From Greek ruins to Turkish spices: Tour the Adriatic and Aegean with the Magnifica cruise

Not a glimmer of interest. That's what my five-year-old daughter had shown in the Olympics.

That was until the day she wandered through the ruins of the very first games held more than 2,700 years ago in Olympia, south-west Greece.

Marina was transfixed as we led her through the rocky remains of the running track, the podium for prize winners and the spot that held the Olympic flame.

It was all built, my wife Lucy and I explained, in dedication to the Greek god Zeus. She was vexed to hear that women were forbidden to watch (probably because the athletes competed naked).

Even ignoring this point, today's Olympic Games are very different from the original. The first day was reserved for gifts being made to the gods, then came the fun: wrestling, long jump and javelin followed by a running race where the contestants covered their modesty with armour.

The winners were treated as stars with invitations to louche parties where girls would feed them grapes and coo over the size of their pectorals. However, the only prize the victors received was an olive wreath, although some of the luckier ones were told they would no longer pay taxes.

After our visit to Olympia's ruins we strolled through olive groves and trees laden with oranges to the village of the same name which consists of barely one street, with the inevitable knick-knack shops selling facsimiles of goddesses and olive oil.

Our visit was part of a day trip from Katakolon during our seven-night cruise on board MSC's 2,500-passenger Magnifica. The itinerary also included stops in Italy, Turkey and Croatia.

On reflection Marina was perhaps a little young to drink in the glory of the cruise's starting point, Venice, although Lucy did her best to enthuse her with a vivid account of how we had spent our honeymoon there. That just led to a pouting enquiry about why she hadn't been on our honeymoon too.

Our first stop was the Adriatic resort of Bari where we wandered along a warren of cobbled streets lined with tiny shops selling piles of sun-dried tomatoes and huge blocks of Parmesan. The bell tower of the church of St Sabino dominates Bari but far more impressive is the nearby Basilica of St Nicholas with its divine frescoed ceilings.

We walked straight into the middle of a communion service where we were becalmed by the beautiful choral music and watched three priests shepherding a huge congregation to the gilded altar.

The next dose of culture was intended to be a stop in the Turkish resort of Izmir and a ramble around the ancient Roman town of Ephesus (or what remains of it) but a Force 10 gale in the Aegean Sea caused a diversion to the delightful mainland Greek town of Náfplio.

Clambering off a tender we walked through bougainvillea-draped alleys lined with Venetian and Turkish buildings leading to a central square. Here, we drank delicious hot chocolate at a sunny café while Marina expended all her energy chasing pigeons.

We couldn't wait to show her the delights of the Grand Bazaar during our stop in Istanbul.

After a visit to the spice market, an assault on the senses with its sackfuls of colourful, fragrant spices, we headed to this Byzantine treasure chest of stalls selling everything from luggage to dubious Ralph Lauren shirts along with a plethora of plastic tat. Naturally we spent a lot of money on the latter.

After too much walking and shopping we gave up on the idea of a visit to the Topkapi Palace in favour of a lazy lunch at the Ciragan Palace, a glorious hotel overlooking the Bosphorus which proved the perfect oasis of escape from all those excitable Turkish traders.

The next day was spent at sea giving all of us the chance to snooze by the pool and try out the spa, an Oriental haven strewn with rose petals and awash with smiling Thai staff adept at massages, facials and pedicures.

While Lucy and I were being gently pummelled into a state of torpor Marina was in her own paradise playing alongside her counterparts from Germany, France and Spain in the Mini Club; she could have happily stayed all day having her face painted, being a pirate or playing bingo, which she won twice.

At least we managed to drag her away to join us at the theatre where a dazzling show had us all open-mouthed at the most extraordinary contortionist.

One of the highlights of our cruise was Dubrovnik. The archipelago is dominated by the medieval walled city: think York or Chester then treble it. One word of warning: if you have a fear of heights, ignore the tour guides and don't even think about walking around the city walls.

The walls themselves are low and the drop to the sea is very steep, inducing palpitations among the faint-hearted.

Happily there was a jolly café at the bottom where equilibrium was regained with a glass of Slivovitz, a stiff Croatian drink similar to English plum brandy.

SADLY our week-long cruise was coming to an end and we had to head back to Venice. However the next day we awoke to thick fog which Marina described as like being immersed in cauliflower soup. The 93,000-ton Magnifica was just too big to risk bumping its way along the Grand Canal and we were diverted to Trieste.

After a late-night disembarkation we had to board a bus back to Venice, lugging our luggage through St Mark's Square (so foggy it was almost unrecognisable) to a hotel to await a flight because they were all fully booked.

So we had an unexpected three days to explore our old honeymoon spots.

Marina yawned a lot but she now knows that the Olympics started in 776BC... and how to say some swear words in Italian.

GETTING THERE

MSC Cruises (0844 561 1955/msccruises.co.uk) offers a seven-night Venice round-trip cruise from £729pp(two sharing), full board. Price includes return flights from the UK to Venice.

Children under-18 cruise for free when travelling and sharing a cabin with two paying adults (flight per child would be extra).

Departs Venice on 12 April 2015.