7 DAYS Pure luxury is Serenity at sea
WISPS of early afternoon mist ghosted across the Istanbul waterfront as the Crystal Serenity nudged cautiously upstream towards her berth on a muggy September day. From the murk, the spindly minarets of Haghia Sophia clawed like skeletal fingers at the sky.
Alongside, tourist boats bumbled across the space that divides two continents by mere metres. And the call to prayer of a muezzin rose above the teeming, mighty river. Even in fog, arrival in Istanbul is never anything less than dramatic.
Our onboard adventure had commenced a week earlier in Venice. There, the 12-storey, immaculately primped bulk of the Crystal Serenity had swept downstream, past the glut of Renaissance churches, bell towers and palazzos of this crumbling, magnificently implausible sea city.
Stewards served freshly made bellinis to passengers lounging on deck as the sprawling, opulent largesse of Saint Mark’s Square was left astern. I envisaged people ashore pausing over their drinks just long enough to gaze, open-jawed, at the beautiful ship as she swept past them.
And then we were off, out into the sparkling azure hue of the Adriatic.
The ship that carried us between these two amazing vantage points had to be something truly special indeed. Luckily for us, the Crystal Serenity combined the effortless, expansive ease of the Riviera with the style, cuisine and service of the Ritz – a match made in heaven.
This 70,000-ton ship carries just under 1,200 passengers, where ships of that size usually accommodate double that number, and sometimes more. The extra space per person translates into room to lounge, learn a new cookery skill or language, or simply loaf in the upper deck hot tub while some gorgeous Greek islands drift by at sunset. The Crystal Serenity is a charmed universe, one where loudspeaker announcements are kept to a minimum, while the service is always personal, attentive and top-notch.
All drinks are free around the clock, from welcome aboard champagne served at embarkation in the beautiful, two-storey circular lobby with its own, gracefully tumbling waterfall, to a final nightcap under the stars out on the cascading aft terraces each night.
On some evenings, the still balmy Adriatic served up a side order of moonlight that shimmered in our wake as we headed south. It was all deliciously unreal.
Inside, the ship is calm, supremely stylish, and filled with sunshine through the floor-toceiling windows and Perspex sliding sun roof on board.
The comfy sofas and plump, cushioned armchairs scattered everywhere constitute a real hazard to any kind of activity. Upscale, relaxed elegance is the mantra on board this ship, one that she carries through quite beautifully.
The Adriatic in early autumn has a quality of wan, almost wistful, play of light on water that makes it irresistible. The extreme heat and crowds of high summer have gone, yet it is still wonderfully warm, and much more accessible.
On our cruise, we sailed to, and past, a series of cities and islands that define European history like so many lightning rods. Combined with the sheer, inclusive luxury of the Crystal Serenity, this made for a tangy combination of historic lore and hedonism that would be difficult to replicate anywhere else.
Sailing past the amazing old 14th century walls and ramparts of Dubrovnik just after sunrise, the Crystal Serenity made fast in port for the day.
Here, those gaunt, honeycoloured stone towers of old stand with their feet wet in an implausibly blue ocean, while the rising sun cast long, sliding
ANTHONY NICHOLAS cruised the Adriatic with Crystal Cruises who this year offer a selection of Mediterranean itineraries onboard Crystal Symphony with all-inclusive fly/cruise prices starting from £2,073 per person based on an 11-night cruise round-trip from Rome departing September 25. Call 020 7399 7601 or click www.crystalcruises.co.uk shadows against their façades, just as they have done for centuries.
The Ottoman Turks would have witnessed the same spectacle six centuries before, but luckily our arrival was greeted with smiles rather than cannon fire.
I strolled the vast, marbletiled expanse of the Stradun, the gently sloping main street, right along its gradually tilting north-south axis, and then back again. This one street alone is a truly heart-stopping treat.
Venetian and Palladian buildings flank its vast expanse, their stone flanks bleached almost bone white by centuries of exposure to pitiless Aegean sunlight.
These days, cafés and outdoor restaurants spill out across the spaces where opposing armies once fought to the death, and the winding, cobbled streets that wind up into the mountains above feel like the very sinews of ancient history itself.
But Dubrovnik is so much more than its fabled past. In the harbour, fleets of yachts bob gently at anchor while waterfront restaurants are full to overflowing with locals and tourists.
That evening, as I lounged on my balcony picking at lobster and crab claws, the Crystal Serenity rounded the headland just as the soft, cool notes of a trumpet from somewhere ashore filled the sunset with a deep, mellow sound.
I hardly dared breathe for fear of shattering the beauty of the moment.
The ports kept coming and going like so many drum rolls. From Izmir, I took a trip back to old Ephesus, one of the most legendary of all the great, faded gems of the Roman Empire.
Here, lines of stunted, broken marble columns glint eerily in the midday sun. Walking down a main street once strolled by Anthony and Cleopatra, I gazed in amazement at the gaunt, towering two-storey façade of the Library of Celsus, looming above me like some ancient portal to the past.
Unlike Pompeii, this vast, ruined city simply withered and died quietly. It has none of the strident, barely concealed horror of the latter. And the level of preservation is astounding.