Please share your DO NOT MISS sights and excursions for Empires of the Med

[kctwinmommy]

59 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Get the Google translate app for your phone.  Pick the languages then aim your camera  at the words on your computer screen.  Read the translation on your phone.  Use same for menus when you travel. 

OK I'll try that too, but my regular Google translate on my phone & computer didn't work. Thanks! I'll have that for our trip anyway.

 

[Peregrina651]

40 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

OK I'll try that too, but my regular Google translate on my phone & computer didn't work. Thanks! I'll have that for our trip anyway.

 

 

Do you need to download the language  to your phone? Its a longshot but if Croatian doesn't work try Bosnian and Serbian, two other languages spoken in Croatia.

[kctwinmommy]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Do you need to download the language  to your phone? Its a longshot but if Croatian doesn't work try Bosnian and Serbian, two other languages spoken in Croatia.

I got it with the translate app, but even then there were a few words it didn't translate. Either way, it doesn't tell me any tours. LOL! It just lists admission prices.

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

I got it with the translate app, but even then there were a few words it didn't translate.

 

 

That happens probably for all the languages. Otherwise the files are too big for users to want to download and they are too big to search quickly.

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

Important note about visiting Santorini:  When we were there June 2023, Viking's itinerary listed us calling (tender) Santorini at 0800.  The ship did call at 0800, BUT, only those booked on Viking's excursions were able to tender in - and they tendered to a small dock which was down the coast from the gondola and appeared only to be used by the coaches.  After everyone on Viking tours had disembarked, the ship lifted anchor and went around the corner to another spot where they anchored and only at 10 am were we allowed to disembark/tender to shore.  Now we were at the base of the gondola, however, there were other ships in port with tenders and ferries constantly docking, so getting to the gondola was pretty much impossible.  Viking provided roundtrip gondola tickets, but there must have been a thousand people crammed into the small area at the base of the gondola.  We tried to find the end of the line and after about 30 minutes of waiting (and the ferries dock closer to the base of the gondola, so every time a ferry came in, those people ended up in front of us), we turned around and gave our tickets to the Viking person manning the tent and headed back to the ship.  We rode on the tender back to the ship with 2 people who had booked the Viking included walking tour, gotten off the ship at 0800, did the tour, walked around the town a bit and were heading back to the ship for lunch.

 

So the bottom line is:  Book an early morning Viking tour, if just to get yourself on the island!  and be careful about booking your own tour because who knows when you might actually be able to meet your private tour guide.

[millybess]

I will add that Viking’s tenders won’t be used.  It was explained to us by the Viking GM that all the tenders are local and are operated by the Santorini Boatmen’s Association which is a union organization in control of transferring passengers.  Their tenders are also larger.

[longterm]

I'd recommend the Dubrovnik walk on the wall around the Old City, but will note that it's not for people with a fear of heights (as I have), and does involve 1,080 steps if you do the entire 1.2 miles around the town. Having said that, I made it all the way around, despite my fear, and definitely plan to do it again.

In Kotor we found a great rug shop called Silk and Silky; we plan to revisit it when we do the Barcelona->Istanbul cruise in 2026. 

I don't recall if you said you'd be stopping in Sicily, but if you are docking in Messina, and if you're a fan of the Godfather movies, the excursion into the hills above Messina, to some filming sites from the Godfather movies, was a highlight for us.

In Athens, we took the post-extension and visited Delphi and Mycenae, both of which were some of my favorite spots to visit. Also, in Athens, the Acropolis Museum is easily my favorite archaeological museum and is a must-see. Also in Athens, a visit to the Plaza district is well worth a few hours.

[duquephart]

31 minutes ago, longterm said:

I'd recommend the Dubrovnik walk on the wall around the Old City, but will note that it's not for people with a fear of heights (as I have), and does involve 1,080 steps if you do the entire 1.2 miles around the town. Having said that, I made it all the way around, despite my fear, and definitely plan to do it again.

In Kotor we found a great rug shop called Silk and Silky; we plan to revisit it when we do the Barcelona->Istanbul cruise in 2026. 

I don't recall if you said you'd be stopping in Sicily, but if you are docking in Messina, and if you're a fan of the Godfather movies, the excursion into the hills above Messina, to some filming sites from the Godfather movies, was a highlight for us.

In Athens, we took the post-extension and visited Delphi and Mycenae, both of which were some of my favorite spots to visit. Also, in Athens, the Acropolis Museum is easily my favorite archaeological museum and is a must-see. Also in Athens, a visit to the Plaza district is well worth a few hours.

 

Please tell us what was special about the rug shop.

[longterm]

(Not sure why CC showed my photo 7 times... I only added it once)

 

What was special? Well, it's totally subjective, but my wife and I liked the guys who worked there, and bought a couple of small items that we really love.

 

Another thing that made that visit memorable was that we were on our tour in 2022, when Italy was just rebounding from the pandemic. At that time in Italy, cruise passengers had to be accompanied by ship tour directors, so we couldn't go off into Italian towns while we were on the cruise (we spent 5 days in Rome on our own before the tour though), so when we got to Kotor, we were allowed to wander freely through the town, for the first time since boarding the ship in Rome. Just being able to be alone in a town was a relief, after having to be squired through each Italian port.

Needless to say, these guys at the rug shop were on the watch for cruise passengers like us, and were slick as can be, but we knew that before we went in, laughed at their rather obvious attempts to upsell, and managed to resist their attempts to send us home after parting with thousands of dollars. Taking into account our limited knowledge of woven goods, the quality of what we saw seemed very fine.

We have quite a few nice rugs in our house, but I have to say that the throw rug we bought at that shop is the finest one that we have. 

 

Edited February 15 by longterm

[longterm]

On 2/15/2024 at 12:37 PM, longterm said:

On 2/15/2024 at 10:24 AM, longterm said:

 

Also in Athens, a visit to the Plaza district is well worth a few hours.

It's "Plaka District," not Plaza (damn autocorrect).