Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

400 years ago, a different kind of ocean voyage began at England’s cruise port

Exploring Southampton, where the Pilgrims set sail in 1620

The cozy bar at Ennio’s Boutique Hotel at the edge of the old town walls of Southampton, England (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

BY DAVID G. MOLYNEAUX, editor, TheTravelMavens.com

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

Stand atop the city walls of Southampton today, and you may imagine the Pilgrims of 1620 boarding the Mayflower for their historic voyage to America.

 In 1415, King Henry V and his army departed through this gate on their way to victory at Agincourt, France. Sailors and passengers of the Mayflower passed through Westgate on their way to America in 1620

Medieval stone walls, built in the 1360s to protect the town from the French, enclosed Southampton for more than 300 years. About half of those walls survive, including defensive towers and six of the eight city gates. A sign at the Westgate says, “The Pilgrim Fathers embarked here from the West Quay on the Mayflower August 15, 1620.” No doubt, Pilgrim Mothers did so as well.

Now, 400 years later, you can walk the stone walls and pass through Southampton’s Westgate toward the docks where the Pilgrims boarded two ships. They lost one ship to leaks before 102 of them finally re-sailed on the Mayflower out of the port of Plymouth, farther to the west.

The brave passengers left their homes to cross the Atlantic Ocean because their Protestant religious views were not acceptable to the Church of England and government leaders. Imagine that.

Cruising from Barbados, port of beaches, cricket matches, rum, and a synagogue reflecting Jewish history from 1654

Wild Atlantic coast of Barbados, with long stretches of empty beaches (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

BY DAVID G. MOLYNEAUX, Editor, TheTravelMavens.com

On evenings when Barbados shows off its restoration of the old Bridgetown marketplace, among the highlights are a stunning synagogue built of coral stone and a museum celebrating one of the oldest Jewish houses of worship in the Western Hemisphere, dating from 1654. 

Nidhe Israel Synagogue, rebuilt in 1833 to replace the synagogue of 1654, which was destroyed in a hurricane.

Aglow with tinted lights and the luster of the irony of history, the site is a delightful and unexpected focus on this popular vacation island and growing home port for cruise ship voyages in the Southern Caribbean.

In Barbados, where the population is predominantly of African descent, the impact of Sephardic Jews fleeing Inquisitorial persecution in the 1600s was huge.