After completing our last season as managers at the Beaver Island Lodge, we were exactly back where we were 10 years ago when I wrote the story “Wide Open Spaces Ahead of Us”. Our first …
Cruising was still relatively new to us. The previous year (2022) we embarked on a Regal Princess Transatlantic Cruise, which resulted in so much fun that before reaching Barcelona, we decided to add a Mediterranean …
Today, April 10 our cruise ends in Piraeus, the port city for Athens, Greece. Hard to believe that the last 30 days were spent on a giant cruise ship with some 3,000 other passengers and …
Port of Call Istanbul, Turkey had been on TJ’s wishlist since we booked the cruise extension in Barcelona. I forgot to mention this city in the Rome story in the line up of European cities …
Port of Call: Mykonos had been in our dreams as a place we wanted to visit badly. Well really it was one of the reasons we had booked the cruise extension in Barcelona. We know …
Port of Call Kuşadası, on the southeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, derives its name from the small, bird-head-shaped Pigeon Island in its harbor. It literally means “Bird Island” and as a destination, it was new …
Crete, the largest and most populous island in Greece, about 100 km south of the mainland, has 2 cruise ship ports, both on the northern side of the island was our next Port of Call. …
With a little more than 130 nautical miles to go, the Regal Princess still took off for Naples early in the evening, which told me that the Captain wanted to get to the next Port …
The storms over the water had disappeared for our second day in Civitavecchia’s port and we were ready for a trip out to Port of Call Rome, the Eternal City. We used the free port …
Port of Call : Civitavecchia/Rome Storms have been severely affecting the port of call schedules on this cruise, probably a result of the time of year. The new captain of the ship, who took over …
After completing our last season as managers at the Beaver Island Lodge, we were exactly back where we were 10 years ago when I wrote the story “Wide Open Spaces Ahead of Us”. Our first trip then was also to Nashville, where Han’s oldest friend in the US had moved to. Sadly Ric passed away a couple of years ago, so now we visited Kay his widow in Brentwood TN, a suburb of Nashville, for almost a month in Dec/Jan of 2026. This is also our last trip south in our trusty Nissan Murano which we purchased exactly 10 years ago. And the end of this trip she goes to another dear friend, while we take a transatlantic cruise over to Europe for an extended stay. But first some travel impressions from this last north-south trip.
There are so many amazing restaurants near her home, that we did not have to venture far to experience something new and delicious.
The Crown Princess Smoking Area on this Pacific Cruise in 2023
Cruising was still relatively new to us. The previous year (2022) we embarked on a Regal Princess Transatlantic Cruise, which resulted in so much fun that before reaching Barcelona, we decided to add a Mediterranean extension that would take us to Istanbul, the Greek Islands and ports in Italy. Thirty days on the ocean, We loved the experience and decided to make long cruises a part of our vacation/travel experience.
Well we were newbies to cruising, who had no clue about ship choices and destinations. Not all cruising is the same, not even with the same cruise company. Unburdened by this lack of experience we booked a cruise departing San Pedro-Los Angeles in March 2023 to the Southern Pacific and back to LA. 28 Days! We had figured out which side of the ship would give us most suntan of our balcony during those 28 days looping the Pacific, stepping in and out of the date line and north and south of the equator and booked a mini-suite on the Starboard side of the 3,080 passenger Crown Princess.
Departing from Nashville, TN on a Delta flight into LAX, we decided to go a day early and spend the night in San Pedro, close to embarkation. That way we allowed ourselves enough time the next morning to check luggage and explore the ship before taking off.
We quickly learned that embarkation in Ft. Lauderdale is way easier than in San Pedro/Los Angeles. We also learned quickly that the layout of the Crown Princess was definitely not as attractive as the one of the Regal Princess we had sailed to Europe the previous year. The ship is quite a bit older than the Regal and it shows in the line up of restaurants, activity decks and smoking areas. We are smokers and discovered quickly that smoking areas is where you find the cool people on a cruise. Whereas the Regal Princess had its main smoking area on the top deck aft, which leaves smoke behind in the ship’s tail wind, the Crown Princess put the smokers in an interior area behind a pool bar with little escape of smoke. Quite nasty actually.
In any case we sailed out of San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, full of excitement and anticipation. 4 Days on the water would bring us to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. A couple of days in Honolulu and Lahaina and we would be off to Pago Pago, the International dateline, Tahiti and Mo’orea. We’re ready. Let the sunshine in.
Today, April 10 our cruise ends in Piraeus, the port city for Athens, Greece. Hard to believe that the last 30 days were spent on a giant cruise ship with some 3,000 other passengers and we still felt like we had not had enough time on the water. Fourteen destinations later we had arrived in the ancient city of Athens where we had booked a small boutique hotel in the Palak neighborhood, directly under the shadows of one of central Athens, most famous landmarks, the Acropolis.
Of course the end of a cruise is a big let down in our experience, as these ships arrive early in port and want you off in about a 2-3 hour early morning window, after which their crews race to clean, sweep, provision and get ready for the next load of passengers crowding out the ship a couple of hours later. We hugged our new Princess “friends” goodbye and took a taxi our hotel into the city of Athens. The Port of Piraeus is one of the largest passenger ports in Europe. The port’s three cruise terminals are all a 20 to 30-minute taxi ride from the heart of Athens, depending on traffic; cost is approximately. $20 – $25. The port is also a major departure point for ferries to the beautiful Greek islands.
Thirty minutes later we were in the city part of Palak in search of our hotel for a 3 night stay. At the quoted rate the taxi drops us off at our little hotel in a maze of twirling and twisting streets, full with lively shops and restaurants.
Some general information about the ancient City of Athens and how to get around in a city that carries the floorpan of a maze.
Built in 1973, (6 lanes) the first of 3 bridges over the Bosphorus between two continents is now called the July 15th Martyrs Bridge
Port of Call Istanbul, Turkey had been on TJ’s wishlist since we booked the cruise extension in Barcelona. I forgot to mention this city in the Rome story in the line up of European cities that warrant a week’s visit, simply because there is so much to visit, see and experience. Well Istanbul is one of those cities. Its cultural complexity equals that of Hong Kong, Singapore, Buenos Aires, New York or Rio de Janeiro. You can spend a week there and still feel you have only scratched the surface. Should you want to spend a good time discovering Istanbul, our advise is to purchase an Istanbul Tourist Pass which offers you up-to-50% discount on many attractions, as well as skip-the-line e-tickets options.
Istanbul is a former capital of several historical empires, spread over both Asian ad European sides of the Bosphorus, which connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea to the North. At times known as Byzantium and Constantinople, the Old City reflects cultural influences of the many empires that once ruled here. In the Sultanahmet district, the open-air, Roman-era Hippodrome was for centuries the site of chariot races, and Egyptian obelisks also remain. The iconic Byzantine Hagia Sophia features a soaring 6th-century dome and rare Christian mosaics. Once the capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, this city of 16 million people and 10,000 mosques, tells a story with every street and skyline view.
Port of Call: Mykonos had been in our dreams as a place we wanted to visit badly. Well really it was one of the reasons we had booked the cruise extension in Barcelona. We know that Mykonos is a destination island for sun vacations, so booking a a shore excursion was out of the question. We were going to stretch our legs and explore the town bi-pedal.
Greece has between 1,200 and 6,000 total islands and islets, depending on the minimum size counted, with the Hellenic Military Geographical Service citing up to 29,372. Of these, only about 166 to 227 are inhabited, scattered across the Aegean and Ionian seas. With a population of a little over 10,000 people and a surface of 33 sq.miles, Mykonos takes place 33 in the line up of Greek Islands. Can’t help but compare Mykonos to our Beaver Islandnumbers and realize that Mykonos is only 3/5 of Beaver Island which houses about 600 people.
There are many islands surrounding Mykonos, like the famous Santorini, the islands of Andros, Tinos, Milos, Ios, Syros, Paros and Naxos. These islands have daily connections to Mykonos, so if you combine boats you can visit even more islands and add more destinations to your greek island hopping experience. Tinos, which is less developed but larger in size, is immediately located to the north and worth a visit by ferry.
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