Viking Empires of the Mediterranean Photos

We just got back from the Viking Empires of the Mediterranean cruise from Athens to Venice (March 27 to April 4, 2017) and it was fantastic. The weather just couldn't have been better -- sunny and low 70's almost everyday. The Viking Sea was great.

Photos from the trip can be viewed here: https://milsteen.smugmug.com/Travel/Viking-Eastern-Mediterranean/

If you are looking for "ship photos" I included a good number of images from the ship on our December cruise in the Caribbean here: Viking-West-Indies

Your photos are amazing. You have quite an eye for color and composition.

Hi,

Thanks for posting your lovely pix. We are on the same itinerary on the Star on March 29, 2018.

Did u take the ship included excursions or did u purchase any?

Appreciate any info, this is our first Viking cruise.

Elaine

Pictures are outstanding.

Thanks for sharing.

I see the cats still abound in many of the towns.

I saw them throughout the Eastern Med cities and towns.

I saw them even when I went to Delos, where no one lives, and of course Istanbul ,Turkey.

Hi,

Thanks for posting your lovely pix. We are on the same itinerary on the Star on March 29, 2018.

Did u take the ship included excursions or did u purchase any?

Appreciate any info, this is our first Viking cruise.

Elaine

Hi Elaine,

Thanks for your comment. We took a mix of included and optional tours. Frankly, many of the optional tours for things like cheese-making, olive wood carving, pottery making, etc., were more like visits to places specifically set up for tour buses. It was not what I expected and I wouldn't really recommend them. The included tours are pretty much overviews and walking city tours and they are good for a general sense of the place you are visiting. All of the tour guides we had were quite good, and many of the included tours have the option of just staying in the port or city and using shuttle buses to get back to the ship. (In every port where you weren't able to walk to the city, Viking provided free shuttles.) The one optional tour we really enjoyed was the Dubrovnik wall walk -- really interesting and great views of the city and sea. It does involve some pretty steep steps in a couple of places but overall I didn't think it was all that taxing. I would not recommend the Kotor tour that take you over the mountains -- it would be a beautiful trip but the narrow winding road is undergoing major construction and we had major delays. Also, if you are at all afraid of heights, avoid this one! Before you sign up for any of the optional tours, be sure and find out how much bus time it includes. There were a few were you would spend the better part of the day in the bus and unless you enjoy that sort of thing, I think the time is better spent wandering around the port city on your own. I hope you have a great trip -- we did!

Thanks for your input.. I usually do private tours, have organized them on many cruises. I am finding very few people post on Viking Ocean so don't think I would get enough to fill a small group. When we did Regent, they had a few included tours at each port. Some were good others were not.

Prior to Viking Ocean on 20 other cruises, we mostly booked private excursions, or just wandered around town. Rare that we booked Ship Tours.

Viking does provide one tour in each port. It may not be the best think around, but check out each description and decide. Even their paid tours seem reasonably priced. BUT - if I am going to pay for a tour, I tend to prefer a smaller group.

Fabulous! I so enjoyed your pictures. Thanks for sharing

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Your photos are beautiful! We have been to many of these ports so they brought back great memories.....and those we haven't enjoyed makes me want to go again!!

Some of those shots were n Venice without the crowds....some even without a person.....wow! how lucky you were!

What camera were you shooting with and lens? Just curious. They are very impressive.

To the comment on putting small groups together on CC/Viking......I did that on our last trips and am doing so on our future booked trip. So much better done that way with 6-8.....or just the 2!!

Thanks again for sharing

Thanks for your kind comments. On this trip, I used a Nikon D800 with 16-35mm and 24-300mm Nikon lenses. The crowds in Venice were definitely tough to avoid, but the shots taken in San Marcos were early morning or dusk, when the crowds thinned out. The Burano images were taken after a rainy day and I avoided the main area, which was pretty crowded. I can't imagine visiting Venice in the high season!

Well you certainly succeeded in some awesome shots! Thanks for your response.

I am trying to decide whether I want to take two lenses on this next trip again, or get one that might cover the range.......

Well you certainly succeeded in some awesome shots! Thanks for your response.

I am trying to decide whether I want to take two lenses on this next trip again, or get one that might cover the range.......

I would recommend 1 lens in the 18-200 range. I almost never used my second lens (the 16-35) and I find for travel photography you tend to use more wide angle than long telephoto.

We just got back from the Viking Empires of the Mediterranean cruise from Athens to Venice (March 27 to April 4, 2017) and it was fantastic. The weather just couldn't have been better -- sunny and low 70's almost everyday. The Viking Sea was great.

 

Photos from the trip can be viewed here:

 

If you are looking for "ship photos" I included a good number of images from the ship on our December cruise in the Caribbean here: Viking-West-Indies

Wonderful photos! ++ Thanks.

Beautiful pictures! May I ask what photo editing software you use?

Thanks for sharing.

Robin

Outstanding photos. Stimulate memories of our visit to some of these sites. No shortage of meowsers in these ancient sites.

Beautiful pictures! May I ask what photo editing software you use?

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Robin

Thanks, Robin. I use Adobe Lightroom as my primary photo editing software.

We were right behind you on the Viking Star on the same trip, leaving Athens on April 2. Our trip was equally fabulous, and I very much enjoyed your photos. We did not stay over in Venice, but will be there for the third time in October. I am excited to see that the construction on the facade of San Marco Basilica has been completed. My first photos had scaffolding on the right, and the second ones had scaffolding on the left. Maybe the third time really is the charm!

We were right behind you on the Viking Star on the same trip, leaving Athens on April 2. Our trip was equally fabulous, and I very much enjoyed your photos. We did not stay over in Venice, but will be there for the third time in October. I am excited to see that the construction on the facade of San Marco Basilica has been completed. My first photos had scaffolding on the right, and the second ones had scaffolding on the left. Maybe the third time really is the charm!

Thanks. There is still some scaffolding on the side of the basilica but the front is clear. We did a "Walks of Italy" night tour of the Basilica which was pretty amazing. We (three groups of 10) had the whole place to ourselves and the guides were great. I highly recommend it.