Notes to a friend on her upcoming trip of a same cruise.
I went back looking at my notes re. our Princess Mediterranean Cruise in 2008. Hopefully, some of this may be helpful on your upcoming trip.
Our trip started in Barcelona, Spain on Friday September 19, 2008 and ended in Venice, Italy on Oct 3, 2008. We flew home from Venice to Denver via Munich, Washing Dulles airport. The ports we visited were: Barcelona - Spain, Marseille - France, Livorno - Italy, Civitavecchia - Italy, Naples - Italy, Mykonos - Greece, Istanbul - Turkey, Kusadasi - Turkey, Athens - Greece, and Venice - Italy.
1. General suggestions: There will be lots of walking so comfortable shoes, socks, clothes are recommended. Long sleeve shirts, head scarf, long pants are required to visit St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome and mosques, etc, ... in Istanbul. Bring some moleskin if long walks irritate your feet. A pouch with lanyard to keep passport, money inside shirt would deter most pickpockets. A hat, sun screen, sun glasses would also be helpful. It should be noted that it can get hot in the Mediterranean countries in summer. I also suggest you exchange a couple hundred US dollars to Euros at Las Vegas bank before leaving since the exchange rate and fees overseas and on ship can be more expensive.
If you can arrive in Barcelona a day ahead of the departure it would be nice to look up places to stay in Barcelona in travel books - Barnes and Nobles - by Rick Steeves or Lonely Planet. These books list current information re. recommended places to stay and cost. Since you'll be outside a lot there is no need to stay at an expensive hotel.
On your departure package from Princess Cruises you should have details re. departure location. Use Google Translate to translate it to Spanish and print it out: we nearly got lost from our Barcelona hotel to the ship embarkation location since the taxi driver did not speak English nor knew the area well.
There were some rough seas from Naples to Mykonos and from Athens to Venice. If you get sea-sick easily bring some medication/patch for it. There will be lots of English speakers around to help out. Pick-pockets and small time thieves have been known to pretend to help tourists take their pictures and run away with their camera. Bring several camera memory cards to take lots of pictures. Don't forget to bring the camera's charger. If necessary, you should call your cell phone company to see if there is a limited package for international calls.
Food costs in Europe can be quite expensive: the sit-down price is different from the take-out. We took fruits and non-perishable muffins, cheese from the ship with us when we went out. A small back-pack is also recommended for food, maps, note book, and camera.
I also recommend to Google the places that you will be visiting ahead of time to read about what to see, history, .. to put everything you'll see in a good context.
2. Places to see:
Barcelona, Spain: It is famous as the Gothic center of Spanish Catalan. The most well-known artist is Antoni Gaudi. His works are all over the city. the most famous one is the on-going construction of the Sagrada Familia (the Church of the Holy Family). It is a must see. The city is easy to walk around. There are many shops, stores and the foods were quite reasonably-priced and good. If you can, please walk down the famous La Rambla in central Barcelona.
Marseille, France: We did purchase some excursions with Princess before leaving home. In Marseille we went on a tour to charming Provence. Walking around Provence and its market place was fun.
In Livorno, Italy the ship arrived in port at 7:00am and left port at 6:30pm. It was enough time for a trip to Florence [Firenze in Italian]. This is a must see. The Firenze Cathedral called il Duomo is an incredible place to visit. Pay several euros to climb the Campanile which is a structure attached to il Duomo: you'll never regret it. Also please visit the world-famous bridge Ponte Vecchio which was so beautiful that Hitler's generals refused to blow it up during WW II retreat. All are within walking distance to the Piazza delle Signoria which has a replica of Michelangelo's David. Make sure to enjoy some of Firenze famous gelato!
In Civitavecchia, Italy the ship arrived in port at 7:00am and departed at 6:30pm. It was enough time for an excursion to Rome. I would suggest to pay for the Rome excursion since it would expedite entrance to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel instead of long wait. The most famous sites you must [sorry about this emphasis!] see are the Colosseum, the Trevis Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and of course St. Peter's Basilica which is the Vatican itself.
In Naples, we took the high speed hydrofoil to Capri. Immediately we purchased a funicular [hillside tram] to go up to the Capri town. It was a beautiful place to stroll and to take pictures. We did not have time to see the famous Blue Grotto.
Mykonos, Greece: we walked from the ship to town. It was a pleasant long walk several miles. However, I would recommend to take the bus there. There are lots of beautiful island pedestrian paths all over the town. Buy souvenirs but make sure to bargain!!
Istanbul, Turkey: there were so many famous places to see there. We did not see the Topkapi Palace nor the Hagia Sophia and regret it. We went to the Blue Mosque which was very crowded. Women are required to have a head scarf. Plastic bags were freely given to put our shoes inside. It was a good visit but not great. You will be greeted by friendly merchants bringing you to their stores which are also their houses trying to sell you Turkish rugs. We were charmed by two brothers inviting us to visit the massive and beautiful basement floor of their home. Unless one knows much about rugs I'd not recommend to buy anything. Try some of their foods sold in stores along many streets nearby. We went to the underground Istanbul Cistern and was amazed by the water aqueduct system.
Kusadasi, Turkey: we took the Princess excursion to Ephesus. It was spectacular!! The second stop of the same excursion was the home purportedly where Mary, mother of Jesus lived on her final years was good. I bargained and paid 1 Euro [the owner wanted 3 Euros] to have our picture taken leaning on a Turkish camel. It was hot so take some water with you.
Athens, Greece: we hiked the long walk to the Acropolis. It is an incredible site to see. Again, it was very hot and a somewhat arduous hike so bring lots of water. Many pedestrian-only marketplaces had great food, drinks and at reasonable prices. There were also lots of stores selling souvenirs. Again, bargain away.
Venice, Italy: Make sure to be on the top deck of the ship when it enters Venice. It was very beautiful and [hopefully] the ship captain will play Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli's "Con te Partiro" (Time to say good-bye). You'll never forget it. You'll take the water bus (very inexpensive) from ship port to the Piazza San Marco! It is an unbelievable sight to marvel. Walk. Do not pay big bucks for the gondola rides. The food was spectacular. Get lost in the labyrinth of Venice and you'll love it.
