calaquendi43

Hello all,

My husband and I need itinerary advice for a free week in Europe. We are finishing leading a study abroad group in Florence which ends on November 16, and we are flying home from Istanbul on November 24.

We will be visiting Athens, Crete, Istanbul, Ephesus and a few Greek islands on a footsteps of St. Paul cruise on our way to Florence, but these will all be short stops. I'm sure we'll want to return to some of these places, but what do you all recommend in the region besides these stops?

We are primarily interested classical and Christian historical sites and experiencing eastern Christianity and Islam. Oh, and we will have our two children (ages 3 and 1) with us

So, what do you think?

Heimdall

It's difficult to advise without knowing your means of transport between Florence and Istanbul, and you only have a week to spare. You tagged this post for Greece and Turkey, which tells me you are interested in a stop or stops in Greece before making your way to Istanbul, so you could fly to Athens, then go on by air from there to Istanbul.

Having already been to Athens and "a few Greek islands" you may have an idea of where you would like to return for an in-depth visit. Presumably one of those Greek islands you have already visited is Patmos. You may want to consider the monasteries at Meteora, or the island of Tinos, which is a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Greeks. If you haven't already been to the Christian and Byzantine Museum in Athens, I would suggest that as well.

clausar

Another idea would be the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki, one of the most important cities of the Byzantine Imperium.
From there you can do some very interesting day trips to Veria, Kavala, Dion, Philippi and Amphipolis.

calaquendi43

Thank you both.

Yes, we are most interested in going to Greece and Turkey. We haven't yet thought very much about, let alone decided on our means of transport. We had planned to decide that based on where we wanted to go. I had vaguely considered a flight from Florence to Athens or Thessaloniki, ferrying to one Greek island, and then flying to Istanbul for the last few days.

At this point we are more looking for suggestions of places to visit, and then we will plan our transport based on those.

Thanks again!

Tommmo

Last year we flew Rome to Rhodes direct which saves the changeover in Istanbul and was cheap too. Ryanair was the co. - no frills but ok, and Rhodes especially the Old Town is great....and only an hour by ferry from Turkey.