Kos Korcula Chania Marmaris Advice

[TERRIER1]

We will be cruising B2B in June in Greece and Turkey. We have never been on Azamara and only took private tours or DIY tours in all the previous ports we visited. Can anyone who visited these ports provide any advice, suggestions, etc as to whether we should:

 

1. arrange private tours (and to where)

2. take the ship tours

3. just hang around town

4. take public transportation to nearby sites (which ones).

 

Any advice is welcomed. Thanks.

[norn iron]

We will be cruising B2B in June in Greece and Turkey. We have never been on Azamara and only took private tours or DIY tours in all the previous ports we visited. Can anyone who visited these ports provide any advice, suggestions, etc as to whether we should:

 

1. arrange private tours (and to where)

2. take the ship tours

3. just hang around town

4. take public transportation to nearby sites (which ones).

 

Any advice is welcomed. Thanks.

 

What ports of call are you visiting?

[TERRIER1]

What ports of call are you visiting?

 

The ones in the subject heading(lol).

 

Kos Greece

Chania Crete

Marmaris Turkey

Korcula Croatia

 

Thanks.

[nordski]

We can only comment about Chania.

 

A couple of years ago we just "hung around town" and retrospectively it probably would have been better to have selected a private or ship's tour.

 

Unless we completely missed an attraction, of all the Greek towns we have visited it seemed the least charming or interesting. Hopefully others can make specific suggestions.

[maryann ns]

Korcula is a wonderful, historic little town. You can easily walk around on your own. Be sure to check out the museum display on Marco Polo who apparently came from here. At the time, Korcula was part of Venice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kor%C4%8Dula_(town)

[dln929]

We can only comment about Chania.

 

A couple of years ago we just "hung around town" and retrospectively it probably would have been better to have selected a private or ship's tour.

 

Unless we completely missed an attraction, of all the Greek towns we have visited it seemed the least charming or interesting. Hopefully others can make specific suggestions.

 

Thank you for saying that!!! I thought I was the only one who had that opinion of Chania. With the exception of that wonderful lighthouse, I was totally underwhelmed by it. It was disappointing because one of my friends raved about the beauty of Crete. Well, I guess Crete must be wonderful but Chania ain't. :o To the OP: book a shore excursion and see Crete.

[kikki21]

I've been to Kos a few years back and I have also been to Marmaris but that was back in 1998 and I am not sure what to do myself for that port, keep umming and ahhing about a ship excursion, maybe!

 

There is enough to do around Kos Town, you can walk around the harbour area which is very pleasant, go to the ancient castle and also walk amongst the Ancient Agora ruins as they are all in the town. The town itself is also very pleasant to walk round, lots of shopping and great places to eat. You can also take a land train ride up to the Asclepion hill where there are more ruins of the 1st hospital built by Hippocrates. The views are pretty good from up there too.

Back in the town you can find the old Plane tree which is reputedly still around from when Hippocrates used to teach medicine.

 

Hope that helps - there is a ship excursion I noted to Zia which is a pretty village and other places but Kos is a relatively small island. I much prefer Rhodes to Kos and in fact some people say that Kos is a mini version of Rhodes!

[Lottie A]

I like Chania a lot. There are some very interesting little museums, a delightful harbour area with old Venetian houses and lots of nice bars for a pit stop. There is an unusual art gallery in an ancient house and of course the old town area with the market, which sells great food like honey, olive oil, Cretan cheese, nuts, Greek (not Turkish!) Delight and all sorts of interesting items that you cannot get in the UK. Azamara usually berths at Souda just outside Chania and shuttles you into the town for free.

 

Rhodes is my favourite Greek island. The fortified Old Town is magnificent and you can also walk the City Walls if you are feeling energetic in the June heat. If you have been to Rhodes before or you prefer a quiet day then I recommend a boat trip to the pretty island of Symi. Beautiful beaches and a picturesque little town with a visit to Panormitis monastery...very interesting.

 

Kos and Korcula have been covered by others and I have never been to Marmaris, so I'm looking forward to it.