Travel Itinerary for Cruise of the Mediterranean Empires

Due to our liking of last year's choice of travel, by boat, the Abate family vacation will travel down that path once again as we embark on our vacation to the Mediterranean Sea region. The 12-day cruise includes ports of call like Istanbul and Santorini. But the Mediterranean is not uncharted territory for us. We got a glimpse of Italian culture and architecture during our trip to the Amalfi Coast several years ago.

But let me not get ahead of myself. There is another month until we depart for our cruise from Venice. In the meantime, I will be up in Connecticut with Mom and Dad, helping my grandpa recover from a recent neck injury. I will be keeping up my running since I have two races while I'm there, and I'm looking to build up some serious mileage for cross-country season. We will also go on several day trips in CT and New England while we visit my grandpa. So the months of June and July are hectic to say the least, and by the time I come back I will only have a few precious weeks before I start high school at Nease.

Now on to the itinerary. Mom made the unilateral decision of cruising with Holland America for this 12-day stint. The cruise features six ports of call and then we will proceed to hang out for a few days in the Lake Como area near Milan before heading back to the states.

July 18 Arrive in Milan - take train to Venice
July 19 Venice
July 20 Depart Venice 10 a.m.
July 21 At sea
July 22 Piraeus/Athens
July 23 Istanbul
July 24 Depart Istanbul
July 25 Mykonos
July 26 Kusadasi
July 27 Santorini
July 28 Katacolon
July 29 At sea
July 30 Return to Venice - train to Milan
July 31 Lake Como (Milan)
Aug 1 Depart for U.S.

And once I'm back in Connecticut, I'll be immediately whisked to Princeton for an intensive cross country camp from August 2-6.