Venice to Istanbul Cruise
We flew into Venice early morning and were met and transferred to our beautiful ship. Having only visited one of Nieuw’s sister ships, the older and smaller Ryndam, I knew I was in for a treat! Nieuw Amsterdam was majestically moored in port – awaiting our embarkation. The purpose of the trip was to sample part of the Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona. Along with three other Travel Counsellors and 10 other agents, we were sailing from Venice to Istanbul. Both ports are fabulous to sail from and to, very impressive.
Our balcony cabin awaited out arrival, spacious and very well appointed, we soon settled in then set off to explore our new home for the next five nights. Lunch was a lavish affair in the Lido Restaurant – practically anything you wanted to eat was being served up! I opted for the freshly grilled tuna and salad – it was delicious!
On deck it was very relaxed, gentle music playing in the background and we were soon setting sail down the Grand Canal, the views were awesome! Dinner followed our welcome drinks and canapes and time to get to know our fellow agents, a great group of people and we all got on really well.
Tuesday dawned and we continued our sail south down the Adriatic whilst enjoying the facilities on board. So much to do and you can do as little or as much as you wish. Something to suit everybody, spa, gym, hydro pool, private cabanas for hire if you wish. Club Hal and the Loft to keep children of all ages happy. The Crow’s Nest – the best viewing point when leaving and arriving into port, computers and a super library too.
That evening we had our formal evening all dressed in our evening gear, we ate in the Manhattan Restaurant, a very special evening and the food was delicious too! in fact all the restaurants were excellent, we ate at Pinnacle Grill, the speciality restaurant as well as Tamarind my favourite delicious Asian cuisine. Evening entertainment on board is very varied: Jeremy tinkled the ivories in the piano bar – he was fabulous so entertaining and he created a great atmosphere, you struggled to get a seat in the room! Songs from the shows in the Showroom. Disco Northern Lights, plenty of bars and the in ship band – BB Kings entertained us until the small hours!!
The next morning we woke up to beautiful views, we had moored up in The small fishing village of Katákolon it is gateway to the mystical site of ancient Olympia, 25 miles to the east, this was the site of the first Olympic Games. We wandered the streets of this sleepy village and took in the scenery, a local coffee and chatted with the locals.
Continuing our sail we arrived into Piraeus the port of Athens early the next morning. We did the open top bus tour – scorching weather that day – the hottest day of the year so far in Athens! Seeing the Acropolis didn’t disappoint making my first visit to Greece so memorable.
Finally we sailed into Istanbul where east meets west - and just managed to squeeze in a trip to the Grand Bazaar, haggle for our souvenirs, and finished off a lovely week with a traditional Turkish Meze and the local beer.
I will be back to Greece and Turkey definitely – this was my first time both countries but certainly not my last…….