Norwegian Viva - Greek Isles & Turkey

Where this cruise calls, day by day

9 ports and 2 sea days over 10 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Ravenna

   ItalyDepart

   The berth is Porto Corsini, a canal terminal on the Adriatic about 12km from Ravenna itself, so a shuttle is unavoidable. What waits at the other end is a set of fifth- and sixth-century Byzantine mosaics that survive nowhere else in Europe at this quality - gold ground, deep blue, still in the buildings they were made for. Ravenna also absorbed cruise traffic that once went to Venice.

   • The Basilica di San Vitale and the adjoining Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
   • Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, and Sant'Apollinare in Classe out of town
   • Dante's tomb, beside the Basilica di San Francesco
   • The Neonian Baptistery, oldest of the mosaic monuments

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at Porto Corsini on the Candiano canal and a shuttle covers the 12km into Ravenna, after which the mosaic sites are all within walking distance of each other.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Dubrovnik

   CroatiaPort

   Dubrovnik's walled Old Town is small, hard-surfaced and steep, and on a two-ship day it does not cope - which is why the city capped cruise arrivals. Ships berth at Gruz, about 3km round the headland, so you arrive by bus or taxi rather than stepping out at the gate. The wall circuit is what people come for and it earns the ticket, but it is a 2km loop with almost no shade.

   • The city walls circuit - roughly 2km, stepped, shadeless, and about EUR40
   • The Stradun, the Rector's Palace, and the Franciscan monastery pharmacy of 1317
   • The cable car up Mount Srd for the view down onto the Old Town and Lokrum
   • A boat across to Lokrum island, or sea kayaking beneath the walls

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Gruz, about 2.5km from the Pile Gate; ship shuttles run to the gate, local buses 1A and 1B take ten minutes, and the walk is 35 minutes along a busy road.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug means heat on the walls and the worst of the crowding)

4. Day 4

   Kotor

   MontenegroPort

   The approach is half the day here: ships work 28km up the Bay of Kotor and through the Verige strait, only 340m wide at its tightest, past Perast and near-vertical limestone before tying up. Kotor is a compact Venetian walled town at the head of the bay, and the berth is a hundred metres from the gate - which also means a very small town absorbing everything a large ship unloads.

   • The walls climb to St John's Fortress - 1,350 steps and 365m up, ticketed, with no shade
   • St Tryphon's Cathedral, consecrated in the 11th century, and the Old Town lanes
   • A boat to Our Lady of the Rocks, the man-made islet off Perast
   • The switchback road up to Lovcen and Njegos's mausoleum, or Budva and Sveti Stefan

   Getting ashore

   There is only one usable cruise pier, a two-minute walk from the Sea Gate. The first ship in takes it; everything arriving after that anchors in the bay and tenders.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug is hot and the fortress climb is punishing)

5. Day 5

   Athens (Piraeus)

   GreecePort

   Piraeus is Europe's busiest passenger port, and it is a port first and a place second - ferry berths, cranes, and cruise quays spread along a long waterfront. Athens is 10km inland, 30-45 minutes by road in traffic or about 25 minutes on the Line 1 metro. Almost everything you came for sits in one dense square kilometre under the Acropolis, so the day works if you pick a route and commit to it.

   • The Acropolis - the Parthenon, Erechtheion and Propylaia - and the Acropolis Museum below it
   • The Ancient Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus, the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece
   • The National Archaeological Museum, and the marble Panathenaic Stadium
   • Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon, about 70km down the coast

   Getting ashore

   Docked. Terminals sit along Akti Miaouli, and ships shuttle to the port gate; the Line 1 metro ride into Athens is about 25 minutes, but budget close to an hour door to door once the shuttle, the station walk and the queue are counted.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (in Jul-Aug heatwaves the Acropolis and the Agora now close from midday until late afternoon)

6. Day 6

   Santorini

   GreecePort

   Santorini is a flooded volcanic caldera, and the towns sit on the rim some 300m above where your ship anchors - which is the whole logistical problem. There is no cruise berth, so you tender to Skala below Fira and then queue for a small cable car, walk up 588 steps, or ride a mule. Arrivals are now capped to thin the crush, but the cable car remains the bottleneck in both directions.

   • Oia on the northern tip, and the caldera-edge path that walks there from Fira
   • Akrotiri - a Bronze Age town buried by the eruption and excavated under a modern roof
   • Assyrtiko tasting at the caldera-facing wineries, Santo Wines and Venetsanos
   • A caldera boat to the crater of Nea Kameni and the warm springs at Palea Kameni

   Getting ashore

   Tender to Skala, the old port below Fira, then the cable car up the cliff - queues of an hour each way are normal on busy days, and the alternative is 588 steps. Excursion tenders often land at Athinios instead, where coaches wait.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug is hot, packed, and Oia at sunset is shoulder to shoulder)

7. Day 7

   Rhodes

   GreecePort

   Rhodes has the easiest arrival in the Greek islands for anyone who dislikes tenders: ships tie up in the commercial harbour with the medieval walls right there, and you walk in through a gate. The Old Town was built by the Knights of St John and has been lived in ever since, so it is a working town rather than a monument - though the main shopping street is given over almost entirely to cruise trade.

   • The Palace of the Grand Master and the cobbled Street of the Knights
   • The Archaeological Museum, housed in the Knights' Hospital
   • Lindos - the acropolis above the village, and St Paul's Bay below it
   • Mandraki harbour and the Acropolis of Rhodes on Monte Smith

   Getting ashore

   Docked in the commercial harbour; the Old Town gates are a 5-10 minute walk. Lindos is about 50km south, an hour each way by road.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct; Rhodes stays warm well into late October

8. Day 8

   Kusadasi

   TurkeyPort

   Kusadasi is a Turkish resort town that exists commercially for cruise ships, and the terminal delivers you straight into a bazaar built around that. Almost nobody stays: ships call for Ephesus, one of the most completely excavated Roman cities anywhere, half an hour inland. Go early - the site is unshaded marble, and by midday several ships' worth of passengers are on the main street at once.

   • Ephesus - the Library of Celsus, the 24,000-seat Great Theatre, and the Terrace Houses
   • The House of the Virgin Mary on Bulbul Dagi above the site
   • Selcuk: the Basilica of St John and the single standing column of the Temple of Artemis
   • Sirince, a hill village of old Greek houses now given over to fruit wine

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Ege Ports (Scala Nuova) - never a tender port, with room for four large ships. The bazaar is ten minutes on foot; Ephesus is 15km, about half an hour, and is best walked downhill from the Upper Gate to the Lower.

   Best months

   Apr-May and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug at Ephesus is brutal - no shade, hot stone underfoot)

9. Day 9

   Thessaloniki

   GreecePort

   Thessaloniki is a real second city rather than a resort - Greece's food capital, with a large student population and a waterfront people actually use. A fire in 1917 took out most of the old town, so what survives is scattered: Roman monuments, a set of Byzantine churches with mosaics, Ottoman traces, and the upper town that escaped the flames.

   • The White Tower and the promenade east to the Umbrellas sculpture
   • The Rotunda and the Arch of Galerius, and the church of Hagios Demetrios
   • Ano Poli, the upper town that survived the fire, and the Byzantine walls above it
   • Vergina and the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, about 75km west

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the port at the western end of the waterfront; Aristotelous Square is roughly a 15-minute walk and the White Tower about 30.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (in heatwaves the city's archaeological sites shut through the early afternoon)

10. Day 10 · At sea

11. Day 11

    Istanbul

    TurkeyArrive

    Galataport put the berth back in the middle of the city: ships tie up on the Bosphorus at Karakoy, with the terminal buried underground so the waterfront stays a public promenade. You step off into Istanbul rather than into a shuttle queue. The catch is scale - the historic peninsula is a tram ride away, and no single day covers Sultanahmet, the bazaars and the Bosphorus properly.

    • Hagia Sophia, now a working mosque with a ticketed upper gallery route for visitors
    • The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and its Harem, and the Basilica Cistern
    • The Grand Bazaar, shut on Sundays, and the Spice Bazaar below Suleymaniye Mosque
    • A ferry up the Bosphorus, or Galata Tower on the slope behind the terminal

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Galataport in Karakoy, a walk-off terminal, though the underground exit walk can be long. Galata Tower is 10 minutes uphill; Sultanahmet is 5km, so take the T1 tram from Tophane rather than walking it.

    Best months

    Apr-May and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug hot and humid; winter is grey but far quieter)