Best advice for the first trip to the Mediterranean

[CruisingCatherine]

We will be taking our first Mediterranean cruise next October. We will be doing the 7 night on the Splendour of the Seas. Our ports will be Barcelona, Marseille, Nice, Florence, Rome, and Naples. We have booked private guides for Florence, Rome, and Naples. What is everyone's best advice for visiting these areas?

[franu]

The best advice I received on my first Med. trip was: Art is all over. Look up on the ceilings and down on the floors as well as on the walls. Look at the patterns of sunlight that reflect on the walls. Take a deep breath and enjoy both the larger picture and the smaller parts of the whole.

 

This advice was given to me in 1975 and I always keep it in mind.

 

I usually travel with a small pocket mirror and walk through a cathedral or museum holding the mirror in my palm while walking. This saves my neck from constantly being in an akward position. I look up when I find something that I want a better view of.

Have a great trip and fall in love with the Med like I did.

Fran

[RHayes8793]

In Naples, make sure your driver gives you ample time for the Amalfi Coast. It was the best part of our cruise last month.

[Glendamcd]

Just got back from the Brillance of the Seas Cruise October 5-17th

Used Private tours in all the ports and I know if I had not used them

I would have missed a lot. They made it possible for me to see more

than the cruise ship excursions and for less money.

 

Villefranche-Nice-Monaco-Dream-Tours Jean Marc-LOVED HIM

He took us to many beautiful places including the Market, the Village of Eze, The Village of St Paul, a beautiful park overlooking Nice, The Palace at Monaco, The Monte Carlo Casino and Hotel De Paris, we had lunch in St Paul at an open terrace patio (lovely). We also visited a Parfum factory and could have visited a chocolate but time was moving on.

Using a smaller car or driver, they can drive you up to the Villages and you do not have to walk from the Bus Parking areas, this saves a lot of time and walking which you will find you do a lot of even with a private tour guide.

 

Florence/Pisa-Alessandro Cammilli-Did a great job getting us to everything

Drove us to the Bridge and walked us into Florence and around Florence

Everytime we shopped he would ask to carry our shopping bags, made sure

we saw all the important sites within Florence along with tours of the museums and including the statue of David. Then we headed out to a small

winery/farmhouse and had lunch. Great Lunch for 10 Euros included RAVIOLI with TRUFFLE SAUCE, Fresh Bread, Cheeses and Wine. Loved it. Then he

wisked us off to Pisa and then back to the Ship. It was a whirlwind day but

we really enjoyed it and felt like we got our moneys worth. Alessandro can

speak good english and actually has an American Girl Friend in New York. He

also does law enforcement as a full time job so you feel very safe with him.

He did not have the personality of Jean Marc from Villefranche but he made

sure we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

 

We also had tours in Naples with Sorrentolimo and our tour guides were Antonio who did not speak english but he had an English Lady who was delightful and stayed with us during the whole trip. I MUST say one of the

our most favorite places was on this tour in Sorrento. We absolutely loved

Sorrento and would suggest spending atleast 2 or more hours there if possible.

We left Naples and went straight to Pompeii to beat the buses and heat.

(quite a walk up into Pompeii once you enter the gates) Antonio drove us up

to the gate which was great. Then off to Sorrento, Amalfi Coast (beautiful)

Positano and then after Sorrento we went to Ravello for lunch on a terrace

overlooking the Mediterranean. It was a lovely day. Drove back to Naples over the mountains and saw the Chestnut trees and Olive Trees being prepared for harvest with their netting. It was a great day.

 

Just did our own tours in Corfu using the ships $4 bus ticket. Shopped and had lunch and it was a lovely day, came back to ship early to catch a little rest.

 

Venice was beautiful even though it rained the first hour. We hired a boat tour guide to take us around in a private wooden boat to show us the canals and different buildings. This was a great way to introduce to Venice. We had purchased tickets on line at http://www.florenceart.it for the Secrets of Doges Palace for the next morning. This is a special tours that is limited. Cost is $12 Euros and your tickets tell you what time to be there for your private tour. Loved walking around on our own at Venice.

 

Rome-Driverinrome with Danielli, our driver was Avano and he spoke good english and was delightful. We really enjoyed our day with him. He allowed us to see alot in such a short time. The trip from port to Rome is long, I think 90 minutes. We started out at the Vatican Museum, then St Peters Basilica, Colleseum, Lunch in a great little restaurant, then off to visit the rest of Rome it was a full day.

 

Barcelona was fantastic. We purchased the two day open top tourist bus tickets for $20 Euros and this allowed you to get on and off anytime you wanted to visit all the interesting sites. There are three bus tours, red, green and blue and the ticket allows you to go on any color tour. This is the best way to see Barcelona, no need for a tour from ship.

 

Hope this helps someone. Would love to go back

[cruzzer]

Glendamcd

 

We are arriving Villefranche on May 22, 2005. We arrive @ 7:00 AM and depart 5:00 PM.

Was this a private tour? If so, did you select the sites? The tour you went on sounds fantastic.

I know prices will vary in 2005, but would you mind tellling my how much you paid, and the length of your tour?

I can understand if you do not want to divulge the price.

 

Thanks in advance,

Lois

[CruisingCatherine]

We had considered doing Nice, Eze, and Monte Carlo on our own. Would you recommend a private guide for there as well. Also, the bus trips around Barcelona sound fabulous. Can you give me more information on those?

 

There seems to be quite a bit of talk regarding the local foods and flavors. What are some local dishes we shouldn't miss?

[ClaudiaF]

Glendamcd

 

We are arriving Villefranche on May 22, 2005. We arrive @ 7:00 AM and depart 5:00 PM.

Was this a private tour? If so, did you select the sites? The tour you went on sounds fantastic.

I know prices will vary in 2005, but would you mind tellling my how much you paid, and the length of your tour?

I can understand if you do not want to divulge the price.

 

Thanks in advance,

Lois

 

The company he used in South France for Monaco ( etc.) is called Dream Tours ( we used Jean Marc in May!)

http://www.dream-tours.com/

They post their prices at their website ( so it's no big secret- although may be less so email them direct.

Worked out for us ( with 6 people) in their Mercedes Van ( comfy) to 110 EU per person for the full day tour. They have a planned itinerary which you can

modify.

[FLJudi]

I'd recommend a private driver in Nice or Villefranche for a day trip to be able to see a variety of different areas such as Eze, Monoco, or St. Paul de Vence . We've driven several times in this area and that's great if you have time, but finding parking and walking to where you want to go can take up much of your time. Having a guide who can drop you off close to what you want to see is very time effective.

 

You may want to check out this thread for some suggestions.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=70375

 

FLJudi

[brich121]

Use Sylvie Di Cristo for villifranche for sure a great guide and Driverinrome.com for Rome and Livorno. These are both great and you will see things and have memories you will never ever forget. We used these companies in October 2004. HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOTH.