Everyone is traveling these days.  I’m traveling these days.  Hey, wanna travel with me?

For more info: https://ehrmanblog.org/im-lecturing-o...

This summer I’m doing a tour (and giving lectures) on a cruise to historic coastal cities and religious sites of Western Europe, from Amsterdam to Lisbon, July 30 - August 10.  This is gonna be an unusually good trip, with awe-inspiring scenery, gorgeous medieval towns/cities, important religious sites (including Santiago de Compostela), and some of the most amazing museums in the known universe.

Included on the tour are some of my all-time favorite cities:  Amsterdam, Bruges, and Lisbon.  And it includes a bunch of places I’ve never seen but always wanted to, Honfleur (Normandy Beaches), St. Malo (Mont St-Michel), Tresco (Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall; I’ve been to Cornwall a ton, but never the Isles), Concarneus, France (Brittany!), Santiago de Compostela (whoa…), Oporto Portugal.  How good can it get?

The cruise is being organized / run by Thalassa Journeys, best known for their small-group educational tours for university groups.  In this case the small group is not college alumni but … us (me and those of you who want to join me for ten days), along with one other educational group, of alumni from Washington & Lee (with a lecturer who is a professor of art history).

We will be on board a spanking new and luxurious cruise ship (launched April 2023) that is small (192 guests) but spacious (it could hold 350).  (And it won't be full: it will have only our two groups.)

Since we’ll be at sea between cities, I’ve decided to lecture on “The High Seas in the Biblical Tradition.”  Most people haven’t thought much about how important the sea is (as a phenomenon) to both Old and New Testaments, but it doesn’t take much to recognize its centrality (Think: Genesis 1 – where’d that water come from?; Noah’s flood; Exodus; and, well, Jesus walkin’ on it….).  In addition to my lectures, I will be along with everyone the whole time with no serious obligations apart from sharing the sights, food, drink, and scintillating conversation.