Excursions on Italy, Adriatic, and Greece cruise

[jc522]

Please help narrow our choices of excursions for a cruise in March 2023...

 

Sicily (Messina):

-Messina and Its Treasures

-Enchanting Taormina

-Ancient City of Tindari

 

Crotone:

-Crotone On Your Own

-Charming Santa Severinas Hilltop Village

-Le Castella & Its Fortification

 

Kotor:

-Walking Tour of Kotor

-Highlights of Montenegro

 

Thanks

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

We have Enchanting Taormina booked on our upcoming trip in a few weeks. For what it's worth this is where the latest season of HBO's White Lotus was filmed. The Greek theatre has a spectacular view of Mt. Etna.

Edited December 23, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[hersheyhughes]

We were in Messina last November and loved Taormina.  There was lots to see and The Greek Theatre was quite amazing. The tour we took also included Mt Etna, although when we went up the fog rolled in and we were not able to see much. Instead they took us down to a small church close to the ship and viewed it. All in all it was a great excursion.

Kimberly

[PasadenaDave]

We did both of those tours in Kotor.  Walking in the morning and highlights a few hours later.  We loved Montenegro, especially the highlights tour up in the mountains.  Kotor is a magical place.  We actually preferred it over Dubrovnik and we loved Dubrovnik!

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

12 minutes ago, PasadenaDave said:

We did both of those tours in Kotor.  Walking in the morning and highlights a few hours later.  We loved Montenegro, especially the highlights tour up in the mountains.  Kotor is a magical place.  We actually preferred it over Dubrovnik and we loved Dubrovnik!

Is the Highlights Tour just riding around in a bus or is there a lot of on-the-ground touring/free time too?

[PasadenaDave]

37 minutes ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

Is the Highlights Tour just riding around in a bus or is there a lot of on-the-ground touring/free time too?

The bus wound up the steep road above Kotor which was amazing in and of itself amazing.  We stopped at the top for the view which was obscured by clouds and continued to a place where they make protuitto the traditional way and had a local sandwich and beer or wine.  We continued through the National Park to Cetinje with a house tour of a former leader and learned history and we walked the town square getting a feel for life in a non tourist area.  The bus then made the long descent to Budva on the coast and then back north to Kotor and the ship.  The guide who was the same as the walking tour “Vladimir” he said some of us with this name are good, made for a very informative day.

 

 I would say 2 1/2 hours on the ground at the three stops but the first was only ten minutes 

 

I admit that I was hesitant when we signed up for this tour but I was blown away.  I must include the disclaimer that I like mountains, scenery and seeing how locals live outside of tourist areas.

 

If you are an in shape hiker there are some very steep trails leading out of town.  I would have liked to have hiked up a few hundred feet in elevation but that is for another visit 

[lackcreativity]

We did the optional excursion to Santa Severina from Crotone and enjoyed it very much. I will admit that castles and hill towns are two of my favorite places to visit, so touring a castle in a hill town was bound to be a hit with me. I wish we had some more time on our own in the village, but we did get a stop for local food and wine that was terrific.  

[Selion]

Question to the OP - How many threads do you need to create on a similar topic?

[sugarside]

Included tour in Messina was the only poor tour on our recent cruise, mostly down to a very poor guide and not all that much to see really.

[lackcreativity]

8 hours ago, sugarside said:

Included tour in Messina was the only poor tour on our recent cruise, mostly down to a very poor guide and not all that much to see really.

Taormina, an optional excursion from Messina, was worth every penny we spent for it. We took the guided tour, but even the On Your Own excursion should be good. The town is very easy to navigate. We were in early April, so it was not peek crowds. I even think I would have faced the crowds of summer if it was my only choice. Now the summer heat, that might be a different story.

[jc522]

We booked Taormina, Santa Severinas, and Highlights of Montenegro. Thanks for the info.

Edited December 24, 2022 by jc522

[longterm]

On 12/23/2022 at 11:02 AM, jc522 said:

Please help narrow our choices of excursions for a cruise in March 2023...

 

Sicily (Messina):

We did the excursion to see the villages where scenes from "The Godfather" were filmed. Beautiful drives up into the hills, and if you're a fan of the movies, a must-see. 

On 12/23/2022 at 11:02 AM, jc522 said:

-Crotone On Your Own

-Charming Santa Severinas Hilltop Village

-Le Castella & Its Fortification

We did the freebie, and to be honest, downtown Crotone didn't have a lot to see. 

On 12/23/2022 at 11:02 AM, jc522 said:

Kotor:

-Walking Tour of Kotor

Some great food to be had in Kotor; we had one of our best meals on a street just beyond the main city center building (a long building, yellow I think); we wandered down the street behind it, found a great little restaurant. Some nice shops too.