COSTA CLASSICA CRUISE - GREEK ISLES CRUISE

7 Night Cruise sailing from Trieste roundtrip aboard Costa Classica.

With its friendly and sparkling personality, the Costa Classica cruise ship is one of the best loved ships in the Costa fleet. Refurbished in 2001, the Costa Classica cruise ship is now even more beautiful, modern and comfortable. In the Tivoli Restaurant, exquisite murals transform windows into scenes from the Renaissance and Roman Times. The tabletops in the Puccini Ballroom depict scenes from famed Puccini operas. Situated high atop this Costa fleet ship, Galileo Disco and Observatory offers 360 degree views -- an observatory by day, a state-of-the-art disco by night.

Highlights of this cruise:

Trieste
Trieste is a city and port in north-east Italy, on the border of Slovenia. It is a modern, lively city which enjoys a prominent location on a hillside surrounded by rugged countryside and a beautiful coastline. Most typical of Trieste are its turn-of-the-century cafes that, like Vienna's coffeehouses, are popular as social and cultural centers. In fact, the city is regarded as one of the most famous coffee towns in the world.

The vast Piazza Unità d'Italia is a popular meeting place, with sidewalk cafes and a number of buildings of architectural interest. Among Trieste's highlights are the Cathedral of San Giusto, containing beautiful Byzantine mosaics and medieval frescoes. At the Piazza della Borsa stands the neoclassical former stock exchange, which serves now as the Chamber of Commerce. Crowning the hilltop is the Castello de San Giusto, built by the Venetians in the 15th century and enlarged by the Hapsburgs to its present size. Today it houses a museum with excellent exhibits of weaponry, armor, furniture and tapestries.

Ancona
Ancona sits on the hills that surround the port like an amphitheatre, rising up in the bay formed by Monte Conero to the west. The port is the largest on the Adriatic Coast. The city is today divided into two distinct areas: the old historical and monumental part, with its maze of medieval streets and the Guasco hill behind it where the Greek acropolis once sat, and where today the Romanesque church of St Cyriacus can be found, and a modern part with straight roads that was begun in the 18th century. It is difficult to say with precision how the old Roman city would have looked, but the largest remains are the amphitheatre and Trajan's arch, a Roman work flanked by four Corinthian columns at the foot of Mount Guasco.
The city's origins are prehistoric, with Bronze Age settlements and significant finds from the Iron Age (9th - 2nd century B.C.). The name Ankon (meaning "elbow" in Greek) comes from the first Greek speaking sailors who made use of the natural harbour beneath Monte Guasco. The city was founded in the 4th century B.C. by the Dorian Syracusans, who gave it sandstone block walls and monuments. It was an ally with Rome in the battle of Sentino (295 B.C.) against the Samnites, Etruscans and Gauls, after which it came under the influence of Rome, while maintaining its Greek character. In the 2nd century A.D. the emperor Trajan fortified the port for his campaigns in Dacia and in his honour an Arch was erected on the quay that is attributed to Apollodorus of Damascus (115 A.D.). The city was destroyed by the Saracens in 839, and in the 11th century it became a "free commune" developing sea trade with the East and competing with Venice.
From the 14th to 15th centuries the city experienced the most prosperous and brightest period in its history, enriching its urban landscape with monuments and extending the city's walls twice. As a Papal State, after a period of decline, it rose again when the free port was established (1732) thanks to Pope Clement XII. After the battle of Castelfidardo in 1860 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. It was only after the unification of Italy that the city grew to the west towards the station and to the east towards Piazza Cavour; after the First World War the city stretched as far as the Passetto and after the Second World War it expanded south of the Astagno hill in the San Lazzaro plain to the southwest.
The historical centre has plenty of monuments and buildings of historical interest, such as the Theatre of the Muses, the Church of SS. Sacramento, Piazza Plebiscito, the National Archaeological Museum of the Marche, the Civic Gallery, and the Cathedral of St Cyriacus with its Diocesan Museum. There are countless historical palazzos in the city, including the Palazzo Ferretti built in 1560, with doorways inside from 1700; the Palazzo degli Anziani, built in 1270 and renovated in 1647, with an important 16th century Baroque façade; the Palazzo Bosdari, bought by the Bosdari family in 1550 and home to the Gallery of Modern Art; the Loggia dei Mercanti, restored in 1444, with a flowery Gothic Venetian façade; the Palazzo del Senato, built halfway through the 12th century, it suffered serious damage in the First World War and was restored in 1952; the Palazzo del Governo, built as early as 1300, whose hall was decorated by Merlozzo da Forle. Also of interest are the city's museums, such as the Beltrami Museum in Filottrano: situated in a 19th century palazzo where you can find a wide variety of items: shields, lances, pipes, hides and totems, and the Accordion Museum (in Castelfidardo) which houses over 100 accordions from all over the world.
The city centre is a great place for shopping, especially in Corso Mazzini, Corso Garibaldi, Piazza Roma and Piazza Cavour. The Passetto is where people head for the beach and the sea and offers splendid views. In the port the ancient walls and ports, Trajan's Arch, Clemente's Arch and the Mole Vanvitelliana or Lazzaretto can be found. In the Cittadella public park on top of Astagno hill part of the walls of the ancient citadel can still be seen.
The cuisine of the region's capital includes a good part of the Marche region's cuisine. Highlights are the seafood dishes: sole, either fried, barbecued or in white wine, fried squid and prawns, sea bream and bass cooked simply without sauce or grilled, Ancona style dried cod, breaded mantis shrimps and mussels, date shell soup, stewed cuttlefish, sardines hot from the grill, octopus cooked in sauce and the famous fish soup. Dishes for meat lovers include "vincisgrassi" (pasta baked in a rich sauce), tripe, "minestra col grasso", porchetta, lamb, rabbit or chicken "in potacchio". Among the desserts the "beccute" (little sweet tarts of bread made from cornflour, pine nuts and sultanas) "ciambellone" (a large type of doughnut) stand out in particular. Monte Conero and Castelli di Jesi are the two closest DOC wine regions to Ancona, producing Verdicchio, Vernaccia, Vinsanto, Rosso Piceno and Bianco Piceno, and Rosso del Conero.
From ceramics to fabrics, from pipes to hats: the Marche region jealously guards its craft traditions, which also include wickerwork, accordions, and wrought copper and iron. Ancona has 20 km of varied coastline. The city beach, the Passetto, with its distinctive grottoes and beach facilities is famous for its white rock and its typical Ancona feel. Proceeding south along the Conero's panoramic route you come across the beaches of the Trave, a strip of land that cuts through the clear waters, and of Mezzavalle an arc of stony white beach. On reaching the slopes of Conero you come across the breathtaking bay of Portonovo. In the northern part of the city, around Palombina, you will find a sandy shore.

Dubrovnik
A charming port by the Dalmatian coast, set in front of a picturesque hillside, Dubrovnik is one of the most attractive destinations on the Adriatic Riviera. It has been extensively restored since suffering during the Balkan hostilities of the 1990s and, some would say, is more beautiful now than ever. The city's style and architecture is strongly rooted in its historical Venetian and, to a lesser extent, Turkish influence. This part of the Dalmatian coast played a vital role in the success of the Venetian Republic.
The most attractive section of Dubrovnik is the old city, Stari Grad, lined with cobbled streets, fountains, museums and churches. Its Venetian heritage is apparent in the family names of many of the residents. The main division between the two sections of the old city is called 'stradun', a word of Venetian origin.
The largely intact city wall, some of which was built 700 years ago, is one of the finest examples of its kind in the world. The importance of religion in the city's past and present culture is reflected in a number of impressive Franciscan and Dominican convents and churches.

Corfu
Corfu is the northernmost of the Ionian Islands, located in the heart of the Mediterranean. The Greek place name Kerkira was renamed Corfu by the Venetians, who paraphrased the word "Korifi" which was used to indicate the towers of St. Mark's fortress.
Corfu is covered in lush vegetation, thriving in a climate that is tempered by the wind without being too dry. Its coastline is very long, seemingly never-ending: over 200 kilometres. The terrain is quite varied, at times sandy and at others rocky and broken up by Mediterranean bush, olive, cypress and citrus trees.
Corfu has suffered a long and bloody history. Corfu embarked on a long period of being colonised by others from 700 B.C. onwards, first by the Corinthians, then the Illyrians and the Athenians. Corfu suffered attacks from pirates while under Byzantine rule forcing the relocation of the city northward. This did little to halt the invasions of the Vandals and Visigoths, who repeatedly massacred the populations and razed their villages to the ground. The Venetians gave Corfu back its status as an important centre of trade and with it a very wealthy market. Venetian rule lasted for more than 400 years, during which time the island was governed by a system of aristocratic rule. The Venetians began the cultivation of olives and to this day, Corfu is one of the main olive oil producing centres in the region. Once the Venetian reign had come to an end, it was the Turks' turn, then the French and the English, and on 21st May 1864 it was annexed to the Kingdom of Greece.
During the Second World War, Corfu was again bombarded and suffered heavy damage. Most of its buildings were destroyed, such as the public theatre and the Ionian Academy. Just a few outstanding buildings remain, scattered along the coastline and in the main town and jealously guarded by the local population.
Kerkira is the capital, and accommodates around 60,000 of the 110,000 people who live on the island. The city has a splendid city centre with numerous Venetian fortresses and the English Royal Palace. The rest of the island is made up of small settlements, roads that stretch out high above the sea and splendid views of small bays and magnificent cliffs.

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