During a snowstorm last winter, I started to daydream about going someplace new that was warm, sunny, relatively inexpensive and had good ruins. I usually travel with my sister, and since I had dragged her to too many ruins, she was not interested and I would be traveling on my own. This would a first for me, so I started checking out tours: Tauck, Rick Steves, and Adventurous Wench; too many choices. I settled on the Rick Steves mainland Greece tour. Before actually sending in my deposit, my sister informed me she and her husband would join me if I went to the Islands. So, it was back to planning.

I didn’t want to give up the ruins, so based on travel logs from this site, I chose a 3-day “Classical Greece” Chat tour and 2 nights in Athens. From there, went to Crete and Santorini where I was joined by my sister and her husband.

Flight: Flew Delta from Boston to JFK and JFK to Athens. Ticket was $700. Flight time from JFK was 9.5 hrs over and 10 back. Food was good and movie choice bad (they only offered one movie and showed on a central screen). In hindsight, next time I would find a flight with a stop-over in some place like Germany.

Airport to City: Took the train right from the airport. It was an easy 6E, 40-minute trip to Monastiraki, the last stop on the line.

Athens: Stayed at Attalos both nights. Booked the hotel and Chat tour through the Dolphin-Hellas travel agency, with discounted rates. The Attalos, at 59E a night, was a good deal. As others here have said many times, it is a basic tourist class hotel in a perfect location with a great roof top bar. It even had free internet access; every other place I stayed charged. The first night was very noisy, but the second I asked for a room away from the elevator—it was a better and quieter room.

I arrived at the hotel about 11:30 and there was no problem checking-in early. After a slight rest, I headed out, with maps and Guide Book, to find the Acropolis, the Plaka and the O’Platinos restaurant, my 3 targets for the day. The first two were easy enough, trying to find the restaurant tho, I discovered I was map challenged.

It was really hot; hotter than I expected and I didn’t have the right clothes for the weather—who would expect that with all the posts I read here about what to pack. Dress was surprisingly casual.

The acropolis was pretty impressive and worth the overnight in Athens. Walking up to it, saw lots of columns fallen over/strewn around and was surprised at how little work seemed to be going on to preserve the area. I was struck with the thought that they don’t know what a treasure they have in all their ancient sites.

From there, I struck out to find O’Plantinos. The Plaka/Monistiraki area is overflowing with out-door restaurants, many of them with waiters attempting to lure all passing by to stop and eat there. From the map, it seemed like I was close to my restaurant choice, when of these men wouldn’t leave my side. I didn’t want to tell him I was going someplace else to eat, so I told him I wasn’t hungry, but shopping for jewelry. He took me by the hand and walked me over to one of the expensive gold jewelry stores. I didn’t see a pair of earring for less then 350E. Yes, I did intend to buy jewelry, but only of the 20euro variety made by the hippies. Then the shop-keeper didn’t want me to leave and kept bringing out new pieces. As I was getting hungrier, I finally forced my way out of there and then learned not to look any one in the eye as I walked around. I then set out again for O’Platinos and walked and walked and walked some more. Asked many people for directions, holding the map. Had to be at least 90 minutes I spent looking for it. When I finally did, it was closed for a private party.

I wondered around and settled for eating at Byzantino as it was the first place I found that was listed in my Guide Book. I ordered wine, a greek salad and the eggplant/veal combination. The salad and eggplant were fine. I expected the veal to look like a veal cutlet, but it was a hunk of meat with (what looked like) blood vessels running through it; that ruined the dinner for me and I learned not to order veal/beef again. Dinner was 15E.

It was late and I was worn out. Walking back to the hotel, I now noticed it was kind of a sketchy area to be walking alone, but it was only a short walk. Went to the roof-top bar to calm the nerves. It was a beautiful night drinking my bailey’s with coffee and the view of the acropolis was the perfect way to spend my fist evening. Next day, I am off to the Chat tour and I have a 6am wake-up call.

As usual, this has taken longer than I expected and it is a beautiful fall day in Boston. I will return with next installment of Olympia, Delphi and Meteora.

Thanks Jackie, I am looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks for sharing. Eagerly awaiting the rest of your report.

I got a different impression than you did of the columns strewn about the Acropolis. I believe the Greeks are well aware of the treasures of their antiquity and their place in history. The attitude toward restoration is different now than it was in previous times, however, and the goal is not to restore an area to its appearance in antiquity but to restore enough to give an idea of what things must have been like. I believe I heard a guide say that they were restoring the Parthenon to about 70 percent of its original appearance.

Jackie,
When exactly did you travel?
What a great rate on your air far.
I'm looking at traveling Boston to Athens in April and prices are close to $1000.00
Betty

Nikki--I wish now I had hired a guide and learned more about the restoration process. I did learn during the chat tour in olympia that the cost to restore one column is 400,000 euros, which explains alot.

Bettina--I left on 9/5 and returned on 9/21. When searching for fares, I started out thinking $900 was a good price. I started checking several websites, several times a day. When it got to $770, I waited a day and then checked each airlines site. Felt like I hit paydirt when I found the $700 ticket. FYI, I also got the 19 euro tickets (which was acutally 46 w/taxes and fees) to crete and from santorini.

Chat Classical Tour #9 --included overnights in Olympia, Delphi, and Meteora. The day began with a 7am pick-up and didn’t end until after 8:30pm—a very, very long day. I must admit the day is a blur. What I do remember is a beautiful drive through the Peloponesse area 1) wishing we could stop along the way, 2) being thankful that I did not have to drive myself through all the switchbacks, 3) a very structured trip, and 4) no free time. With about 40 people on the tour, I was able to hook up with others and had company for seeing the sights and eating meals.

Organized Tour. The tour included dinner and breakfast and all entry fees. Lunch was on our own, with separate checks and all eating at the same restaurant.

There were about 40 people on the bus, most from Australia and Canada. The bus was very comfortable and I felt very safe in the hands of the driver. There were plenty of “pit” stops. The days were too long, too structured and there was too little “free” time. The tour guide had a bite to him and wasn’t very tolerant of not having everyone’s full attention. There was a couple who brought their 2 young children along (under 5 years of age). Although they were well-behaved kids, their crying/whining on the bus or during the tour itself was very distracting. If anyone reading this were considering bringing your children on such a tour, I’d strongly advise against it.

Hotels. Olympia: Prior to booking the tour, I contacted the company to find out what hotels they used and was told the Amalia chain--didn’t happen. When we got to Olympia, I, having booked in tourist class, was brought to the Hotel Icis. At the restaurant on-site, dinner was served with no indication information about what we were eating, but it was good. While the room was very depressing, I could have been satisfied with it, except that there was a large group of students staying there. They started their partying about midnight and went till after 2. Their knocking on all the doors, door slamming, yelling, and cigarette smell added up to one miserable night. It was time to bite the bullet and move up to first-class.

The big positive about the hotel is that it is in town; the Amalia was located too far from town to walk-in. Several people I spoke with who stayed there were jealous of the in-town location.

Delphi: The second night, both groups stayed at the Amalia in Delphi. The hotel itself had no character, but it is in a drop dead gorgeous setting; felt like what I imagine heaven to be. I could have stayed there a week sitting at the pool just soaking in the air. Dinner was a buffet with all Greek food and was very good. There is a cute town a stone’s throw from the hotel. Life was good.

Kalambaka: There were two hotels here for the tour group, but this time I upgraded and stayed at Amalia. It was quiet and well worth the upgrade to get good nights sleep. From what I saw, neither the hotel nor the city was very special.

Sites: I don’t have the words to give justice to the sites and will post pictures over the weekend. First day we did a quick stop at Corinth Canal and then visited the theatre at Epidarus, a site known for its perfect acoustics. The guide told us that Maria Callas was the last singer to perform there—she had required all birds (at least, I think it was birds) be removed so that she would have no competing sounds. Today it is still used today for classical dramas. From there we went to Mycenae, once a fortified palace, and then a couple hour drive to Olympia.

Second day we were off to Olympia. It was really neat to walk through the entrance of the stadium and imagine the athletes coming through the very same spot way back in the BC era. I even set my feet in the starting running blocks and ran a few feet across the arena. Even now, I ask myself “how cool was that”? The guide’s talk on the early Olympians was, for me, his most interesting. After lunch we headed off to Delphi.

Delphi sits in an astonishingly beautiful area—one of the most spectacular settings I’ve ever seen in my travels. After spending the morning at the site and the museum, we were off to Meteora and an overnight at Kalambaka. The monasteries sitting atop the mountains are another astonishing sight. Some monks who live there want no contact with the outside world and have a bucket strung between the monastery and the adjacent mountaintop to transport their groceries from the other side. Glad I got to see it, but the inside of the monasteries was my least favorite part of tour. From here, I think it was a long 5-6 hour drive back to Athens.

Once in Athens, I went back to the Plaka to do a little early Christmas shopping. I was uncomfortable with the bargaining aspect of shopping, but had read it was expected. Found some interesting jewelry pieces. I didn’t find people very willing to bargain and when they did, it was probably in the 10% range. A word of warning—I got some earrings from one of the table stalls that looked pretty good in the dark, with little light; but in the light of day, I was disappointed at the quality, so be sure to get a good look at what you are buying.

By now, I am ready for the next leg of my journey and moving onto Crete…..