Monemvasia, Greece

[okie_traveler]

We'll be stopping at Monemvasia, Greece on our Oct 7 cruise.  Azamara is offering an excursion but I was wondering if it's possible to visit Monemvasia on your own from the ship instead of their excursion.  Would appreciate any comments from those who have been. 

[uktog]

Absolutely!  We had a lovely time there. From the tender you can either walk up the hill or if the minibus is running it was 1 euro each way. It’s about a 30 minute walk from the drop off. No vehicle is allowed beyond the drop off point when you enter into a different world!  I’m not sure what value the ships tour adds other than they will transport you up and back. We did the trip up in the minibus but walked back down which worked beautifully. Hope these photos of our 2 euro tour inspire you (oh plus the 10 euro for 2 drinks). 
 

The road up it end just above the right hand clump of trees 

 

 

What you find through the arch 

 

 

 

The view of the ship whilst walking back down. 

The view of the town behind the walls during sail away 

 

[Azamarajunkie]

Agree wholeheartedly with UK Tog, it can easily be done on your own. After our first visit there by Cruise ship, we have twice stayed in Monemvasia for a couple of days on our yearly land tour of The Peloponnese. If you're feeling energetic and are reasonably fit, then the climb up to the top of the old town offers great views. If you walk through to the end of the town by the Hotel Malvasia there is a bar that sell excellent fresh Lemonade.

[Azamarajunkie]

[uktog]

24 minutes ago, Azamarajunkie said:

That’s exactly what we invested in for our 10 euros 

[G2G]

10 hours ago, uktog said:

That’s exactly what we invested in for our 10 euros 

Thank you for the info, I will be there in just over a weeks time on Quest. 

[beatnix]

Do it on your own. It is incredible: the red rock, the white houses and the blue sea. It was my surprise on the initiary! 

[Vineyard View]

So is there enough to do here to fill your day at leisure, or would you say it is more a couple or three hour experience. We enjoy having lunch on our own so that would be a given, 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

So is there enough to do here to fill your day at leisure, or would you say it is more a couple or three hour experience. We enjoy having lunch on our own so that would be a given, 

For us in the heat yes you can also walk in the village at the tender drop off if you wanted to extend your time ashore 

[Vineyard View]

Thank you. I appreciate knowing this.
We were in a couple ports last week on another line that were incredibly small unless you ventured off on your own or excursions - we avoid excursions whenever possible. We enlisted a cab at one, then the other the weather wasn’t cooperating. it was the last port, so we skipped that and just spent the couple hours in that port and returned to ship - which isn’t all bad at all! 

[cruisemom42]

For the OP:  is your port actually Monemvasia or is it Gythion?  (I'm on Onward in October and we are stopping at Gythion, which is why I ask...). Some places I've seen the itinerary lists Monemvasia in parentheses, but it is actually about an hour by road. Azamara does offer a tour there.

 

Some ships do tender at Monemvasia. Hopefully yours does. For me, I've been to Monemvasia twice, so picked this itinerary specifically for Gythion in order to visit Sparta and Mystras.