It’s nicknamed the Eternal City for a reason. In Rome, you can drink from a street fountain fed by an ancient aqueduct. Or see the same profile on a statue in the Capitoline Museum and the guy making your cappuccino. (Which, of course, you know never to order after 11 am.) Rome is also a city of contrasts—what other place on earth could be home to both the Vatican and La Dolce Vita?

A cultural hub where elegant mosques and traditional bazaars dot the palm-lined boulevards and ancient Greek ruins look down from the hilltops, Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir, has plenty to offer cruise visitors en route to nearby Ephesus.