Cruise the Greek Isles from Venice
Cruise the Greek Islands is an ideal solution for islands enthusiasts, sea and Mediterranean holiday. You can visit various islands in character, style and landscape.
The large cruise ships are the ideal
solution: every day you visit another lovely island,
tour around or swim, make some shopping and eat or drink
in local restaurants or bars. Then return to the big
ship and have fun at evening with the shows, clubs,
casino and of course, high-quality meals or relax in
your cabin or on deck.
Venice
Cruise departing from Venice is particularly recommended. The ship is sailing for more than an hour throughout the enchanting city. Look from Ship deck the many canals, narrow and wide, the San Marco Square, Doge's Palace, the famous bridges and a variety of boats and gondolas. It's a beautiful way and the easiest to see the city.
It is advisable to seize the opportunity and reach
northern Italy a few days before the cruise, and combine
a trip to Lake Garda with its entertainment, attractions
and landscapes, the city of Modena with her known
Factory Ferrari Museum adjacent to it and of course the
quality balsamic sauce produced there or visit the
beautiful town of Verona and of course Venice itself.
Today, American and Italian companies have many
successful sailing routes in the eastern Mediterranean,
including the beautiful islands of Greece, Turkey and
ports in Croatia, Slovenia and South Italy.
In
this article I will describe a circular one-week cruise
from Venice with the Italian company Costa ship called
"Costa Deliziosa". The cruise visits five ports and have
one fun day at sea.
Bari
The very next day of voyage from Venice, the ship arrives at the port of Bari, located in the south-east of Italy.
The port is adjacent to the Old City and can be visited by foot and wander the alleys of the old city and its attractions. The most famous attraction in town is the Church of St. Nicholas which built on three styles and is considered an important site of pilgrimage.
Bike tour
A pleasant and most successful way to explore the city, learn about its past, its cultural characteristics and impressed by what it has to offer to tourists is to take a bike tour with a company called Velo Service.
The tour leaves from the booth of the company located at the entrance to the harbor and last about two hours. It includes riding the alleys of the old city, a view of the city's old castle and visiting the ancient heart of the city. Hiking famous narrow street with many pasta stalls which is made by hand. See the local women preparing the typical local pasta with a shape of little ears and you can buy cheap authentic pasta with no preservatives.
The next break is at the Dairy Queen in town where you get a free tasting. After a leisurely ride you stop for a street performance of a local player who play and sing with various rhythmic instruments. Its hard to believe which voices and effects he manage to extract from a simple tambourine. Those interested could help him playing all kinds of instruments.
The
tour ends at the entrance to the harbor. Those who are
interested can continue to ride the bike for a few hours
around the city free of charge.
After the tour
you will arrive just in time for dinner with many fine
Italian cuisine in the dining room of the ship.
The following destinations are three ports in the Greek
Islands.
Corfu
The first one is the Corfu island, which is the most northerly of the Ionian island chain and is located at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. In contrast to many other Greek islands, Corfu is green island with rich vegetation. He changed his style and culture (and even dialect and accent in the spoken Greek language) from other islands that you will arrive later because of the strong Italian influence (he was controlled for many years by Italy).
Because for a relatively short stay on the island, just
five hours, it is recommended to take a tour of the
ship.
Especially recommended tour is: "Corfu Old Town
& Paleocastritsa with Boat Trip to Caves" which includes
a guided walking tour of the Old City of Corfu Town ,
the island's capital, sailing in a boat in the bay
of Paleokastritsa to see the small caves with crystal
clear turquoise waters and masses of fish and bathing at
the nearby beach.
The waters are clear and pristine at the beach but also quite cold.
Old Town of Corfu clean and well maintained, with narrow alleys and full of souvenir shops and restaurants. Do not miss a visit (surcharge) to the ancient fortress of Corfu which offers a wonderful view of the city, the beaches and the harbor.
This varied tour allows to sample the best of Corfu and leave you with a feeling you wish come again.
Mykonos
By noon at the next day we arrive to island of Mykonos which belong to the Cyclades chain Archipelago. This island was once a haven for pirates and also an important military and commercial port.
This island is now a popular tourist destination. The island is known for his nice beaches and Cliffs. If you intent to spend your time at nice beach, Take a taxi to Paradise Beach.
Bike tour
But if you want to get away from the crowds and be more active, I strongly recommend a guided bike tour of the Yummy Pedals leaving from an organic farm called Mykonos Vioma organic Farm known for its fine wines from its own production. The company has several tours of different levels of difficulty. The instructor is often accompanied by vigorous and faithful friendly dog .
The easiest tour they have which fit to the most of the tourists is riding to the beach called Fokos. The entire tour lasts two hours and includes a ride mostly on dirt roads passing small villages and local churches and close to a dam called Ano Mera arriving to a little beach with crystal clear water and pleasant for swimming.
After bathing, the guide gave us a refreshing glass of homemade lemonade and small cake before pedalling back to the farm where an authentic Greek lunch awaits for you which includes different types of locally produced wines: white wine, red wine and a dessert wine (my favorite).
At the tour and the meal you will learn about the life on the island and its inhabitants, including various esoteric facts. The meal is accompanied by classical music designed especially for the plants on the farm. Farm owners believe that music helps plants to grow and all the fields and planted vineyards have speakers with quite classical music.
On the way back to the ship, before boarding, take your time to visit the port souvenir shops, restaurants and picturesque churches. The view from the harbor towards the island is impressive, with a view of low-floor houses , painted mostly white and decorated with blue or green windows.In the Island, there are hundreds of churches of different sizes. Some churches have Little Red dom and some with a blue dome. It turns out that the red was built by farmers and the blue ones by seamen.
Santorini island
The last port in Greece, is beautiful and most impressive of all: Port of Santorini. It is considered one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It is also one of the Cyclades islands. The island was created by a huge eruption of a volcano, which created a huge cliff with a steep slope into the sea on one side and the other side is more moderate. The ship is moored at sea near the main island, and you need small boats to take you ashore from the ship.
From the old port, reached by boat, you can get to the main town called Thira (called also Fira) in three ways: the easiest and most scenic is by the cable car. Alternatively you can go on foot or riding a mule on the curved trail to the top of the mountain.
From the end of the trail or the upper cable car station leaves a lovely hiking trail going between hotels, restaurants, shops and of course many churches. The view from the trail is breathtaking. you can see the very impressive blue sea surrounded by cliffs and islands. From any direction and angle of vision you can obtain different views, impressive and magical. Almost from anywhere you can see the many cruise ships moored between the islands and the variety of white houses with blue doors and windows built all along the cliffs.
To walks enthusiasts, it is highly recommend walking from Fira to Oia. The route goes along the cliff overlooking the caldera, and moves toward the second main town on the island, Oia, located at the northern end. The walk takes about 3 hours but can take even more with photography and rest stops.
Those who prefer to walk less can be satisfied with a
half-hour walk each way and along the alleys of Fira
town lush with souvenir shops and restaurants.
You can also sail to Oia with a speed boat from the old
port, a 12-minute cruise, or go by a taxi or bus.
If you are interested in a guided tour, the most successful option is a Jeep tour on the island which reaches its highest peak, or you can sail to the island in the center of the caldera and take a trip in a lava trail or a trip to one of the beaches on the island, situated on the other side.
The most famous Beach is the Red Beach which located near the village of Perissa, beneath the red cliffs and sand with its unique reddish color.
Fun day at sea
After four days in a row visiting ports, comes a fun day at sea, rest and recreation and entertainment on the ship and its facilities.
Costa Dliziosh has four dimensions movie theatre (surcharge) which is actually a kind of simulator where yuo have viewing experience with a multi-sensory experience.
Do not miss the beautiful sunset in the evening.
Who can afford it, it is highly recommended to live in one of the pampering suites of the ship. The largest suites are at the category GS (Grand Suite) with the size of two and a half bigger then the standard room and they have a luxurious and spacious bathroom with Jacuzzi, private batler and a variety of treats and benefits.
Dubrovnik
The last port, on the last day of the cruise, is port of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is located in South region of Dalmatia in Croatia.
Dubrovnik is an ancient city surrounded by walls, which is a UNESCO heritage site and is called the "pearl of the Adriatic".
The ship docked at the port of Dubrovnik which is located in the new city and from there you can take a ten minutes taxi or walk about 40 minutes to the old city.
Successful start point is a tour on the old city wall. You can see the entire city with a views of a variety of red rooftops and crowded narrow streets and also the calm and clear sea that surrounds it.
It is nice also to visit the fort LOVRIJENAC and wander around the alleys of the Old City and courtyards with its abundant restaurants, stalls and shops.
Another wonderful way to be impressed by the beautiful Dubrovnik is going up by Dubrovnik Cable Car which offers stunning views of the city, the bay and nearby islands. This can be integrated with a short boat ride to the island LOKRUM (ten minutes each way) which have a botanical garden, a castle and a monastery on a hill overlooking a beautiful view of Dubrovnik and its surroundings.
More active travelers will be happy to go out on a kayaking tour around the city walls and to the nearby island.
In the afternoon the ship leaves the beautiful city and continues on its way north along the region of Dalmatia occasionally passing near islands of different sizes during the cruise .
At the last evening, the dining room staff will be singing and dancing for you on an Italian celebration.
Cruise ends in the next day morning in the
port of venice, and it gives you another chance to visit
the city or you can rent a car and get out for trip in
the Lake District of North Italy.
Another article about Italy: