Spend long moments in quiet reflection among uncrowded exhibits and holy places during this 10-day cruise featuring excursions in Greece, Israel, and Egypt. Choose from a selection of excursions to fit your interests, including an overnight overland option in Israel. Embark from Athens, a brief distance from the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. Ride a donkey and learn Cypriot traditions in Limassol, a small port city in southwest Cyprus where ancient Greeks believed Aphrodite, arose from the sea. Stay overnight in Haifa for visits to the Golan Heights and Galilee, or venture overland on an unforgettable overnight tour of Petra, Masada and the Dead Sea. Explore the narrow streets of Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem or art, architecture, and artifacts at the Ilana Goor Museum in Old Jaffa. Spend a day in Cairo or around the Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, and Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Wake the next day and venture overland to Alexandria and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Qait Bay Fort, the Roman Amphitheater, and your waiting ship. Amble among weather blocks, painted pillars and 9,000-year-old relics within the ruins of the Knossos Palace on Crete. This exceptional journey concludes back where you started in Athens.

With 3,000 years of history, you can’t turn around in Athens without encountering the past. The Acropolis, a UNESCO site, the Plaka, and the Acropolis Museum are must-sees. But leave time if you can to climb Pnyx Hill for photos of the Parthenon at sunset, to buy your own set of Greek komboloi (worry beads), and to explore the metro stations that serve as mini-museums for the relics that are constantly being unearthed. 

Limassol is known for several historic buildings like the Limassol Castle, Built in 1000 A.D. and used as a prison from 1790 to 1940 with a collection of artifacts covering 400 to 1879 A.D. Sites to see include the Archaeological Museum of Limassol, which exhibits artifacts from the Neolithic to the Roman period and the Folk Art Museum with a Cypriot Folk Art collection that awarded the museum the Europa Nostra prize in 1989.

The major seaport of Haifa has many fascinating sites like Elijah’s Cave, a pilgrimage site for believers, the Stella Maris Church and Monastery, located near the Cave, Muhraka, now a Carmelite monastery on the site where Elijah the Prophet defeated the prophets of Baal, and the Bahai Shrine, a lovely gold-domed shrine where the remains of Said Ali Muhammad, one of the two founders of the Bahai religion are buried. Three gardens of note are The Remembrance Garden, Gan Ha’em, situated in the Carmel Center, and the Sculpture Garden, where 22 bronze statues overlook the striking bay area and landscape. Here is your gateway to Petra with an overnight tour.

The major seaport of Haifa has many fascinating sites like Elijah’s Cave, a pilgrimage site for believers, the Stella Maris Church and Monastery, located near the Cave, Muhraka, now a Carmelite monastery on the site where Elijah the Prophet defeated the prophets of Baal, and the Bahai Shrine, a lovely gold-domed shrine where the remains of Said Ali Muhammad, one of the two founders of the Bahai religion are buried. Three gardens of note are The Remembrance Garden, Gan Ha’em, situated in the Carmel Center, and the Sculpture Garden, where 22 bronze statues overlook the striking bay area and landscape. Here is your gateway to Petra with an overnight tour.

Ashdod is one of the most ancient cities in the world. Visit the Korin Maman Museum, which has a permanent archaeology exhibition called “Philistian World,” Climb to Giv’at Yonah, the highest point of the city at 492 feet, with a city lighthouse atop and named after the prophet Jonah, believed to be buried there.  Ashdod is your gateway to Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

This popular summer resort was badly damaged during the Suez Crisis, and wars of 1967 and 1973 and has been rebuilt several times.  The beaches are lined with vacation bungalows and  the featured mode of transportation here is caleches, or 2-person horse carriages offering the perfect way to see the beautiful colonial architecture. Highlights here include the Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities and the Khan El Khalili Bazaar

Egypt’s second-largest city and largest seaport is an important tourist resort, founded around 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great. The constant warring in the region destroyed most of the ancient buildings but Pompey’s Pillar, located on Alexandria’s acropolis, still stands a tall 99 feet high since 297 A.D., and the catacombs known as Kom el-Shoqafa consist of a multiple-level labyrinth of chambers and tunnels unique in their decoration and layout. Other sites to see include El Montazah Palace, built in 1892, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, El-Mursi Abul-Abbas Mosque, built in 1774 over the tomb of a famous 13th century saint, and Attaring Mosque, originally a church and converted to a mosque.

Heraklion is the birthplace of El Greco, Nobel Prize winning poet Odysseas Elytis, and Nikos Kazantzakis. The major site of Crete’s biggest city is Knossos Palace, the Minoan-era castle unearthed by British archaeologist Arthur Evans. But the first site you will see is the Koules Venetian Fortress built in the early 1500s on the harbor walls, it houses restored interior and exterior reliefs of the Lion of St. Mark. A typical feature of Heraklion’s city center is the number of Venetian and Turkish fountains, the most notable being the Morosini Fountain, built to supply Heraklion with 1,000 barrels of water a day.

With 3,000 years of history, you can’t turn around in Athens without encountering the past. The Acropolis, a UNESCO site, the Plaka, and the Acropolis Museum are must-sees. But leave time if you can to climb Pnyx Hill for photos of the Parthenon at sunset, to buy your own set of Greek komboloi (worry beads), and to explore the metro stations that serve as mini-museums for the relics that are constantly being unearthed.