Hello all,

I am putting my request together for Dolphin-Hellas and need a bit of advice as to if a guided tour is necessary in the following spots:

Mycenae
Olympia
Delphi

We have already determined we want a 1/2 day tour of the Acropolis/Agora and then will spend the next 1.5 days further exploring them.

Thanks so much!

anyone?
I was hoping to send my email to the travel agent today.

thanks!

TexasAggie-

I was wondering something similar to this myself.

I'm also planning a trip to Greece next May/June and will probably be using Dolphin Hellas to book our hotels and ferry tickets.

As far as a day trip to Delphi, I was planning on emailing one of those taxi drivers - like "George the Famous Taxi Driver" or someone similar. I figured they just provided transportation, but we were on our own at the site itself.

I posted a question a few months ago if there were private guides for hire at the entrance to the site at Delphi - but no responses indicating a yes or no.

I'd be interested in ballpark figures for a private guided tour to Delphi if you do get that information from Dolphin Hellas.

I went on guided tours of Mycenae, Olympia and Delphi as part of the four day tour I took last March. I found myself wandering off from the tours because I had already read extensively about the sites before visiting. My daughter said the guide didn't really say anything beyond what I read to her each night before we went to a new place.

Thanks chepar and Nikki.
I did go ahead and send my request to Uli at Dolphin-Hellas and I included requests for guided tours of the locations I listed above. I asked for 2 hour to 1/2 day tours and indicated that it need not be private as long as it was a small group. I received an automatic email from Uli stating that she will be out of the office until January 9th. When I hear back I will let you know.

We will be renting a car and driving to the various locations so we didn't need a bus or taxi tour, just a knowledgeable guide for a few hours and then we will explore the sights further on our own.

Nikki, I really enjoyed your trip report

Updating on Dolphin-Hellas...

Even though I received the auto-email from Uli stating she would be gone until January 9th, I received a nice email from the "incoming request" staff at Dolphin-Hellas asking me if it was ok for me to wait on Uli or would I prefer to be transferred over to another agent. The email arrived less than 24 hours after my initial email. We are waiting on Uli to return but were pleased by such a prompt reply since I have read posts on Fodors complaining about 5 day waits.

Have you considered Meteora? It's a pretty unique place. Will you have a car? If so, that would be the best way to see the monesteries.

We are saving Meteora for our next trip in 2007. We would have loved to include it on this trip but we didn't want to spend all our time racing around in the car. We will spend 4 days in Athens (one day is the May 1 National holiday), 4 days in the Northern Pelopponese (Napflion, Corinth, Acrocorinth, Epidauros, Argos, Tyrins, Nemea, Mycenae), 2 days in Olympia, 2 days in Delphi (also see Arachova and Osios Loukas monastery), and our final day seeing Marathoon and Sounion on our way back to Athens to catch our flight.

Next trip we hope to see the southern part of the Pelopponese and more of the north including Thessaly and Meteora. And perhaps some time on the islands

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Makes me want to go again.

Given all the archaeological sites you are visiting, might I recommend either the Blue Guide to Greece or the Oxford Archaeological Guide: Greece (by Christopher Mee and Antony Spawforth). I assume the latter is still in print, although you would probably have to get it off amazon.com as stores do not usually carry it. Even with a guided tour it would be good to do some reading beforehand so as to maximize your enjoyment; the Oxford Guide has reconstructions, ground plans , and such that you can follow along with on your visit.

Hopefully you'll have lots of time in the various museums, as just about every site you list (with the exception of Tiryns and Mycenae) has one. The material from Tiryns and Mycenae is in the National Museum in Athens, so it would behoove you to study those artifacts at the Nat. Mus. before your journey to the sites themselves--especially the artifacts from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae.

At Nemea make sure they take you to see the Stadium, which is a short ways away from the rest of the site and is very well preserved. (Look for the starting line and ask your guide to explain the nifty mechanism they used to make sure everyone started the race together.) In fact, amateur games are held at Nemea during Olympic years, as Nemea in antiquity was home to one of the stephanitic games (the others were at Olympia, Delphi, and Isthmia). UC Berkeley runs the excavations at Nemea. I enjoyed that site a great deal. And the others as well. Delphi and Mycenae are my favorites.

Can I come give the tour? ;-)

Hi DejaVu,
Wow, thank you so much for the information! We currently have the Michelin Green Guide, the Eyewitness Guide to Mainland Greece, and Fodors Greece. I wasn't aware there was a Blue Guide but will certainly look into it along with your other recommendation.
We've been taking Greek lessons since last September so I am hoping to be able to read the signs in the museums, as I've read that they are rarely posted in English. We will do lots of reading in advance as well though

Thanks again for the tips!