Mediterranean Cruise Ship Ports and Marinas

The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar on the west and to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, on the east. The Sea of Marmara is often considered a part of the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Black Sea is generally not. The 163 km (101 mi) long man-made Suez Canal in the southeast connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
Large islands in the Mediterranean include Cyprus, Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Lesbos, Chios, Kefalonia, Corfu, Naxos and Andros in the eastern Mediterranean; Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Cres, Krk, Brač, Hvar, Pag, Korčula and Malta in the central Mediterranean; and Ibiza, Majorca and Minorca (the Balearic Islands) in the western Mediterranean.
The climate is a typical Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Crops of the region include olives, grapes, oranges, tangerines, and cork.

Some of the world’s busiest shipping routes are in the Mediterranean Sea. It is estimated that approximately 220,000 merchant vessels of more than 100 tonnes cross the Mediterranean Sea each year - about one third of the world’s total merchant shipping

Tourism
With a unique combination of pleasant climate, beautiful coastline, rich history and diverse culture the Mediterranean region is the most popular tourist destination in the world - attracting approximately one third of the world’s international tourists.
Tourism is one of the most important sources of income for many Mediterranean countries. It also supports small communities in coastal areas and islands by providing alternative sources of income far from urban centres. However, tourism has also played major role in the degradation of the coastal and marine environment. Rapid development has been encouraged by Mediterranean governments to support the large numbers of tourists visiting the region each year. But this has caused serious disturbance to marine habitats such as erosion and pollution in many places along the Mediterranean coasts.
Tourism often concentrates in areas of high natural wealth, causing a serious threat to the habitats of endangered Mediterranean species such as sea turtles and monk seals. It is ironic that tourism in this region is destroying the foundations of its own existence. And it is inevitable that the tourists will leave the Mediterranean as it becomes more depleted of its natural beauty.

Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Ship ports

In middle Miocene times, the collision between the Arabian microplate and Eurasia led to the separation between the Tethys and the Indian oceans. This process resulted in profound changes in the oceanic circulation patterns, which shifted global climates towards colder conditions. The Hellenic arc, which has a land-locked configuration, underwent a widespread extension for the last 20 Myr due to a slab roll-back process. In addition, the Hellenic Arc experienced a rapid rotation phase during the Pleistocene, with a counterclockwise component in its eastern portion and a clockwise trend in the western segment.

Beirut, Lebanon | Cairo (Port Said), Egypt | Cairo / Giza (Alexandria), Egypt | Damascus (Tartous), Syria

Jerusalem / Tel Aviv (Ashdod), Israel | Nazareth / Galilee (Haifa), Israel 

Central Mediterranean Cruise Ship ports

The opening of small oceanic basins of the central Mediterranean follows a trench migration and back-arc opening process that occurred during the last 30 Myr. This phase was characterized by the counterclockwise rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block, which lasted until the Langhian (ca.16 Ma), and was in turn followed by a slab detachment along the northern African margin. Subsequently, a shift of this active extentional deformation led to the opening of the Tyrrenian basin.

Ajaccio, Corsica, France | Alghero, Sardinia, Italy | Amalfi, Italy | Ancona, Italy | Bari, Italy | Bastia, Corsica, France

Belle Isle, France | Bonifacio, Corsica, France | Brest, France | Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy | Calvi, Corsica, France | Cannes, France

Capri, Italy | Carcassonne (Sete), France | Cassis, France | Catania, Sicily, Italy | Corsica, France | Dubrovnik, Croatia | Elba, Italy

Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy | Gaeta, Italy | Genoa, Italy | Hvar, Croatia | Koper, Slovenia | Korcula, Croatia | Kotor, Montenegro

La Rochelle, France | Le Lavandou, France | Lipari, Italy | Marseille, France | Messina, Sicily, Italy | Monte Carlo, Monaco

Naples (Capri), Italy | Naples / Capri (Sorrento), Italy | Nice (Villefranche), France  | Olbia, Italy | Palermo, Sicily, Italy | Ponza, Italy

Porquerolles, France | Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy | Porto Vecchio, Corsica, France | Portoferraio, Elba, Italy | Portofino, Italy

Portovenere, Italy | Positano, Italy | Pula, Croatia | Rab, Croatia | Ravenna, Italy | Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Rovinj, Croatia | Salerno, Italy | Sanary-Sur-Mer, France | Savona, Italy | Sibenik, Croatia | Siracusa, Sicily, Italy | Sorrento, Italy

Split, Croatia | St. Tropez, France | Stromboli, Italy | Taormina (Giardini Naxos), Sicily, Italy | Toulon, France | Trapani, Sicily, Italy

Trieste, Italy | Valletta, Malta | Venice, Italy | Zadar, Croatia 

Western Mediterranean & Atlantic Island Cruise Ship ports

Since Mesozoic to Tertiary times, during convergence between Africa and Iberia, the Betic-Rif mountain belts developed. Tectonic models for its evolution include: rapid motion of Alboran microplate, subduction zone and radial extensional collapse caused by convective removal of lithospheric mantle. The development of these intramontane Betic and Rif basins led to the onset of two marine gateways which were progressively closed during the late Miocene by an interplay of tectonic and glacio-eustatic processes.

Alicante, Spain | Almeria, Spain | Arrecife, Canary Islands | Barcelona, Spain | Bilbao, Spain | Cadiz, Spain | Cartagena, Spain

Casablanca, Morocco | Ceuta, Spanish Territory | Gibraltar, UK Territory | Grand Canary Island, Canary Islands | Ibiza, Spain

La Coruna, Spain | La Gomera, Canary Islands | Lanzarote, Canary Islands | Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island, Canary Islands

 Lisbon, Portugal | Malaga, Spain | Menorca, Balearic Islands, Spain | Motril, Spain | Oporto (Leixoes), Portugal | Palamos, Spain

 Palma de Mallorca, Spain | | Port Mahon, Menorca, Spain | Port-Vendres, France | Portimao, Portugal | Puerto Banus, Spain

Santa Cruz, La Palma, Canary Islands | Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands | Santander, Spain | Seville, Spain

St. Jean de Luz, France | Strait of Gibraltar | Tangier, Morocco | Tarragona, Spain | Valencia, Spain | Vigo, Spain

Greek Islands Cruise Ship ports 

The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: The Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens, the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea, the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey, the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey, the Sporades, a small tight group off the coast of Euboea, and the Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea (one of these islands, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponese Peninsula and part of the Attica periphery, but still considered part of the Ionian Islands, mainly because of historical reasons).

Alanya, Turkey | Amorgos, Greece | Antalya, Turkey | Argostoli, Greece | Athens (Piraeus), Greece | Athens, Greece

Bodrum, Turkey | Canakkale, Turkey | Cephalonia, Greece | Corfu, Greece | Corinth Canal | Crete (Aghios Nikolaos), Greece

 Crete (Heraklion), Greece | Delos, Greece | Dikili, Turkey | Ephesus / Kusadasi, Turkey | Fethiye, Turkey

Gythion, Greece |  Hydra, Greece | Istanbul, Turkey | Itea, Greece | Izmir, Turkey | Kavala (Philippi), Greece

Lesbos (Mytilene), Greece | Limassol, Cyprus | Marmaris, Turkey | Monemvasia, Greece | Mykonos, Greece | Mylos, Greece

Nauplion, Greece | Olympia (Katakolon), Greece | Paros Island, Greece | Patmos, Greece | Pylos, Greece | Rhodes, Greece

Samos, Greece | Santorini, Greece | Skiathos, Greece | The Dardanelles | Thessaloniki, Greece | Volos, Greece | Zakynthos, Greece

North Africa Cruise Ship ports 

The Atlas Mountains, which extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the fold mountain system which also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert which covers more than 90% of the region. The sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old.

Algiers, Algeria | Gabes, Tunisia | La Goulette, Tunisia | Tripoli, Libya | Tunis, Tunisia 

Article {Credit} http://en.wikipedia.org/