ITALY & GREEK ISLAND CRUISE 2017

Another ocean cruise, this time with Holland America, after we had had time to forget the 2014 one!

Food was great, but the main object seemed to be fleecing passengers with overpriced drinks & tours that could be had cheaper with a bit of an online search, which we did. Internet pricing was quite ridiculous & we were told by a performer that they got it for a fraction of what we were charged, so apart from the first day, we accessed it at port calls. 

One thing that really annoyed us was the poor briefing on board which did not advise us of the hopon hopoff bus services available at quite a few stops & which we found out only by advice from other passengers. These were great & made sightseeing much easier without having to book an expensive paid tour.

11 Oct - flew to Venice via Hong Kong, where we had a 3 hour wait to catch our flight to Frankfurt. HK is a dump & not a patch on Singapore if you have a wait between flights. We then had a 3 hour wait in Frankfurt before boarding our flight to Venice. What a contrast to HK. Frankfurt had considered passengers with a lengthy wait by having beds in walkthrough areas - brilliant. Well done to the Germans for considering passengers - a rare consideration in airports generally!

We were booked into Hotel Centauro in Venice & had some fun getting there. The airport bus took us halfway, then we took the ferry to Rialto wharf. We would have been better getting a water taxi instead of the ferry as walking on the cobblestones in Venice is a pain & it is one of the easiest cities I have ever been to in which to get lost. The hotel was fine if a bit cramped, but quite central.

12/13 Oct - explored around St Marks, visited the Doges Palace which had an interesting museum & where we were very lucky to catch an exhibition 'Jewels of the Moguls' which was wonderful. We also took a ferry to gardens near Campo Chiesa, which were quite a pleasant change from the crowds in town, & walked back from there to St Marks during which we saw our cruise ship coming in. How locals put up with the masses of tourists whilst remaining polite & helpful, heaven knows!

14 Oct - joined the cruise in Venice & after the usual settling process went exploring.

15 Oct - cruised to our first port in Albania.

16 Oct - arrived in Sarande, Albania which was still run down after the repressive communist era & had little of interest for us.

17 Oct - now at Argostoli on the west coast of Cephalonia, which was quite a pleasant place, but we didn't have enough time to explore places of interest like Ithaca, home of Odysseus of Iliad fame.

18 Oct - on to Katakolon, part of the Peloponnese & gateway to Olympia, where we took a tour with Olympic Tours which was excellent, in fact we used them for several other tours instead of the ones organised by the ship. Opympia & the village was well worth the visit.

19 Oct - next to Nafplion, which was quite scenic with Palamidi Castle in the background of the pleasant little town. We wandered around & visited the Komboli museum with its extensive display of worry beads, so of course I had to buy some! I took the hopon hopoff bus to the castle, had a look around taking plenty of snaps of the interior & view, then walked back to town down the 999 steps. This was the most interesting of the smaller ports visited from our point of view.

20/21 Oct - on to Athens, or at least Piraeus its port & another tour with Olympic around Athens & then Ancient Corinth & the Canal the next day, both very professional & interesting. Of course, Athens is one of those places we could have spent much more time in, but that's the point of cruising, a quick look at a lot of places to determine which might reward a second visit. Naturally the Parthenon & Roman Agora were highlights, as was the Corinth Canal, which I had passed through in 1969 & remains just as memorable & impressive today. Again, we had to restrict ourselves to what we could fit into the time available.

22 Oct - now at Mykonos, a pleasant little town with the main feature of windmills.

>23 Oct - sailing into Santorini was breathtaking & the vinyards most interesting with the vines grown at ground level, but the wines were poor. Oia itself can be toured quite comfortably in a couple of hours with some spectacular views. Unfortunately our tour did not take in the Akrotiri Minoan ruins & we opted not to climb the cliff by donkey, using the cable car instead - much more comfortable!

24 Oct - at sea.

25 Oct - into Naples, a very interesting city & gateway to several different areas like Sorrento, Amalfi, Pompei, & Capri which we didn't have time to visit, so will put it on our bucket list for another time.

26-30 Oct - cruise ends in Civitaveccia, port for Rome, where we disembark & head for our hotel Dei Borgia. We booked in for several days to enable us to have a quick look around Rome. Again, the hopon hopoff busses were excellent & convenient. The crowds, however, at all major attractions were horrific. We managed to fit in the usual tourist attractions, Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Forum, Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps & Vatican. The Vatican museum has a marvellous display of ancient egyptian artifacts & if you are thinking of going to Egypt I'd suggest you don't waste your time, as you would avoid getting sick & see more by visiting this museum instead! The other artifacts from Assyrian & other civilizations were also great, but the Sistine chapel left us cold. Once again, we could have spent more time, with Rome a convenient spot for tours to Naples, Pompeii, Catacombs, etc, but it didn't appeal as much as Naples.

30 Oct-2 Nov - We took the fast train to Florence & our hotel the Garibaldi Blu. Hopon hopoff busses were again a convenient way to sightsee & we found Fiesole village in the hills above the city a lovely spot, but with too little time to enjoy fully. The Leonardo museum is a must to appreciate the man's genuis. The only disappontment was our visit to the Boboli Gardens, which were an absolute ripoff. We make a point of visiting gardens whereever we visit, but these were very poor, consisting mainly of walkways between avenues of trees or hedges. We should have visited more galleries to truly appreciate the art scene, but by this time we were ruined out & had seen more than enough art & churches too, so were glad to head for home.

The weather for the whole trip had been wonderful apart from our last couple of days when it turned cool & damp, but what made the trip for me was finding an old childhood friend awaiting us at our hotel in Florence. She had flown out from London to meet us, so we enjoyed some catching up & sharing stories with her.