hi I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of my Tips for Travellers. In this episode
I'm taking a look at the 10 best things to see and do if you're on Adriatic and
Greek islands cruise. It's a magnificent part of the world and most of the
cruises will start at either Venice or in Athens and travel between Athens and
Venice. It means you take in parts of mainland Greece, the Greek islands and a
couple of stops on the Adriatic coast. If you're looking at booking a
cruise these are the places that you need to make sure are on your itinerary
to have the best way of seeing and doing this part of the world. Make sure you
don't miss any of these incredible places. Let's start in Athens. You're
either going to embark or disembark in Athens and make sure that you go to the
Acropolis. This is an outcrop overlooking the city and on the top are the ruins of
most magnificent temples, the most famous of which being the Parthenon which is a
temple which was created and built in the honour of the goddess Athena - who is
seen as the patron of Athens and really where they got their name from. Also
nearby the Acropolis is the new Acropolis museum, a massive complex
with remarkable artifacts. If you're going on a cruise that starts or ends in
Athens make sure you build in time to go to the Acropolis. Since we've been
talking about important archaeological areas what I'm going to do is talk about
some of the really other great and important archaeological sites to see.
One of these is in Katakolon, and the place you go to is Olympia. It's
about an hour or so from Katakolon. If you go on a cruise that's going to Katakolon
make sure you go to Olympia. Olympia is the site of the original
Olympic Games and many of the buildings were built in the honour of the god Zeus,
and it is a huge sprawling complex including the huge big stadium where
many of the races were run. It's a fascinating complex and there are two
museums nearby. The one that I would really make sure you get to, which
is not far from the entrance into Olympia, is the museum which tells you
the whole history of Olympia. Make sure you go to Olympia it is absolutely
magnificent. Another great place to go if you are interested in culture and art--
is make sure that your cruise is stopping in Crete and ideally
calling at the port of Heraklion. It's the closest to what's known as the
Palace of Knossos. The Palace of Knossos is again another big sprawling
complex. Some of it has she been reconstructed and it ready was deserted
at the end of the Bronze Age. It was the center of the Minoans and it became very
famous for a legend about the Minotaur which allegedly lived in the labyrinth
underneath the Palace of Knossos. But it's a beautiful place to visit, with
history and story. It's not known why it was deserted when it was
such a major structure but it's felt that was probably there's lots of
volcanic activity and also lots of battles which probably drove the people
out. So those are some really important historical sites if you're interested in
that side of the Greek islands. My next two suggestions are round two really
famous and iconic islands. The first of which is Santorini. Santorini is
absolutely fascinating because it is created by a lots of volcanic activity,
and so you have these massive 300 meter high cliffs and perched across the top of
them are the towns. When you actually call into Santorini
you are likely to be docked outside the main town which is known as Fira and you
can then either walk up or get a donkey ride up or you can wait for the cable
car and when lots of cruise ships are in it can be very busy. But I really recommend
you head to the other town which is called Oia. Oia is a
much more beautiful town. The very easy way of doing that is when you get onto the
dockside, you'll find a number of boats there which will do a shuttle service. So
they will take you from the dockside in Fira about a 15-minute drive to Oia,
they'll have a bus which takes you up the hill into Oia. This is where you're
going to get those famous and classical scenes of Santorini. If you want the classic
pictures of Santorini, this is the place to go. From there they normally
include a bus which will take you back to the town of Fira, which you can then
explore, get the cable car down or walk down or get a donkey ride down. We
actually walked down. It's about 800 something steps and it's not a bad walk down.
The second really famous and iconic Island is that of Mykonos and Mykonos
town. One of the great things to do in Mykonos town is to stroll through the
little winding streets. There's lots of complex little winding
streets and it's full of little boutiques and shops and restaurants
and bars and it really is quite magnificent. Many people walk through the
old town to head towards the windmills, which are the famous and iconic
sight and picture that everyone wants to get. Mykonos is really
fascinating. In the 70s and 80s it was a really important and vibrant place and
attracted lots of celebrities. It reportedly caught on because
Onasis took Jackie there and they really loved it there and it also then
became a big center for gay culture and gay holidays. it sort of waned a
little bit in the 90s and the early 2000s but it's really come back and it's
again a very vibrant and trendy place to go. Santorini and Mykonos are great places
to go but can be very very busy if there's lots of cruise ships in. Now to
slightly more unusual islands that I really loved and I would recommend. When
you're looking at a cruise, try and make sure that these are included. The first
of which is Patmos. Patmos is a quiet island and you normally tender in, and
only the smaller ships come in and then you can head from Skala which is a
town on the bottom and head up the hill to Hora. If you're really energetic you can
walk although I recommend it's much better to get a taxi up there because it's
really steep. You can then go to the Monastery of st. John. Inside there they
have some original scrolls from the Bible, but it's also really well known
for the cave of St John further down the hill. Although a lot of people
like to go there, many are disappointed when they go there. The cave
is where John had the revelation and saw Jesus and he wrote the book of
Revelations which is the last book in the New Testament. so it's a very popular
place to come for pilgrimages. It's a very beautiful place and the town is
very lovely. The island of Patmos is a great one to include. Another island
which is very fascinating is the island of Gythion. Again the smaller ships
tend to cruise here. They normally will tender you in although sometimes one of
the ships can dock. Gythion has a very beautiful town. They have lots of
dockside and Harborside restaurants, fantastic bakeries and its really great
place to hang out. But the thing I recommend you do is head out to the
Glyfada cave at Dira.Iit's about a 40-minute drive, so you may want to book
a excursion through the Cruise Line. These caves are absolutely fascinating.
They were only discovered in 1949 and are vast underground
caves. You go a little boat trip, which will take about half an hour,
winding its way through the caves. It's quite an enclosed space so if you're
claustrophobic not the best thing to do! It is absolutely fascinating.
Another great place to go to is Corfu. Corfu is much more of a land-based
tourist island, but it's a great place to go.Get the hop-on hop-off bus and you can
head out and explore the island particularly head away from the old town
more towards the beach areas and some great places where you can go swimming. So for
example we went swimming at the base of the old fortress with magnificent views.
Really quite something. If you are going on an Eastern
Mediterranean cruises which either end or start in Venice, you will also call on
another reports along the Adriatic coast. The two most famous of which are Kotor
Montenegro and Dubrovnik in Croatia. Kotor is a magnificent and beautiful
place to call on, so when you look at your itinerary I really recommend you
include one that has Kotor on. It's a bit like cruising into the Norwegian fjords with
beautiful mountains on either side of a beautiful bay. You sail quite a
long way inland and the old town of Kotor is very charming. It's quite small.
It's a walled city and very easy to stroll around. Lots of interesting shops but one
of the things I recommend you do, if you've got a bit of energy and fitness,
is to climb up the massive mountain behind Kotor. It's over a thousand steps
so it you need to be relatively fit to head up there, but the views are absolute
magnificent looking back across the bay. Dubrovnik is of course a very famous
city and in some ways it's becoming almost over busy with tourists. Fans of
Game of Thrones will know Dubrovnik as in the early part of the series
Dubrovnik was used for some of Game of Thrones. The old walled city is very
beautiful and you can walk right along the old walls. Really magnificent.
You can head up on the cable car and get great views of Dubrovnik. Send time
around the old time city and go on a walking tour and find out about all the
different churches and the stories of Dubrovnik. Absolutely fascinating. Of
course if you're starting or ending in Venice make sure that you do spend time in
Venice, and have whole videos dedicated to finding out things about Venice. If
you're heading on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise or a cruise that
includes the Greek islands these are the things and
and places that I strongly recommend you when you look at a itinerary. Make
sure that all of or many of these places are included. A lot of the cruises will
only call on the really big islands, so Mykonos or Santorini, and they will miss
out some of the other islands which are much more fascinating and you won't get the
true Greek experience. I hope you find that helpful. If you did I also have a video
full of tips and advice if you're looking or thinking of going on a Greek
and Greek island cruise. Id love it if you watch many more of my Tips For Travellers videos
and they will help you make much more of your very precious travel time.