Selected Photos
I went somewhat overboard in taking photographs. I came away with nearly 2,000 images. That's vastly too many for almost any purpose. I purged 85% of them, and reduced the size to a maximum of 800 x 800 pixels. Everything is organized by day. Each day's images are stored in both a Gallery and as a separate zip file. In most cases, I have higher resolutioon versions of the images; send me a note if you would like one or more of those higher resolution images.
| ZIP File | Size (MB) |
Images (#) |
Gallery: Location [featured visit] |
| Day01 |
10 MB | 31 | Venice |
| Day02 | 9 MB | 26 | Koper, Slovenia [Postojna Caves] |
| Day03 | 11 MB | 33 | Zadar, Croatia [Krka Waterfalls] |
| Day04 | 8 MB | 25 | Hvar, Croatia |
| Day05 | 8 MB | 22 | Dubrovnik, Croatia |
| Day06 | 4 MB | 12 | Cephalonia, Greece [Melissani Lake] |
| Day07 | 4 MB | 13 | Santorini, Greece |
| Day08 | 12 MB | 37 | Mykonos, Greece [Delos] |
| Day09 | 15 MB | 38 | Kusadasi, Turkey [Ephesus] |
| Day10 | 1 MB | 3 | At Sea |
| Day11 | 10 MB | 28 | Istanbul, Turkey [Hagia Sophia, Cisterns] |
| Day12 | 13 MB | 36 | Istanbul, Turkey [Church of Chora] |
| Day13 | 19 MB | 52 | Istanbul, Turkey [Dolmabace Palace] |
Overall Assessment
My assessment of the role played by Elderhostel on this tour was quite negative. Those interested in the details can download my Elderhostel comments (pdf file).Elderhostel apparently recognized there was a problem and has promised a 5% refund; it has yet to arrive.
This cruise did give us an opportunity to see more of the Eastern Mediterranean than would have been possible with any other type of tour. The ship became our floating hotel; most days it moved during the night and we toured during the daylight hours. The plus is all of the sites we were able to see. The minus is that we were not able to spend as much time as we might have wished in places such as Hvar and Delos. Even with all the Elderhostel problems, I'm glad we went on the tour.
I doubt that I will ever again trust Elderhostel - the evidence of poor planning was just too strong. And cruise ships are definately an acquired taste, ... which I doubt that I will ever acquire.
Participant Email Addresses
I list below all the participants. I have also included a Gallery that includes photos of all participants (and zip file that contains all of the photos) I did a bit of processing on the images kindly provided by Eve Kimball.
Email List:
Comments have been opened on this page. Please note any corrections in your comments, or send them directly to me (Bob Fabian). As time goes on, I plan to add additional information. Feel free to use this material as you will (subject to a restriction that it not be distorted in its reuse).
Bob Fabian
2009.10.12