Mother and daughter take the road less traveled

At just 480 acres, the high-rolling country of Monaco is the second smallest in the world (behind only the 109-acre Vatican) - and arguably the most glamorous. Yet when our ship, the Golden Princess, weighed anchor in Monte Carlo, the only thing Mom and I wanted to gamble on was the quickest route out of town.

It was a tough decision.

This mecca for the rich and famous is widely considered one of the world's hottest vacation destinations. And we were intrigued by the history of this principality - it's been owned by the Grimaldi family since 1308.

But during our flight to Barcelona, where we began our 12-day Mediterranean cruise, we had decided to sidestep many of the usual day-visit suspects and seek lesser-known towns and regions. We wanted our mother-daughter vacation to be memorable.

That's not to say we were purists. This was Mom's first European vacation and my fifth - so there were some old favorites that required a new or return visit.

Fortunately, the 2,814-nautical mile itinerary, featuring some of the Med's most mesmerizing ports, works for neophytes and veteran cruisers.

We found some traditional tourist jaunts that we could not pass up. We followed the Panathenaic Way to the fabulously preserved Acropolis in Athens, which not only leads to the Temple of Athena Nike but a glorious city view.

We marveled during a stroll through Doges Palace in Venice.

We haggled for knockoff jeans, handbags, and Turkish spices among the 4,000 loud, crowded, smoky shops - and who knows how many people - in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.

And in Barcelona, we walked Las Ramblas, a wide, tree-lined avenue with trendy shops, cafes, museums, and theaters.

Yet even tromping such familiar grounds in these famous old cities, we often found other places nearby to explore. For example, the ruins of ancient Corinth, the biblical city, are just an hour's bus ride from downtown Athens. And forget what you hear about Athens's smog and traffic: The air was crisp and the ride smooth during our visit this spring.

From the port city of Livorno, Italy, we set off to see Pisa, home to the architectural boo-boo that has become an infamous international landmark, and Florence. Neither the leaning tower nor the city of Pisa is worth more than a short visit. Instead, concentrate all your time on Florence.

Florence is where the Renaissance spirit blossomed. Here, the 15th-century Medicis devoted their wealth to the advancement of art, culture, and science. And here, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Galileo became legends.

We enjoyed a brief visit to the Uffizi Gallery, home to such world-famous paintings as "Baptism of Christ" by Leonardo da Vinci, and Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus." This time, being part of a tour paid off. The line of individual visitors forms early and stays long, as the museum limits the number of visitors inside at one time.

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