A marvelous mother-daughter cruise of the Adriatic Sea
On an average Thursday in mid-April, about ten days before The Baby’s 15th birthday, the sands of time were moving far too quickly. Since I couldn’t slow down time, I decided to make the most of it. So, on that very day, Big Sis and I decided to take a weeklong mother-daughter trip with The Baby and Niece in mid-August. Neither Big Sis nor I are spontaneous, so this was a giant leap for us.
A Mediterranean cruise has been on my travel bucket list for a long time. If you’ve read my other posts, you’ll know it’s on trend with my travel loves - history, food, and hot weather!
We love cruising. It’s a great way to see many different areas without the hassle of relocating and unpacking/repacking. It also helps us decide where we want to spend additional time in the future. This was my tenth cruise; all but two were with Royal Caribbean. While I look forward to smaller luxury cruises with The Hubs, Royal has always been excellent when traveling with family, so we only explored their options.
Our travel window was tiny—there was only one week in August. We narrowed our search by that week and region. We had few options then and settled on the 7-night Greece and Adriatic Cruise on Explorer of the Seas. The itinerary looked great!
Leaving from Ravenna (Venice), Italy
Day 1 Ravenna (Venice), Italy
Day 2 Kotor, Montenegro
Day 3 At sea
Day 4 Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Day 5 Santorini, Greece
Day 6 At sea
Day 7 Split, Croatia
Before The Baby got home from school and The Hubs got home from work, we were ready to hit the “reserve now” button. I am happy that my internal clock was ticking loudly that day because this trip was AMAZING!
We fly into our cruise departure area a full day in advance to provide a small buffer should any delays occur. It would be terrible (and expensive) to miss the ship because of a flight delay. We flew in and out through Venice. While not the closest airport to the Port of Revenna, it was the most convenient for us; we got decent flights, the cruise offered a shuttle option, and it would allow us time to explore a fun city if all our transit plans went according to plan.
There are multiple islands in the Venetian Lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. There are eight major islands: six lagoon islands, Murano, Sant’Erasmo, Vignole, Burano, Mazzorbo, and Torcello, and two lido, Venezia and Pellestrina. A lido is a barrier island that separates the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Each island has its unique character, and I will definitely be back!
From Google: Venice, Italy was a major city during the medieval period. Founded in the early Middle Ages by people fleeing attackers, Venice…was a major financial and trading power in the medieval and Renaissance periods. Venice's strategic location on the Adriatic Sea, close to the Byzantine Empire and traders from the Near East, made it a key hub for trade between the East and Europe. The city was a center of commerce for silk, grain, and spices and was also a staging area for the Crusades…Venice's history dates back to the 6th century.
The historic city center is built on over 100 small islands separated by canals and connected by bridges. Cars are prohibited beyond the Piazzale Roma (shown with the white lines in the image below).
We opted to stay at the Courtyard Venice Airport on the mainland, just a quick shuttle ride from the airport because it would be more convenient to catch our cruise transfer to Ravenna from the airport the following morning.
When we arrived at our hotel midmorning, we grabbed a surprisingly good breakfast in a cafe just down the street while we waited for our rooms to be ready. After quickly freshening up, we took an Uber to the Piazzale Roma in the historic city center. There is also a water bus option.
Venice in August is hot (HOT!), and there is a lot of walking. The afternoons can be pretty crowded when the cruise passengers arrive. Venice is safe; pickpockets pose the biggest threat to tourists. Be aware of all these factors when planning your travels—wear light clothing and comfortable shoes, and always be vigilant of your surroundings and belongings.
Since we got there by midmorning, it was still relatively quiet. We wandered around on foot, stopping at a street cafe for affogato, our favorite sweet treat of the trip, before deciding to see the city by water first.
So we hopped on a Gondola and asked the gondolier to stay mainly on the smaller side canals. It was amazing to see the buildings emerge right from the water. I’d read about Venice having an odor, but I didn’t experience that. I sometimes got a brief smell of the sea, but I did not find it offensive.
Afterward, we walked around and explored the many shops. Before our trip, Big Sis and I spent much time finding a restaurant for a sit-down lunch along the canal with a menu that had pasta but wasn’t too seafood-heavy and had good reviews - surprisingly tricky. We decided on Osteria del Lovo as it checked all the boxes. The waitstaff was great (and spoke English), and it was nice to get out of the heat and rest a bit. We ordered three pasta dishes and a bruschetta plate. The winner was the truffle pasta, but everything was very tasty.
After our lunch break, we explored the streets and shops again, snapping a picture from the top of Ponte di Rialto. We stopped at Suso Gelatoteca for delightful gelato. There are multiple locations; we just happened to stumble upon one.
We made our way to Piazza San Marco. What a marvel—surrounded by such beauty, history, and grandeur. We stood flanked by the Basilica di San Marco, built in 828; Campanile di San Marco, the bell tower built in 1912; Torre dell'Orologio, the clock tower built in 1647; Doge's Palace, built in 1340; and Caffè Florian, one of the oldest coffeehouses in the world, open in 1720. I was indeed in awe!
By mid-afternoon, the streets were far more crowded, and the heat was oppressive. And, man, were we tired. We sat and rested with a bellini at Caffè Florian in front of the Basilica. Afterward, we wandered back to the Piazzale Roma, ordered an Uber, settled in at our hotel, and crashed.
The morning of our cruise. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the cafe near our hotel again, took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, and boarded the cruise transfer bus for our three-hour ride to Ravenna. We were excited to see our ship and get our cruise vacation underway!
Our cruise was on Explorer of the Seas, a mid-sized ship in Royal’s fleet. While I prefer mega ships when traveling with the family because of the extensive activities, food, and entertainment venues available, European ports can’t handle such large vessels. The recently renovated ship and our balcony room were perfect for us.
The great thing about cruising is that it can be whatever you make of it—you can be as active or lazy as you like. You could do activities nearly every minute of the day, or you could never leave your stateroom. We did half-day excursions at every port and had a nice balance of activity and relaxation on the ship. Here’s a glimpse of cruise life (I’ll go into more specifics on our excursions).
We always book our excursions in advance through Royal. While not required and often more expensive, we find comfort in knowing that the ship will not leave without us if we are late coming back from an excursion organized through Royal. There is no such guarantee when going off on your own.
Our first port was Kotor, Montenegro. Our ship anchored in the Bay of Kotor. The Bay of Kotor is fjord-like (instead of being formed by glaciers, it was formed by a river canyon collapsing into the Adriatic Sea). It stretches for over 17 miles from the Adriatic Sea to the rugged mountains inland. Mountains and cliffs surround the bay. Kotor has one of the best preserved medieval old towns in the Adriatic, built between the 12th and 14th centuries. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The old city walls lead up to the fortress of Saint Ivan. Will I return outside of this cruise? I hope so!
While I would like to return to Kotor, this wasn’t my favorite excursion. Our excursion began with a rather long boat ride to shore, about 30 minutes. Kotor is a tender port, meaning cruise ships cannot dock; instead, they anchor away from shore, and guests get taken to shore by a tender boat. This process makes for a much longer disembarkation/embarkation process. Once on shore, we boarded a motorboat filled with a handful of others from our cruise. The hour-long boat ride through the Bay of Kotor to a series of grottos lining the coast of Montenegro was quite beautiful. Along with several other boats, we entered the mouth of the Blue Cave, where rays of sunlight reflect through the narrow opening to the 30-foot-high cavern to the crystal-clear azure waters from a sandy bottom. While it was beautiful (pictures don’t do it justice), it was very crowded, there were swimmers in there that made all four of us very nervous, and it was quick, maybe a few minutes. After our brief time in the Blue Cave, we continued in the motorboat to Zanjice Beach, described in the excursion description as “a secluded” beach, where we had 2 hours. Far from secluded, it was jam-packed. We all just wanted to return to the ship. After our time at the beach, another long motorboat ride back to Kotor, over an hour spent in line waiting for our tender, and a long tender boat ride back to the ship, we were tired and very late for dinner.
I have wanted to go to Athens for a long time so I was very excited about this excursion. While the bus ride was long, the tour guide wasn’t great, and it was unbelievably hot; seeing the Parthenon and the Acropolis was a highlight of the trip!
I can’t be the only person who thought the Acropolis was a building. If you’re also that person, you’ll be surprised to know that the Acropolis is a large fortified hill in the center of Athens, and it houses several ancient structures - most being temples to various Gods, including the Parthenon. There is also a large theater on the slope of the Acropolis hill. Even more amazing - these buildings date back to the 5th century BC. The magnitude of the history here blows my mind! This view (not my picture) gives an excellent perspective as to the extensiveness of the Acropolis.
And then the Parthenon, from Lonely Planet, “…is the famed white marble jewel that reigns over Athens. Said to have been built between 448 and 438 BCE, the temple was dedicated to worshipping Athena, the goddess of wisdom who gave Athens her name...It was used as a treasury before housing a Byzantine church, then a Roman cathedral and later a mosque.”
This experience was almost indescribable. It made me feel small in size but, more significantly, in time. It got me thinking about how amazingly impressive ancient Athenians were to build such massive structures dedicated to their Gods that have remained through thousands of years. Walking in the footsteps of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle was overwhelming. Visiting the Acropolis was a profoundly humbling and thought-provoking experience. Will I return outside of this cruise? I feel like I checked this box unless The Hubs wants to see it.
Collectively, we took over a hundred pictures - here are my favorites.
Our stop in Santorini was the one The Baby and Niece were most excited about.
Santorini is another tender port. Although the boat was docked much closer, and therefore, the process was much faster, to get from Old Port at the base of the cliff up to Fira, you either need to ride a cable car, ride a donkey, or walk the 588 steps along with hundreds of others. None of these options are particularly quick or easy. Thankfully, we stayed at the port level until our catamaran arrived.
We spent nearly three spectacular hours sailing the Santorini Caldera.
According to Google, The Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera (A caldera is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption) located in the southern Aegean Sea…Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consisting of Santorini, the main island, Therasia and Aspronisi at the periphery, and the Kameni islands at the center. Although dormant, Nea Kameni is an active volcano - the last eruption was in 1950
During our boat ride, we stopped briefly at the hot springs. Heated by the magma that lies beneath Nea Kameni's surface, the water can reach 95 degrees. The dark waters are rich in minerals and have healing properties. We didn’t go in—those hot spring waters were quite cold! The catamaran then went around the caldera; we enjoyed the stunning scenery and fresh sea breezes. We anchored in the Bay of Saint Nikolas, where we swam in the beautiful Aegean Sea. The deep royal blue is so different than anything I’ve seen before. To conclude this perfect excursion, the crew put out a delicious buffet of chicken souvlaki, pita, potato salad, dolmades, tzatziki, and feta. It was one of my favorite meals from our trip; not only was the food delicious, but enjoying it on a catamaran sailing the Aegean Sea—Chef’s kiss!
Upon returning to Old Port, we wandered the shops before tendering back to the ship.
Will I return outside of this cruise? Probably not to Santorini, but I hope to return to one of the less crowded Greek Islands someday.
On our last full day for our final excursion, we docked in Split, Croatia. This day was a perfect way to end our trip. We set off from Split by bus to Omis, a small town at the mouth of the Cetina River.
Initially established during the Middle Ages, Omis was a pirate stronghold. The pirates of Omis were infamous. A strategically placed fortress guarded the mouth of the river. From this fortress, the pirates could see merchant boats approaching and would quickly set sail in their ships, built for attack and flight, to plunder them and promptly flee to the shelter of the river estuary. The ruins of Mirabella Fortress remain and can be visited.
We had some free time to explore the charming town of Omis. The medieval buildings, stone roads, and narrow alleyways could be filming locations for Game of Thrones (other areas of Croatia are filming locations for GOT).
After exploring Omis, we boarded a small riverboat and took a relaxing ride up the Cetina River. The scenery was beautiful as we traveled through the Cetina Canyon and river marshes.
To conclude our riverboat ride, we visited a riverside restaurant and enjoyed fresh, locally made bread, prosciutto, cheese, and wine. Perfection!
After our delicious lunch, we were bused back to Split.
I would have enjoyed exploring Diocletian Palace, another UNESCO World Heritage site. This Roman emperor's palace was completed in 305 as a combination luxury villa and Roman military camp, but
Will I return outside of this cruise? Definitely!
The next day, we began our long journey home.
This trip was just spectacular. Not only did I visit breathtaking places, but I did it with my daughter, sister, and niece. We made such special memories!
I hope this motivates you to travel, eat…and return and share my journey through 7 continents and infinite foods.
11 days/10 nights
Day 1
Venice - Courtyard Venice Airport
Osteria del Lovo (takes reservations)
Day 2 - 11
**I would highly recommend that you make reservations in advance when available. I always book scheduled activities and typically make dinner reservations in advance. I’ve indicated with a parenthetical any restaurants that take reservations.