Which towns/cities to tour, which not to?

[jubbing]

Equinox ship, docks are:

 

-Dubrovnik

-Corfu

-Katakolon

-Santorini

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour).

 

So of those ports above, which ones would you recommend def taking a tour on, and which ones do you recommend going our own way? We are a family of 6, with 4 adults and 2 kids (12 and 15). So based on that, I myself am not too much into history, a little is nice where needed but like santorni i just want to see the pretty sights, take amazing pics and enjoy good food. Other ones I'm not sure.

 

So please do let me know :)

[GaryT-UK]

Equinox ship, docks are:

 

 

 

-Dubrovnik

 

-Corfu

 

-Katakolon

 

-Santorini

 

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

 

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour).

 

 

 

So of those ports above, which ones would you recommend def taking a tour on, and which ones do you recommend going our own way? We are a family of 6, with 4 adults and 2 kids (12 and 15). So based on that, I myself am not too much into history, a little is nice where needed but like santorni i just want to see the pretty sights, take amazing pics and enjoy good food. Other ones I'm not sure.

 

 

 

So please do let me know :)

 

 

Dubrovnik - I missed my tour and ended up walking into the city, round the city walls & just exploring, so you can do it yourself.

Corfu - Corfu town is easy to walk to, lots of shops, a couple of fortresses & a little tourist train. I have been on a tour which took in more of the Island which was also good though.

Katakolon - not much there, but a few shops & restaurants. The big tour is to Olympia, home of the Olympics. Lots of ruins but I was very interested.

Santorini - never been.

Kusadasi - more of a seaside resort from memory. I went on the tour to Ephesus, which is well worth seeing. Again lots of ruins, but very interesting.

Istanbul - The Blue Mosque, Hagai Sophia & Palace are amazing, and make a change from all the ruins.

Enjoy!

[GaryT-UK]

Can I also suggests you look at the Europe Ports of Call pages on here. There is lots of great advice about these ports.

[Keith1010]

Equinox ship, docks are:

 

-Dubrovnik

-Corfu

-Katakolon

-Santorini

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour).

 

So of those ports above, which ones would you recommend def taking a tour on, and which ones do you recommend going our own way? We are a family of 6, with 4 adults and 2 kids (12 and 15). So based on that, I myself am not too much into history, a little is nice where needed but like santorni i just want to see the pretty sights, take amazing pics and enjoy good food. Other ones I'm not sure.

 

So please do let me know :)

 

In Dubronik you can do that on your own by going downtown and walking the walled city and the area right nearby.

 

In Kusadasi I would recommend taking a tour. Look at a private tour and visit Ephesus.

 

In Corfu consider going to the beach.

 

Keith

[Aquahound]

Corfu is easy to walk on your own from the dock. If I'm not mistaken, you can get into both forts on one purchased ticket.

 

Dubrovnik, grab transportation from the ship into town and walk the old city and walls on your own.

 

Santorini, for only a couple Euros, it's easy to hop on the public bus to Oia to explore on your own. The bus is only a couple blocks walk from the top of the cable car.

 

Kusadasi, this is the port I think you should definitely book a tour to Ephesus. There's a lot to see in the area, so try to book a tour that visits several sights.

 

Haven't been to the other 2.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I suggest that you do a tour in Santorini. Sometimes there is only one ship in the harbor and that's fine. If there is more than one ship- there are long lines for the cable car, which you HAVE to use to see Santorini. So do a tour because you tender first and skip this long line. It's a beautiful island.

 

Kusadasi- Must do Ephesus and the Terrace Houses (the best part)

 

Katakolon- we just hopped in a taxi. For about $90.00 he droves us to Olympia and then came to pick us up at the designated time. It was great.

 

In Dubrovnik I really enjoyed the walled city. You walk along the top of the wall and the view of the turquoise and marine blue water is wonderful. You may want to do a half day tour outside of Dubrovnik.

 

In Istanbul- all the sites are very close together. There is mass transit that will take you there but I still would do a private 1/2 day tour. You'll have an guide and I think you will get more out of the experience with a knowledgeable guide. The main sites are the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, The Cisterns, The Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. If you do a private tour- tell them you are NOT interested in a Turkish Carpet Demonstration or trip to the carpet store. I did a ship tour that wasted valuable time with this demo.

 

I haven't been to Corfu yet.

Edited June 3, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[cirman52]

In Dubrovink, the thing you need to do first is find out if there are any other ships in port at the same time, and plan along that. We were there with only 1 other ship in port ( first of the season) and public transport was packed, felt sorry for the locals.

Saying that, do the wall, if you can, walk the entire wall, bring water & head coverings, very hot, But you know that from India. We walked the wall, took our time, hade lunch in the old city and cab back to the ship.

It is a beautiful city.

[cruiseaholic78]

Taking the possible long wait for the cable car into consideration you might consider doing what we did on cc recomendation. At the port after tendering you can book a boat tour to Oia, they take you there with a bus connection from the boat into the town then they agree to collect you a couple of hours later. I think you can also decide to bus back but then you have the same problem with the cable car. Oia is a beautiful town certainly worth a visit and a wander round.

Rosalyn

[Hlitner]

The answer to the OP would really depend on the OP. Different folks have different travel techniques. For example, DW and I have done all of those ports (several times) and do not feel the need to have a "tour" in any of the places. Others might feel the need for an organized excursion in each place. We have seen cruisers that were not willing to even walk off a ship without an organized excursion, and others (like moi) that avoid tours like the plague. That being said, we strongly urge anyone visiting Kusadasi for the first time to book a private tour that takes them to Ephesus (including the Terrace Houses) and perhaps to a few other places in the area. Ephesus can be done on your own (we have done this a couple of times) but is best seen with a small group (we prefer a group of 2) with a professional guide capable of adding lots of color to what you see.

 

Hank

[Suzy Smith]

That being said, we strongly urge anyone visiting Kusadasi for the first time to book a private tour that takes them to Ephesus (including the Terrace Houses) and perhaps to a few other places in the area.

 

Hank

 

Good advice for some cruisers, but maybe not for the OP, bearing in mind where they live. They have so many beautiful, well preserved ancient buildings in their home city, I think their reaction to a tour of the ruins at Ephesus might be - why go out for a burger when you have steak at home!;) I know many cruisers just love Ephesus, but I think it depends on where you live. Having two beautiful medieval castles within half and hour's drive from our house, not to mention some neolithic tombs (circa 2,000 BC), we thought Ephesus was fairly run-of-the mill as ruins go. And our castles pale into insignificance compared with the architectural treasures in OP's country!

Edited June 3, 2014 by Suzy Smith

[JordanF]

We just returned from the Eastern Med on the Reflection, and had some of the same stops.

 

Santorini: We took the ship's tour to Oia. The advantage was that the tender you off a bit before the ship gets to its final anchorage, so you get a little head start. Either way--tour or on your own, Oia is pretty nice (try Google Images, and you will see what I mean).

 

Kusadasi: The real attraction there is Ephesus--I recommend a tour of some sort. The Terrace Apartments are pretty neat as well (they are right there at Ephesus--just an extra charge). The highlight is the Library of Celsius.

 

Since your trip ends in Istanbul, hopefully you will have a chance to catch some of the major sites--the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, etc... We especially enjoyed and evening boat ride up the Bosporus Straight.

 

Enjoy!

[Minoushka]

Dubrovnik - I missed my tour and ended up walking into the city, round the city walls & just exploring, so you can do it yourself.

Corfu - Corfu town is easy to walk to, lots of shops, a couple of fortresses & a little tourist train. I have been on a tour which took in more of the Island which was also good though.

Katakolon - not much there, but a few shops & restaurants. The big tour is to Olympia, home of the Olympics. Lots of ruins but I was very interested.

Santorini - never been.

Kusadasi - more of a seaside resort from memory. I went on the tour to Ephesus, which is well worth seeing. Again lots of ruins, but very interesting.

Istanbul - The Blue Mosque, Hagai Sophia & Palace are amazing, and make a change from all the ruins.

Enjoy!

 

 

Dubrovnik take local bus walk in old town by yourself ,we took a harbour boat ride ,stopped for coffee walked up those stairs found the hole cafe

Corfu find the bus to go to a beach

Katakolon ..ruins are pretty ruined ....I felt a waste of time ...not much left there ..have lunch in the side street ..ask people where crew eats ..best souvlaki and Greek salad ever apparently there is a beach near by

Santorini to tp Oua take a bus to local beach

Kusadadi ..here the ruins-43 well worth it ....take a tour

Istanbul visit all plus cruise down river

[4774Papa]

Equinox ship, docks are:

 

-Dubrovnik

-Corfu

-Katakolon

-Santorini

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour).

 

So of those ports above, which ones would you recommend def taking a tour on, and which ones do you recommend going our own way? We are a family of 6, with 4 adults and 2 kids (12 and 15). So based on that, I myself am not too much into history, a little is nice where needed but like santorni i just want to see the pretty sights, take amazing pics and enjoy good food. Other ones I'm not sure.

 

So please do let me know :)

-Dubrovnik

DTY

 

-Corfu

DTY is harder. Just walking around the port is not what you want to do. You need to get out and see some of the island. We took an excursion that included the monastery on the NW side of the island. Also, our tour took us to about half the island. You might be able to rent a car and so it yourself, if you insist on DTY.

 

-Katakolon

Can't help you there.

 

-Santorini

This island is the gem of any E. Med cruise. Make the most of it, by taking a ship's excursion. We did the tour that included a winery. We saw most of the island. Others in our group DTY Santorini and never got out of FIRA. They wasted a lot of time getting up the hill, then transport was hard to find.

 

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

Ephesus is about a half an hour from the port and you need to take either a private tour or ship's tour. What ever you do, don't miss the Terrace Houses. That is the big item in Ephesus.

 

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour

Right, you don't need a tour. You can visit the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Basilica Sistern Hagia Sophia and Topkapi in one day. Buy a videoguide for the sites, except of course for the Blue Mosque. Take the tram down to the Hippodrome and walk to the Blue Mosque, then work your way back north.

[Lsimon]

Only ports I've been to are Dubrovnik and Santorini.

 

Dubrovnick I already responded to you on another thread with my thoughts which were along the lines of on your own.

 

Santorini - I'd recommend both! :D

It's been 7 long years since we were there and it is one of my favorite ports. We'd read that at times the lines to tender and get up the cliff via the gondolas are very long. Also read a recommendation to take a half day early morning tour and tour on your own in the afternoon. That way you have no lines to wait in to get ashore. That's what we did and even though it was not too busy the day we were there it was a great idea. The morning tour saw some villages and areas of the island one probably wouldn't see on their own. It ended around noon and after coffee in Fira we took a cab to Oia for the afternoon including lunch there (wait for a bus was too long and there was already a line). We had a wonderful day and would recommend this. More info and photos here.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Lsimon

[jubbing]

-Santorini

This island is the gem of any E. Med cruise. Make the most of it, by taking a ship's excursion. We did the tour that included a winery. We saw most of the island. Others in our group DTY Santorini and never got out of FIRA. They wasted a lot of time getting up the hill, then transport was hard to find.

 

My only issue is that yes you get off the boat quicker in a way - but what if we want to spend more time in Oia, have lunch there rather than being forced back to Fira if it's only a 3 hour cruise.. can we leave the tour or is there some alternatives?

[TLCOhio]

Equinox ship, docks are:

-Dubrovnik

-Corfu

-Katakolon

-Santorini

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour).

So of those ports above, which ones would you recommend def taking a tour on, and which ones do you recommend going our own way? We are a family of 6, with 4 adults and 2 kids (12 and 15). So based on that, I myself am not too much into history, a little is nice where needed but like santorni i just want to see the pretty sights, take amazing pics and enjoy good food. Other ones I'm not sure. So please do let me know

 

We've been to three of these six locations. Lots to see that is so wonderful, especially if you like history, architecture, etc. Below is a link for more info, including lots of visuals, for Dubrovnik. Hopefully, you will have a full day or two to soak up the wonderful charm and beauty of Istanbul. Don't short-change your time there in this world-class city. Below are some visuals and ideas for Ephesus.

 

Super loved Dubrovnik!!! See more details and lots of great visual samples/examples at this link. Have had over 22,208 views on this posting and appreciate those who have tuned-in and dropped by.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1439227

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 174, 342 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

Looking downhill towards the library and other ruins from when Ephesus, along the Turkish Coast, was Rome's capital of Asia Minor. The history here is real and totally amazing! This Library of Celsus was built in honor of a Roman Senator and completed in 135 AD by his son, a Roman Consul and powerful official. The library was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a tomb for his father. The interior of the library and all its books were destroyed by fire in an earthquake in 262 AD. Only the facade survived, but was later destroyed by another earthquake. In a restoration during the 1960's and 1970's, the front was restored and serves as a key example of Roman public architecture.:

 

 

 

At Ephesus along the Turkish Coast, here is the famed outdoor theater that hosted Saint Paul preaching, plus rock stars, etc. At this site in the 1st century AD, the Apostle Paul spent over three years in Ephesus preaching the Gospel. This included a sermon condemning pagan worship in this theater:

 

 

 

A smaller temple at Ephesus:

 

 

 

Here was our first view of Istanbul in 2006 from our just-docking cruise ship as we smelled the sweet blend of this historic Turkish city. YES, you could really smell how “special” is this unique city with so much culture, charm and interest! Istanbul has so much variety, history, culture, architecture, people, food, charm, etc. It’s the total experience here that is so amazing.:

 

 

 

Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque or Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was built from 1609 to 1616. It is still used as a mosque and is one of Istanbul's most popular tourist attraction. The design is the culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. It incorporates some Byzantine elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture. It is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect aimed for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. It has six minarets along with eight smaller domes and one main large dome.:

 

 

 

Hagia Sophia, the former patriarchal basilica, later mosque, now a museum in Istanbul. It is a mix of both Christian and Islamic visuals on the inside. It was made into a museum to avoid the question for which religion it should be focused. From its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture. There is great artistic value in its decorated interior with mosaics and marble pillars and coverings. The temple itself was so richly and artistically decorated that Justinian proclaimed, "Solomon, I have outdone thee!":

 

[New Hampshire]

I've been all over the world and Ephesus is one of the most amazing and memorable places I've ever been to. We took a private tour there, very reasonably priced and worth far more than we paid. Make sure to see Mary's house and the Terrace Houses.

[jubbing]

wow TLCOhio, thank you for the detailed reply, great pictures and I hope to have as much fun as you did!

[TLCOhio]

wow TLCOhio, thank you for the detailed reply, great pictures and I hope to have as much fun as you did!

 

Appreciate your nice follow-up and kind comments. Keep your good questions rolling along. Don't be shy!! The only "dumb question" is the one you do not ask. How much time will you have for Istanbul? Tell us more on your detailed interests and desires!

 

More fun? Just back from Australia and New Zealand. Now working to plan and pull together the dollars for our planned late March-April 2015 Africa (Kenya-Zanzibar-Madagascar-South Africa-Botswana) adventure.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 61,512 views for this fun posting.

[JordanF]

As to Oia--yes, you can leave the tour. Please let the tour guide know so they don't wait for you. There is a regular bus to take you back to Thira. Also, other than arranging your own transport to Thira, all you miss is the winery, which is really no loss at all. We were in port officially from 2 pm until 10 pm. Out tender left the ship at around 1:30, and we then took a bus to Oia. We left Oia with the tour, but we had a lot of time in Thira, so things should be relaxing. One thought, though--we were there in early May, and there were only two ships in port. I am told it is all a lot more crowded during the summer, which could effect wait times for the bus, etc...

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I've been to Santorini twice in July (07 and 08). In July of 2007, there was no crowd at all. We had pre-purchased our lift tickets on the ship and came and went as we pleased. I went up the lift (no line) in the AM and back later in the day. So, I was sort of shocked to see the huge line from our ship in July of 2008 and I didn't even get off the ship that time. Santorini is absolutely lovely but it's hot in summer and the line turned me off- especially since I knew how many people were going to be at the top.

 

So next time- I'll definitely book a tour to Oia and then taxi or bus to Thira.

Edited June 15, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[k9x8]

In Dubrovnik, taxis are clustered right where you disembark. It was a €15 ride to the cable car, that takes you way up to the war museum and spectacular views.

 

Then we walked about the walled city, and had the most delicious seafood ever on the waterfront.

 

The taxi back to the ship was €10.

[sacramentoox]

Equinox ship, docks are:

 

-Dubrovnik

-Corfu

-Katakolon

-Santorini

-Kusadasi (Ephesus)

-Istanbul (final port, no need tour).

 

So of those ports above, which ones would you recommend def taking a tour on, and which ones do you recommend going our own way? We are a family of 6, with 4 adults and 2 kids (12 and 15). So based on that, I myself am not too much into history, a little is nice where needed but like santorni i just want to see the pretty sights, take amazing pics and enjoy good food. Other ones I'm not sure.

 

So please do let me know :)

 

 

Nobody has mentioned anythng about riding the DONKEY up to the clift to the town of Thira (same cost as riding the cable car). Your two kids (12 & 15) might be very interested in that. Good luck, Cary:)

[Travel luv]

K9x8,

 

Do you recall the seafood restaurant that you ate at?

 

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[k9x8]

Sorry, no. Exit through the gate to the little harbor, where you can book rides on the glass bottom boats.

We shared a pot of seafood for two, and it was out of this world! They also take credit cards, and we saw someone pay with euros.

 

If I can find the receipt, I'll post the name.

 

K9x8,

 

Do you recall the seafood restaurant that you ate at?

 

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