Here’s a peek at the Viking Cruises Ancient Mediterranean Treasures Cruise: excursions, activities and food in Turkey.
This was my fourth Viking cruise! I’ve done two river cruises (Southern France and Swiss Alps to Paris) and one ocean cruise (Berlin to Bergen, Norway). I have been wanting to go to Greece forever, so this trip was a dream for me. My sister Susie and I went together on this one!
The Ancient Mediterranean Treasures cruise is an 8-day adventure with 6 guided tours. There are three stops in Greece (Athens, Crete and Rhodes) and three stops in Turkey (Ephesus, Troy and Istanbul). My sister and I decided that we would add a 2-day extension onto the beginning (2 additional days in Athens) and a 2-day extension onto the end (2 additional days in Istanbul). This is a cruise where you have the opportunity to see a lot of ancient ruins if you’d like. This post is all about our three stops in Turkey. You can read about our three stops in Greece too. If you choose this particular cruise, it’s a good idea to bring a scarf (for head covering in the mosque), and you should perhaps dress more on the conservative side (no short shorts or super short dresses). It’s okay to wear those things, but you might feel a bit uncomfortable because not a lot of women dress like that in Turkey.
Our first stop in Turkey was in Ephesus. It has a lot of interesting ruins. It’s also a city that holds an important place in Christianity. It’s said that, in Ephesus, St. John is said to have preached and Mary to have lived out her final days in a tiny stone house.
We chose the Ancient Ephesus excursion, which was an “included” tour (no extra fee). It was a great tour of a lot of ruins! We saw the 2nd-century Temple of Hadrian and the spectacular Great Theater, able to host 25,000 spectators. That photo in the upper right is the Goddess of Nike. And of course, there were cats everywhere!
Also here are the ruins of the Library of Celsus, built to house 12,000 scrolls.
Back on the ship, here’s a peek at just a few of the goodies we enjoyed. A healthy salad for lunch, a pastry-filled breakfast with cappuccinos, 3 flavors of gelato and oatmeal with fixings.
I mentioned in my last post (about Greece) all of the activities you can take advantage of on the ship. The shuffleboard area is quite popular and also the walking deck up top so you can get your exercise while sailing!
The next stop in Turkey was Troy! We did go to the ruins of Troy (from the days of Alexander the Great and Roman Emperor Augustus). The wooden Trojan Horse is a popular site at the ruins, but it was being renovated so we really couldn’t see much of it. In Homer’s Iliad, the Trojan Horse gave ancient Greeks entry to the city during the Trojan War, and its legend is still very much alive today. The Trojan Horse you see in the photo above is a replica that stands at the waterfront. And of course, there were cats everywhere in Troy too!
And here were are back at the ship!
Since it was our last night on the ship, the Viking staff were there with champagne and celebratory music to welcome us back on board. I really love the Viking staff. They are from countries all over the world, and they all seem so very happy to be working on the ship.
We enjoyed a second dinner at Manfredi’s Italian restaurant on the ship. Pictured are the fabulous bread basket, calamari, a lovely salad and chicken parmesan. I might also mention that they have some good wine available!
Just cruising along and watching the sunsets every evening was magical and relaxing.
We disembarked the ship and went on another excursion (since we added on the 2-day extension in Istanbul). This one started with a tour of the New Mosque (we saw the Blue Mosque too, on our own). You do have to take off your shoes and have a head covering to enter the mosques as a tourist, or they can give you a scarf to borrow as you enter. The mosques are beautiful inside and out. We opted not to tour Hagia Sophia (a popular tourist stop) because the line was just too long.
We also had a tour of the Underground Cistern, which was very cool. It was built during the reign of Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century and used as water storage for the Great Palace during Byzantine times and for the Topkapi Palace under the Ottomans.
We had a great tour guide for this all-day excursion. He walked us all over the place and told us interesting things about Istanbul and its politics, etc. This is Turkish coffee, which you can buy from a street cart. We also visited The Grand Bazaar, a huge shopping area with lots of stalls. You can buy (fake) designer bags, scarves, jewelry and many other goodies. Our tour guide warned us about buying jewelry… that it’s not always as they describe! He also told us to always negotiate.
And our all-day excursion finally concluded with a beautiful lunch cruise.
For the 2-day Istanbul extension, Viking put us all up at The Conrad. It was an amazing hotel to stay at the end of our trip. The lobby and rooms were beautiful. It was a little outside of the Istanbul city action, but we got a lot of walking in so that was all good.
On the day we had to ourselves (the last day in Istanbul), we walked all over the city (30,000+ steps!) It’s actually better to walk because the traffic is so bad. We discovered the Dolmabahce Palace, so we bought tickets and toured. It was a worthwhile venture- a beautiful and interesting palace. It’s in a gorgeous setting, right on the water.
There were a ton of Instagram “influencers” on this gorgeous property. They were out of control with the outfits and the posing, etc. So I was just making a little fun of it all.
This is a scene you see everywhere in Istanbul. Men socializing with tea and coffee, sitting on these tiny seats.
And in case you were wondering, there are a lot of cats and dogs wandering around Istanbul too!
The Spice Market is another huge shopping area that has all of the great spices, tea and other fruits and goodies. I bought quite a few spices. You buy them in bulk by the ounce, and they are very cheap compared to what you would buy at home at your regular market.
Here’s a peek at some of the food we enjoyed around Istanbul. We enjoyed a great, seaside salad, two fabulous meals at the restaurant at the top of The Conrad (curry chicken and rice and a traditional Greek salad), and then there was the breakfast buffet. The breakfast buffet at The Conrad was one of the most amazing breakfast spreads I have ever seen. It was a huge buffet with every kind of breakfast food (English and Turkish) that you can imagine.
Good night from our last in Istanbul! And thank you to Viking for another fabulous cruise!
A Few Tips for Cruising on The Viking Star:
- Take the time to plan ahead- look at the forecasted weather and plan accordingly for clothing. Having a laundry room available on board made it so much easier to re-wear our clothes!
- As soon as you make your reservation, begin looking at the options for shore excursions and make those reservations too. They do sell out, so you want to make sure you reserve what you want! If the excursion you want is offered in both the morning and afternoon, book the early one! You’ll be happy to have the second half of the day to explore.
- Take the time to get a sea sickness patch from your doctor and USE IT. Some people don’t think they’ll need it, but it’s better to be safe than feel sick and realize it’s too late. You can never predict how bumpy the sail is going to be or how your body will handle it.
- Bring comfortable shoes for your shore excursions.
- Check out your itinerary and book spa time for the days where you’ll be at sea!
- If you enjoy your cocktails and wine, then splurge and get the Silver Spirits Package so you’ll have more options available to you.
For more information:
Visit Viking Ocean Cruises to take a peek at all of their ships and itineraries.
