In November, my husband and I sailed on the Viking Star, a ten day cruise from Istanbul to Venice.  We spend two nights in Istanbul prior to the cruise, at the Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus so we would be rested for the start of the cruise. Viking Ocean cruises include on complimentary excursion in each port, so we toured a mosque in Istanbul and took a Bosphorus boat ride, enjoyed Kuşadası and Ephesus, then sailed to Greece.

After stopping in Athens and Santorini, we sailed to the Dalmatian coast with calls in Kotor, Montenegro and Dubrovnik and Pula in Croatia. I tried things in each restaurant on board, and lunched in many great local restaurants. Here is a sample.