As many of you know we will be heading to Europe. Bernie has been to Europe a few times but stayed in mainly England/Scotland and Amsterdam. I had only been to Scotland and that was twenty years ago.
When we first decided to head back to Europe for our twentieth anniversary on a Mediterranean Cruise I knew I finally would get to use Rick Steves' information.
I have always admired Rick's shows and guides and listen to his weekly podcast religiously.
You can find his website here
One of the first books I bought was Rick's Mediterranean Cruise Ports. I have probably read it ten times and each time I highlight something new. I have tab post-its to identify each port we are visiting.
I then went and downloaded his App for Androids (but also available for Apple products). The app is free and you can learn more about it here. Once loaded you can then download a bunch of things including interviews, talks and then walking tours, museum tours, city tours. What I love is once you download a tour it includes a map and a step by step itinerary. And all this can be viewed offline too.
So after reviewing a particular area, lets just say we are talking about Venice. In the book I highlighted the Grand Canal Tour. I loaded that tour on my phone and I can follow along in the book as well as just listen to the audio file. There is also a audio guide for St. Mark's Square, and St. Mark's Basilica, and even Friar Church!
This is so our style - we like to do things at our own pace. We love being more in control and the price is right.
But there are so many cities featured here so check them out.
The other area I learned a lot from was the Travel Talks. I have never really been that knowledgeable about art. But since I am going to places where the art is King I really wanted to go with a bit of a working knowledge of what I may be looking at and what it represents.
So my first goal was to watch the three Art seminars. I learned so much.
When are you going? I have been looking at his tours recently for fall 2016 when I turn the big 5-0.....there are so many options, I look forward to hearing your thoughts
ReplyDeleteHi terri, we are going in a few weeks. We are heading to Rome for five nights and then on a month long Med cruise. I will be blogging live thru the entire voyage -- follow along.
Deleteabsolutely!!!
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