willit

This was our first trip to Greece – sort of accidental – I’d been planning to go back to Istanbul but high air fares discouraged me, and with the political situation, I am glad we didn’t go.

As always, a great deal of thanks goes to Fodorites – the ideas gained from reading the forums greatly helped in planning our trip.

Summarising: We stayed for 4 nights in an AirBnB near Plateia Amerikis, hired a car and spent 4 nights in Nafplio (taking various side trips), returned to Athens for another three nights near the Polygono area.

“Interesting episodes” included an attempted pickpocketing attempt on the metro, a transport strike threatening to prevent us getting to the airport, subsequently being price gouged by taxi driver, and a brief encounter with the “one percent”.

Touristy bits included the Lycabettus Hill, the National Archaeological Museum, the Acropolis Museum, the ruins of Mycenae, Nemea and Epiduarus, the fortresses at Nafplio and Acrocorinth, the Acropolis and Ancient Agora, and the Athens War Museum.

We managed one brief visit to one small part of one Island. We walked a great deal and took advantage of the very reasonable 5 day travel pass ( €9 each). Public transport was frequent, efficient – but also frenetic and crowded. Weather was very good, although slightly too warm for our personal comfort - it hit 90F (32C) most days in the forst week, and the nightime temperatures seldom dropped below 70F (21C)

Food was reasonably priced, simple and exceptionally tasty. In eleven days we had one disappointing meal.

Overall – yes, I can definitely see the attraction – and I am quite keen to return and see far more. The Greek people (those not trying to pickpocket or drive a taxi) were all really helpful and friendly.The written language proved far less of a problem than anticipated as menus, museum information and public transport signs were always available in English, and road signs were in both Greek alphabet and westernised (so Corinth would also be written as Korinth)

I can expand on any of this if anybody is interested - lists of resaurants etc- or if you just want pictures then they can be found here

janisj

Great pictures (I'm hungry looking at the food )

The one frieze photo - one could be standing in the British Museum

tripplanner001

willit

Bad person !
The Acropolis museum actually handles the whole "Lord Elgin" thing very well - quite a fair representation of what happened and who else was involved in similar "collecting"
There is a large Lego model of the Acropolis in the museum (originally built by an Australian and displayed in Sydney) and the model is full of little historical quirks and visitors (Agatha Christie, Sigmund Freud, Elton John) - and up on the Parthenon, Lord Elgin removing the sculptures.

janisj

>>The Acropolis museum actually handles the whole "Lord Elgin" thing very well - quite a fair representation of what happened and who else was involved in similar "collecting"<<

Here in the States there was a TV report (I believe on 60 Minutes but don't remember for sure) about how the Acropolis Museum addressed the issues and it did look fair minded.

RM67

yestravel

Mind sharing where you stayed in Nafplio? Thanks!

crazyh

Not sure when you went. Was it Oct 2019 as indicated by the title of the thread?

As far as your Athens report you encountered what some tourists and even locals have experienced especially pick pocketing, strikes, unethical taxi drivers, etc.

Bear in mind not everyone has experienced those things but it does happen.

Just about anywhere in Athens will have crowds especially in tourist zone so not a surprise if it was crowded where you went.

The Metro can be exceptionally crowded at times, especially from/to the airport but it gives you an up front and close contact with locals except for the pick pockets. I've been fortunate never to have that experience.

Not all taxi drivers are scam artists. One way to avoid that is to use the Beat App which has far more ethical and honest drivers. Bus transports is usually very safe and very inexpensive.

I find prices at tavernas very reasonable, far less expensive than most anywhere I go back home and for the most part food is excellent just about anywhere. Try to avoid the over-the-top touristy tavenras if possible.

I'll be going back to Greece next year and look forward to one of the nicest countries one could visit, warts and all!

willit

At an AirBnB, It was small, but inexpensive, comfortable and had Aircon. About a mile from the centre of town.

I wrote up the whole trip here - I like creating diaries so I can go back in later years and re-read about the trips.