ExplorerWannabe

Hi, I'm trying to finalize plans for a trip to Greece this summer, wanting to see as much as I can. Two of the three guided tour packages I'm looking at seem to bypass Sparta, Mystras and Epidavros (the third tour hits those three but would miss Meteora and Thermopylae). One of the two tours missing Sparta is the only one of the three that is actually a guaranteed or preferred departure. Sooooo, two questions:

1. Are Sparta, Mystras, Epidavros worth seeing enough to warrant a special trip and extending my trip a day or two?

2. How easy/expensive is it to get out to them for a solo traveler who doesn't speak any Greek (other than food!)? I'm also looking into options like the Greek Taxi tours -- which sound great by the way! -- but that seems to be a bit expensive for a solo.

Thoughts, suggestions? I'd like to firm up my plans soon!

travelerjan

Sparta, not much there to see, is why. Ancient Spartans big on fighting, not so big on monuments/temples, PLUS modern Sparta is built smack on top of Ancient city and Greeks unwilling to raze all their structures just to find artifacts.

Thermopylae is historically important but according to my readings (and comments on forums), the landscape has changed so very much in the past 2,400 years that visually you cannot see the strategic aspect (i.e., terrain no longer has narrow "pass" to be defended). Apparently there's just a plaque and a souvenir shop.

Meteora, especially if you are into Byzantine culture and medieval churches is certainly visually stunning. However it is quite distant from Athens and -- if combined with Delphi -- usually requires 3 days for the 2 destinations, even on a tour bus. If you tried to do it solo, it would be more of a hassle.

As far as guided tour packages go, the "argolid" area in the Pelopponese offers the most, the closest together - Mycenae, Nafplio, Epidaurus in 1 day (too rushed) or 2 days (I think ideal because you have tons of time to explore Nafplio and can even take a local bus 4 KM out of town to see Tiryns if you want to cram another ruin into your itinerary). This kind of tour costs 120€ (Key) or 146€ CHAT) @ different hotel levels -- but there may be added "single supplement." Such tours have a licensed guide on board to take u thru the sites.

If you wanted to add Mystras to the Mix, then it's different. Hard to access via bus, and not part of above tour. It might require thinking about car-hire for a D-I-Y tour ... but we can't know how you feel about driving or what your budget limits are.

As for "GReek Taxi Tours" this sounds like a company name -- there are many such companies that offer "tours", which are flexible and will go wherever you want, in a fairly short time. However yes, they ARE expensive. Furthermore, what you may not know is that if they promise to be your "Guide" they are breaking the law. In Greece, guides must pass a very stiff test to be licensed. Taxi-drivers are only allowed to drive you TO sites, not allowed to go ON site -- so once you get to Epidaurus, or Mycenae, you'd be on your own. Sometimes at the ancient-site gate, there are licensed Guides who collect a bunch of people, then go thru the site. You might have to wait awhile until they're willing to begin the tour. And SOMETIMES these are NOT licensed guides but pretenders.

The answer, sadly, is that seeing "as much as I can" requires either money... or time. You do not say how much time u have.

The "time" strategy might be to take an intercity KTEL bus to Nafplio and local busses to 2-3 sites. This would take longer than a tour of course. If you hired a car 1 day you could do 3 or more sites if you hustled. You could do D-I-Y site tours by doing prior prep (and also "lurking" near tour groups).

The "money" strategy would be to drive or taxi to your various destinations, and arrange for a licensed guide to meet you at the entry to the site. There are sources online that know of licensed guides who operate in, for instance, Delphi, Meteora, and Nafplio area for Mycenae-Nemea-Tiryns-Epidaurus.

ExplorerWannabe

Thanks for the quick reply travelerjan; your explanation of Sparta is especially helpful. I can extend my trip up to another 4 or 5 days past the end of the tour bus options. Money is of course always a factor but I have planned enough to be pretty flexible this summer -- kind of a once-in-a-lifetime affair so I've promised myself to not be Scrooge.

I'm inclined right now to take the preferred departure tour bus that will go on up to Meteora and by Thermopylae. It looks like Mystras is close enough to Athens to possible latch onto some kind of day trip.

It's sounding like perhaps I will want to just extend my reservations in Athens for a couple days and do some research in the next couple months to line up things to do in those two days.

travelerjan

Good for you Explorer ... now the next step ought to be to plunge into some GOOD guide books. you don't hve to BUY them all .. your local library ought to have some, and you can read and then Photocopy relevant pages.. Maybe not this year's edition, but you're not looking for the latest hotel rates, you're looking for SIGHTS, and they don't change that fast. Here are some I can recommend:

DK: EYEWITNESS: Athens and the Mainland. THis series is good because it shows HIGHLIGHTS of different areas, not with "arty" photos but excellent color graphic illustrations -- i .e. what an ancient ruins looks like, as guide for exploring.

ROUGH GUIDE: Tho not heavy on illustrations/fotos, it has very detailed Texts, and good city maps... much better than Lonely Planet these days (alas).

CADOGAN Guide to the Pelopponese (New in 2008) Altho almost NO illustrations, can add immeasurably to appreciation of ancient AND Byzantine sites.

ALso I advise you to get a decent MAP of the Pelopponese, and study it. TO download a very detailed one, go to this website - http://www.greece4real.com/greece4.html

NO, Mystra is NOT a feasible day trip from Athens and I doubt whether any coach tours go there as a 1-day destination. Hard enough to do a day trip to Nafplio. BTW, wouldn't it be good to REALLY explore a place for more than an hour, rather than just be a "drive-by" tourist, checking off a list of seen-thats?

For instance, I have learned that Nafplio now has a wonderful new feature -- at a kiosk on the harbor you can borrow a FREE audio guide, which you use in a stroll around town to 40 major architectural & historic landmarks. What a boon! This GEM of a town is a World Heritage site, very central to Greek history (the FIRST capital of a free Greece, in 1827, after nearly 200 years of conquerors). Stop to marvel and enjoy these things instead of rushing off. Why does this have to be what you said -- a once-in-a-lifetime affair? The more u learn, the better you can budget ... I'm going for 4 weeks in May-June, solo, and I am doing it on about 70€ per day; could do it on much less if I had someone to share room costs. So it CAN be done. Good luck to you in your planning!

ExplorerWannabe

Well, the reason this trip is a once-in-a-lifetime affair is that I'll be between careers this summer. Have never had the time to do extended vacations before and probably won't again until I retire. I may very well visit Greece again but there are other locations in the world I want to visit as well so who knows? I WILL be in Greece in July and want to make the most of it this time.

Thanks for the book recommendations, will see if they are available at the library -- if not, I'll run by Barnes & Noble.