Cruising the Mediterranean

This is part two of a three week trip that begins with a trip to Rome, followed by a cruise through the Mediterranean and ending with a train ride through Milan and Zurich before flying back home.

• Part 1: Getting to Rome
• Part 2: Cruising the Mediterranean
• Part 3: Milan and Zurich by Train

$509 USD

12 Days

• Civitavecchia, Italy
• Katakolon, Greece
• Kavala, Greece
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Kusadasi, Turkey
• Mykonos, Greece
• Athens, Greece
• Naples, Italy

Bosphorous

Medina

Mount Stromboli was our first interesting sight on the cruise. It is one of the most consistently active volcanoes on earth and is sometimes called the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean." We could see it erupting as we passed by. Believe it or not, people live right there on the island.

The Straits of Messina, the passage between Italy and Sicily, were our second interesting site aboard the ship. We ended up passing through them on the way east and when we returned westward, both at night and during the day.

The strait is famous for unpredictable currents. In Greek Mythology, two ravenous sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis, were said to guard the straits, creating vortices to swallow up ships. 
 

In Katakolon, a lot of people book excursions inland to visit the ancient site of Olympia where the original Olympics were held thousands of years ago. That's a bit of a journey, though if you have the right itinerary it's technically possible to do on your own by train. I stayed in town.

When you get off the pier, if you can go to the right this takes you through town, passed restaurants, a museum, city park and eventually a beach where you might find a few sailboats and cruisers.

I found the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology to be particularly cool, despite it's extremely small size. In it, they have a working display of Heron’s Fountain, an unpowered fountain that uses hydrostatic pressure to shoot water higher than its reservoir.

If you go left, you'll find a small nice public beach and a road that leads up the bluffs towards a lighthouse which is closed to the public. This is where you'll find the nicest views. I walked all the way to the lighthouse which is on private land and closed to the public.

Leaving Katakolon, we were presented with a brilliant sunset. These were pretty common in the Mediterranean. I suspect we were seeing a lot of dust in the western sky.

Despite being a tender port, Kavala was one of my favorite small ports o the journey. It was big enough to feel like a small city, with it's own culture and sites, and small enough that it felt easy to get around.

When you get off the cruise ship, you can head left toward town or right up a coastal walk that leads to the top of the hill where you'll find an old fortress and the childhood home of Mehmet Ali. The walk itself is pretty and it is probably the most direct route to key tourist sites. 

This was the home of Mehmet Ali who is widely attributed to be the founder of modern Egypt. He grew up here, becoming a military commander in the Ottoman Empire before seizing control of Egypt. The house is a nice preserved bit of Ottoman architecture.

On the walk back through town, I got to see a lot of shops, restaurants, cats, and the. old aqueducts.

On the way to Istanbul, we went under the Çanakkale Bridge while passing through the Dardanelles. I was lucky enough to be up and was able to catch a short video.
 

Cruise ships dock at the Galataport Cruise terminal. It's a bit like a walled neighborhood or mall. There's plenty of shopping and dining, but I got out of there as quick as I could and then took a trolley to Old Town. 

If you're there for a few days, you'll want to buy an Istanbul Kart card. These work on all the mass transit in the city and it's easier than trying to figure out where tap to pay might fail you. If you buy the tourist passes, you will absolutely overpay, but it's still not too bad.

Once I arrived in Old Town, one of the first places I found was the Egyptian Market. This place was packed, wall to wall people. I could barely move. It was inside there, trapped in the August heat, wedged between sweaty bodies, that I decided I would love to visit Istanbul again, in the winter, during Ramadan, and preferably in the rain (more on that later).

Not all of these pictures are of the Egyptian market, I threw in a few other markets and stalls from around the city.

After leaving the Egyptian Market, I found myself fleeing to less populated streets and ended up walking past these murals on my way to Gülhane Park.
 

Gülhane Park is one of Old Town's most prominent spots. It connects the palace, harem and architectural museums and is near sites like Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. 

The park itself is nice. You can see herons nesting in the trees in spring and the water cistern is a pretty cool attraction, both to see and as a way to escape the August heat.

If you leave the park, headed toward Hagia Sophia, be prepared to be asked to visit someone's carpet store. 

I didn't have time to stop in Hagia Sophia, or rather I prioritized exploring the city. Lines were long and I think I may have needed to pre-book a time slot. So I decided to keep moving and save it for another trip.

One thing I really wanted to do in my day in Istanbul was to take a ferry across the Bosphorus to Asia and then take a train back to Europe. I actually ended up spending a good deal of time walking around as I got on the wrong ferry and then it took a while to find my way back by train.

After taking the train back from Asia, I emerged to a nice sunset around Galata bridge. Unfortunately, it was definitely time to begin speed walking back to the boat.

Back aboard, around 9pm, we heard the call to prayer. I'm not a religious person at all, but there is something achingly beautiful and wholly foreign hearing the song coming from multiple spires across the city.

Kuşadası was our first stop after Istanbul. It's not far from historic sites like Ephesus, and many excursions go there. The town itself is a small resort town with some nearby beaches and an old fortress. I decided to spend my day walking down to the fort along the coast and then exploring a bit of town on my own.

Walking along the waterfront, there were lots of crabs and sea urchins in and around the water.

The fortress is out on a small island connected by a causeway. Inside, there is a little museum full of ancient seafaring artifacts and a fin whale skeleton. There's also a little cafe and a boat dock.

On the way back to the ship, I spent a little more time walking through some of the shops. There's probably some variation of this in half the ports, but I appreciated the "Genuine Fake Watches" shop.

Mykonos was probably the prettiest place we went to on the cruise. The town is famous for it's brilliant white and blue buildings, large windmills and pristine turquoise waters. It was a tender port for us, though a pretty short journey to the dock.

The windmills are arguably the most iconic attraction on Mykonos. Some of date back to the 16th century. Easily walkable from the port, they were very popular and very crowded.

After the windmills, I continued walked down the coast past some public beaches and an old church. There were a couple people there with professional photographers doing their own personal photo shoots. It seemed to be a popular place for instagram culture.

When you dock in Athens, you actually dock in Piraeus which is effectively Athens but you'll need to walk a mile to get to the nearest subway station along fairly dull and hot concrete port area. You might be able to take a bus to cut down on that, and I'd advise doing so if you can. Once you get out of the port and into the city, it becomes a lot nicer.

Once you get out of the port area and into the city proper, things improve. I focused on getting to the Parthenon and back, but I still got to see some interesting parts of downtown, old ruins, city parks and the Agora. It took about an hour or so to get from the cruise ship to the Parthenon. 

The Parthenon is probably the top site in Athens and it can be very, very hot in August. There are lots of steps and no shade so definitely bring some water. That said, it's worth the trip, both for the history of the site and the 360 degree views of the city.

Naples is a more walkable port than Athens and you are greeted with great views of Vesuvius from the port. Pompei is probably the most popular excursion and you can do it by train, but it's a little far if you've only got the day in port. Instead, I opted to explore the city, visiting a famous gallery, the palace, the coast and enjoying the original Pizza.

Galleria Umberto I is essentially a 19th century semi open air mall, now with a Five Guys.

The Royal Palace of Naples is a pretty cool site. The main section had all the meeting halls, the throne room and even a large theater. However, there were other sections with their own little museums, one to a singer, another full of famous busts.

.Naples is the home of the pizza and all true pizzas are either margherita or plain marinara. This was quite yummy.

I had intended to go visit Galleria Borbonica, but it was closed despite Google saying it was open. So I spent the rest of the day walking down the coast before heading back to the boat.

Sunset in Naples from the cruise ship was particularly pretty.

After Naples, we were back in Civitavecchia the next day. From there, I went on to Milan and Zurich. 

• Part 1: Getting to Rome
• Part 2: Cruising the Mediterranean
• Part 3: Milan and Zurich by Train