Apr 10

Our Cruise ends in Pireaus/Athens, Greece

View of Acropolis from our Athens hotel rooftop

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.

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Apr 08

Port of Call: Istanbul, Turkey

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.

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Apr 06

Port of Call: Mykonos

Little Venice – Mykonos Old Town Harbor

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 Island numbers 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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Apr 04

Port of Call: Kuşadası, Turkey

We love Kuşadası

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 to both of us. A true jewel to discover and we both fell in love with the city, its people and history.

Settled as early as 3000 BC by Lelegians and Carians, it was later known as Ephesus Neopolis (Byzantine era) and Scala Nova (Genoese/Venetian period) before becoming a major Ottoman, then modern Turkish, coastal city. In ancient and earlier times the town was known as Ephesus Neopolis during the Byzantine era, and later as Scala Nova or Scala Nuova under the Genoese and Venetian merchant rulers.

Kuşadası is mostly famous for its beautiful beaches, vibrant holiday atmosphere, shopping and easy access to world-class historical Roman, Minoan and Greek sites. Its combination of natural beauty, cultural landmarks, shopping opportunities, seaside dining, and family attractions makes it one of the Aegean coast’s most versatile destinations. At the time we arrived, the Russia-Ukranian war was several weeks old and Kuşadası was feeling its effects. One jewelry shop owner told us that normally at this time of year, many Muscovites would spend their winters here, but now neither Russians nor Ukrainians were arriving and business was way down.

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Apr 02

Port of Call: Crete, Greece

Heraklion Crete

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. Our port was going to be in Heraklion, the capital of the island, located just northwest of the ancient Minoan capital of Knossos. The first human inhabitants of Knossos probably came there from Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 7th millennium BCE and established an agricultural society based on wheat and livestock raising. The central mountain range rises up to 8,000 ft above sea level, most of the 625,000 population lives on the northern side of the island which is a little less than twice the size of the State of Delaware.

Before I start informing you about our visit to the Birthplace of Zeuss, I have to tell you that we had a Meeting of the Minds on the High Seas half way between the Italian Island of Sicily and the Greek Island of Crete. Still dealing with the fall out of the Covid 19 pandemic, one of Regal Princess sister ships, the Diamond Princess was experiencing a shortage of medicines available to treat passengers. So we witnessed a highly unusual, but impressive encounter on the high seas, when our ship, the Regal Princess, marked the occasion with a loud rendition of the Love Boat theme to welcome its needy sister ship and transferred the necessary medicines via a tender boat.

Princess Cruises features a variety of tours in Crete, focusing on the main ports of Heraklion and Chania (Souda), including visits to the ancient Minoan Palace of Knossos, the historic Spinalonga Island, and cultural experiences like the Arolithos Village.

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