Kiel Canal, Germany
Very early this morning we began our transit of the 61 mile long Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, in German). We are lucky enough as a small sized expedition ship to clear many of the bridges along the canal, as most of the larger sized cruise ships cannot due to their huge masts.
The idea for a canal was first purposed in the 16th century, but construction didn’t start unit the late 1800’s when the German Navy applied pressure to link the Baltic with the North Sea without having to sail around Denmark. The canal cost millions of dollars and took eight years to build, but ships can save close to 250 nautical miles by going through it instead of around the Jutland Peninsula.
We said goodbye to the Baltic as this canal links to the North Sea, making it one of the world’s busiest artificial canals, with an average of over 40,000 ships using it each year! It was a beautiful misty morning as we sailed through the canal and lovely pastoral countryside passed us by.
In the afternoon we heard our first presentation by former Ambassador Marilyn McAffee, who gave fascinating insight about Europe and the EU. Later we joined Vintner Mark Finsham, who hosted our first wine tasting. It was delightful to sample three different Rieslings and learn about the wines from this region. Our first daily recap was a good way to sum up our relaxing day onboard the National Geographic Explorer.
