Question on Mediterranean shore excursions and mobility

[tommy275]

Hi everyone,

 

First, I want to say that this board has been very helpful in planning our cruise. Thanks to everyone for sharing so much great info.

 

My wife and I are taking my 84 year old mother-in-law on the Navigator from Athens to Monte Carlo. While she's sharp as a tack and was no stranger to traveling in her younger days, the reality is that she cannot move very quickly or walk long distances. Even though she's been saying that we can just "go on without her", we are trying to come up with a game plan of what we might be able to do in the ports of call. Staying on the ship (for any of us) isn't an option.

 

I reviewed the shore excursions on the Regent site, and not many look like they'd be doable for someone like my MIL. That said, we're at a loss as to what to expect once we get to the ports. My wife and I have traveled quite a bit, including Europe, and we're used to just making our own way (if it were just the two of us, we'd jump in a cab, go to the center of town, and walk around eating and site-seeing all day).

 

Does anyone have any suggetions as to what we might expect as far as transportation and possible destinations for the three of us? We are travelers and would rather soak in the culture than ride around on a bus, but we're open to any suggestions at this point.

 

Thanks in advance.

[jhp]

What is the date of your cruise, so we can check your ports?

[tommy275]

here they are!

 

Piraeus (for Athens), Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Santorini, Greece

Naxos (for Taormina), Sicily, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

Civitavecchia (for Rome), Italy

Monte Carlo, Monaco

[ridolphi]

Hmmm tough ones. OK, I can't answer about Kusadasi or Santorini, as we haven't been to those two. We just got off Voyager a couple of weeks ago, and were in all the other ports.

 

Athens - very spread out. Long climb uphill to the Acropolis, the Plaka is up and down, but there are areas where it is fairly flat, major sites are far apart. I would recommend hiring a private driver for the three of you, and I got recommendations off this board for Spiros and Jimmy was our driver, he was great and took us close to all the places we wanted to go. If your MIL isn't up to a lot of walking, then at least sites can be done this way.

 

Naxos - is a little beach town and you might be able to just walk around, although again its somewhat spread out. Taromina is about a 30 minute drive, and once there its flat for awhile, but very much uphill to the Greco Roman Theater, and lots of steps to climb there. There is a beautiful square about half way along the main street, with fantastic views and a very nice little restaurant and your MIL might be able to walk slowly that far and then you'all could stop for lunch or something. She might just be able to sit there if you and your wife wanted to walk on up to the theater and explore. We took a cab from the tender pier, and it was easy to get one back. About 20euros each way for 4, but I think the price is per cab.

 

Sorrento - you come in by tender and there are a few shops and small restaurants right on the waterfront. But you have to take a suttle bus up to the town, and then its a lot of walking up and down. You could probably walk around on the main street near the Lucky Store and find some shops and restaurants, but if you go thru the arches, its downhill going and uphill coming back up. The Lucky store is where the shuttle buses come from the harbor.

 

Rome - Again the main sites are somewhat spread out and its about an hour and 20-30 minutes from the port. I would recommend hiring a private driver, they can take you right up to everything, you can get out walk around a bit, get back in the car and go to the next place. We had one lady in our group with knee problems and she did just fine. I think the furtherest we walked was to the Trevi Fountain, so you might have to miss that. While we walked around the Colleseum one of our drivers drove the two ladies that couldn't walk long distances around a bit. Again off this board I got the name of Claudio at Limoinrome and we had two vans and the drivers were both great. Busses cannot get very close to most of the sites, sometimes you have to walk as much as 10 or 15 minutes.

 

Monte Carlo - very hilly and difficult to walk. Again, you might consider hiring a private driver for the day, and that way you probably could also see Nice and they could drive along the corniches for fantastic views and there might be some other little towns and villages you could go to that wouldn't be too difficult - not EZE though:) . We had a great driver in Nov that picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel in Provence and then two days later picked us up, took us to EZE and then to our ship and they were wonderful, but I didn't get them off this board, so don't think I can put their name on here.

 

There are some places you might want to just rent a car on your own, in Taromina two couples just rented a car and drove up to Mt. Etna and around, so that might or might not work for you. I wouldn't recommend that in Rome and probably not Athens or Sorrento, but thats just my opinion.

 

In some ports. you might actually be able to set up private drivers thru the same company for different ports. Google Private tours in Italy, for instance and you might find more information that way.

 

Hope that helps. Sounds like a great itinerary, have a wonderful time.

[jhp]

JoAnn was spot on with all those ports.

 

Santorini: The town is at the top of a very steep hill, but there is a lift that will take you up. Pretty easy to walk around once you are there. I would recommend a cab ride to either Oia or Akrotira (sp?). Oia is a little town at one end of the island, the other has ruins. Beautiful views from Oia if you walk toward the water on side streets.

 

Kusadasi: If you are not taking a ship's tour or getting a private guide, about the only thing to do is walk to the Bazaar, which is close to where the ship docks. They even have tri-shaws there as I remember. All the main sights are outside of town, I think.

[newlondon]

Kusadasi: The main reason for the stop here is to go to Ephesus, a spectacular archeological site. The problem is that Ephesus is quite spread out. It is not an easy walk as I can attest to as I did it before double knee replacement and it was very difficult. Kusadasi itself does not have much to offer.

[tommy275]

This is ridiculously helpful information. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I'm going to digest everything, do some research, and come back to bother you all again. :)

 

Thanks again!