Going ashore: Silversea Cruises calls on Xiamen, China

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Celebrate National Day with the locals in Xiamen, China via Silversea Cruises

The new cruise terminal building in Xiamen is ready for visitors.

The new cruise terminal building in Xiamen is ready for visitors. Photo by www.AvidCruiser.com.

Cruise guests sailing on Silver Shadow had the option of exploring Xiamen, which is located in southeast China’s Fujian Province, either on their own or they could participate in a city highlights tour.

Local women give Silversea cruise guests a royal welcome.

Since we arrived to Xiamen during National Day, the sights were crowded. However, the general feeling in the air was one of celebration, similar to our July 4^th celebrations in the US.

South Putuo Temple

Built during the Tang Dynasty, this temple is more than one thousand years ago. It is so named because it lies to the south of Putuoshan, one of the most respected Buddhist venues in China.

Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum

The Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum is dedicated to the history of overseas Chinese. The mission of the museum, as described by our guide, is to help those that have left China to “remember the Mother-Land.” The museum was founded by the Chinese philanthropist Chen Jiageng in 1958.

Tea Ceremony

After a 45 minute coach ride, we arrived at Dr. Tea. This high-end tea shop sells a variety of teas including their “medicinal” Ole Puerh Tea, which we tasted along with: green tea, green golden tea (wild puerh tea), oolong tea, jasmine tea, litchi black tea, and an herbal resorative tea.

This was my first tea ceremony in China. I thought is was well done and I enjoyed sampling all the varieties of tea. What I did not like is the price tag. On average a box of tea was about $30 USD.

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