UNIQUE TOURS by Vincent Bridges
Since 1995, Vincent Bridges has organized and led Tour Groups to Southern France, Prague, Malta, Egypt and India. Only his most recent (2010) tours are listed below:
(May 21-28, 2010 - Provence, France). Vincent reveals the fruit of 40-years of research to a group gathered in southern France, covering such diverse subjects as Nostradamus, Da Vinci, Mary Magdaline, Van Gogh, the Holy Grail . The tour included a Pilgrimage to Saintes Maries de la Mer during their holy days.
Scroll down to see Full Description of Holy Grail Tour.
Esoteric Tour of Prague (May 12, 2010 – Prague, Czech Republic). A special full day’s walking tour of the heart of the magic city of Prague, focusing on Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, Mala Strana and Prague Castle. The tour weaves along the old Royal Way, with detours into Gothic Prague, and follows in the footsteps of alchemists, poets and mystics who lived in Prague and contributed to its esoteric and hermetic history.
Scroll down to see Full Description of Esoteric Prague Tour.
About the HOLY GRAIL TOUR by VINCENT BRIDGES:
This trip began for me 40+ years ago when I read Wolfram’s Parsival in high school and realized that the whole Disney fairy tale world of the miraculous Grail might just be true somehow. The quest to uncover the story I sensed beneath the pageantry of the Grail Romances made me a historian, instead of an English teacher, and has kept me on the outskirts of Chapel Perilous, where the Siege Perilous sits in wait for the Perfect Knight, for my entire adult life. And, while I am far from a Perfect Knight, I have done my small part to map out the terrain of the wasteland and the road to the Holy Mountain of Montsalvasch.
Along the way, as my Quest connected me to places I never dreamed were involved, I learned an important fact: nothing is better than seeing history on the ground and close up. That’s the way discoveries are made, from a personal ground level approach. And that’s what I would like to share with you on this very special pilgrimage and quest, an up close and personal on the ground look at the true history of Grail as it developed in Provence.
We literally walk through thousands of years of history, from ancient Greece and Rome to the late 19th century of Van Gough, guided along our way by the master of time himself, Michel de Nostradamus, who was born in St. Remy and grew up in the shadows of the antiques at Glanum, wandered throughout Europe and then settled in Salon-de-Provence just the other side of the Alpilles to write his famous prophecies. And it is this unique juncture of Nostradamus’ prophecies and the heretical work of Leonardo Da Vinci that eventually led me to the key discovery behind the true history of the Grail.
On this trip we will be lucky enough to stay at a beautifully restored chateau from the early 18th century on the farm once owned by Nostradamus’ brother Bertrand. The Chateau de Roussan is a real treasure, a glimpse back to an earlier time and a direct way to connect with local history. There might even be a ghost or two wandering the halls. In St. Remy, we will examine the places where Nostradamus was born and grew up, allowing us to absorb something of the very atmosphere of this very special place and its most famous native son. And along with Nostradamus, we will follow the trails left by Van Gough and Da Vinci, and delve into the secrets of an almost forgotten alternative form of Christianity.
At the center of this hidden history of early Christianity is the family circle of the three Marys, their brother and nephew Lazarus and the curious New Testament saint known as The Triumph. All of this information, and much more – including St. Maurice and the Theban Legion, connections and clues from Rennes-le-Chateau, Good King Rene’s Grail quests and Frederick Barbarossa’s coronation in Arles, Gypsy Guardians and Grail Processions – can be found in my forth-coming book, The Grail Mysteries of Provence: Discovering the True History of the Grail.
So join us as we explore, on the ground, the locations and images of the true history of the Grail, from the Grail Castle of Les Baux to St. Trophime’s hermitages and the Alyscamp, the most renowned of medieval burial grounds to the quarries of Glanum and the standing stone of Da Vinci’s Virgin in the Rocks, from the gypsies of Ste. Maries-de-le-Mer to the rugged grottoes of the Magdalene, and of course, the lost city of Glanum Livii and its nympheum, center point of Provence’s accidental pentagram. As we visit and explore the sites connected to this hidden history, we can begin to piece together a glimpse of the true origins of the Grail Mythos.
VB
About the ESOTERIC TOUR OF PRAGUE by VINCENT BRIDGES:
‘Prague’s name is no accident. It is a threshold between life on Earth and in Heaven, a much narrower threshold than in other places…’ Gustav Meyerick
1). Old Town Square – The heart of old Prague; Tynski Chram, the Old Town Hall and its amazing astronomical clock, also the execution spot for the survivors of the Battle of White Mountain. Leave the square by Kafka’s birthplace and St. Nicholas toward Siroka.
2). The Old Ghetto – The Jewish Town Hall, where the clock runs backward, the Old- New Synagogue where the Golem sleeps and the Jewish Cemetery. Back by way of Marian Square, and the Black Knight, and then right onto Karlova.
3). The Royal Way – From the Old Town gates, near the current Powder Tower, along Celetna Ulicke to Old Town Square and then down Karlova to the Old Stone Bridge, crossing to Mala Strana, through the Square and then up Nerudova to the Castle and the Royal Palace, this was the ancient processional route of the Kings of Bohemia on their way to be crowned. We join the Royal Way at Karlova then pass the Klementium with its two churches and round chapel, and cross the main road to the Stone Bridge entrance.
4). Old Stone Bridge/Charles Bridge – The eastern bastion of the western Empire, guarded in the late Middle Ages by an array of Crusading Orders; The Red Star Crusaders, The Knights of St. John, and the Knights of Malta. In the 1200s, the first bridge over the river was defended by two fortified monasteries of Crusading knights, one at St. Klement and the other at Our Lady under the Chain. We cross the bridge, noting various statues, the cross with stars at St. John Nepomuk’s spot, the Turk, St. John the Baptist, and then onto Maltezske namesti, Maltese Square, and the Church of Our Lady under the Chain.
5). Malostranske Namesti – The main square of the Little Town focuses on the Baroque masterpiece of St. Nicholas, a triumph of sacred geometry and trompe l’oeil illusion in service of a didactic vision. The square is surrounded by Renaissance and Baroque era palaces and the former Little Town Hall. We walk across and up Nerudova, continuing on the Royal Way, past the House of The Three Fiddles, The Black Eagles, The Golden Goblet and the Golden Wheel.
6). Kelley’s Tower – We drop down the steps to Janska for lunch at Kelley’s Tower, one of the houses owned by the alchemist Edward Kelley. After lunch, we head back to Nerudova and up to Hradcany and the Prague castle.
7). Hradcany – Back up to Nerudova and down to The House of Two Suns, where we turn and start up to Hradcany Square. Archbishop’s Palace, Sternburg Palace, Schwarzenburg Palace and the Carmelite Convent. Including extra time for Sternburg Palace/National Gallery and Durer’s Feast of the Rose Garland.
8). Prague Castle – The Cathedral of SS Vitus, Wensceslas and Adalbert including the Chapel of St Wenceslas and the tower, the Old Royal Palace, the Basilica of St George, the Powder Tower and the Golden Lane.
9). Tavern Brabant (”U krále Brabantského”) – After touring the Castle, we will end our tour of esoteric Prague on Thunovska in Mala Strana, where we will visit a tavern, built in 1375, where all the main characters of Rudolphine Prague came to drink and party. (This promises to be a truly unique experience to round off our esoteric tour of Magick Prague.)
