>By Michael Peterson

If you have ever wanted to take a cheap holiday destination vacation, you may have wondered where a good place to travel is. You may not have considered a cruise of the Greek Isles. This would be a spectacular cruise with stops in Venice, Bari, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Athens, Katakolon and Santorini. Plan an eight-day cruise around a holiday and see what an amazing cheap holiday it will be for you and someone special. The Greek Isles are so beautiful any time of year, but if you go around Easter or Memorial Day, you can have a cheap holiday.

When you dock in Venice, Italy, you are going to need to see St Marks Square where the entire city is build around. It is a fascinating and spectacular place to spend the day. After you see St Marks Square, you can take a Venetian boat ride in the Grand Canal. It will be a fantastic day spent in Venice.

When you stop at Athens, Greece, you will want to enjoy a day looking at the Acropolis and then the Constitution Square also known as Syntagma Square. It is the largest open area in Athens where they have many different holiday events. You will have a great time in Athens before returning to the cruise ship.

Your cheap holiday destination vacation will be a memorable time that will leave you wanting to do it again. Because of the affordable price for the Greek Isles cruise, you can go back every year and visit a new area every time. The best thing is you never have to look for a hotel, you are all set on the ship. All you have left to do is enjoy yourself.

You can have some great times on the cruise as well. They have entertainment and some activities for everyone to do. You might even enjoy a day on deck with a warm sea breeze softly blowing across your face. Do not wait for the next cheap holiday vacation package, you will enjoy the Greek Isles so much and never regret your time spent touring the area.

About the Author: Are you looking for cheap holidays? Please visit this last minute holidays comparison site.

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Cruises in and around Europe are increasingly popular and if sneak peaks at the 2008-2009 itineraries are any indication, cruise passengers will be getting more options. In fact, a new cruise line called Azamara is even promising not just more Europe, but new European ports of call.Which brings us to one of the oldest European ports, the city of Venice.

Venice is not like anywhere else on earth. It’s not the only city that is laced with canals (Amsterdam has canals, too, so does Stockholm), and it’s not the only city with an ancient past (Rome probably beats Venice in the historical department and Florence definitely edges her out in art). But there is something incredibly different and delightful about Venice.

You can’t drive in Venice. Entrance in and out of the city is by boat (you take a water taxi from the airport), so arriving by cruise ship is close to the way the city was meant to be approached.

Once in Venice, you navigate on foot or by boat. The cheapest and most efficient way to get from here to there is vaporetto, a sort of water bus. You buy tickets for it just like the bus. If you’re a cruise passenger in town for the day, it may pay for you to buy a pass good for the whole day. Not only could it save you some lire, you don’t have to hassle with buying tickets when you want to get a ride.

Water taxis are another option, but they’re a bit more expensive. Even more expensive, but delightfully romantic and unique, are gondolas. Expect to fork out a lot of money for the experience, but, trust me, it will be an experience.

Most Venetians get around by foot, and you probably will, too. The city has all the twists and turns you’d expect from an ancient town. Because of the network of canals, you will sometimes find yourself in the intriguing position of being able to see where you want to go but not be able to figure out how to get there. Relax, Venice has something interesting practically around every corner, so even if you get lost, you’ll probably still do a lot of great sightseeing.

The biggest tourist spot in town is the Piazza San Marco where St. Mark’s Cathedral is located. You can tour the cathedral and even climb the towers (not hard) to get a panoramic view of the square. According to whoever decides this sort of thing, the church houses the remains of St. Mark, author of the Gospel according to St. Mark.

You’ll see a lot of pigeons in the square and a lot of tourists. Depending on when you travel, you may also see scaffolding or wooden walkways around the plaza. These aren’t risers for a concert or show. They’re footpaths to help the locals traverse the square when it floods, which it does often enough for the city to build elevated walkways around.

Nearby is the Doge’s Palace. Doge (dough-jay) is the name the Venetians gave to their ruler back in the day when Venice was an independent nation. It’s a sumptuous kind of place, fit for a monarch, but most tourists enjoy the lesser accommodations better. The Doge had so many enemies he annexed a prison to the palace which is reached by crossing the Bridge of Sighs. There is a self-guided tour of the prison but it is very important to stick to the pathways marked. You are perfectly free to wander around as you see fit, but the place is like a honeycomb and you can get lost.

Getting lost is a typical Venetian experience. The city is full of unmarked streets, twisted lanes, and narrow passageways.

One of Venice’s favorite native sons was reputed to have been lost. Marco Polo lived in Venice and set out for China, where he spent 20 years. When he returned, he was vilified by Venetians who called him “The Liar” for making up stories. You can visit his home. It’s off a little courtyard called “The Liar.”

Venice was always better known for commerce than art, but there are some artistic treasures. The local cuisine favors seafood and a dry white wine called Prosecco. Of course, most tourists end up enjoying more generic Italian favorites here, too, such as cappuccino or espresso and rich gelato.

If you have time, take a vaporetto out to Lido island. It’s an island that’s just a short boat-bus ride from the main drag (the Grand Canal) and there is more relaxed (and less expensive) shopping and some beaches.

Another great thing to check out is Murano, an island famous for colorful hand-blown glass. You can buy Murano glassware all over Venice, including a special design known as mille-fiori (thousand-flowers). In Murano, you can watch artisans at work and get a much broader sampling of their products. But expect to see Murano glass in most of the shops.

Glass purchases from large stores can be shipped to you at home; most shopkeepers will be able to make such arrangements, at least for larger purchases.

Venice is a well-known city for tourists. It always has been, and cruise ships and package tours to Europe continue to feature it prominently. But Venice is also a very personal kind of city. Two tourists visiting the city on any given day can walk away with distinctly different impressions and experiences.

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Mandy Karlik is a travel writer who blogs at http://www.cruiselinenews.blogspot.com . To read more about great cruise destinations in Europe and elsewhere, visit http://www.thecruise-shopper.com . Mandy’s next cruise is going to be to Mexico.

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One of the more recent attractions in Rome is actually one of the more ancient. The Golden House of Nero, what remains of it, has been excavated and the ruins are now available for public viewing. Though re-discovered during the Renaissance, they were the subject of a massive restoration project near the end of the 20th century.

Constructed in 64 AD after the devastating fire that burned two-thirds of Rome (at which legend has it Nero fiddled), the Golden House is an archaeological treasure trove. At one time many parts were covered with gold foil and the ceiling festooned with ivory and jewels by the extravagant emperor. Alas, these are not on display. They were stripped from the palace shortly after Nero’s death.

The original palace and related structures covered 350 acres that included a man-made lake, vineyards and the house itself. Terming the villa a house, however, is misleading. It contained 300 rooms, but is thought to have had no sleeping quarters. None that were intentional, at least. No doubt many passed out where they were during the parties for which Nero was famed.

It was the original site of the huge statue Nero had made, bearing his own likeness of course, that was later relocated to outside the Colosseum. The bronze base of the 40m/130ft statue can still be seen there.

Though much has been destroyed over the centuries, there still remains enough to satisfy anyone looking to spend an interesting hour or two tour in a cool place. That’s always welcome in Rome, where the temperature can be in the mid-80s even in late October.

The underground, audio-guided tour offers enormous, fresco-covered vaults and many rooms to explore. The frescoes painted by Fabullus, a noted artist of the period were executed in a style popular in Pompeii, the doomed city not far from Rome.

The Renaissance artist Raphael used them as models for some of his own work, and many Renaissance artists - including Michaelangelo - went to visit the (then) newly discovered palace frescoes. Both artists left their signatures scratched in the walls, to be later joined by such luminaries as Casanova and the Marquis de Sade.

The tour shows a wide variety - some areas are shadowed ruins with barely visible carvings. Others are fully restored golden and marble walls with largely intact paintings and fireplaces.

Grottos abound in the underground area, but the most impressive portion is unquestionably the Octagon Room. Here Nero, a great fan of Greek art, housed a statue of the Dying Gaul, which can now be seen in the Pallazo Altemps museum.

Outside, there are gardens and a reconstruction of the octagonal room that allow the visitor to clearly imagine what living there must have been like.

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