This trip report consists of the narrative on this page and an album of images we took while on this European Cruise. The link above can be used to access/view all 11 sub-albums from this trip. Or just access specific sub-album(s) from the trip narrative below. Once a sub-album is selected click the white arrow (top right) to start a slide show of sub album.
By default image comments and camera capture details are listed below each image. Additionally there is a small options window displayed at the top/center of an image. The options going left to right are: 1) backup an image(left arrow), 2) go to sub-album index page(up arrow), 3) show film stip images across the top(down arrow), 4) remove text at the bottom of an image(down arrow w/box below), 5) reset the seconds between image in auto slide show mode(right arrow) 6) advance to next image(right arrow). Another method to advance thru images is to simple use your mouse wheel.
The cruise portion of this trip began in Athens, Greece, one of our favorite European cities for many reasons; history, weather, food, shopping district that is thousands of years old, etc. Our Athens plans were mainly to get over jet leg. We last visit Athens in 2023 so had no desire to compete with the crowds to view their many historial treasuries. Instead we attempted to reserve lodging near the Acropolis which hopefully had views of the Acropolis.
The Athens Gate Hotel lived up to its claims. All the Acropolis images in our Athens sub-album were taken from our deck. As a matter of fact our deck was so large it was are preferred dinner location every night we were in Athens. In 2023 we loved the restaurants we selected but we were encouraged to try local favorites that were seldom found by tourist. Our first "local" restaurant had reviews of 4.9 and was only a short walk from our hotel, the Victory Cafe. The food and staff at Victory that we left every night saying "see you tomorrow" and we did. Definately a do over hotel and cafe.
Our other goal during this Athens visit was to see more of the city not just the historical locations. So we signed up for a three-day pass on the hop-on, hop-off bus. One of their pickup locations was just a block away. Beside our Acropolis images most of the other images in the sub-album were from the "fish market" which happened to be located on the other side of the Acropolis as you can see from the images outside the fish market.
After our 3 days to get over jet leg we arranged for an Uber to the Ship. This was not our first cruise so with whatever status that gets us we made it on board very quickly. It was a warm day so quick access to one of the ship's lounges was a great plan. Our Sun Princess sub-album contains images of the ship but hard to get in one image. We had a fabulous room that is also in this sub-album. The last images in this sub-album are from a Piazza event. The Piazza is the attrium you see on many Princess ships but this one has been turned into an event area. Just like the attrim on many ships this one cover three levels but additionally they have stadium seating, not just standing room only like on most ships. One particular event was the performers (Asian Soul) doing a tribute to Abba, boy did the ship go wild. Great time!!!
The 3rd day of our cruise we stopped at the port of Bar, Montenegro. Montenegro used to be part of Yugoslivia and got its independence in 2006. As you can see from our Bar sub-album this country has history, beautiful beaches with crystal clear water. Bar, is a resort town on the country's south coast. Nestled between breathtaking mountains and the glistening Adriatic Sea.
We took a Princess excursion in Bar that began with a bus ride to Budva. Budva is well known as a tourist hot-spot and for its well-preserved medieval walled city, sandy beaches and diverse nightlife. Budva is 2,500 years old, which makes it one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic coast.
Our Bar sub-album contains images of Budva, beaches and the traffic back to OLD Bar. Upon arrivial we do a walk thru Old Bar, founded in the 5th century BC. Old Bar is one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic coast. Up from the village are 600-year-old walls and a fortress that lay in ruin because of wars and earthquakes. But many of the building have not only survived but are still in use.
The 4th day of our cruise we stopped at the island port of Corfu, Greece. Corfu, is known for its idyllic beaches, each offering a slightly different slice of paradise. Alais, we did not make it to their beaches. Instead we took a gps tour of the old city. A gps tour is a phone app that directs you around the city as it explains what you are seeing. Our Corfu sub-album starts as we enter the port. We took a shuttle bus to old-Corfu where we found our gps tour's starting point. Then the majority of the sub-album images were taken while on this guided tour of the old city, but with some final port images as we departed.
The 5th day of our cruise we stopped at the island port of Messina, Sicily, part of Italy. We decided to do another gps tour, but this one was not very good. So we already decide the next time we visit Messina we will taxi to Taormina for a walk around visit. Taormina a village perched 700-feet above the sea and overlooking the Bay of Naxos which we visited in 2023 and loved it. For this cruise our Messina sub-album includes arriving at the port our short gps tours and our afternoon departure.
The 7th day of our cruise (day #6 was a sea day) we stopped at the island port of Chania, Crete, part of Greece. The gps tour we used for Chania was great. Our Chania sub-album are the images we took while on this gps tour. We captured the ancient ruins they are excavating as well as the very picturesque old city with its restaurants, churches, harbor, etc.
The 8th day of our cruise was another of the fabulous Greek islands, the island port of Mikonos, Greece. Unfortunately the day of our Mikonos visit was especially windy. But wind is no stranger to this island as you will see by the windmills in our Mikonos sub-album. It is hard to see from our images but there were 4 cruise ship visiting Mikonos the same day we were. Our ship is totally hidden by the other ships as we were the only ship to actually dock. The other cruise ships had to "tender" cruisers into Mikonos. For the Sun Princess there was a bus shuttle to the old town where we again did a gps tour, which was great. Lovely old town, would love to visit on a less windy day.
The 9th day of our cruise we visited the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, built in the 10th century BC. Ephesus, located in modern-day Turkey, is famous for its exceptionally well-preserved Greco-Roman ruins, including the Library of Celsus and the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is also a significant Christian pilgrimage site, particularly for the House of the Virgin Mary, and is considered Turkey's most important archaeological site. Ephesus boasts impressive ruins of a once-great city, showcasing Roman and Greek architecture and urban planning. Due to its historical and cultural significance, Ephesus has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In its prime, Ephesus was a bustling port city and a major center of trade and culture in the Mediterranean region.
Our Ephesus visit was rather short, only 9 hours. So we opted for a Princess Excursion that included The House of the Virgin Mary, a chapel on a nearby hill, a walking tour of their incredibly well preserved ancient ruins and a visit to the ruins of the first church established by Apostle Paul. Our Ephesus sub-album begins with our port arrival, then images from the house of Mary and images captured through the bus windows while decending the impressive hill where Mary's chapel is located. We then proceeded to the top of the ruins of the ancient city which was home to settlement in both Greek and the Roman era. Ephesus is considered Europe's most complete ancient city, making it one of the best ancient ruins to see. By starting at the top of the ruins it is much easier to walk down through the ancient city at your own pace, with lots of other tourist as it is a very polular tourist attraction.
The final stop on our excursion before returning to the ship for sail-away was a visit to the first church established by Apostle Paul. Our Ephesus sub-album show a lot well-preserved ruins as well as a currently active archaeological site. By the time we finished this site we were glad our excursion was over as it was a hot day. Returning to the ship and whatever drinks awaits is the only way to travel!!!
The final day of our cruise we get to experience what a fabulous location Isstanbul really is. The water passage to Istanbul is so complicate that we left Ephesus at 4pm so we would be navigating our Istanbul arrival during daylight hours. Take a look at this map. As you can see we must first enter the "Aegean Sea" and then make our way thru the Dardanelles straits. The Dardanelles straits are so narrow that all water traffic had to be stopped to enable the Sun Princess to pass through. Yea, it is really that big!!! After the straits we then entered the "Sea of Marmara" before finally arriving at the port of Istanbul.
We stayed in Istanbul for three days after the cruise collecting too many images for one sub-album, thus we made three. Our first Istanbul sub-album are random images we captured while arriving and exploring this unique city with a lot of history. We booked lodging at the World Heritage Hotel because it was located in the old part of Istanbul and boost great views of their most famous mosque. We were not disappointed by this hotel or its views. Many of our sub-album images are different day and night lighting shots on these show piece Mosques. On one tour they mentioned having 3,000 mosques and that is just in Istanbul, I believe it!!!
While in Istanbul we booked an afternoon Bosphorus cruise. Fabulous cruise and the lighting in the afternoon resulting is lots of great photos and thus the 2nd of our Istanbul sub-albums. To view the route our cruise took, look at the map at the far right. In the text above we mentioned the Sun Princess would go through "Marmara Sea" (at the bottom, of this map) to get to the cruise ship terminal. Just past MarMara Sea is waterway going off to the left called the "Golden Horn". Our "Bosphorus" cruise started just past the 2nd bridge up the Golden Horn. We then proceed left toward the Black Sea labelled on this map as "Bosphorus". Our cruise turned around at the bridge shown on this map. Fabulous photo-opt cruise and thus a sub-album of Istanbul.
One of the Istanbul tours we took included touring an underground cistern built in the 6th-century that was once used for storing rain water for the city. We had no prior knowledge of the hundreds of cistern built under Istanbul. But as you can tell from our 3rd Istanul sub-album, it was a highlight. This particular cistern boasts 336 columns and has been enhanced with lighting that is amazing. More than 50,000 tons of silt were removed from this cistern to make it the tourist attration it is today.