Please, Please someone help me. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to the states 5 years ago. So every vacation I have taken has been to go back home. But my Husband and I are finally going somewhere else and we are planning to go to Greece. So I have bought like 10 books, including the 800 page book by Fodor's and now I am more confused than ever. Where do we go, what do we see. You guys all seem so well traveled that I thought maybe you could help me. We are going for 15 days. We are both very interested in the historical sites, you know the once in a lifetime things. I do not want to spend all my time staring at pictures in museums but I want to go to places and see buildings and experience the history of the Gods. We are also avid divers so we are interested in diving but there are so many islands that we don't know which one to go diving at or which one to go see. We are not interested in going out clubing and dancing but mostly experiencing Greece. Also I would love to go to a "pub" and drink with the people of greece and get to ask them about the history and the Turks and find out how they really feel about Americans and such. I know I am asking a lot, but I would appreciate if some of you could please direct me as it is my first vacation. Thank you.

Bringing your post back up "to the top" since you are brand new here (click on your own name to see how I know that - - this is a valuable tip that Fodors fails to give you when they send that initial e-mail confirming your registration).

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi

I know, you can get really overloaded with info. You and your husband have to sit down and really narrow down what you want to see/experience. The following are the more obvious choices to give you a really good taste of Greek life/history:

Athens, Nafplio, Epidaurus, Mycenae, Mystras, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora.

For diving (I assume scuba) try Paros in the Cyclades. Paros gets good reviews in this forum as a laid back island. Easy to get to by ferry. And I'm sure there are plenty of tavernas where you can meet the locals. Try this site to give you an idea of the diving opportunities available - http://www.eurodivers.gr/scubadiving.htm

Cheers

Better for all to have replies to the question by kitka... put here (IMO)...

re-posting, Thank you, Rex.

Kitkatuga,

Please don't give up! You are about to have a fabulous experience, if you just do some planning and research, and with a tiny bit of luck . I have not been to Greece, but from my other travel experiences, I would recommend that you take a few guided walking tours, in English or Spanish, of course, when you arrive at various points in Greece or the islands. You can find references in your Fodor's guide or your concierge at the hotel would be happy to help you book them.

I hope you include Santorini, my personal dream..... There are many older threads on this forum that make recommendations on Greece. Do a search on "Greek Isles" or "Greece itinerary", etc

Most of all enjoy the planning. Anticipation is everything, and of course, enjoy the trip!

You might find it helpful to read Indytravel's Greece trip report from last fall.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

Note to Suze (and bringing this thread "above" the other one)... your posting is just as appropriate here, even if the message header does not have the same sound of "desperation" as the other one.

Hey Kit - you're on the right track. If you have soooo many places to see, then you can be assured that where ever you end up you will probably love it.

At least that's what I'm telling myself as I plan our trip to France (and I've been there twice - you'd think I'd be better at this!)

Keep asking questions and reading and it will all come together.

mom

When we "did" Greece... we started in Athens. Then we took a cruise on a small boat (19 passengers!) thru the Cyclades. On our return to Athens we rented a car and toured the Peloppenese sp?) peninsula. Total time was about 21 days. Cruise was one week. We stopped at Paros which was a lovely island... (ended up the afternoon chatting with tavern owners.) Santorini is not to be missed. On the mainland Delphi was a highpoint...as was Olympia, Mystras, Mycenae... and Monemvasia (which is at the end of the peninsula.) You should state how much time you have. Perhaps then people could be more specific. And you might get good advice from people re cruises that include diving.

Well... jeez, yourself, suze... two identical (text of) postings - - this one with the better message header, posted by kitka... in response to sound advice on good etiquette on this forum.

It would make sense to &quot;push forward&quot; <i>this</i> one.

ttt...

Hi, kikatuga!

Offering some perspective from my single trip to Greece--

First, I emphatically second kybourbon's suggestion that you read indytravel's trip report. It is excellent!

After that report, I don't have much to add, other than to emphasize some things.

In Athens, a visit to the Parthenon should take at least a couple of hours. Had I known beforehand how long I'd stand in the pitiless sun, I'd have brought better headgear. For that matter, had I realized how glass-smooth the rocks in the Acropolis were, I'd have been a great deal more careful and spared myself a very nasty fall.

Plaka lies just below the Acropolis. Many of the tavernas are touristy, yes, but on a Sunday afternoon, the area is riotous with locals having fun.

Even if you're not &quot;museum people,&quot; a visit to the Nat'l Archaeological Museum is extremely worthwhile. This is a world-class museum of antiquities and sculptures that gives an invaluable look at Greece's classical (and preclassical) history.

In the same general area is the Byzantine Museum, if you're so inclined. I loved it, but you said you don't want to focus on museums. So if you prefer, you could go to a cafe at Syntagma Square not far away.

Less than a 2-hr. drive from Athens is Delphi, where the oracle prophesied. It's a fascinating site with a dramatic mountainous backdrop. Perhaps 20 mi. from Delphi is a Byzantine monastery, called Osios Loukas, the main sanctuary of which is chockablock with delightful mosaics.

Between those two sites is a mountain town called Arachova. It looked charming, but we didn't stop there. I know for a fact that Delphi/Osios Loukas can be taken in as a day trip from Athens, but I think it would make a much nicer overnight trip.

Have a wonderful vacation! I hope you get to see what you like!

I agree that planning a trip to Greece can be overwhelming. I think our final itinerary was version 5 or 6. A few tips:

- plan an initial itinerary based on what you think you might want to see. Our trip was 3 1/2 weeks and my first itinerary had us visiting 13 islands (because the all sounded sooo great in the guidebooks)many for less than 24 hours. My husband just rolled his eyes when I pitched my idea and recommended that I go back to the drawing board.
- I found using the ferry schedules website to be helpful (www.gtp.gr) as, as a relatively clueless Canadian, all of the islands of course looked sooo close together on the map but in reality there is often no way to get to one from the other unless you backtrack (flying is also an option between some areas)
- then I just kept refining my itinerary based on ferry &amp; plane routes and schedules (with a bit of common sense provided by my husband) and (if I do say so myself) planned an almost perfect trip.

For reference sake, here is what we did:

Athens 4 nights (3 full days of being in the city)

Ferry to Mykonos (about 5 hours): 2 nights (should have spent 3 nights here-for brevity's sake I'll leave it at that, but if you want more info on why I feel that way, let me know)

Fast ferry to Paros (about 45 minutes?): 2 nights

Ferry to Naxos (1/2 hour? 1 hour?): 2 nights

Ferry to Santorini (about 3-4 hours): 3 nights

Ferry to Crete (about 4 hours): 4 nights (2 nights in Iraklion and 2 nights in Chania)

Flight to Rhodes (1/2 hour-1 hour): 3 nights

Flight to Athens (about an hour): 1 night

This pace was perfect for us. We dually love relaxing and touring--so our routine became: arrive on island, get to hotel, laze in sun at beach or hotel, make rental car arrangements and then get up early the next day to get in a full day of driving around to see things, after 2nd nighr, wake up, get to ferry and repeat at next destination!

Deifnitely don't give up. I was really stressed about transportation--it didn't seem clear to me exactly how to get from one place to another.

Just keep persevering. Go through your books and write down all of the places that immediately appeal to you (&quot;oooh, I'd like to go there!&quot and then try to figure out a logical order of how you would get to all of those places. If it seems impossible, rearrange things, take a few destinations out and try again!

It's worth it. Greece was a wonderful, magical place to visit!

Have to wonder if kitkatuga has ever seen any of the replies... another casualty of Fodors not caring enough to inform new registrants how to find their own posts... ?

ttt