tableronde, it's good to know that joining a cruise not the only way to do the greek isles. i've looked at athens and the greek isles in the past and did a little bit of guidebook research and somehow, got the impression that doing it ourselves i.e. taking ferries and coordinating the ferry schedules, can result in a lot of wasted, precious time. we are very independent travelers like most people in this forum, but i would say this was one time when i gave the more structured, cruise type vacation a quick look. in the end, independent travel still wins out for us except i just haven't really taken enough time to learn how to do it in a way that makes sense and does not waste a lot of our vacation time.

looking forward to the rest of your report. it is certainly encouraging that greek isles plus athens ( maybe turkey too, but that might be stretching it) are very doable.

Worldclass,
While Greece is notorious for its travel hassles, why look upon travel time as wasted? Some older folks or richer folks on short schedule may consider it a drag; some value the customer-oriented service on a cruise. But take public transportation, turn to your right and left and start talking to other travelers; one can make some interesting discoveries:

- crusty old retired Greek sailor on the ferry, inviting me for a drink just to hear his life story; for some reason has a free ferry pass, so he lives on the boats, has no house on land

- young Canadian computer scientist on post-graduation R&R to Crete with min luggage and guitar; late evening arrival, no hotel reservations, just a hotel address in Rethymno; did he maybe end up sleeping along a road?

- British professional nanny with Mary Poppins attitude, on the way to take a job with a young Greek family; kids speak no English

- young female in an International Studies program on the airplane; on her way to spend a year studying Greek at the Univ of Ioannina (NW Greece); thinking it is only a cat's jump to Athens and the islands

- I sat on the transatlantic flight next to a 20 year old refugee from the Kosovo conflict, returning 10 years later to visit family; with an American education, but hating the Serbs with passion; convinced that his newly independent country rightfully belongs to the Albanians

- Greek-American couple returning to the US from their island farm on a small Aegean island; only 300 people and 400 sheep; this after a Greek-Turkish war way back in 1824, when 15,000 of the island's residents were massacred

Folks, given the headaches I see with Fodor's forum searching and indexing software, I am continuing with my next installment on a new thread
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35167529
See you there.

Tableronde, once on the ferry from Paros to Piraeus I struck up a conversation with a middle-aged Greek-American lady. She was traveling with her elderly father, a Greek who fought with the resistance during WWII. He joined up with the OSS (predecessor to the CIA and US Army Special Forces). That man was a real hero, and had some wonderful stories. I will never forget that ferry trip.

Worldclass, if you like cruises, fine, but that's not the way to experience the Greek Islands. You spend most of your time at sea, stopping at each island for six hours or so, sometimes less. With ferries, you spend four or five hours at sea, then the rest of the time on an island.

The most efficient way to see the Greek Islands is to pick two or three on the same ferry route, then spend four or five days minimum on each. Some islands are best reached by air - no island is more than an hour's flying time from Athens.

heimdall, exactly my point. my husband and i are not much into cruises, we would prefer to spend more time on land instead of a cruise ship. i might have been intimidated by some articles i've read about ferry times not being well coordinated for schedule. it is worth re-visiting my plan to do greek isles plus turkey on our own.