ragout

Two couples in 70's have 3 days in Athens in October.

I wouldn't say we are the most agile bunch but very enthusiastic to take in the top sites.

1) Is it more efficient to hire a driver/guide to ensure we can easily access the sites efficiently and then have someone to guide us through the highligts which will mean less walking?

2) My husband and I arrive in Athens after a 1/ 1/2 day flight from Western Canada @ 2:30AM!!
We will not be backpacking (going on a cruise) but will be exhausted and not up to dealing with any culture shock by that time. Should I arrange a taxi/car to pick us up at the airport?

(We are staying at the Electra Palace Hotel)
Would appreciate your expert advice on the above.
Many thanks for your help.

travelerjan

Yes, book a car online... will cost you 60€+.

The driver/guide thing is a dilemma. If u are going on a cruise and staying at Electra Palace I'm guessing you re not impoverished. However, hiring a "taxi guide" which many people promote (like"george the taxi driver", an oversold service -- it has a fleet of guys who all say their name is george) .. is NOT gettting a Guide. Only licensed guides can go on site, so what he will do is basically drive u from one ruin to another, telling you stories on the way, and wait outside.

One way to go is to contact athenswalkingtours.com. They have a list of good walks led by HIGHLY qualified guides, but of course, there are 20 people or so. HOWEVER, this outfit can set up a CUSTOMIZED tour for you 4, even involving drive from site to site where appropriate. Another way to go is to contact licensed guides who work "freelance" in Athens.

Here is a site listing MANY guides... unless they say another place, like Olympia, I believe they all work in Athens. For some weird reason, this site is only in Greek, GErman and French (this link is in French) but is easy to understand.
http://www.tourist-guides.gr/guides.aspx?lang=fr&id=76
Pick some that list English and have E-mails. Write to them and describe what you want and the exact date(s) and ask what they charge. Your basics: 4 people in their 70s, can't walk a whole lot, you want to see the chief ancient sites on the 6-part ticket: Acropolis and Parthenon, the ancient Agora, maybe roman Agora (I think you can do the Temple of Zeus on your own, nothing to say about it, and I don't know if u want to do the cemetery Kerameikos). Also want someone to take u thru the highlights of a museum?? Do u want to see the site of the 1984 Olympics (beautiful bldgs), the historic 1896 Olympic stadium? Tell her when u want to be picked up (for Acropolis, best to get there by 8:30 to beat the bus-tour crowds). Ask HER for a proposed itinerary and cost.

Do this for 4 or 5; you have the time. Then you'll be able to compare.

Bushranger

At least it'll be close to what time you might normally go to bed at and seems as though George sounds like a great guy to get in touch with - http://www.athensguide.com/airport.html

You'll see a reference to him under TAXI heading and I'd reckon he'll be able to fill you in on having a guide.
The Acropolis and all that is right close to the heart of Athens and not too big a walk if you want to do it yourself, but just depends on where the Electra is.

scdreamer

We, too , spent three days in Athens in mid-October before a cruise (Oceania) a couple years ago. And ... we arrived at about the same wee hours of the morning time as you did, due to a missed connection in Amsterdam. We easily took a taxi from the airport to our lodging ... did not arrange it in advance.

It was our first time in Athens, and we had arranged for a very nice two-bedroom penthouse condo apartment. Whenever I am in a city for more than a day or two, I like to have an apartment. So much nicer to have space to move about (especially if sleep patterns are a bit disjointed for the first couple days), and especially wonderful to have a kitchen for morning coffee and breakfast. And usually the rentals seem to be quite a bit less expensive than the better hotels.

We did not hire a guide ... rather used good guide books to figure out what we wanted to see and where we wanted to dine. We used the public transportation system with no problems at all (even getting ourselves and our bags to the port on the day our ship left), and had a great time exploring the city.

October was such a good time to be there ... the weather was perfect (light sweater)and there were no hoards of tourists.

travelerjan

Bushranger, George has been tirelessly promoted by Matt Barrett's site you will never speak to the actual George, as I said he now runs a taxi fleet of dozens of taxis,where all the drivers claim to be George. And of course this outfit will never recommend using a licensed guide.

yiassas

With all the traffic in Athens the central sights would be quicker to walk between, & you can check out shops & stop for coffee on the way!
Electra Palace is in a good location, a short walk (a few minutes)into the centre of Plaka. From there you are close to the Acropolis & some of the other sites. The hotel should have a free map with them all marked. By all means take a taxi (or a Metro stop or 2)back to the hotel if you wander further away & have had enough walking, but I wouldn't choose to book 'George's Taxi'. Central Athens is really quite compact, some of it pedestrianised, so much of your time can be spent using no transport at all. A good guide book & the map will do for most of it, a taxi, bus or Metro for the rest.
If you do want to go up Lycabettus Hill (I recommend it!) then take a taxi to the furnicular & use that for the rest of the uphill journey.

ragout

I have been meaning to thank you all for your excellent advice.

In the end.... noting the “George's ++” thing we didn't use them but had the hotel arrange to pick us up.
And then did Hop on Hop off bus one day.
Walked ourselves through the Plaka and up to the Acropolis which for, all you unfit oldies like us, is just fine if you take it slowly. It was simply fantastic. One of those things, like many historic sites that one has to experience to appreciate the talents who could design aand build such a handsome structure with no modern technology, let alone now restore it. The views of Athens were spectacular and a great place to get an overview of the city.

On the third day we hired a driver to take us to sights and places we had not yet seen. It got us around smoothly and we accomplished a lot. Having a licensed guide would have been helpful in places such as the Museum of Archeology. We stood in occasinoaly with group tours to listen in!

Went up the Lycabettus Hill for another magnificent view of the city.

One of the big plusses about the Electra Hotel, is if you are prepared to pay for a Superior View room, is that one can sit and have a drink on your terrace each evening watching the sunset and the lights come up on the Acropolis hill. Breathtaking indeed.

We loved Athens despite the fact that our photos seem to show a rather dirty city. Not the streets but the intrusive graffiti that is everywhere.

Lets hope Greece makes it through the next tranche of necessary cutbacks so they can get on track financially. Such charming people and such incredible architecture deserve to live well.

Thank you once again everybody your various thought. Your input helped us make good decisions that worked well for us.

travelerjan

I'm so pleased to hear that it all worked out, ragout. BTW, While you were there, did you experience any of the Greeks' "ragouts"? ... One good one, stifado, is most often made the rabbit, with onions, tomatoes,clove. Yuummmm. Also done with chicken,beef etc.