on a sunny day. I've already taken pictures of the coast from the board of a ship several times, and now I am jealous of people standing on the waterfront. It's probably an impressive spectacle to observe our huge ship!
Everything in Kotor is the same as was six months ago. There are just no cats, we took the sausage at breakfast for no reason.
Here is the port of Piraeus, it's very close to Athens. This is the place where tourists worry about the tours the most.
My advice is the following: you get out of the port, go 650 feet (200 meters) to the left to a stop of a tourist City-Bus, there is an audio guide in different languages, it costs 20 Euros. It's cheaper than a taxi, even if you use the bus only for a transfer to Acropolis.
We traveled around the depressing Greek capital by bus and then got into the taxi and went to the waterfront with a lot of fish restaurants.
This is the most expensive fish of today's catch that costs like lobsters - a red mullet.
Our stop in
will last two days. You can get from the pier to the city's major attractions on foot in 20-30 minutes with no rush, or you can reach it comfortably on a tram for 2 Lira (about 1 Euro, you can buy tickets at the bus stop in the vending machine, you should exchange the money in the exchange office before that).
If you take a taxi, you should keep an eye on the money that you give to a driver to make sure he doesn't take more than needed. And it is better to pay for your ride after getting out of the car to not be trapped by the greedy taxi driver.
Of course, we went on foot. There are fishermen with fishing rods on the bridge.
Overnight stop in Istanbul is an opportunity to sit in a hookah lounge till late, there are a lot of them next to the pier.
In the morning, we decided to visit the Topkapi Palace. Here are my recommendations: a ticket office does not accept credit cards, and there are no exchange offices nearby, get yourself the Turkish Lira in advance, or buy the guide book to the Palace in the shop - you'll be given Lira as change, and your walk through the courtyards of the museum will be a meaningful and an entertaining one.
These photos prove the fact that it's better to visit the museum in hot Turkey in May.
We are leaving the Bosphorus Strait, there is a day at sea ahead.
And this is Ephesus.
Our friends went to the beach, I stayed on the ship to work. So, there are no photos.
This is
- a beautiful colored island with pelicans.
The main attraction on Santorini is to get from the foot of the island to the top of the mountain with the snow-white city. There are three options: on foot, by donkey, and on a cable car. After we tested all methods, I recommend you to go down only by a cable car! Split is a wonderful old city located a stone's throw away from the quay.
Here are funny coins - with a bear.
We listened to national songs,
visited a fish market to look at the morning catch.
We got hungry and ordered grilled squids.
We watched the performance...
...and our cruise ended in Venice.
Our plane departed at night, so we were able to visit more places. We got a taxi to the airport, left the luggage in the luggage room, and went to the water taxi parking (it's about 7 minutes on foot from the terminal).
We took a boat for 7 people, it cost 100 Euros (in 2012).
And we went to the island of Murano right under the landing planes.
The walk paths on the island are spacious, there are no such crowds as at Piazza San Marco.
It was possible to go to San Michele. It's the cemetery island behind a brick wall, can you see it? It's nearby, just minute away on a water bus.
But I had already been there and the others weren't going to it, so we stayed on Murano. We went to look at craftsmen blowing a glass horse.
On the island, in addition to restaurants, there are shops - and you can only buy the Murano glass there (and the Chinese fakes), there are no other goods. However, glass is everywhere here, even in the most shabby yards.
We got back to the airport on the vaparetto (the water bus) in 25 minutes with just one stop.
Here's some info:
Cruise - 12 days
The cost of one spot in a double cabin with a window - 1,508 US dollars
Tips - $11 for each person
Taxi from the airport to the port in Venice - 48 Euros for 7 passengers (in 2012).