How to do it all??????
Jan 16th, 2010, 03:13 PM
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How to do it all??????
I am beginning to plan a trip to Greece for this summer, for my husband and I. We are both in our mid 50's and love culture, people, food, and the water. We will be in Greece from June 13-26. My question is this-If we don't want to be running from one island or town to the next, what cities would offer the most culture and flavor of this county? We obviously will see Athens for maybe 2 days, and thought about going to Crete, and Santorini, but my husband thinks that maybe we should try to take one of the island cruises. Any ideas, suggestions, experiences, etc, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!!!
Jan 16th, 2010, 06:57 PM
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It depends on your travel style. I've done it both ways; a 7 day cruise that went to quite a few islands, which was fun, and also traveling on my own, via air or ferry to various islands. If you go the independent route, with 12 nights, you could spend 2-3 nights in Athens to start, go to 2-3 islands, head back to Athens for the last 1-2 nights, then fly home. Maybe choose a couple islands that are close to each other, for example, fly to Santorini (2-3 nights), ferry to Crete (4-7 nights), then ferry (overnight) or fly back to Athens. Or you could fly to Samos - Kokkari for 2-3 nights, then Pythagoria for 2 nights, from which you can do a nice day trip to Kusadasi in Turkey (the ruins at Ephesis are great), then ferry to Patmos for a couple nights and ferry (overnight) back to Athens. If you did that you might squeak in a day trip or overnight to Delphi.
The Cyclades islands are the quintessential Greek islands with the whitewashed villages so familiar in the photos.
Wherever you go, you'll enjoy it!
The Cyclades islands are the quintessential Greek islands with the whitewashed villages so familiar in the photos.
Wherever you go, you'll enjoy it!
Jan 17th, 2010, 05:09 AM
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If 13th is day you will leave home (USA? you don't say) and 26th the day you fly back, you can't count either one. so 11 or 12 full days is what you have. If you want to experience islands, rather than mainly be on a sea voyage with a few hours in 4 or 5 port cities, you must go independent. Cindy's given you several good itineraries ... I like the Crete/santorini idea -- the sequence will depend entirely on the TIME of DAY your flight arrives... and whether you can get a good domestic-flight connection (at a decent price) to your first island. If so, then do that, and save Athens for the last stop, so you don't go into Athens 2x. I suggest doing Santorini for 2 nights not 3, it's a tiny island & Crete is huge. If u go from Santo to Heraklion Crete, then hire car ... See Knossos? drive south to beach destination, drive N W to Chania area, o'nite ferry from there back to Athens.
Jan 17th, 2010, 10:55 AM
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In August 2008, we took our oldest daughter (as a graduation gift) to Athens followed by a cruise out of Italy (this next June '10, we will take our second daughter to Greece to celebrate her graduation - it's becoming a family tradition!). We too wanted to 'do it all' and were enticed by the chance to see Italy, Croatia, Olympia (Greece), a couple of Greek Islands (Santorini, Mykonos) and Istanbul all in one 10-day cruise. I can't say that the cruise was unpleasant but in retrospect I don't think it was the best way to experience the Greek islands or most of the historically/culturally rich Eastern Med ports.
We had never taken a cruise before so, prior to booking the cruise, I did a lot of research on Eastern Med cruiselines and itineraries. If you decide to go this route, a good place to start is cruisecritic.com - has a wealth of information and reviews on cruiselines, ports, etc. You quickly learn that many people on these forums become hooked on cruising (self-described 'cruise addicts') and love the cruise lifestyle. The cruise itself is the destination.
At the time, there were a few moderately-priced Greek lines (e.g., Louis Cruises) with 3, 4 or 7 day itineraries; the ships tended to be smaller (a good thing in my opinion) but older, and many of the reviews were fairly negative (things may have improved since then). There were also some very expensive speciality lines or yachts departing from Piraeus and visiting a few Greek island ports. Most of the best price deals, however, were mega cruiselines departing from Italy. We ended up with a 10-day HAL cruise departing from Venice.
The good thing about cruising is the convenience (you don't have to worry about hotels, luggage, transfers, ferries, etc.) and everything is arranged for you. The bad thing about cruising is that everything is ARRANGED. If you are lucky, you will have 6-7 hours at a port (usually less) allowing sufficent time to disembark (or tender which takes even longer) and embark again before the ship leaves. You are on a very tight time schedule lest the ship leave without you! There is no time to explore, get lost (the really fun part of travel!), or get off the beaten path because of a last-minute tip. Breakfast and dinner will likely be on the ship, and you'll miss the chance to discover some great, out of the way taverna. Most of the passengers are non-Greeks (even on the Greek lines) and thus you'll have less chance to learn about the culture and the Greek perspective. One of our fondest memories was in Athens (before leaving for the cruise) where by chance we ended up talking with a Greek shop owner for over an hour - learning about his family, interests, lifestyle and in turn sharing our experiences with him. On the cruise, when stopping in a fabulous place like Santorini, the best we could do was decide that we wanted to come back again in the near future. To me, experiencing the Greek Islands by cruise is like experiencing a great restaurant by ordering carryout. You get the food, but miss hearing about the specials, or experiencing the ambience, the wine and end up eating a great meal quickly in front of your TV set.
We had never taken a cruise before so, prior to booking the cruise, I did a lot of research on Eastern Med cruiselines and itineraries. If you decide to go this route, a good place to start is cruisecritic.com - has a wealth of information and reviews on cruiselines, ports, etc. You quickly learn that many people on these forums become hooked on cruising (self-described 'cruise addicts') and love the cruise lifestyle. The cruise itself is the destination.
At the time, there were a few moderately-priced Greek lines (e.g., Louis Cruises) with 3, 4 or 7 day itineraries; the ships tended to be smaller (a good thing in my opinion) but older, and many of the reviews were fairly negative (things may have improved since then). There were also some very expensive speciality lines or yachts departing from Piraeus and visiting a few Greek island ports. Most of the best price deals, however, were mega cruiselines departing from Italy. We ended up with a 10-day HAL cruise departing from Venice.
The good thing about cruising is the convenience (you don't have to worry about hotels, luggage, transfers, ferries, etc.) and everything is arranged for you. The bad thing about cruising is that everything is ARRANGED. If you are lucky, you will have 6-7 hours at a port (usually less) allowing sufficent time to disembark (or tender which takes even longer) and embark again before the ship leaves. You are on a very tight time schedule lest the ship leave without you! There is no time to explore, get lost (the really fun part of travel!), or get off the beaten path because of a last-minute tip. Breakfast and dinner will likely be on the ship, and you'll miss the chance to discover some great, out of the way taverna. Most of the passengers are non-Greeks (even on the Greek lines) and thus you'll have less chance to learn about the culture and the Greek perspective. One of our fondest memories was in Athens (before leaving for the cruise) where by chance we ended up talking with a Greek shop owner for over an hour - learning about his family, interests, lifestyle and in turn sharing our experiences with him. On the cruise, when stopping in a fabulous place like Santorini, the best we could do was decide that we wanted to come back again in the near future. To me, experiencing the Greek Islands by cruise is like experiencing a great restaurant by ordering carryout. You get the food, but miss hearing about the specials, or experiencing the ambience, the wine and end up eating a great meal quickly in front of your TV set.
Jan 17th, 2010, 11:02 PM
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Well, I think that Athens worth a longer visit, 3-4 days including a tour to Delphi maybe or Peloponnese. As you have already mentioned, you love culture, food etc. So, in my opinion they are great places for exploring, meeting people and testing traditional food. You can join a guided tour i.e. http://www.athens-greece.us/travel-t...eece-tours.asp in order to visit the top sights of the mainland. You can afterwards either go to Santorini, Mykonos, Paros for 2 days each as they are close, or go to Santorini for 2 days and spend the rest of your trip in Crete from where you can fly back to Athens airport and then home.
