French luxury line Ponant is offering two cultural cruises in partnership with Musee du Louvre with the theme of discovery and transmission in 2020.
One of the itineraries sails to the Adriatic in August and the other goes to the Persian Gulf in November and offers guests a chance to visit the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
The journeys feature talks by Louvre’s curators and department directors, for guests to discover some of the places from which the museum’s collections originate.
The 10-day ‘Cultural jewels of the Adriatic’ departs Athens on August 14, 2020 on the Le Lyrial. The sailing discovers the cultural treasures of Ancient Greece and the Adriatic as it makes its way to Venice.
The ship will be visiting ports like Delos, Itea, Paxi, Otranto, Bari, Kotor, Split, Ancona and Ravenna. will be visiting places like the Delphi archaeological site which is close to the port of Itea and charming little bay towns in Parga with hills that overlook the Ionian Sea.
There is also medieval architecture to be explored in the UNESCO World Heritage site in Kotor. The cities of Ancona and Ravenna is also home to the monuments of the Roman Empire to Byzantine Italy.
The Le Lyrial will have Jannic Durand, Director of the Department of Decorative Arts and Ludovic Laugier, Curator in the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities sharing their expertise with guests on board. Fares start at $5,560.
The nine-day ‘Treasures of the Persian Gulf ‘ sails from Muscat to Dubai via Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The itinerary features the fjords of Arabia and the animal sanctuary on Sir Bani Yas Island, futuristic architecture as well as Mosques and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Discover ports like Sur where they still build dhows, traditional boats that were used to transport goods on the spice route, the ‘fjords of Arabia’ in Khasab and in Qatar, take in the skyscrapers, Islamic art and the colourful market, Souq Waqif.
Yannick Lintz, Director of the Department of Islamic Art will be on board the Le Jacques-Cartier as she departs Muscat on November 19, 2020. Fares start at $6,190.
