Monica

Hello fellow fodorites,

I've been reading up on Greece and Turkey. Planning to go sometime next year (May, June, or October as they seem like the best months to go). I have 2 weeks vacation, and haven't come up with an itenerary yet. I normally travel to one country at a time, but my husband would like to see both countries. As there are so many places to visit, including so many islands, I would love to hear about your favorite places. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated, including hotels (2-star), restaurants, and special sights that may not be in my guidebooks. Thank you! Monica

Monica

PS: I understand that many places shut down because of Easter with the exception of Athens. True? Not true? When is the Greek Orthodox Easter next year?

Monica

Hello! I'm hoping to hear from some fellow fodorites. There are so many places to visit in both Greece and Turkey, but I have to narrow it down somehow. It's a little overwhelming and would appreciate your comments.

Paulo

We had 4 weeks to spare, Monica, and we didn't manage to go north of Delphi and to visit more than 2 islands in Greece, and also didn't manage to go south of Marmaris and into Capadocia in Turkey.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably spend 2 nights in Athens, 4 nights touring Delphi and some of the Peloponnese with a car, 4 nights in an Aegean cruise (with stops in Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos, Rhodes, Iraklion and Santorini), fly to Istanbul and wrap it up there.

Paulo

Monica

Thank you Paulo for your suggestions. This will give me a good start and I can continue with my research/reading/etc. and come up with my final plans!

Do you know about the Easter holiday and the festivals/events at that time? Is April a good month to visit Greece?

Dave

My wife and I usually do one country at a time also. First advice is just do one. The other will be there next year. There is too much to see in both for a two week trip. Also, you will be spending a lot of the time getting between places.

Enjoyed both, but first choice, if you do limit it to one, is Turkey, which I think has greater variety. Cappadocia is a must, even if its a little out of the way. People have been carving in the hills and landscapes for ever, with incredible results.

Monica

Hello Dave,

Yes, one country was my original plans, like all other trips. However, my husband is willing to do Greece for the whole trip, but not Turkey. He thinks there's not much to see. I keep telling him there are many places to visit. We actually might have 17 days for vacation, so that will help. Maybe if I can complete my readings of both countries, I could come up with an itenerary for each country and show him the plans. Thanks for your input!

Martha

Why not try the Northern Aegean Greek islands, along with Turkey. I was visited Mytilini (Lesvos) this past June, which is within sight of Turkey. It's not very touristy - lots of old men on donkeys herding goats. I also loved the Greek island of Santorini, which almost everyone raves about. If you go through Athens, 2 days is plenty to see the Acropolis and Plaka area.
Martha

Paulo

Orthodox and Roman Christian Easter should be celebrated in the same dates. Unless I was told wrong, Orthodox Easter is celebrated as heartily as western Christmas. It's their most important festival. I've also been told that Easter celebrations are very interesting for the visitor but in many towns rooms in hotels fill fast (mainly with Greeks, most of them fleeing Athens). Have no idea what the impact on sites/services is.

I must agree with Dave that, having a little over two weeks available, one should in principle limit it to a single country. I'm not particularly pro cruises if one's goal is to visit some of the Greek islands (cruises are expensive for my taste and they give you a relatively short time to sightsee and enjoy the islands). The problem is that with limited overall time available, transport logistics has a considerable bearing on the trip plan. A cruise would be a way to go around it.

In principle one could, say, fly to Santorini after a 2-night stay in Athens and fly on to Rhodes (spending maybe 3 nights in each island). Then one could cross to Marmaris (nothing special in itself) but it would be a long way to Istanbul. With a car, one could maybe plan to spend 3 nights enroute to Istanbul and wrap it up there. An alternative by using public transportation would be to spend a night in Bodrum, one or two in Kusadasi/Selçuk and get a flight from Izmir to Istanbul.

The Samos-Kusadasi crossing would cut some road distance to Istanbul, but there are no convenient ways to get there, say, from Santorini. Most probably one would have to go back to Athens to get a flight.

Paulo

Monica

Hi Paulo, I do agree that 2 weeks is too short to visit ANY country! I think after my reading and research I'll see if I can just choose one country and keep the other one for next year. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

Paulo

Once you ask about favorite places, let me fill you in a bit in this direction.

In the initial stages of our planning, we had singled out the folllowing sites:

GREECE:
-Athens (particularly the Parthenon, Archaeological Museum, Ancient Agora and Plaka)
-Athens neighbordhoods: Daphni Monastery and Cape Sounion
-Delphi/Osios Loukas Monastery
-Peloponnese: Olympia, Bassae, Nafplio, Tyrins, Epidaurus, Mistra and Monemvasia
-Meteora, Perama Cave, Vikos Gorge and Thessaloniki
-Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Patmos and Rhodes

TURKEY:
-Istambul (too long to list ... good for a 5 night stay)
-Bursa
-Canakkale
-Troy, Assos and Pergamum
-Kusadasi/Ephesus/Priene, Miletus/Didima
-Aphrodisias/Pamukkale/Hierapolis
-Bodrum/Datça/Dalyan
-Fethiye, Kas, Antalya
-Konya and Cappadocia

Having 4 weeks, it would be either one or a mix of both. We decided for the mix and had to cut both plans in half ... (chopped off Meteora/etc in the north, Monemvasia in the Peloponnese, Mykonos, Crete and Patmos in Greece and Datça etc. to Antalya and up to Konya/Cappadocia, as well as Troy and Assos in Turkey. Because of opening time mixup, we didn't make it to visit Daphne.

Based on our experience, my impressions are the following:

a) if you're visiting both Athens and Istambul, the latter deserves double the time planned for the former! If I had to single out THE highlight of the whole trip, this would have to be Istanbul ... amazing city

b) in Athens, the Acropolis, the museum and Plaka are a must ... the Ancient Agora less so, though the best conserved temple in Greece is in the premises

c) regarding ancient sites, Greece is dotted with impressive SANCTUARIES ... Turkey, on the other hand, displays the best conserved Greek ancient CITIES

d) Delphi, Micenae and Epidaurus are a must ... Olympia less so, followed by Bassae, Argos, Tyrins and Akrokorinth on a lower scale;

e) Visiting Delphi, one shouldn't miss the Osios Loukas monastery ... a jewell

f) Nafplio was our preferred city in Greece; we loved our daytrip to Mistra; Sparti is completely forgettable (except maybe for a lunch there); Patras should have been axed from the very beginning

g) Santorini came as a joy for our eyes and a nice place for a deserved relax after a week or so of touring archaeological sites; Akrotiri is very impressive; we found Oia nicer than Fira; Kamari beach is nice for strolling, people watching and having dinner; Ayios Ilias allows for a nice picture of the island; a tour up the crater in Nea Kaimeni is completely forgettable

h) we loved Rhodes old town; Lindos also, but less so

i) Marmaris should have been axed ... Bodrum is a jewell; we were glad to have visited Pamukkale/Hierapolis; we decided to axe Aphrodisias on the run (on the way to Pamukkale we decided to postpone our visit to give us more time at the travertines; on the way to Kusadasi we decided to axe it because the ladies wanted plenty of time to go Bazar shopping upon arrival

j) Ephesus and other sites in Selçuk's area are a must; Kusadasiu was a pretty good base to explore the area, including Didim (very impressive), Miletus (may be axed) and Priene

k) Pergamum is impressive (it's hard to understand why there are very few visitors; a bit out of the way? ... but Bergama (the town) is very dull ... spend the night elsewhere (Ayvalik?)

l) We loved Bursa; Canakkale was ok but nothing special

Paulo

Monica

Paulo, you are my lucky star! Thank you for your great list! I'll definitely print it out and do my research with it! It certainly give me an excellent start and hopefully I can narrow it down for my short vacation. Thanks!!!

bobbie

my daughter and i spent two weeks in turkey and greece, staying four night in istanbul, flying to athens for three nights (acropolis view hotel, very convenient and reasonable) and then flew to santorini for five nights, returning to athens for one night and it was fabulous, wouldn't change any of the details although i'm sure we missed alot but lot forward to next time!

Monica

We've decided to just hit Greece for our 2 weeks vacation. Too much to see and do with both countries in 14 days. I’m thinking about going to Corfu, but not sure if that’s wise. There are many islands to visit, including the most popular ones: Mykonos, Santorini, and Crete. I think 2 days in Athens will be sufficient since we were there in 1993, but I also want to go inland, maybe to Meteora. We did do a day trip to Delphi. I still have lots of reading to do and have started to collect information from here (hotel recommendations, island recommendations, etc).

We are going the first two weeks in May, so the weather should be nice! Any other recommendations are appreciated! Monica

Elizabeth White

Greek Orthodox Easter is usually about a week later than western Easter, but in 2001, both fall on the same date, with April 15th being Easter Sunday.

Easter is certainly a huge celebration in Greece, more so than Christmas. However, whereas Christmas in the UK is very commercialised, Greek Easter is very much a religious festival.

I was in Symi for Easter 1999, and it was spectacular! However, despite the fireworks, bonfires, etc., it was easy to remember that for most Greeks, this ceremony is very much about Jesus.

Monica

Thanks Elizabeth for the information. We are going to travel to Greece the first 2 weeks of May! I would love to be there during Easter week; maybe another time.

Kristi

Monica, it's a shame that you've decided to pass on Turkey, hopefully you will find another opportunity to go there. We went on a Greece/Turkey cruise a few years ago and although I was really looking forward to visiting Greece, I was a bit hesitant about Turkey. I ended up enjoying our visit to Istanbul and Ephesus immensely, while some of the Greek islands didn't do much for me, perhaps because it was late in the year, perhaps because we saw them on a cruise.

Before selecting which islands to go to, make sure that the time period you're going in is considered in season. We went at the end of October and everything on Mykonos was shut down so it was a rather dull visit.

We enjoyed Rhodes, the old town reminded me of a medieval village, complete with moat and castle. We also enjoyed the visit to Lindos, also on Rhodes.

Santorini was beautiful, I wasn't impressed by Akrotiri as Paulo was. Perhaps they've done further excavations?

The highlights of the trip though were the visit to the ruins at Ephesus, still the most impressive site I've been to, and the stay in Istanbul.