The Costa Victoria in Rhodes
From April 19 through April 26, 2004, we went on a Mediterranean cruise to the Greek islands. Eric was on vacation and therefore able to join us; unfortunately, David was already at school in Raleigh and thus missed the trip. I published a page about this cruise on May 3, 2004; the page you're looking at is a complete overhaul of that older one. I eliminated the photos taken in Venice, both starting and ending point of the cruise. These images may now be viewed on our dedicated Venice page. I added several photos to the sections about our ports of call. The thumbnails are a much improved 420x280 pixels (up from a tiny 140x93), and the larger versions of the photos were expanded from 630x420 to 2400x1600 pixels. All images were completely reprocessed from the JPEG originals.
We have taken three cruises with Costa on three different ships. Of these, the Costa Victoria was our favorite. It was much smaller than the Costa Atlantica and Costa Pacifica we cruised on in 2007 and 2012, respectively, and that is undoubtedly why we preferred it: there seemed to be far fewer bottlenecks on board, and being brought to and from the shore when it was necessary to use tender ships seemed quicker and more efficient. I'm sad to report that the Costa Victoria was scrapped in 2021.
Click on any image to see a larger (2400 x 1600 pixel) version!
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The Costa Victoria in Rhodes |
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The central lobby |
One of the two dining rooms |
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There were several snack bars like this throughout the ship |
Looking at the pool deck |
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The bar at the rear of the ship |
The view from the sun deck |
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The Golden Cone (don't ask...) |
Walking along the promenade deck |
Our first port of call was Bari in southern Italy. We decided to sit this one out, preferring to investigate the ship instead. We did, however, take the shore excursion in Katakolon. This Greek seaport is a popular stop on Mediterranean cruises: not only does it have a pier large enough to accommodate cruise ships, but it's located a convenient 30-minute bus ride from Olympia, the original site of the Olympic Games.
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The Archaeological Museum of Olympia |
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In the museum |
In the museum |
In the museum |
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In the museum |
The original Olympic stadium |
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A few of the columns that are still upright |
Most of them are lying on the ground |
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The columns are made of shelly limestone |
Walking around the ruins and the Judas trees |
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A particularly flamboyant Judas tree |
Some areas exude an almost cemetery-like serenity |
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A lush meadow without any visible ruins |
Eric took this photo of the two globetrotters |
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On the bus back to Katakolon and the Costa Victoria |
The main street in Katakolon |
Santorini is an amazing place! Devasted in 1,600 B.C. by one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in human history, the Minoan eruption, the villages are built on the rim of a large, seawater-filled caldera. We were brought to the shore by tender ships and bused to the village of Oia (pronounced EE-ya) for some sightseeing. We were then taken to Santorini's capital Fira from where we were given the choice of riding down to the water level in a cable car... or on donkeys. We chose the latter.
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The amazing village of Oia is perched on the cliffs of Santorini's volcanic caldera |
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On the way from the water level to Fira and Oia |
Oia village view |
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Whitewashing the very bright walls |
The Church of Panagia Platsani in Oia |
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Paperbacks for sale |
Bell |
Cat nap |
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Oia rooftop scene |
Oia is an extremely photogenic place |
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Taking a last look before boarding our bus to Fira |
Fira is the capital of Santorini |
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We rode donkeys from Fira... |
...down to the Mediterranean... |
...and transport to the Costa Victoria. |
Back on the Costa Victoria, we had time to enjoy lunch and relax a little bit during our just under three hour journey to the island of Mykonos. Here, there were no organized shore excursions planned. Instead, people could just take the short walk from the harbor to town and sightsee on their own, which is what we did. My elementary school teacher was in love with Mykonos; she and her husband spent every summer on this island and upon her return, we kids inevitably had to sit in the darkened classroom and admire an hour-long slide show. All I remember of this is Petros the pelican...
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The Mykonos Waterfront |
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We saw this colorful old boat on our walk into town |
Mykonos poppies |
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Blue and white are the... |
...dominant colors in Mykonos'... |
...narrow and uneven streets. |
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A Mykonos native we befriended |
No escalator for this market! |
Petros the pelican is Mykonos' mascot |
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View of Mykonos from the top of the hill |
Houses near the water in the evening sun |
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Along the Mykonos harbor at dusk |
Mykonos is famous for its sunsets |
Several shore excursions were planned for Rhodes, but we chose not to sign up for any and explore the town on our own. We walked through the more touristy part of town with shops selling sandals and, of all things, umbrellas. We strolled through the more quiet streets, admired the Palace of the Grand Master built by the Knights Hospitaller. We went back to our ship for lunch, but returned to town in the afternoon.
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View of Rhodes taken fron the Costa Victoria |
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The more touristy part of town |
The Palace of the Grand Master |
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Ruins of the Church of The Virgin of The Burgh |
The Recep Pasha Mosque |
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Quiet tavern |
The red Vespa |
The Rhodes clock tower |
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This old clock movement has been replaced by a quartz gizmo! |
A quiet and peaceful backyard |
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We overheard a terrible argument taking place behind this curtain |
This arched courtyard was far more serene |
After spending April 24 at sea, we were ready for the last port of call on our cruise: Dubrovnik. Here we had booked a shore excursion: a walk with a history professor around the entire old city on top of the ring wall. The first half of this tour was fascinating, but the second half even more so: of the original sixteen participants, we were the only ones left to complete the tour, so we got a private lecture! Our guide was clearly Croatian; despite this, she made a good effort to report objectively on the 1991 siege of Dubrovnik by the Yugoslav People's Army. We enjoyed our visit to this beautiful city very much, and it didn't even matter that it had started to drizzle.
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Just before 9 a.m. the main street of Dubrovnik's old town is still pretty empty |
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View of Dubrovnik from the hill above the city |
On the ring wall, one can walk around the entire old town |
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It's still way too early for even a light lunch |
Street musician |
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Great Onofrio Fountain |
Main Street is getting busier |
View from the ring wall |
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Streets are either narrow or steep... |
...or they could be both. |
This one followed us for a while |
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The rooftops of Dubrovnik |
Old and new roof tiles |
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View from the tender ship bringing us back to the Costa Victoria |
Waving goodbye to Dubrovnik from the Costa Victoria |
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Flag-waving ceremony to mark the end of the cruise |
We left Dubrownik that afternoon and sailed for Venice where we arrived the following morning, April 26. If you would like to see photos of Venice taken just before and after this cruise, you can check out our Venice page. Do you miss the old version of this cruise page? You can still look at it here. Navigation has been removed from the old page; simply close the browser window or tab to get back to this page.
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