HUGE amount of info for Eastern Med independent travel

[geri]

What follows is a summarization of information I gathered to travel independently in the Eastern Mediterranean cruise ship cities of Venice, Rome, Pisa, Pompeii, Athens, Mykonos, Ephesus, Istanbul, Marseille and Barcelona. My notes are based on cruising with Princess with an arrival into Venice and a departure from Barcelona. I will give a little personal description so that you can gauge yourself against it and better take into account how my subjective references, such as “easy” or “difficult”, compare against you.

 

My husband and I are both in our 40’s and in good shape, but definitely not athletic. We consider the following manageable: Walking 1 mile with wheeled luggage; Rapidly walking 2 miles unencumbered for the purpose of getting a bus or train; Spending an entire day leisurely walking a total of 10 miles for sightseeing purposes. We are American and have traveled frequently to Europe and other non-North American locations. Cultural differences and language barriers do not intimate us. We travel fairly light, meaning each person has one large wheeled bag and one small carry-on bag.

 

General comments regarding European/Mediterranean travel:

When traveling independently in non-North American countries I suggest knowing the local dress code. For Europe this means no wearing of shorts in the cities, even in summer. Keep arms and legs covered when entering any house of worship or other places where “respect” needs to be shown. (ie. Government buildings etc.) In Muslim countries women should carry a headscarf to put over your hair when entering a mosque. I also suggest blending in with the locals by keeping the red, white & blue “I love America” shirts and hats at home. Stick to simple plain colored clothes that help you blend in with the locals. Avoid the American look of baseball caps and T-shirts with bold sayings and logowear. Also pay attention to what you put on your feet. Invest in some dark colored walking shoes and/or Euro style tenner shoes. Avoid the brand-spanking-new-pure-white tenner shoe look. This kind of shoe has “North American” written all over it. Also keep the big jewelry at home and keep your big bucks and credit cards hidden in a money belt. Carry a very small change purse with just enough for train tickets, admissions and a few trinkets. Carry this purse in your front pocket or around your neck. Pulling a small wallet out will keep you from looking like someone with a lot to steal……and in the event you should be a victim of a mugging it allows you to toss the small change purse, yet not lose a serious amount of cash. I also recommend learning a few basic phrases such as “yes; no; do you speak English” in the local language. Most people are kind and helpful if you make even the most meager attempt to politely ask if they are able to speak to you in your language. I’ve traveled to almost every continent and have never had anything “bad” happen to me. If you dress conservatively, speak in a quiet tone and attempt some rudimentary local language you should get along fine with very little trouble.

 

Now on to the ports…..

 

General comment on Italian public transport:

Italian public transport whether by boat, bus or train follows the “first on wins” philosophy. There are not organized queues. Also, when the mode of transportation is ready to pull away it just goes. If there is a bunch of people waiting to get on and someone in front of you is dilly-dallying the conductor will just close the door/pull up the boat rope and leave. Off they go without you. If you are getting on at a place with few people you don’t have much to worry about, but if it is a heavily trafficked area (like the airport or near San Marco in Venice) I suggest getting to the entry point a little early and standing in front. Once the transport arrives people will push their way forward. Just do as the locals and push back until you get on. I’m not saying this to scare you off from using public transport. It works fine and the majority of the time you won’t have a big crowd getting on. I’m only saying this so that you are aware that things work differently than at home. Also, when you buy a ticket for the local water bus (Venice) and trains you must stamp them in the yellow time stamp machines found on the platforms BEFORE you get on the transportation or you will be fined. Attempting to use the “I’m just a dumb tourist” routine will NOT work.

 

Website:

Trenitalia - http://www.trenitaliaplus.com/

Information on rail strikes found under “Alert” section far right side: http://www.seekitaly.com/

 

 

Venice:

After collecting your luggage go to the “Alilaguna” ticket booth in the arrivals hall. Cost is 10 Euro for a ticket to Venice. Exit through the door near the ticket booth and turn right. You will see a sign indicating a free shuttle bus stop. The bus will take you to the Alilaguna stop (and also the water taxi stop for those willing to pay the 100 Euro) There are two lines for the Alilaguna, “Red” and a “Blue”. Boats depart on each line about once per hour. Find out from the hotel you are staying at which line you should take…..or check out a map.

The boats will stop at some combination of the following stops:

Airport

Arsenale

Fondamente Nove

Lido (SME)

Murano Colona (glass factories)

Murano Museo

San Marco

San Zaccaria

Stazione Marittina – where the cruise ships berth

Zattere

 

There is also an Alilaguna that goes from San Marco to Stazione Maritima for a cost of 5 Euro. It is on the blue line and goes every 30 minutes on the “10” and the “40”.

 

 

There is a bus that goes from the airport to Venice’s west end, near the Santa Lucia train station. This is as far as land based travel can be done. The Venice bus station, and train station, are very near to where the cruise ship docks. The bus costs 3 Euro. I did not use either the train or the bus so I cannot comment further on either.

 

ACTV:

Venice is a very compact city with bridges connecting numerous small islands. In order to really see the city you will need to walk. That being said the city water bus (known as the ACTV) can take you around the outer side of Venice, up the Grand Canal and to the islands of Burano Murano, and San Giorgio etc. Buy your ticket at an ACTV booth or at a tobacco shop. Make sure and stamp it in a yellow stamp machine BEFORE you get on the boat or you will be fined. The ACTV is extremely easy to use! Every stop will have a large sign that shows the times and directions of each boat stopping at that location. A 24 hour travel card costs 11 Euro, a 72 hour card is 23 Euro. It becomes valid from the time you stamp it.

You can get a fantastic trip down the Grand Canal on line #1 (slow) or #82 (fast). Get a front seat on the boat at one of the starting points and you will have a beautiful, and complete, view of the entire Grand Canal. In my opinion it is far better (and about 100 Euro cheaper) than doing a Gondola!

You can also take the ACTV to the Piazza Roma stop and walk about 3/4 mile (25 minutes) to the ship. The walk is easy as the terrain is flat and there are no bridges. When you get off the ACTV go up to the main road that comes into Venice. Turn right on this road and just follow it up towards where the cruise ships are docked, which will be on your left hand side.

 

 

Doge Palace: If you want to do the Secret Itinerary Tour at Doge Palace (15 Euro) make an advance reservation as it sells out early. Call 011-39-041-52-09-070. Obviously they will answer in Italian. Ask them “parle Inglese” and they will switch to English for you. You will receive a tour number for either the 9:55; 10:45 or 11:35 English tour. On the day of your tour arrive 20 minutes early. Go to the pre-arranged tour desk to pay and get your ticket.

 

Concerts: They are held all over the city in old churches. Vivaldi (naturally) is the most popular. As you walk around during the day you will pass various booths where they are selling tickets. When you buy the ticket ask them to show you the nearest ACTV stop. They usually have a brochure, which explains in English how to get to the concert via the public transport.

 

Coop Store: This is a commonly seen grocery store chain in Europe. There is a very nice one right where the Piazza Roma ACTV docks. The store caters to the locals using public transport rather than the tourists so the prices are very good. You can easily go here to pick up a few bottles of excellent wines to take back to the cruise ship.

 

Websites:

Venice Airport - http://www.veniceairport.com/

Alilaguna - http://www.alilaguna.it/

ACTV - http://www.actv.it/english/

Venice info - http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/

 

 

Rome (Civitavecchia)

It is about 4 miles to walk from the Princess Berth to the train station (other cruise ships may have completely different locations). The walk is primarily through a shipping wharf area. If you decide to walk it just exit the dock area and stay to your right along the road. Eventually the station will come up on the left hand side. I would suggest taking the free shuttle offered by the city of Civitavecchia. It will pick you up by the boat and drop you off in the town square. At that point you are about ½ mile from the train. If you get on the shuttle first thing in the morning you might ask the driver if he would stop the bus for you near the train station. The bus comes pretty close to the train station before it veers back into the town square. Another option is to catch a cab at the wharf, but the only problem is that they are really looking for big ticket fares into Rome for the day. Chances are if you ask them they’ll want to charge you about 20 Euros for what should be about a 5 Euro ride.

 

Since this is a very full day with a good piece of it spent traveling I strongly recommend getting up very early and getting off the ship right when they open the ramp for departures. Not only do you need every minute to count, but also if you do this there is a very good chances you’ll find about 10 other people headed with you to the train station. This will give you the option of negotiating a cab together to the train station should the free shuttle not be there.

 

At the train station you’ll want to get the “Civitavecchia to Roma Termini (Tutte Le Stazioni)” train. The ride will be about 1 hour and 15 min. A 24 hour rail pass will give you a round trip to Rome and it will include all public metro’s within Rome. The cost is 9 Euro. Remember to time stamp it at the yellow machine! If you are going first to the Vatican you can save yourself 15 minutes and exit the train at the San Pietro (Stazione di San Pietro) station. The trains from Rome to Civitavechhia do not have maps inside the train telling you what stops are coming up and announcements are made only in Italian. If you are going all the way to Termini you don’t have to worry because it’s the end of the line for the train. If you want to get off at San Pietro it will be approximately 45 minutes from the time your trip begins. I suggest asking someone at the train station booth, or a local person on the train, what the name of the stop is before San Pietro. Then when you hear that stop called you can prepare yourself to get off at the next stop. I did this with a very nice local person and it just happened that she was getting off there herself…..so I just followed her.

 

Vatican: The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel will be very crowded with mile long lines to get in! Waits can be up to two hours! You can hopefully not deal with this by sending a fax to the Vatican requesting a tour of the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. You can do this 30 days out from your trip. English guided tours are done at 10:30, 12:00 & 2:00. Send your name, time and the number of tickets wanted to 011-39-06-6988-5100. Hopefully you will get a response back within 2 weeks. The Vatican will send you a response back via Fax. You take this information and go to the exit door for the Vatican museum. Tell the security guard you are there for a pre-arranged tour. Enter and there will be a counter on the right side. Give the person there your name. At that point you will be sent through security and you will then need to pay the 21.50 Euro for the tour. The tour is excellent! It is conducted via radio-frequency device. The guide will begin by showing you pictures of the Sistine chapel and providing an explanation of what you will see there. They do this up front as guides are not allowed into the Chapel and there must be complete silence once you are inside. At the end of the tour you will go past a couple of gift shops and then just before you exit there is the Vatican City post office. You can buy post cards here along with Vatican stamps. You then mail your cards in the postal box and it will be postmarked from the Vatican.

FYI…..You will see everyone from the ship that paid big bucks for their Sistine Chapel tour standing in the long line with everyone else. Going with a ship tour does not get you a shortcut into the Vatican!

 

In order to enter St. Peters you must also stand in line, but that is just to pass through metal detectors. Although this line may also look long it moves very quickly.

 

Websites:

Trenitalia - http://www.trenitaliaplus.com/

Vatican - http://www.vatican.va/

Rome Metro - http://www.atac.roma.it/

 

 

Pisa (Livorno):

Although the cruise ship touted this as a stop for Florence I opted out of doing this as round trip travel would take a minimum 3 hours out of the day. Instead I focused on seeing Pisa, both the Tower and the town.

 

In order to get to Pisa by train you will first need to get to the “Livorno Centrale - Piazza Dante” train station in Livorno. The Princess dock is about 5 miles from the train station….and the first two miles is through the shipping dockyard, which has no sidewalks. So walking from the ship to the train is really not an option. There are only two ways to get there:

Option 1, which I did, was to get a cab for 15Euros. Just sleep later and wait until everyone wanting to go to Florence has left the ship. The cabs won’t take you any earlier and if they do they will charge you an arm & a leg. It’s very easy to explore Pisa in about 4 hours so there is no need to rush around today!

Option 2 is to take a Princess shuttle bus to Piazza Grande (Livorno city center) for a cost of US$5.00. At Piazza Grande you can take the “#1” city bus, which leaves every 10 minutes, for a cost of 1Euro. Get the ticket at the tobacco or news agent stand.

 

At the train station buy a round trip ticket from Livorno Centrale to Pisa Centrale for 3.40Euro. Once the train departs Livorno the very next stop (about 15 minutes ride) is Pisa. Very easy! Remember to time stamp that ticket in the yellow machine!

 

When you exit the train station follow the sidewalk on the left hand side about 2 blocks north and you will see a visitor information desk. Stop and pick up a map of Pisa. The walk to the leaning tower is a flat, easy walk of about 30 minutes. You can follow the main street (Corso Italia) almost all the way. As you walk along this pedestrian friendly main street there is plenty of window shopping, street vendors and gelato stands! Once at the tower you can wander the grounds free of charge. If you wish to visit the tower, the church or any of the other buildings there is a fee. There is one very clean public toilet, but you will need to pay Euro 0.30 cents.

 

If you get back to Livorno early enough you may want to walk from the train station to Livorno’s Piazza Grande. The walk is along a lovely large boulevard, with many local shops and nice architecture to view. In Piazza Grande you can hop back on the Princess Shuttle or take a cab.

 

 

Websites:

Trenitalia - http://www.trenitaliaplus.com/

 

 

Pompeii (Naples):

Naples is probably one of the easiest places to get to the train station!

 

When you exit the Princess dock in Naples you will see a large 4 lane highway separated by a meridian. Cross over this street to the opposite side and you will see a news agent stand. Tell them you want a round trip ticket to Pompeii. They will sell you an all day pass for 4.00 Euro. This pass will allow you to use the local transport in Naples as well as your trip out to Pompeii. (FYI…a single way train ticket to Pompeii is 2.10Euro.)

Once you get your pass walk back over to the meridian in the middle of the street and hop on the trolley (not bus) #1 going East. It’s a 5-minute ride on this trolley to the train station. When you get on the bus just watch out the windows on the right side and hop off when the trolley pulls up next to the “Circumvesuviana Train Station”.

There will be a number of trains in the station. Remember to time stamp your ticket in the yellow machine or you will be fined! Do not get on the train going to “Pompeii” as this train takes you to the city of Pompeii, which is a bit of a walk from the ruins. Instead get on the train to “Sorrento”. This train will stop at “Pompeii Scavi”, which is the stop right in front of the entrance to the ruins. The entire train ride is about 20 minutes. Once you arrive at Pompeii Scavi exit the train station building, turn to your right, and follow the sidewalk up to the entrance of the ruins.

 

When you return to Naples there are about 2-3 trains every hour from Pompeii Scavi. Once back in Naples there is a nice public market right by the train station you might want to explore. You can also easily walk back to where the ship docks or just hop on any bus or trolley headed westbound. I’ve seen comments regarding the walk between the ship dock to the train station as being very dicey. I live in a big city and I can’t honestly say that a walk through this area was any different than what I’d do at home. Perhaps walking alone in the early morning might be a problem with shady characters, but in the late afternoon we walked along with lots of other locals. At no point did I feel concerned about safety.

 

Pompeii Ruins

Entry to the ruins is 10Euro. An audio-headset (which I highly recommend) is 4.50 Euro. Make sure and bring along a picture ID (your drivers license) which you must leave with the rental counter. Pompeii opens at 08:30.

I strongly recommend getting off the boat early and being at Pompeii right when it opens. The crowds at that time are almost non-existent. This will enable you to view the most popular buildings first, before the tour buses arrive. If you are making a whole day of the ruins make sure and go to the far back area where there is a lovely park with picnic tables. We spent about 5 hours at the ruins and relaxed in this park for about 45 minutes. We saw only one other person back here during that entire time!

 

Website:

Trenitalia - http://www.trenitaliaplus.com/

 

 

Athens (Piraeus)

The train from the port into Athens runs about every 3 minutes and once again is amazingly easy to take. When you get off the ship go left and just follow the sidewalk along the port. When you reach the “Plateia Karaiskaki” plaza there is a big fork in the road. At this point turn to the right (you’ll be walking away from the port). Now keep your eyes open and about 1 city block up on the right is the Metro station. Most big cities have the Metro marked with large letters or just a big red “M”, but unfortunately that is not the case here. So keep your eyes open or you could walk right past it. The walk is about 1.5 miles (30 minutes).

 

Take the Line 1 Metro. Go to the ticket counter and ask for a round trip ticket. You will get two tickets (one for each direction) at a cost of Euro 0.70 cents a piece. Stamp one of your tickets in the yellow time stamp machine before getting on the train. (Do not stamp the second ticket until you are ready to come back. Once stamped the ticket is only good for about 90 minutes.) When the Metro leaves Pireaus there will be 5 stops before it comes to the “Theseum” stop. Exit here for the Acropolis. If you just want to go into Athens itself for shopping stay on for the next exit, which is the “Monastiraki” stop.

 

If you exit at Theseum just go up the stairs of the train station and at the top you will see a large boulevard to your right. Just follow it up and soon on your left you will see the Acropolis! Just continue right up the boulevard and after about 10 minutes you will see signs pointing the way to the Acropolis ticket counter.

 

Acropolis:

It is open from 08:00 – 19:00 and cost is 12.00 Euro. You will get a ticket with 5 punch outs on it. Each punch out is used when entering a site. Sites include Acropolis & museum, Ancient Agora (which is right by the Theseum train station), Theatre of Dionysos Kerameikos, Olmpieion, Roman Agora.

 

 

Mykonos:

The Princess port is about 1 mile north of the town. When docked if you look to the right you can see the town along the coast. This is a very easy walk. At first glance it looks like it could be difficult, as there appears to be a large hill that you must walk up, but once you are doing it you’ll find it’s really nothing. The views along the way are beautiful. The only down side is that the dock is relatively new and so there are no sidewalks from the ship to the town. You must walk along the side of the road with cars and buses passing you. The good news is that the vehicles will slow down. I suggest walking against the oncoming cars so that you can see them approaching.

 

If you don’t want to walk there are two other options.

Option #1: Take the Princess shuttle which is $6 US each way. This shuttle will not take you all the way into town. It takes you on a ¾ mile trip into a large parking lot where you get off.

Option #2: Walk out of the dock area and look up the road. You will see a local tavern. Go in and buy a ticket on the local bus for 1 Euro. The local bus will take you to the same place as the Princess bus, however it only goes once per hour at the top of the hour.

 

Once you are in town you really just wander up and down the streets. You’ll find shops, places to have a drink, visit the windmills etc.

 

If you want to go to a nearby beach the ship is docked right next to Aghios Stephanos Beach.

After the boat docks look out to the left and you will see the cove and umbrellas. Although I did not walk to the beach it looks to be very easy to get to. Exit the dock area and walk along the road to the left. You should get to the beach in about 15 minutes.

 

 

Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey

This is the only port where I booked a ship excursion. My primary reason for doing so was that the ship was docked from 07:00-13:00 and I wanted to go 25 miles inland to the Virgin Mary’s final home, Ephesus ruins and the Bascilica of St. John. The ship charged US$56 for this tour and when I checked into prearranged independent travel I could not find anyone offering better pricing. Public transportation, such as a train, is not available. Surprisingly the ship tour was very, very good. The person giving our tour was “Happy Ahmed”. At the end of this outing I was very glad I had booked with the ship. The price was not out of line with what was received, the guide was fantastic and considering we got off the ship at 6:45 and returned at 12:45 I’d say it was a very tight schedule. Had we gone independent I’m certain I would have worried about being late for departure.

 

All that being said I do know someone that secured a taxi for 3 hours for 4 people with a driver for 75$. They did not get a tour, only a ride to these 3 locations. They negotiated right at the shore and only with licensed cabs. If you travel independent I believe fees into Ephesus are $5.00 US and to Mary’s Home $1.50 US.

 

I can not speak much about Kusadasi itself as we returned in time just to get on the ship. I believe there is a Turkish Bath and tea houses as well as shops. You can also easily walk over to Goveroin Ada (Pidgeon Island), which is a walled fortress connected to the mainland by a footbridge. When you get off the ship turn right and you will see it.

 

Websites:

Goveroin Ada: http://www.kusadasi.biz/pigeonisland_.asp

Kusadasi: http://www.*************/

 

 

Istanbul

Princess will dock just north of city itself. About 2 – 3 miles from the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque etc. All the main sites most tourists want to see are very near to each other and easy to walk between. As you exit the ship turn to your left and follow the water. You will come to the Goloto Bridge, cross it and continue left for the Mosque, Topkapi etc. The area between the ship and the Bridge is very much dockyard shipping, although there are sidewalks on the main street. The area after the bridge into the town is much more commercial. The people of Turkey align themselves more with Europe than with Arabia, therefore it feels “european” as you walk and you will see a mix of women dressed with and without head coverings.

There are many cabs at the dock that will take you into the town for about 10 Euro. You may want to take a cab in and walk back to the ship at your leisure. I am told some people had hassles getting cabs back to the ship at the end of the day. My rule of thumb in any big city is to go to a major hotel in the area (and there are plenty in downtown Istanbul) and catch a cab there. Just make sure you are very clear about the price, in Euros, for the entire cab ride and make sure the price includes every person getting into the cab. Do this before you step foot in the cab. Most of the cab drivers do not speak English so you should probably write down where you want to go on a piece of paper and present it to the driver. The drivers will accept US Dollars or Euros, so Turkish Lira are not required.

 

I opted to pre-arrange a driver for Istanbul primarily because of the number of sites I wanted to see and the convenience of having the driver wait at each stop. This worked fine and I have no regrets, although I did pay an upcharge for a “tour guide” who really did not provide any value-add, therefore I cannot recommend this person and will not share their name. Should I return to Istanbul in the future I would take a cab to my starting point and work my way back to the ship by walking.

 

Topkapi Saray – Open 09:00-16:30; 9 Euro.

Hippodrome – Open air park.

Underground Cistern – Open 09:00-16:30; 1 Euro.

Blue Mosque – Open 09:00-17:00; free (Head scarves for ladies & everyone must remove shoes. You carry the shoes with you.)

 

 

Websites:

Istanbul information - http://english.istanbul.com/?Vst=2

Map of Istanbul with hotels (use to get a cab)- http://hoteldirectoryturkey.com/mapistanbul.html

 

 

Marseille

Princess will dock about 5 miles north of the city. Most of the area is dockyards and freeways so you cannot walk. Princess has a shuttle which will take you into town for $4 US each way. There are taxi’s at the port as well.

 

If you take the shuttle into the city you will be dropped off right by the wharf. From there walk to the center point of the wharf and look across the street where you will see a visitor center. The visitor center has many maps and the staff there will be very helpful in offering suggestions as to what to see. Make sure you get all your questions answered there as France is not tourist friendly (meaning signs will only be in French and the people are not inclined to help tourists).

 

Also, as you get off the shuttle you will see a colorful city tram that will take you to Notre Dame de la Garde. I believe it was about 8 Euro to do this and there appeared to be a tour, in English, along the way. The port will also have the shuttle boats to Chateau d’If.

 

Chateau d’If:

You must take the shuttle boat which runs from 09:00 – 17:00 at a cost of 10 Euro. Entrance into the Chateau will be 4 Euro. They do not provide tours in English. Once you arrive immediately check the board as to the departure time for the next boat back to the port. They run about every hour so you’ll want to know how much time to take with your sightseeing.

 

 

Barcelona

Cabs from the ship to the Las Ramblas hotels will be about 15 Euro and to the airport will be about 25 Euro. There is a very orderly line for the cabs with porters nearby to assist with bags. The Spanish police keep the cabs moving along. In addition the cabs are metered so you do not need to be concerned with having to negotiate the fare up front. The cab drivers speak very limited English so if you can speak some minimal Spanish it will be helpful. Most people stay on in Barcelona after the cruise so you’ll find the line for cabs is much longer at 9:30 than at 7:30, although it does move quickly. Ditto for when you arrive at your hotel! If you are staying in the main tourist area of the city you will likely encounter a line up of others from the ship when trying to do an early check-in.

 

Although the walk from the ship dock to the hotel sector is not that far it would be a struggle with bags through the industrial area, and the dock area is very crime ridden. So unless you only came on board with a backpack I would not suggest doing it.

 

Once you arrive within the heart of Barcelona you’ll find it has an excellent metro system, although I opted to walk everywhere so I cannot comment on it.

 

La Sagrada Familia: Beautiful example of Gaudi’s work. You can buy a single ticket for 8 Euro. An audio-guide is available for 3.5 Euro and well worth it. You will need to leave you drivers license for the audio-guide. If you are spending a few days in Barcelona you can buy a pass into a few of his sites for I believe 9 Euro.

 

Transport to the airport can be done via the Aerobus in Placa de Catalunya. It departs from a bus stop area in front of the “Corte Ingles” store and runs from 5:30 – 23:00. Departures occur every 15 minutes for a cost of 4 Euro. Once the bus departs it will make 4 stops before it gets to the airport. It will then stop at all 3 terminals (A,B,C). Make sure and find out which terminal your airline departs from before you leave home. I believe most international flights depart from terminal A. The trip takes 30 minutes.

 

There is also a metro that departs Placa de Catalunya for the airport every 30 minutes. The trip takes 25 minutes and will make one stop before it reaches the airport. Cost is 3 Euro.

 

Websites:

Barcelona bus & train - http://www.tmb.net/ca_ES/home.jsp

Barcelona tourism - http://www.bcn-guide.com/

 

 

Have a wonderful time on your Med Cruise. Hopefully I’ll make the trip again one day!!

[DonLou]

What a wonderful narrative, Geri. Even though I'm interested in only Civitavecchia and Pisa, the entire piece was a fantastic read. Thanks once again for the Rome and Pisa info. Very, very helpful!

[mountainmare]

Thank you for the great information!! We are going next October and I have been looking at maps of Naples, I didn't think that it looked too far from the train station to the dock. We plan on doing almost exactly what you did, except I hope to get back to Naples early enough to get pizza.

[mountainmare]

Thank you for the great information!! We are going next October and I have been looking at maps of Naples, I didn't think that it looked too far from the train station to the dock. We plan on doing almost exactly what you did, except I hope to get back to Naples early enough to get pizza.

[swong]

We'll being on the Grand Med cruise in June 2006 and there will be some ports that we would like to try on our own. Your information will definitely come in handy for our independent excursions. Thanks for providing such an informative review!

[travelingmcmahans]

Thanks for the great info! This will go in my bookmark file for our 2007 trip planning. :)

[BCHappyGal]

Thank you so much for taking the time to put up such an informative review of how to independantly do the various shore excursions. I almost always do my own thing when in port so really appreciate all the tips and help.

[cadreamer]

Thanks so much for the great review. We also did this trip and did much of what you hve described. Thanks for putting it all in writing. Here are a couple of additonal ideas for independent travel in some of these ports.

Rome - You can get a list of the intermediate stops on the train from Civitavecchia at Trenitalia. If you click on the number of your selection on the schedule ( 1 or 2 or 3 etc.) and next click on the train number. The stop before Roma S. Pietro(Vatican) is Roma Aurelia. When you get off the train at the Vataican stop you can get on the bus right in front of the station #64 and go 2-3 stops to the St.Peters square stop. It is not far but you may want ot save your strength for a long day of walking. You can take it back from the Vatican to the station at the end of the day also. This is an small ,easy station and we returned to Civitavecchia from there at the end of the day.

Another option at the Vatican is the Scavi Tour which is of the excavations under St. Peters. You also need a reservation for this and the email address to request it is scavi@fsp.va After they reply you prepay for this. It is very interesting and you can find lots more info about it on cruisecritic search. The entrance for this tour is on the left side of the basilica. We were amazed at how crowded the Vatican Musesum was. We never got a reply to our request for a private tour even tho we sent 4 faxes so we did it on our own.

Livrono - We took the train to Florence and it is about 1 1/2 hours each way. You get yourself to the same train station - Livorno Centrale as you would for going to Pisa. When you get to Florence exit the station by going thru the tunnel marked "commercial Galleria". This takes you under the busy intersection and once on the street just walk straight to the Duomo etc. Coming back the #1 bus back to Piazza Grande is right outside the station.

Mykonos - If you are intersted in seeing a little more of the isalnd and another more touristy beach with restaurants and facilities you can take a bus to Platis Gialos beach. Once in town find the windmills and then walk past them continuing uphill to the bus stop. It is a busy spot (you will know it when you see it and most likely there will be buses parked there)with a convenience store where you buy the ticket for 1 euro each way. Tehna,me onthe bus is Platis Gialos and Platis Gialos is the end of the line and it takes about 10-15 minutes to get there. The bus runs about every half hour. We ate lunch at the Hotel Acrogiali ( I think it is the second one you come to as you walk along the beach) right on the sand, and afterwards they invited us to stay on the beach and use their chairs etc. It was a wonderful time. They were very gracious and welcoming.

Thanks again for the great review which will be very helpful to independent crusiers next year.

[atakan]

please note admission fees are wrong.

Ephesus shoşd be 11 usd pp.

House of Virgin Mary 9 Usd pp.

 

it is 15 TL for Ephesus

12 TL for the House of The Virgin Mary.

 

One usd = 1.35 ytl.

 

regards

[kernow]

Thanks for the info.

 

We are doing Splendour of the Seas next October that leaves from Venice. We are planning to fly in a day early and overnight there. Are there any hotels that are close to the port? We went to Venice about 20 years ago but I can only really remember the area around St Mark's Square.

 

Also your info on Athens was very helpful, think we'll use the metro as you suggest.

 

Julie

[carlmm]

Geri,

 

as European I like to congratulate you on sharing this amount of information!

I hope it will help many Americans to respect European culture and encourage them to venture out independently. Your report shows how easy it is and how much one can gain!

[Susan-M]

 

Are there any hotels that are close to the port? We went to Venice about 20 years ago but I can only really remember the area around St Mark's Square.

 

Julie

 

Julie: We stayed at the Sofitel which is in Piazzale Roma area - a really nice hotel (Celebrity uses it, but we booked it on our own). You are close to the port (Marittima:http://www.vtp.it/pages/comeRaggiungerci/crociere.jsp?n=0 ) - you can take a land taxi to Piazzale Roma and also the airport bus for 3E to the airport -it's about a 5 minute walk from P. Roma to the hotel, with one bridge to cross. It's also close to the Vaporetta to get to St. Mark's Square - but also within walking distance to St. Mark's.

 

We also did Athens by subway...you can buy a 24 hour ticket for 3E. There are a few recent reviews (Putz, Kidfixr, and mine) on doing ports on your own. If you want links to any of them, let me know...there is some good Athens info in them as well.

[geri]

Julie,

Regarding a hotel in Venice.

 

Corte Contarina

Castello, 1931

Venice 30122

 

It's a family run hotel. Cozy, homey & European. Located in the residential east end.

 

Alilaguna stop = Arsenale.

Vaporetto stop - Giardini

 

 

FYI....If you require an elevator and lots of US style amenities such as big rooms, bellman services, on site restaurant etc. then this would not be the place for you.

 

Query on the internet and you'll get a number of websites advertising rates. Shop around for the best one.

[kernow]

Thanks for the hotel info. We are very interested in the Sofitel. We stayed at the one in Miami before our cruise in April and were very pleased.

 

Susan M, did you book through the hotel's web site or somewhere else?

Also if you could post a link to your review that would be great.

 

Thanks, Julie

[Susan-M]

Hi Julie,

 

I booked through the Sofitel's website as prices were the same as those shown on discount hotel sites (230E for Oct 1/05.) Payment wasn't required until we checked out. It's a little higher price than some hotels, but we saved a lot by not having to take water taxis. One other advantage was that they were willing to take a one night reservation on a w/e, whereas many other hotels I contacted had a 2 night minimum.

Good reviews on Tripadvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187870-d202684-Reviews-Sofitel_Venezia-Venice_Veneto.html

 

Here's the link to my review from our Sept. Millennium cruise: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=240792

 

Have fun planning your cruise!

 

p.s. Geri....great review! This is the kind of practical info that makes it so easy to do the ports on your own.

[CruzinPat]

What great info!! It's our first cruise to the med and we need all the inside info we can get. Thanks for taking the time to post your expert knowledge for us!

[markm]

My wife, Cheryl and I will be cruising on the Voyager of the Seas, Sept 23, 2006 to the Med and this info will be very helpful. This will be our first trip overseas. We are so looking forward to it and will use the info that you have provided.

 

 

Mark:D

[BONITATIME]

I wanted to add my thanks we are going to the eastern end of the med next summer for the first time with the Brillance of the seas and I have saved loads of your information to take with us.

We are not very good at being organised so independant travel is great for us

 

Thanks Again

Nikki

[NAS-KARR]

Thanks loads, will add this to our already growing file.

[cusyl]

I am going to print your review and take it with us in June.

[Fabulous2B50]

We will be arriving on the Golden Princess in Livorno on a Monday and are only interested in doing Pisa. When you purchase your train tickets to and from Pisa, do you have to book a specifice return time or is it a flexible return schedule on the ticket? We also want to,of course get tickets to climb the tower. Any suggestions on what admission times to aim for? We will probably just get a cab from the ship to the train station in Livorno as this will give us the greatest flexibility in getting to the train station when we want. You mentioned "sleeping in" in order to secure a cab to Livorno without waiting. What is your definition of "sleeping in" we can gauge our time to try to get the cab we want. That will also help us know what time to book our tickets to climb the tower.

Thanks for your great information. I, too,plan to print this out before we go.

[geri]

Fabulous2B50:

Pisa Train: You do not book a specific time for the train to/from Pisa. Just buy a round trip ticket and stamp each ticket prior to getting on the train for each portion of the trip. Once you stamp the ticket you have about 90 minutes to use it before it expires.

 

Pisa Tower: I was there about 12:00 on a weekday in October and there was no line at all. Anyone wanting to climb it just paid and walked up. Things may be different in the Summer.

 

Sleeping in: Plan to leave the ship not right when it docks, but maybe 60 to 90 minutes after docking. People headed to Florence will get off immediately as they have a huge travel day ahead of them. After the first hour there are very few people left on the ship....and therefore the taxi's are more willing to take you to the train station ......they know big fare trips to Florence no longer exist.

[doctrd]

Just wanted to thank you for information, and keep this post near the top where it belongs.

[GA-peach]

We are planning to travel with Celebrity Nov 10, 2006 Eastern Med cruise. Your notes have been a huge help to me. We are hoping to do all of the ports independently with the exception of Kusadasi.

 

How far of a walk is it from the Piazza Roma in Venice to the cruise ship dock?

 

Do you think that Sunday morning is a good time to visit the Vatican? Will it be very crowded?

 

Thank you

[Fabulous2B50]

geri,

Thanks for all of your wonderful info. Since we will be in Livorno on a Monday, we have no plans to visit Florence and just want to really see and climb the tower in Pisa. My daughter is salivating over the thought of going there and climbing it. I am getting in shape to do lots of stair climbs as I work in a hospital that has 15 stories (the last 4 flights are to the helicopter pad!) and it is just a bit more than the 294 steps in the Tower of Pisa! I will definitely print out your directions to do it on our own to Pisa. It will be so much cheaper than doing a Princess excursion there!