Set sail and dive into Europe's magnificent port cities with Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports! Inside you'll find: Rick's expert advice on making the most of your time on a cruise and fully experiencing each city, with thorough coverage of 23 ports of call Practical travel strategies including how to choose and book your cruise, adjust to life on board on the ship, and save money Self-guided walks and tours of each port city so you can hit the best sights, sample authentic cuisine, and get to know the culture, even with a short amount of time Essential logistics including step-by-step instructions for arriving at each terminal, getting into town, and finding necessary services like ATMs and pharmacies Rick's reliable tips and candid advice on how to beat the crowds, skip lines, and avoid tourist traps Helpful reference photos throughout and full-color maps of each city Useful tools like mini-phrasebooks, detailed instructions for any visa requirements, hotel and airport recommendations for cruise access cities, and what to do if you miss your ship Full list of coverage: Provence, Marseille, Toulon and the Port of La Seyne-sur-Mer, Cassis, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Villefrance-sur-Mer, Cap Ferrat, Monaco, Cannes, Antibes, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, the Port of Livorno, Rome, the Port of Civitaveccia, Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii, Herculaneum, the Amalfi Coast, Venice, Split, Dubrovnik, Athens, the Port of Piraeus, Mykonos, Santorini, Corfu, Olympia and the Port of Katakolo, Crete and the Port of Heraklion, Rhodes, Istanbul, Ephesus, and The Port of Kusadasi Maximize your time and savor every moment in port with Rick's practical tips, thoughtful advice, and reliable expertise. Heading north? Pick up Rick Steves Scandinavian & Northern European Cruise Ports.

Two people with one vision - the unique travel diary of one couple who made their dream a reality. After many years of multi-faceted, productive careers and successfully raising their family and children, Amos and Anat Raviv made the momentous decision to change their lives and realize their greatest dream - to sail around the world. They rented out their home, transferred their entire lives to a small catamaran boat, and left all else behind to embark on a wondrous, one-off journey to countries and continents. Together they observed, learned, experienced, reached new heights and achieved what so many of us aspire to - complete freedom with no time restraints, where everything is possible. Living My FantaSea is an extraordinary, behind the scenes look at a rare journey through the eyes of the intrepid travelers themselves: meet the wonderful people they saw on the way, the new and different cultures they were privileged to encounter, and share in the exhilarating action and events that the average person never experiences in everyday life. Join us for the journey of a lifetime!

"What can the architecture of ancient ships tell us about their capacity to carry cargo or to navigate certain trade routes? How do such insights inform our knowledge of the ancient economies that depended on maritime trade across the Mediterranean? These and similar questions lie behind Sailing from Polis to Empire, a fascinating insight into the practicalities of trading by boat in the ancient world. Allying modern scientific knowledge with Hellenistic sources, this interdisciplinary collection brings together experts in various fields of ship archaeology to shed new light on the role played by ships and sailing in the exchange networks of the Mediterranean. Covering all parts of the Eastern Mediterranean, these outstanding contributions delve into a broad array of data - literary, epigraphical, papyrological, iconographic and archaeological - to understand the trade routes that connected the economies of individual cities and kingdoms. Unique in its interdisciplinary approach and focus on the Hellenistic period, this collection digs into the questions that others don't think to ask, and comes up with (sometimes surprising) answers. It will be of value to researchers in the fields of naval architecture, Classical and Hellenistic history, social history and ancient geography, and to all those with an interest in the ancient world or the seafaring life."--Publisher's website.

A wonderfully concise and readable, yet comprehensive, history of the Mediterranean Sea, the perfect companion for any visitor -- or indeed, anyone compelled to stay at home. 'The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean.' Samuel Johnson, 1776 The Mediterranean has always been a leading stage for world history; it is also visited each year by tens of millions of tourists, both local and international. Jeremy Black provides an account in which the experience of travel is foremost: travel for tourism, for trade, for war, for migration, for culture, or, as so often, for a variety of reasons. Travellers have always had a variety of goals and situations, from rulers to slaves, merchants to pirates, and Black covers them all, from Phoenicians travelling for trade to the modern tourist sailing for pleasure and cruising in great comfort. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the sea, on coastal regions and on port cities visited by cruise liners - Athens, Barcelona, Naples, Palermo. But it also looks beyond, notably to the other waters that flow into the Mediterranean - the Black Sea, the Atlantic, the Red Sea and rivers, from the Ebro and Rhone to the Nile. Much of western Eurasia and northern Africa played, and continues to play, a role, directly or indirectly, in the fate of the Mediterranean. At times, that can make the history of the sea an account of conflict after conflict, but it is necessary to understand these wars in order to grasp the changing boundaries of the Mediterranean states, societies and religions, the buildings that have been left, and the peoples' cultures, senses of identity and histories. Black explores the centrality of the Mediterranean to the Western experience of travel, beginning in antiquity with the Phoenicians, Minoans and Greeks. He shows how the Roman Empire united the sea, and how it was later divided by Christianity and Islam. He tells the story of the rise and fall of the maritime empires of Pisa, Genoa and Venice, describes how galley warfare evolved and how the Mediterranean fired the imagination of Shakespeare, among many artists. From the Renaissance and Baroque to the seventeenth-century beginnings of English tourism - to the Aegean, Sicily and other destinations - Black examines the culture of the Mediterraean. He shows how English naval power grew, culminating in Nelson's famous victory over the French in the Battle of the Nile and the establishment of Gibraltar, Minorca and Malta as naval bases. Black explains the retreat of Islam in north Africa, describes the age of steam navigation and looks at how and why the British occupied Cyprus, Egypt and the Ionian Islands. He looks at the impact of the Suez Canal as a new sea route to India and how the Riviera became Europe's playground. He shows how the Mediterranean has been central to two World Wars, the Cold War and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. With its focus always on the Sea, the book looks at the fate of port cities particularly - Alexandria, Salonika and Naples.

A guide to visiting European ports of call in the Mediterranean and North Seas as well as in the Baltic and Norway that provides information on restaurants, hotels, sights, and shopping and offers tips on choosing a cruise line and saving money.

The 6-time Award-winning memoir of Larry Jacobson's six-year sailing journey around the world. B&W interior print, but all of the 96 full color photos are on author's website. An honest, scary, funny, inspiring story of overcoming hurdles.

Looking for a new adventure, Patricia Vellinga and her husband buy a boat-a big boat that turns out to be more a yacht kit than a yacht. Their simple plan is to cruise Europe and the Mediterranean for one year. Their journey, however, is far from routine. As Pat and Ray motor through the canals of Holland, Belgium, and France, then sail to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Spain, they find beauty and danger, towering locks, salty characters, peaceful anchorages, treacherous winds-and even a forest fire. Forced at gunpoint to cast off into the raging Sane River, they struggle to safety. Even so, they get hooked on a cruising lifestyle that takes them well beyond their one-year plan. Sailing There, Cruising Across Europe and the Mediterranean is a rich and entertaining tale of a couple's lively voyage with the wind through ancient ports and history."

The author shares his dream of sailing around the world, first formulated when he was six years old. The outfitting of his boat for the task and the trip itself taking 7 years, starting and ending in Hawaii. Leading him as far north as Alaska, south to New Zealand and into the relatively uncharted waters of the Black Sea, up the Dnieper River in the Ukraine and to Saudi Arabia. Along the way he encounters high winds to 70 knots and 50 foot waves, equipment breakdowns that have to be diagnosed and fixed without outside help. A boarding by armed vigilantes in Indonesia, the killing of a cruising friend by escaped convicts in Panama and the author holding a Rumanian Marines Uzi hostage, add excitement not normally expected in a sailing venture. The expected satisfying experiences of natural beauty, the encounters with wildlife and the interaction with wonderful people along the way are not neglected. The author meets his future wife in Tonga and previously single-handing, he is now able to share his adventures with this lovely Polynesian maiden. The book is full of helpful information on various technical aspects and explanations to help even non-sailors understand and enjoy, vicariously, the sailing life. Many anecdotes illustrate the challenges and rewards of a life at sea.