Greece and other Mediterranean ports excursions

[biggytaz]

Pre and post cruise  hotels all booked, now off to research ports of calls. My wife and I have not been at all so we are looking for the historical highlights, interesting foods and wines and in general the must sees in this area. Thoughts on these ports and any recommended tour vendors in these ports. in rome we will be there the day before (arriving at 8am) and the day after in barcelona.

I think we are just going to do our own walking tour in rome that way we can go at our own pace since we will be getting in in the morning and may crash early from jet lag.

 

I appreciate all your help.

 

Mat

 

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 07:00 PM
 
10/2/22 Naples, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii) 07:00 AM 06:00 PM
 
10/3/22 At Sea
 
10/4/22 Crete (Heraklion), Greece 09:00 AM 06:00 PM
 
10/5/22 Kusadasi, Turkey (for Ephesus) 07:00 AM 02:00 PM
 
10/6/22 Istanbul, Turkey 09:00 AM 06:00 PM
 
10/7/22 Mykonos, Greece 12:00 PM 09:00 PM
 
10/8/22 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 04:00 AM 07:00 PM
 
10/9/22 Santorini, Greece 07:00 AM 07:00 PM
 
10/10/22 At Sea
 
10/11/22 Kotor, Montenegro 07:00 AM 03:00 PM
 
10/12/22 Sicily (Messina), Italy 12:00 PM 08:00 PM
 
10/13/22 Naples, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii) 07:00 AM 07:00 PM
 
10/14/22 At Sea
 
10/15/22 Barcelona, Spain

[jas283a]

22 minutes ago, biggytaz said:

Pre and post cruise  hotels all booked, now off to research ports of calls. My wife and I have not been at all so we are looking for the historical highlights, interesting foods and wines and in general the must sees in this area. Thoughts on these ports and any recommended tour vendors in these ports. in rome we will be there the day before (arriving at 8am) and the day after in barcelona.

I think we are just going to do our own walking tour in rome that way we can go at our own pace since we will be getting in in the morning and may crash early from jet lag.

 

I appreciate all your help.

 

Mat

 

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 07:00 PM
 
10/2/22 Naples, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii) 07:00 AM 06:00 PM
 
10/3/22 At Sea
 
10/4/22 Crete (Heraklion), Greece 09:00 AM 06:00 PM
 
10/5/22 Kusadasi, Turkey (for Ephesus) 07:00 AM 02:00 PM
 
10/6/22 Istanbul, Turkey 09:00 AM 06:00 PM
 
10/7/22 Mykonos, Greece 12:00 PM 09:00 PM
 
10/8/22 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 04:00 AM 07:00 PM
 
10/9/22 Santorini, Greece 07:00 AM 07:00 PM
 
10/10/22 At Sea
 
10/11/22 Kotor, Montenegro 07:00 AM 03:00 PM
 
10/12/22 Sicily (Messina), Italy 12:00 PM 08:00 PM
 
10/13/22 Naples, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii) 07:00 AM 07:00 PM
 
10/14/22 At Sea
 
10/15/22 Barcelona, Spain

We did Greece last summer, so that's the one I could help with the most.  In Crete, I would definitely do a Hop On/Hop Off bus tour to see the sites and get around.  We went to Knossos palace (an archeological site) and it was amazing (it's outside of town, but the bus takes you there), we also really enjoyed the archeological museum there (which is actually back in town).  There were other things we could've seen, but that filled our day quickly, the open air bus did help give us a feel for the town.  We just wandered and explored in Mykonos and Santorini, in Santorini we went to Oia first by water taxi and then took a bus back to Fira where you go back to the port by cable car.  I heard that the beaches are really good in both, Mykonos a traditional beach and Santorini has different colored sand because it's volcanic.  For history, in Mykonos, we were going to go to Dellos, which is an ancient ruins site, but we got off the boat too late to make the ferry over, but people we talked to said it was amazing and similar to Knossos.  Athens is where our cruise started so we had some more time, but you of course have to see the Acropolis, but make sure to save some time/money to go through the Acropolis museum that they have just down the hill from the Parthenon.  You have to plan carefully to give yourself time to do both, which we regrettably did not do, but just seeing from the outside it looked amazing (even outside, you're walking on glass floors looking down at very cool features) and everyone we talked to said it really added to the Acropolis experience (because that's where they stored all the artifacts collected from the Acropolis).  There were many other things we could've seen and done in Athens, but you only have so much time (and we had jet lag...).  

[mapleleaves]

Since you're just starting your research, I highly recommend Rick Steves book "Mediterranean Cruise Ports".    He provides info on popular sights and activities at each port. Learn as much as you can about each port to determine what you want to see and do.  The more you know, the better your trip will be!  Depending on your interests, some ports are easily done as DIY, whereas others might benefit from a guide.  

Also, join your ship's roll call.   You'll people on your sailing who have signed up for a tour but need others to join in to lower the cost. (and people looking to share the cost of a transfer to/from the airport)