✈️ *Mostly* Italy 🇮🇹 🇬🇷 🇲🇹 Rollup/travel suggestions🚊
I did 22 locations in just over a month so I’ll just go through one by one
-🛬 FCO Airport in Rome then 🚊 to Civitavecchia the 🛳️ port: highly recommend building in the 2 day layover, this gives you time to 1) catch a train there (cost €20ish vs €150 taxi) 2) sleep normal and adjust schedule. Civitavecchia is also pretty charming. Pretty coastline, nice people, good food. Be sure to catch a glimpse of our U.S. Ambassador’s mega yacht in the port. Can’t miss it.
Cruise stops 🛳️
Athens 🏛️- buy tickets for Acropolis in advance (I did and they were sold out for days when we got there, watched people on my cruise get turned away after getting from port inland and hiking up the hill). *Download Rick Steve’s audio Europe app (free) and bring charged earbuds- used this the whole trip, was awesome* You won’t have time for much else other than that and a little walking around/dinner. I began using Google map food ratings to find restaurants and anything 4.5 ⭐️ or higher was great. I had done Athens before as a land tourist and it was cool- wasn’t dangerous for me at all, even as a solo- don’t read online hype. Used Rick Steve’s app for ancient agora (loved), saw the famous cemetery (it was okay- could’ve skipped), saw Zeus’ temple- easy to walk to/should just go see it for convenience, took side trip to Poseidon’s Temple 🔱 (loved)… only thing I missed that I wished I had done was Delphi. Be sure to stop at Brettos for a drink if you’re land visiting.
Santorini 🧿- we could only tender in and then either 🫏/walk/🚡up, chose 🚡€5/per each way (🫏 looked like their lives sucked so wasn’t going to contribute to animal abuse). Once off 🚡just put “Three bells of Fira” into maps and get out of tourist area, about half a mile walk, it’s where you get all the famous views. Vibe check; was nice, island was quiet, good for honeymooning.
Mykonos 🛟- I reallllly wanted to take a ferry ⛴️ to Delos, but the ferry schedule was off. Instead we wandered through the port town and REALLY enjoyed it. Go see windmills, shop, and eat. Vibe check; I know this is a party island, but we didn’t see much in daytime. On list to land travel if I ever go back. Vibrant, mostly flat, high quality.
Olympia 🏺- pre bought bus to Ancient Olympia for $13, Rick Steve’s didn’t have tour so downloaded/listened to one on Voicemap app (I think). Was pretty cool, worth a see.
Malta 🇲🇹- took the hop on hop off bus 🚌 DO NOT GET SUCKERED INTO THIS. Made it to Mdina (where GOT filmed King’s Landing scenes), was pretty incredible. Enjoyed walking around. Bus was full so took taxi to Blue Grotto 🌊 on coastline. Ate fabulous seafood.
Messina Sicily ⛪️- used as a down day, wandered the port. Watched Astronomical Clock of the Cathedral of Messina at noon (was a more religious version of the mechanical clock in Munich 🇩🇪). If I had felt spry I would’ve trained into Taormina to see the ancient open air theater.
Salerno ☀️- carefully planned and high tailed (via 🚖 to station) to 🚊 to go see Pompeii 🌋. The station dropped us off .4 miles from a backside entrance (there’s three) and we had first dibs on park. Used Rick Steve’s as much as we could- since we were doing it backwards- finally just downloaded park app. It was wonderful and sparse for a few hours. Must see, highly recommend. Bailed by the time we made to main entrance bc it was wall-to-wall people.
Continued below👇