Mediterranean Iconic Shores Ocean Cruise
October 30, 2025 - December 3, 2025
Summary
This was our first Ocean class cruise with Viking, and frankly... It. Was. FANTASTIC!
We print a packing list and a house checklist (thanks dad) before we leave. One item on the list is to turn the clocks
back or ahead, in case. Since the time change was going to occur one weekend we were away, we turned them back just
before leaving. And Europe turned them back the weekend we were leaving - so we didn't "gain an hour of sleep", we
had to adjust for 5 hours of time zones instead of six. Or however that works.
One comment on this specific itinerary.
We chose to take the Mediterranean Iconic Shores trip. This was a long trip for us as, including pre and post extensions,
it was 35 days in all - the longest we've been on a single trip so far (and something we wouldn't have been able to do if
we were still working...).
After research, I determined that we [purposely] took the full end-to-end trip, but Viking had a number of shorter segments
that made up the whole thing. In summary, we did A > E, but there was A > B, B > C, C > D, D > E, A > C, B > D, C > E,
A > D, and B > E. In other words, this:
During the course of our cruise, we spoke to some fellow passengers that were unaware that there was a full end-to-end
experience available. We eventually found out that we were two of 160 passengers that were doing the full trip - so we
weren't alone either.
Trip statistics:
- 16,288 [approximate] miles traveled not including all the walking or location / local shuttle / buses.
- 359,947 steps or 136.34 [approximate] miles walked by Linda.
- 451,437 steps or 192.37 [approximate] miles walked by Steve.
- 7,597 photos retained (yes, that's more than 200 pics per day... and "retained" because some images were deleted immediately after taking due to blurriness [probably] or a missed opportunity or whatever). This summary does not include all of them either, also because all phone pictures were taken twice due to the lack of preview, and some were combined to create stitches and or panaramic shots.
- 79 videos (though some were clips of the same event, then pieced together).
- 8 countries visited, 4 new ones to add to our list.
- 5 exotic cars spotted: Porsche Carrera 4, Porsche 911 Cabriolet, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari.
As with our previous Viking cruises, this trip was great. The weather was pretty good and there was only one day with some
brief drizzle. Temps were generally in the mid to upper 50's F, with a couple days in the beginning in the 60s.
Day 1 (10/30): Travel
including travel
Day 2 (10/31): Istanbul, Turkey
including travel
Day 3 (11/01): Istanbul, Turkey
including travel
Day 4 (11/02): Cappadocia, Turkey
including bus tour
Day 5 (11/03): Cappadocia, Turkey
including travel
Day 6 (11/04): Istanbul, Turkey
including foot and food tour
Day 7 (11/05): Troy, Turkey
including bus tour
Day 8 (11/06): Ephesus, Turkey
including walking tour
Day 9 (11/07): Rhodes, Greece
including a morning and an afternoon walking tour
Day 10 (11/08): Crete, Greece
including mornng food tour, and a tour with a traditional dinner
Day 11 (11/09): Athens, Greece
including bus, and museum tour
Day 12 (11/10): Athens, Greece
including bus tour
Day 13 (11/11): Olympia, Greece
including walking tour
Day 14 (11/12): Corfu, Greece
including bus tour
Day 15 (11/13): Kotor, Montenegro
including walking tour
Day 16 (11/14): Dubrovnik, Croatia
including walking tour
Day 17 (11/15): Split, Croatia
including walking tour
Day 18 (11/16): Venice, Italy
including walking tour
Day 19 (11/17): Venice, Italy
including time on our own
Day 20 (11/18): Venice, Italy
including time on our own
Day 21 (11/19): Šibenik, Croatia
including bus tour
Day 22 (11/20): Bari, Italy
including city visit, and a walking tour of Alberobello
Day 23 (11/21): Crotone, Italy
including time on our own
Day 24 (11/22): Sicily, Italy
including walking tour
Day 25 (11/23): Naples, Italy
including bus tour, and a visit to Pompeii
Day 26 (11/24): Rome, Italy
including bus tour
Day 27 (11/25): Pisa, Italy
including Walking tour
Day 28 (11/26): Lucca, Italy
including time on our own
Day 29 (11/27): Monaco City, Monaco
including bus tour
Day 30 (11/28): Marseille, France
including bus tour
Day 31 (11/29): Séte, France
including walking tour
Day 32 (11/30): Barcelona, Spain
including bus tour
Day 33 (12/01): Barcelona, Spain
including Transfer to Madrid
Day 34 (12/02): Madrid, Spain
including bus tour and time on our own
Day 35 (12/03): Travel
including travel
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