Eastern Mediterranean Cruise

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7 - Night Mediterranean Cruise with Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas

 

Dates: October 15-22, 2017

 

Ports of Call: Venice-Dubrovnik (Croatia) - Ephesus (Turkey) - Santorini (Greece) - Katakolon (Greece) - Venice

 

Cruise Ship: Vision of the Seas

 

The Eastern Mediterranean is a dream destination cruise of many, including me. In October 2017, my husband and I sailed with Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas.

We landed in Venice in the evening on October 13th. We stayed at the DoubleTree Airport Hotel. The next day we transferred to the Hilton Molino Stucky Venice.  On that day, it rained hard so it was quite a challenge to get from one place to another. We invited four of our friends to cruise with us and we all met up at the hotel. Below are the highlights of my trip.

 

 

Venice, Italy

Places to see: St. Marks Square, St. Marks. Basilica and Doge's Palace, Rialto Bridge

 

Optional Tours: Murano Glass and Burano Lace Tour situated just across the Venetian Lagoon from Venice 

 

Culinary Delights: Suso for Ice Cream, Rossopomodoro for lunch/dinner

Highlights: The rain did not stop us from exploring this famous city I dreamed of visiting. When I hear the name Venice, the first image that comes to my mind is gondola rides and gondoliers. I am fascinated with gondoliers navigating their way through the canals of Venice while singing. It was raining very hard while my husband and I were taking our gondola ride. We had to stop under a bridge to wait for the rain to stop, however, it was a magical ride and quite romantic ... especially when we glided under the famous Ponte di Rialto bridge (aka, the kissing bridge). 

 

 

 

Dubrovnik, Croatia 

 

Places to see: Old Town, City Walls, Game of Thrones tour

 

Culinary Delights: Lokanda Peskariya  Buza Bar

 

Highlights: This city became popular in the last couple of years because of the TV show Game of Thrones but there's more to see in Dubrovnik. 

 

Dubrovnik, also known as the Pearl of the Adriatic, is a small coastal town situated on the Dalmatian coast. This walled city is photo perfect with terracotta rooftops, baroque churches and cobblestone alleyways. You can also enjoy live music and seafood dinners in restaurants lining the harbour. There are several tours offered on board Royal Caribbean but we chose to explore on our own. My husband walked the magnificent city wall. I chose to wander through the the Old Town since I have a big fear of heights.

 

 

 

Entrance to go up to the Walled City

Tip: Bring cash to pay 10 Euros for entrance

 

 Buza Bar

 

Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey

 

Places to see: Odeon, Temple of Hadrian, Roman Baths, the Fountain of Trajan, The Terrace House, Celsius Library, the Theater, House of Virgin Mary, St. John's Basilica, The Temple of Artemis 

 

Culinary Delights: Special outdoor Mediterranean lunch at a private house, Kebabs and veggies from the grill.

 

Highlights: I arranged a tour with Ephesus DeLuxe Tours for our party of 6. Our tour guide met us outside the port and took us on a private van. It was a 45 minute ride to Ephesus. We visited many sites including the Hadrian Temple, the Theater, The Terrace Houses and House of Mary.  Our tour guide did a great job explaining the biblical and non-biblical history of the area. During the 6 hour tour we had a very nice outdoor lunch at a private house which was  part of the tour. We stopped at a rug making facility and watched a weaving presentation. The price of the tour was $60 per person.

 

 

Kusadasi Port

 

The Theater

 

The Public toilet

 

 

Notes left behind by visitors at the House of Mary

 

Lunch

 

 

 The rug presentation 

 

 

Santorini, Greece

 

Places to see: The Blue Dome Oia Village, Fira (town in Santorini)

 

Culinary Delights: Terpsi n Oia Café and Restaurant, Thalassia Santorini

 

Highlights:  I was spellbound by the magnificent shades of white and blue buildings of Oia that were built on top of Majestic cliffs.  This is one of the most picturesque places in the world in my opinion.  I experienced a stunning sunrise while roaming through the quaint streets of Oia. Since we only had one day to tour this small town, my husband and I disembarked the ship at 7:00 am. When we arrived on the island of Santorini, we took the cable car up to top of the cliff then we hailed a taxi from Fira  and arrived in Oia Village 20 minutes later. There were no tourists yet in town so we managed to get several beautiful pictures. The restaurants weren't open yet so we strolled through the town until we walked by the Terpsi en Oia Cafe that just opened.  We were able to get a table with a spectacular view of the sea below.  We ordered breakfast.  I loved the Greek yogurt with honey and cereal.  It was by far the best yogurt I have ever tasted! After spending 2 hours in Oia, we took a bus going back to Fira and met up with our friends.  We had lunch at Thalassia which overlooked the sea as well. I ordered  the seafood squid pasta which was excellent. Be careful when accepting bread in Fira restaurants as we were charged 12 Euros for 2 servings of bread!  We paid for the view! After lunch, we went shopping for souvenirs around town. My husband and I decided to walk down 588 steps to go back to our ship. It took us 45 minutes with stops because the donkeys have the right of way.  If you decide to walk down the donkey path, be careful where you step!

 

The Blue Dome in the background

 

Terpsi N Oia

 

588 steps down to sea level

 

 

Katakolon, Greece

Places to See: The Olympia, Katakolon town

Tour: Olympia and Mercouri Winery

Culinary Delights:  Top's Pizzeria Katakolon

Highlights:  This time we signed up for a tour with Royal Caribbean. The tour took us to Olympia where the first Olympic games took place. It was fun to see ancient Olympia, the ruins and the statues in the museum. The next stop was Mercouri Winery, one of the oldest wineries in the area. They set up a table for us with wine and hors d'oerves including olives. Olives are the best in Katakolon so I posted some photos of them below.

We had little time to stop in town so it was a very tight schedule for shopping. If you love shopping, I suggest that you visit Olympia for just an hour then head back to town on your own to explore the restaurants and shops. 

 

Starting Line for the Running Races

 

Homemade Olives 

 

Katakolon Downtown

 

 

Baklava, anyone?