Topic: DIY trips in the Med

Hi,
We are going on the Ruby Princess on 17th May and doing the Grand Med tour and have booked several trips with the ship, but as they are quite expensive we can't book a trip at every port. Just wondered if anyone has done a DIY trip to Pisa and Istanbul and how easy was it. Any help would be welcome.
Linda

I've done DIY Pisa. Quite simple. Leave the ship and head for Tabaconist, where you can buy bus tickets. They cost a few euros return. The lady in the shop even pointed out the bus stop and told me when the next bus was due. The bus terminated in Pisa but we didn't realise just how far from the Tower. Probably a good 30 minute walk in the heat. Not ideal when you have the mother-in-law and toddler in tow. Not sure of we could have got a but closer. We returned to the boat by taxi thinking that whilst it may cost more, it will take us straight back. There is a taxi rank very close to the tower and following a short wait we were in a taxi. However, the driver explained that he could not take us to the ship as he was not allowed to take fares outside of the town of Pisa, We needed a different taxi!! He then drove a short while and flagged down another taxi, got out and went to speak to the driver. He then returned and told us to get in the taxi in front and the passengers in that taxi got in ours. Rather bizarre but we made it back to the ship on time and it gave us something to chuckle about over dinner. Pisa is busy but a lovely place steeped in history. We had lunch is a nice restaurant close to the tower. The pizza was excellant.

QUOTE:

I've done DIY Pisa. Quite simple. Leave the ship and head for Tabaconist, where you can buy bus tickets. They cost a few euros return. The lady in the shop even pointed out the bus stop and told me when the next bus was due. The bus terminated in Pisa but we didn't realise just how far from the Tower. Probably a good 30 minute walk in the heat. Not ideal when you have the mother-in-law and toddler in tow. Not sure of we could have got a but closer. We returned to the boat by taxi thinking that whilst it may cost more, it will take us straight back. There is a taxi rank very close to the tower and following a short wait we were in a taxi. However, the driver explained that he could not take us to the ship as he was not allowed to take fares outside of the town of Pisa, We needed a different taxi!! He then drove a short while and flagged down another taxi, got out and went to speak to the driver. He then returned and told us to get in the taxi in front and the passengers in that taxi got in ours. Rather bizarre but we made it back to the ship on time and it gave us something to chuckle about over dinner. Pisa is busy but a lovely place steeped in history. We had lunch is a nice restaurant close to the tower. The pizza was excellant.

We did all our own trips in the Med it was so much cheaper. A lot of the excursions were walking ones in Italy and we kept bumping into groups, we joined in for a short while and then carried on it really wasn't hard to get around. The one that we did pay for was Pompei well worth seeing but got taken to a cameo factory shop on the way back and they didn't seem happy when no one bought anything