James_P

Hi-Here is my itinerary. Please let me know if it is doable. Thanks.
Thursday - Friday arrive Athens and drive to Nafplio - stay 2 nights
Saturday - drive to Monemvasia - sleep one night in Monemvasia
Sunday - drive to Kardamyli - sleep one night
Monday - drive to Olympia - sleep one night
Tuesday - drive to Delphi - sleep one night
Wednesday - drive to Athens stay in a hotel near airport
Thursday - fly early flight to Santorini
Friday Santorini
Saturday - fly early to Athens
Sunday - Athens
Monday - return to the states

greg

I have stayed in Monemvasia this weekend. In case you are not familiar with how a stay in Monemvasia works, here it is.
Obviously, this not not a drive up to your hotel place. In fact, there is no parking lot outside the castle wall. You park on the side of the streets along with locals. This weekend, the cars stretched perhaps one half mile back from the gate. I hope you are traveling very very light or you are traveling with someone else to be able to drop off the luggage at the gate, then drive back up to one half mile to find a parking space, then return back to the gate. Once you enter the Monemvasia gate, you will quickly find out that the road is so uneven, the luggage wheels are useless and you need to carry luggage all the way to your hotel.The path is slippery and uneven to make this trip even more difficult. The place was magical even when walking around always required going up and own steep uneven ancient stairs.

clausar

James
your itinerary looks just fine to me, when driving from Monemvasia to Kardamili, pay a visit to the wonderful Diros Caves..

As for Monemvasia, Greg's description couldn't be more accurate.. If you chose a hotel inside the castle of Movemvasia, they might come and pick you up at the entrance of the castle, and also transfer your luggage.

stanbr

Your plan sounds OK. On the drive from Nafplio you will go right by Mustras and you might want to spend a few hours there exploring those mountainside cathedrals. You might want to remember that there is so much to see in Greece that it is likely that you will get sidetracked and your plan will go sideways on you slowly. We did Nafplio to Monemvassia an daveraged 23 kilometers an hour because there were so many sites to see. Indeed Greg is telling the truth when he says Monemvassia is magical and we ended up spending two nights there. Be prepared to be flexible and be willing to change your plans as the spirit moves you.
Here are images of Nafplio, Mystras and Monemvassia.
Nafplio and Peloponnese http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632094108982/

joannyc

No interest in seeing Meteora? It was one of the highlights of my trip.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mete...&bih=672&dpr=1

clausar

Meteora is too far away from Athens in the opposite direction...
That would be 360 km one way from Athens to Kalambaka.

OP will have to save Meteora for another trip.

James_P

We are in Napflion now and having a good time. We are staying at Marianna and are very happy with the place. Thanks for the responses.

nanabee

How funny James we were in Naplfio too on the 15, 16 of Sept and also stayed at Pension Marianna. We continued to Monemvasia, Pylos then to Olympia then Delphi and now we are staying at the Sofitel Hotel at the airport (which we highly recommend if you want to have easy access to the airport).

James_P

Hi
Where did you stay in Pylos?

joannyc

Meteora is around 200 km from Delphi, less than a 3 hour drive. Isn't it?

travelerjan

James --- if you want a remarkable place, go beyond Pylos up the coast on the main road just about 10 Km to Gialova, and look at Hotel Zoe ... directly on a beach made f rom Heaven ... about 55€ night -- canvas awning balconies looking directly on sea, small grove of trees in front where yo u have breakfast, dinner etc ... a stunning setting not yet commercialized ... only 3 hotels, about 7 tavernas ... as yet almost unknown but how long it will last, God knows ... Their website calls it a "resort" but thank god it's not, just a wonderful family hotel with people that treat you splendidly ... I had 4 days of bliss there in June ... http://www.zoeresort.com

nanabee

Hi james, we stayed at a resort in Pylos which was nice, but if I had had traveljan's advice we might have considered that instead. We stayed at Westin's resort which was a nice break from the travel world - and they had a number of beautiful pools (and I missed my early morning swims while on vacation.) However, it was extremely expensive. I would certainly give the zoe resort a look instead. This area is nice and is very popular with the Greek tourists.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...loponnese.html

nanabee

joannyc, how is the world do you get up to the top? LOL! The nice thing about such places is they are so quiet and peaceful.

travelerjan

One of the joys of my Hotel Zoe stay was lazing in the late-day sun watching families at the water's edge ... adjacent to the Zoe-area beach there's a village pier w. parking, and Greeks from area come after work, they use the Zoe sunbeds, nobody minds, nobody charges ... the tots are SO thrilled to have Dad's full attention -- look at me Papa, see me -- I have some memorable snapshots of these moments.

joannyc

Nanabee, LOL!

"The first hermits climbed up the rocks by using scaffolds that they proped up to joists which where wedged in holes of the rock.

Later, they used rope ladders and net, until the first ladders were carved in the early 20th century."

They brought up all the building materials, food, etc using baskets and ropes.

Today, you can drive up to them... Kind of takes the fun out of it, right?

James_P

Hi
We stayed in the Resort Zoe and really enjoyed it. It is a really beautiful property and the area was very nice. There were a lot of english couples at the resort. We are in Delphi now and are staying at the Acrapole hotel in a large room with a balcony looking over the mountain and the sea. We liked Dephi more than Olympia. Thanks to all the advice from Fodorites.

HappyTrvlr

We stayed at the Hotel Acropole in Delphi too and still remember the amazing views of the olive groves stretching down to the sea.

James_P

we are driving to Athens this afternoon to an airport hotel (Holiday Inn). Kind of a letdown after the places we have stayed. We are taking a 5:30am flight to Santorini tomorrow morning. Traveling in the last half of September has been perfect. It has been 82 in the day and cool at night. We have not used the air conditioning once. However, Travelerjan paid 55 for Hotel Zoe and we paid 75 euros with breakfast. We had what I think was an apartment in a newer building. We also went to see the crescent beach near the nature preserve which was very beautiful.
I also thought the Delphi museum was very well done.

clausar

James

You should have followed the following advice : << James, tell them Janet from Philadelphia sent you! >>

No wonder you paid 20 Euros more.....

Heimdall

Maybe that's why he did pay 20 euros more. ;-)