. Once a medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom encompassing parts of present-day northern England, this region is rich in striking coastlines and estuaries of the Tyne and Tweed rivers, as well as the ancient cities protecting the area for millennia.

An urban city mixing culture, sophistication and heritage, Newcatle-upon-Tyne offers a range of activities and attractions. With more theatres per person than anywhere else in the UK, Newcastle has a wide range of arts and cultural attractions for visitors to enjoy, from the Theatre Royal – regional home to the Royal Shakespeare Company – to the famous Angel of the North.

Arrive in Germany on the remote island of Heligoland in the North Sea, a destination that has seen many different rulers throughout the ages. Sitting approximately 38 miles from the entrance of the River Elbe and 29 miles off the coast of mainland Germany, Heligoland boasts a unique landscape of red sandstone cliffs, bird colonies that include northern gannets and seal haul-out sites. It's such a small island that there are no private vehicles, and all areas are accessible by walking. Heligoland also happens to be the home of one of National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions' renowned ship captains, Oliver Kruess.

The next day, navigate up the Weser River into the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. A bustling trade center in the famous Hanseatic League, the modern city continues this rich tradition while protecting the architecture and grandeur of the past, most notably the Town Hall and the 13th-century St. Peter's Cathedral. Choose to uncover Hanseatic history, visit tranquil countryside windmills or take an active bike ride on a network of trails outside the city center.

This morning, you’ll enter northeastern Netherlands through an estuary in Friesland, a region settled by German tribes since the 4th century, controlling lands from Bremen to Bruges. Harlingen sits at the meeting point of the UNESCO-listed Wadden Sea—the world’s largest unbroken intertidal zone—and the IJsselmeer, the Netherlands’ largest lake. Choose between exploring the charming streets of one of the oldest seaports in the Netherlands or venturing to the Afsluitdijk Wadden Center to learn about the innovation projects continuing in the Wadden Sea and controlling the waterworks of the Netherlands.

Harlingen in the Netherlands is a port city on the Dutch Wadden Sea. The city has the only seaport in the province of Friesland. The old town is grouped around the old harbor, which consists of a bay cut deep into the land. The canals, typical for Holland, extend from there into the city. The numerous old houses exude the quaint atmosphere of an old trading and fishing town. Many of the houses that form the front line at the harbor show the typical brick facades with stepped gables. The baroque town hall from 1730 still has a tower from its 16th century predecessor, and the Grote Kerk (Great Church) was built from 1772 to 1775. However, it is not so much these individual buildings that make up the special atmosphere of Harlingen, but rather the overall ensemble of the harbor bay with the historic houses and the sailing yachts moored in front of it. The museum in the Hannemahuis shows a worth seeing exhibition about the fishing history of Harlingen.

Ostend is the North Sea gateway into Flemish Belgium, or Flanders. Rich in intangible cultural heritage, Flanders offers a wide range of subjects to explore—from beer brewing dating back to the Middle Ages and fascinating folklore to captivating arts and religious traditions. The city of Bruges, known as the “Venice of the North,” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with Gothic architecture and serene canals. You’ll discover this city’s historic wonders on foot during a panoramic walking tour past the Belfort Bell Tower and City Hall. As part of the day, you’ll also have the choice to visit the Beguinages, a series of UNESCO-designated, enclosed communities once home to a religious order of nuns that offer insight into 17th-century spiritual and urban life.

After crossing the English Channel, arrive in East Sussex, known for its rich medieval history, stunning ivory coasts and quaint villages that are approximately 1,000 years old. Spend the day exploring coastal trails that trace these ivory shores with their iconic chalk cliffs, wandering through narrow passages of ancient castles and battlefields or soaking up village life along idyllic winding lanes.

Disembark in Portsmouth after breakfast and transfer to the airport for your flight home.

Portsmouth is one of the most densely populated cities in Southern England, and is unusual as most of its built-up area occupies Portsea Island, linked to the mainland by road and rail bridges. Although there is a Roman fort at nearby Portchester, occupied later by the Saxons and Normans, there was no settlement on the site of Portsmouth at the time of the 1086 Domesday Book. The town developed in medieval times and received its first charter in 1194 from King Richard I; soon afterwards it became a major naval base. It has the world’s oldest dry dock, and is home to several famous ships, including HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose, raised from the Solent in 1982. Portsmouth remains an important naval base and is home to a large proportion of the British service fleet. The waterfront area is now dominated by the Spinnaker Tower, 560 feet high, the United Kingdom’s tallest building outside London. Other things to see in the city include the house where Charles Dickens was born, and the City Museum, which contains a permanent exhibition devoted to another famous writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived in the town.