Any advice on the eastern mediterranean?

[tally10]

We are taking an eastern mediterranean cruise out of Rome. Any advice as to what are must sees, especially in Athens?

 

Joyce

[Aprille]

We haven't done the Eastern Med but did do a Western Med cruise last year. A list of your ports would be helpful for your request.

 

Rome is FABULOUS. Since you are cruising out of Rome I hope you consider spending a couple of nights there pre-and-or-post-cruise. We used Driver in Rome for our day in Rome and highly recommend them. We saw so much more than we possibly could have on a ship-sponsored excursion.

 

You also might want to check out the Mediterranean - Eastern & Western forum here on CC. There is a wealth of information over there. :cool:

[tally10]

We haven't done the Eastern Med but did do a Western Med cruise last year. A list of your ports would be helpful for your request.

 

Rome is FABULOUS. Since you are cruising out of Rome I hope you consider spending a couple of nights there pre-and-or-post-cruise. We used Driver in Rome for our day in Rome and highly recommend them. We saw so much more than we possibly could have on a ship-sponsored excursion.

 

You also might want to check out the Mediterranean - Eastern & Western forum here on CC. There is a wealth of information over there. :cool:

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Besides Rome, it goes to Naples, Livorno, Athens, Katakolon, and 3 ports in Turkey. The date and price is what prompted us to put a deposit on this one. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Merion_Mom]

We are taking an eastern mediterranean cruise out of Rome. Any advice as to what are must sees, especially in Athens?

 

Joyce

 

Athens, the obvious sights: Acropolis & Agora

 

There is a small museum on the Acropolis, but the main museum is in the city:

 

http://www.ancient-greece.org/museum/athens-museum.html

[rdo123]

We did the eastern med on the Legend at the end of May, different itinerary but we did go to Athens, Naples, and Kusadasi, Turkey.

 

The acropolis has alot of reconstruction going on but still worth seeing, the museum on top of the acropolis was closed when we were there. We were told they are building a new one. We also went to the Plaka, sort of the old part of newer Athens. It's tree lined narrow streets with shops and tavernas, we ate lunch there and it was good. Did find the shops a bit pricey compared to some of the greek islands we visited.

 

In Turkey if you are going to Izmir or Kusadasi definitely go to Ephesus and do the Terrace houses. Kusadasi is closest to Ephesus. We also went to the house the Virgin Mary lived in until her death and to St. John's Basilica which is a ruin. We used a private tour company called Ekol and they did a great job, bit less expensive than the ship tours and we saw more.

 

In Naples we did the Amalfi coast drive and Pompeii which took pretty much all day with a shopping stop and lunch stop. We had 2 hours with a licensed guide at Pompeii which was enough to allow us to see quite a bit. We used a private tour company in Naples called DriveAmalfi they did an excellent job also. In Naples there are alot of options so I would research a bit and decide what you are most interested in. The Isle of Capri is there also with the Blue Grotto as well as Pompeii and Herculaneum if you like ruins, the Amalfi coast if you like scenery or you can do combinations like we did.

 

Naples and Kusadasi were among our favorite stops on our cruise.

[threeofus]

We just came back from a med. cruise.

 

Athens: We took the typical excursion....saw the olympic stadium, acropolis etc. and then the bus dropped us off at the "Plaka" - shopping district. It was just more tourist-type shopping area and lots of vendors selling the same stuff we had seen everywhere else.

 

After that we took a taxi to a restaurant on the water and had a great lunch. We simply told the taxi driver what we wanted and he dropped us off where the restaurants were all open air on a dock (about 15 minutes from the ship)

 

After lunch we hailed a cab and met the nicest taxi driver. He had just dropped off a private tour. He lived in the area all his life. I wanted baklava and he drove me through the city to a family owned shop and then gave us a quick tour before taking us back to the port. I was so sorry we hadn't spent the day with him. He was delightful! His name was Nick and his email address is nikos@limotaxi.gr

website: http://www.limotaxi.gr.