jacmcfar

We've booked a cruise with only 10 days to spare - all the ships tours are booked. Anyone have tips on visiting any of the following ports on our own?

Corfu, Dubrovnik, Katakolon, Iraklion (Crete), Valletta (Malta), La Goulette (Tunisia), Palma de Mallor, Ceuta, and Ponta Delgada (Azores)

Thanks,
Jack

monicapileggi

I suggest you go to www.cruisecritic.com and post your messages there. It's THE place for cruising.

Also, you can find your ship/sailing date and meet fellow passengers and possibly hook up with them to share independent tours.

Monica

neviboy

Contact Taverna Agni in Corfu for a driver and recommendations

zwho

I can tell you, you don't need a ships tour for Dubrovnik, or Corfu. Just google each place and read up about it and just enjoy spending the day there doing what is acessable. In Ponta Delgada you can take a little tourist tram around to see. Can't tell you about the other ports, but you can always hire a taxi to drive you around and see the sites.

Dukey

There are numerous cruise sites with forums/boards that feature specific ports although a few of yours may not show up.

You could also try www.cruise-addicts.com

blackduff

Ceuta is a great place to buy leather jackets. This is for men and women.

Ceuta is part of Spain, located in Africa.

Blackduff

flanneruk

Many of the places you're stopping at are fine, but not exactly Venice or Rome.

Heraklion (as we spell the city in English. 'Iraklion' is the way the Greeks want us to spell it, as if how we write our language were any of their damn business. We don't tell them to stop calling our capital city Londino) is different. Ghastly dump of a place, but 20 mins' taxi ride from Knossos - one of THE great sites of antiquity.

Even if you're averse to classical archaeology, a brief tour of the (now widely believed to be hokey) reconstructions is fascinating. As is the history of Arthur Evans' excavations, and the tons of understanding that the site's stimulated.

If you're not averse to archaeology, Heraklion's archaeological museum might be fascinating too. Personally, I don't regard the time spent there among the highlights of my life (why WERE the Greeks so prone to breaking quite so many pots?) - but people who like that sort of thing regard this museum as just the sort of thing they like.

KayF

For Dubrovnik and Valletta, just catch a local bus or taxi to the old town. In both cases, the transport will drop you outside the old city walls and from there you use your own two feet.

There is lots to do in each place, Valletta has some good museums, churches, fantastic Grand Harbour views etc. Do a bit of reading up before you leave. In Dubrovnik, I'd suggest walking around the old town itself, stop for gelato or coffee and do the walk around the top of the walls if it's not too hot or too crowded. Print city maps off the web to take.

Kay