carolinetodd

We also found the bread disappointing. In all our land-based travels in Europe, and especially in the south, whatever else we were served, we knew we could count on excellent bread. The bread baskets in the Restaurant and Manfredi's were full of weird, soft things, and in the World Café, the best option seemed to be little whole-wheat mini-bâtards - nice enough bread, but not the baguettes of your dreams. There were lovely spreads of meze while we were in Turkey and Greece, but the only pita offered were little soft, doughy rounds like the ones you'd see in a lowest-common-denominator supermarket.

We didn't experience this sort of unwelcome interaction (on Saturn, Jan-Feb.) Once, at the Restaurant, we accidentally said yes to sharing a table, and had a pleasant meal with some people we never saw again, and occasionally we exchanged brief remarks with people seated near us in the World Café, but that was all. Once or twice, when it was especially crowded, we shared a six-top with another couple, without talking to each other at all. Y'all must just look a lot more interesting and approachable than we do.

Not always. I asked about the "Florence on Your Own" drop-off point and was told we'd be dropped at Piazza Santa Croce, when in fact the bus dropped us 20 minutes walk from there, and the guide left us at Santa Croce.

In fact, there is an elevator, only available to those with some disability. My cane was apparently enough - two asthmatic women in our group had to argue a bit.

Best main: the shrimp and calamari appetizer (minus the shrimp - I'm allergic!) at Manfredi's Best side: the creamed spinach at The Restaurant - a total butter bomb, but so delicious Best dessert: the lemon mousse at the World Café that looks like an actual lemon - so pretty, and not too sweet

Sorry, I wasn't clear - we did this two days ahead of the reservation date.

We did this on Saturn last month - no problem.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2982297-troy-pompeii-mycenae-epidaurus-how-demanding-is-demanding/ This thread has a discussion of many of the sites on your trip. For most Viking tours, especially the included ones, there is a "leisurely" version for anyone who doesn't want to try to keep up with a "normal" speed group. We didn't ask about it - we were just assigned to it after the first couple of tours. Since you're on a shorter trip, I'd ask in advance.

The standard answer people give is that the included tours are usually bus trips to look at the highlights of the port city, and maybe most are, but we had several very good experiences with included tours. All three included tours in Turkey were excellent, and things we would have paid extra to see - a boat trip on the Bosphorous, Troy (didn't really need the part where we got to see the Trojan Horse from the fairly recent movie, but the ruins were worth the side trip,) and Ephesus. The walking tours of Rhodes and Chania were also worthwhile. Of course, much of the quality of the tour depends on your guide, and that's kind of a crap shoot.

I couldn't get that post to work for some reason. You can get the beer switched - we didn't even ask. One evening we discussed the Ægir IPA with the World Café servers, the next day there was some in our mini-fridge.

They have a lovely Norwegian IPA from Flåm called Ægir - no upcharge.

Another vote for the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum - they were highlights of a recent highlight-packed trip.

I don't get all the pearl-clutching about the dress code. We were happy to comply, but I feel it's for Viking to set the standard and enforce it or not. Other people's clothing has no relevance to whether or not I enjoy a restaurant or other venue, unless they actually smell - the perfume and fabric-softener cloud around some people can be pretty off-putting, but it's not something that can be policed. We found the World Café much quieter than the Restaurant - a matter of acoustics, rather than rowdiness, I think. We also found that different legs of our back-to-back-to-back had very different vibes, with the Istanbul-to-Athens pax more serious, less outgoing than the Athens-to-Rome group, who were much louder, but also much friendlier.

UK and US, two nations divided by a single language...

When we embarked on the Saturn at Galataport last month, we didn't have Viking transfer, but when we arrived at the check-in point, it looked like the people who did were bussed right there. After check-in, though, there is a fair bit of walking through the terminal to get to the ship - I remember it being miles and miles, but my husband estimates that it was about ten minutes (I walk with a stick and am very slow - regular people would walk it in five.) The included Bosphorus tour includes a bus which picks you up right where you checked in, drives around a while, then drops you near the Rüstem Pasha Mosque - so beautiful, but requires three flights of steps to access. We were then walked a few minutes to the spice market - I skipped it since I had already seen it, and there were plenty of places to sit. From there, a short walk to get on the tour boat - ours had five or so steps up to board. The boat drops you back at the port - no more bus - and you have to walk all through the port complex to get back to the ship.

I found it really disappointing - ever since I spent a week in Corsica, I've been dreaming of chestnut-flavored everything (seriously, chestnut yogurt, chestnut bread, chestnut spread...) Manfredi's Castanea isn't awful, but the chocolate really clanged - completely overwhelmed the chestnut. It might as well have been Nutella.

Schweppe's Bitter Lemon was available on Saturn a couple weeks ago. I asked our cabin steward, and he replaced the Sprite and Coke in our mini-fridge with it. It was also available at the bar in the Explorer's Lounge.

Tarquinia was awesome. I didn't attempt to go down into the tombs - I was tired and sore from Pompeii, and the various steps and ramps down just felt like too much. The site is interesting, with good descriptions and illustrations on the outside, and the location is stunningly beautiful. I loved the museum, which does have an elevator. "Florence On Your Own" was rather disappointing. I asked about the drop-off point so I could plan what I could reasonably see, and was told we'd be dropped off at Piazza Santa Croce. As it turns out, the bus drops you near the river, and your guide walks you to Piazza Santa Croce, about a 20-25 minute walk. This put a huge dent in the amount of energy and knee power I had to work with, especially since I needed to save something for the walk back to the bus. With the long bus ride from Livorno and back, the trip was about 50% travel overhead.

Pompeii! The site itself was not too difficult - many streets had raised sides that were smoother to walk on than the cobbled roadways, though there were often fairly high steps up and down . These were too narrow for rolling walkers or wheelchairs, and I didn't see anyone trying to use them. The walk to the entrance from the bus parking had lots of steps up and down at driveways into the street - no curb ramps at all. As you go through the site, you gradually gain altitude, and there's a longish series of steps, not high, and with hand rails, and ramps down to the exit. Overall, I think "demanding" is probably fair, and it would probably have been too much for me without a sturdy husband to steady me on the steps. On the other hand, it was absolutely stunning, completely amazing, and although I am really tired, it was totally worth the effort. In contrast, yesterday's excursion to "enchanting Taormina" was quite accessible, only a few ordinary stairs with hand rails to negotiate, but left me pretty cold (but sweaty - the sun was hot for February!) It's a pretty enough spot, lots of shopping, nothing to grab your heart or mind or imagination. Tarquinia tomorrow!

There are paper to-go cups at the Livinging Room bar and the World Cafe. There are individual yogurts, whole apples, pears, plums, and bananas, breads, cold meat, cheese. It's possible there are restrictions on bringing food ashore, especially fruit.

My point was that the excursion ratings are unclear, inconsistent, and/or contradictory.

Ephesus was rated moderate, Epidaurus, Mycenae, and the Acropolis were rated demanding, and Troy by itself was rated demanding, while Troy plus a museum visit was rated moderate.

I wanted to circle back and report some of my experiences with these sites. First, most of the tour buses have very steep steps - more challenging than some of the actual tours, as I have difficulty lifting my left foot high enough. Troy was wonderful, and although there was a fair distance to cover, and quite a lot of stairs, the steps were a reasonable height, uniform, and all had hand rails. It was tiring, but doable, and completely worth it. We were lucky to have a completely dry day for Ephesus. Some of the people in our group found it difficult immediately and went back to the bus. Others probably should have. The uneven downhill paths were not really suitable for rolling walkers, and people using those needed a lot of help from their companions. I relied a great deal on my husband's steady arm. One man who walked with a cane was on his own - his wife had been one who went back to the bus at the start - and slipped, fell, and hit his head, and had to be taken away in an ambulance. I think if it had been wet, I wouldn't have been able to manage. As it was, I feel like I didn't see as much as I wanted to because I had to mind my feet so carefully. Everything I did see was amazing. Amazing. For Epidaurus and Mycenae, it was cold, with heavy rain mixed with a little snow, and strong winds. There were "just two or three steps" down to the museum at Epidaurus (then 2 or 3 more, and 2 or 3 more) but they were rather high, irregular but slippery stones with no hand rail. The path up to the ruins was awkward and I wimped out. The dirt path down to the WC was too difficult for a woman with a rolling walker. At Mycenae, the stone ramp down to the museum was too steep and slippery for me, given the weather. I was so disheartened I failed to see that the path to the actual theater was much more manageable and went back to the bus. This was a failure on the part of our guide (okay, and me) more than an issue with the accessibility of the site. At the Acropolis, there were long stair-free detours to get to the entrance, where the restrooms had very low toilets that I would not have been able to get up from if I had sat on them (plus no seats, so really required hovering) and the handicapped stalls were kept locked. Once through the entrance, there are golf carts to take you to the elevator. You need the permission of the gate agent to use it, and although my stick was apparently good enough evidence of need, the two asthmatic women with me were a harder sell. On top, everything is easy to access, except the toilets, which are down a fairly long, steep ramp. I don't know if those were any more usable once you got down there. WCs aside, everything was quite accessible, and so worth seeing. XOX from Saturn.

Does anyone have a suggestion for lunch in Florence? I'm not looking for a quick slice or sandwich grabbed between museums, but a leisurely meal somewhere with a little charm. Among my band of Philistines are some who are church-averse and/or definitely not into renaissance painting, some with bad-to-terrible knees, so we've managed to agree on the Galileo Museum near the Uffizi, the Bargello Museum, Mercato d'Ambrogio, and maybe the gardens at Villa Bardini. I'd love to find a place not far from these, not super-expensive, but needn't be bargain basement, either. Any experience with Teatro del Sale? I thought it sounded entertaining.