HISTORIC COASTLINES
The shorelines and riverbanks of the world are awash with historic cities and ancient sites, a legacy of the days before super highways and airports challenged the tradition of travelling and shipping goods by sea. So many of the Mediterranean’s major cities – Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Genoa, Istanbul and Venice, for example – are bang on the water. You may not be able to scoop them all up on any single cruise, but if you divide the Med into the east and the west, with Italy as the obvious partition, it makes the choices of where to sail in Summer a much easier task.
Travel the WESTERN MED on two ships belonging to Princess Cruises (princess.com), the Majestic Princess and the Royal Princess. Each features ‘seven days, seven ports’ itineraries, departing BARCELONA and then first sailing south to CARTAGENA and GIBRALTAR before touring north to
MARSEILLES or TOULON (for Provence), GENOA, FLORENCE (from Livorno), and ROME (Civitavecchia). From £1,065pp, including flights.