Trip Report - Athens, Crete, Santorini
Oct 4th, 2005 | 04:15 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 125
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Trip Report - Athens, Crete, Santorini
My wife and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Athens, Crete and Santorini.
Overall impressions: (personal ratings, on a scale of 1 to 10):
Sights – man-made and natural: 9 out of 10
Warmth/friendliness/helpfulness of the Greek people that we met: 10 out of 10
Food: 6 out of 10 (with the exception of one outstanding restaurant, I must have chosen poorer choices in restaurants)
Travel agent (see below): 10 out of 10
Hotel Philoppos, Athens: 6 out of 10
Ammos Guest Hotel, Crete: 9 out of 10
Loucas Hotel, Santorini: 9 out of 10
Acropolis Select Hotel, Athens, 7 out of 10
We travel independently, usually making all of the reservations on our own. This time, however, we used the services of Uli, at Dolphin Hellas Agency. She handled three of our hotels, our plane from Athens-Crete, ferry from Crete to Santorini, and air from Santorini to Athens. Everything that she set up for us was done perfectly. There were no hiccups in any of the plans.
Itinerary:
2 evenings Athens
5 evenings Crete
4 evenings Santorini
2 evenings Athens
Athens:
We flew into Athens on Swiss Air, from JFK, via Zurich. The plane, flight crew, food were all outstanding. Everything was very comfortable, clean, convenient.
Arriving in Athens, we took the Metro from the airport to our hotel near the Acropolis. The Metro was clean, appeared safe, and was a bargain, at 10 Euro for the two of us. We transferred at Syntagma to the red line, and took it to the Acropolis stop. Total time on the Metro – 45 minutes.
We spent the first night getting accustomed to Athens – we went to Plaka for dinner (not bad, not good), and browsing. After bringing my wife back to the hotel, I walked up to the top of Philopopou Hill, to take some evening shots of the Acropolis. If anyone is interested in a high-res nighttime picture of the Acropolis, please email me at [email protected] – I’ll email you a shot. I have to admit, I was a little nervous walking the paths up to the top of the hill. I asked a cop, at the bottom of the hill if he thought is was safe – he assured me that it was.
The next day we visited the Acropolis. I would have liked to have hired one of the private tour guides at the sight, but I was turned off at the 65 euros/45 minutes that were offered. The Acropolis was I had imagined all of my life – wonderful, immense, powerful, beautiful. We spent ½ of the day up on the Acropolis, including time spent in the small museum there. We spent the rest of the day at the National Museum. We’re not ‘museum people’, but I’d recommend that everyone spend some time there. Great stuff in the museum.
We did, as tourists, walk Plaka both nights. It was fun, seemed safe. Not once did we ever feel threatened.
Crete:
We flew to Hania (Chania, Xania, however you’d like to spell it) Crete, on Agean Airlines. The flight was clean, on-time, and comfortable. We picked up a car that we had pre-ordered from Zakros tours (145 Euro, 5 days, with full collision damage waiver). Immediately headed to the Ammos Guest Hotel (85 Euro/evening). Wonderful hotel. Nikos (the owner) and Nectaria were sooo helpful. I would talk to one of them during the evening, discussing my ideas for the next day’s adventures – they would fine-tune the day, or offer alternative suggestions. They were great. The hotel itself was wonderful – clean, wonderful balconies overlooking the Agean, nice breakfast (7 Euros).
Highlights of Crete –
Knossos – be sure to join a guided tour, 8 Euro, 1 ½ hours
Mountain drives – especially to Vamos and Agriopolis. In Agriopolis, go to the soap shop and get a map of the Roman ruins around the town, from the wonderful proprietor of the shop. Be sure to ask for directions to the natural springs. (don’t drink the water – I think I got a stomach bug from that water).
Dinner at Anopolis, in Hania. One of the most romantic, delicious dinners that we’ve ever had. The dining area is in an open courtyard – it may have been bombed out in WWII. I had a fantastic pork tenderloin dinner with a yogurt/tomato based sauce. Incredible. With a drink a piece, dinner was 21 Euro. I’d skip on the Raki that they give you with the bill – I just couldn’t get the stuff down.
Shopping in Hania for leather
Walking around the harbor, especially at night, with all of the lights on the bay
Samarai Gorge – my wife didn’t want to commit to the entire walk, so we just walked down the ‘wooden stairways’ (I think it was over a ¾ of a mile down), and walked to the first rest area. That took us about an hour. We then rested and walked back from the way we came. We were very disappointed that we hadn’t made arrangements to do the entire walk. Even the small amount that we saw was beautiful. If we ever make it back to Crete, we plan on walking the entire gorge.
Lowlights of Crete –
Dinner at one of the restaurants overlooking the water in Hania. Expensive and very poor quality.
Driving on the ‘New National Road’. Other than in one of the three major cities, the New National Road is only one lane in each direction, and is very windy. I found out by following other cars, is the way that you drive this road is to hug the right-hand line in the road, actually driving part-way in the shoulder. When a car wants to pass you, they’ll signal a left hand turn – you pull further into the shoulder and let them pass. The road was extremely difficult to drive in the early morning, going from Hania to Irkalion. The 120 km took over 2 hours to travel.
Santorini:
We took the Flying Dolphin ferry to Santorini. Comfortable, fast. Arrived in less than 2 hours. Our hotel, The Loucas, picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel. Wonderful hotel. Beautiful view over the caldera, nice swimming pool, clean, comfortable rooms.
Please don’t get me wrong. We liked Santorini – it was absolutely beautiful, and a photographer’s (amateur) dream. It just didn’t seem ‘real’. Coming from Crete, with it’s wonderful, lived-in villages, Santorini seemed more like a swim-up-bar. We liked it, we didn’t love it.
Highlights:
Wine tours especially at the ‘wine museum’, with their underground animated displays. (I have to admit, however, that I liked the Cretan wine, and even the Retsina better than the Santorini whites).
Island tour, visiting the ghost village, deserted after the 1956 earthquake, the oldest church on the island, Oia, etc.
Sunsets, from our hotel balcony, over the Caldera.
Lowlights:
Steps – It took us 50 steps to go from our hotel room to the main road. 30 steps just to get to the reception desk.
Akortiri – the unfortunate accident that killed an English tourist (may his family find peace) happened on the day that we got to Santorini. We had planned on visiting Akortiri the next day. It will be closed, I believe, for quite a while
Cruise Ships – when the ships are in, the streets are absolutely packed and noisy.
Athens:
We flew back to Athens for two more evenings. We spent the first day back at Plaka, with the rest of the tourists. The 2nd day, we took a 45 minute ferry to Aegina Island, rented a scooter, and cruised the island. We went up to the temple (Aphea). It was wonderful, and in great shape. Had a so-so dinner near the fish market and took the ferry back to Athens at 7:00. (but not before my wife purchased bags and bags of pistachios. They are supposed to be the best in Greece).
Leaving Athens, and not wanting to lug our luggage thru the Metro again, we splurged for a taxi. We had read horror stories about cabbies ripping off tourists. Our trip from the hotel near the Acropolis to the airport was only 23 Euro. The cabbie was pleasant and charming. So much for rip-offs.
If anyone has any specific questions regarding our trip, please drop me an email at [email protected]
Overall impressions: (personal ratings, on a scale of 1 to 10):
Sights – man-made and natural: 9 out of 10
Warmth/friendliness/helpfulness of the Greek people that we met: 10 out of 10
Food: 6 out of 10 (with the exception of one outstanding restaurant, I must have chosen poorer choices in restaurants)
Travel agent (see below): 10 out of 10
Hotel Philoppos, Athens: 6 out of 10
Ammos Guest Hotel, Crete: 9 out of 10
Loucas Hotel, Santorini: 9 out of 10
Acropolis Select Hotel, Athens, 7 out of 10
We travel independently, usually making all of the reservations on our own. This time, however, we used the services of Uli, at Dolphin Hellas Agency. She handled three of our hotels, our plane from Athens-Crete, ferry from Crete to Santorini, and air from Santorini to Athens. Everything that she set up for us was done perfectly. There were no hiccups in any of the plans.
Itinerary:
2 evenings Athens
5 evenings Crete
4 evenings Santorini
2 evenings Athens
Athens:
We flew into Athens on Swiss Air, from JFK, via Zurich. The plane, flight crew, food were all outstanding. Everything was very comfortable, clean, convenient.
Arriving in Athens, we took the Metro from the airport to our hotel near the Acropolis. The Metro was clean, appeared safe, and was a bargain, at 10 Euro for the two of us. We transferred at Syntagma to the red line, and took it to the Acropolis stop. Total time on the Metro – 45 minutes.
We spent the first night getting accustomed to Athens – we went to Plaka for dinner (not bad, not good), and browsing. After bringing my wife back to the hotel, I walked up to the top of Philopopou Hill, to take some evening shots of the Acropolis. If anyone is interested in a high-res nighttime picture of the Acropolis, please email me at [email protected] – I’ll email you a shot. I have to admit, I was a little nervous walking the paths up to the top of the hill. I asked a cop, at the bottom of the hill if he thought is was safe – he assured me that it was.
The next day we visited the Acropolis. I would have liked to have hired one of the private tour guides at the sight, but I was turned off at the 65 euros/45 minutes that were offered. The Acropolis was I had imagined all of my life – wonderful, immense, powerful, beautiful. We spent ½ of the day up on the Acropolis, including time spent in the small museum there. We spent the rest of the day at the National Museum. We’re not ‘museum people’, but I’d recommend that everyone spend some time there. Great stuff in the museum.
We did, as tourists, walk Plaka both nights. It was fun, seemed safe. Not once did we ever feel threatened.
Crete:
We flew to Hania (Chania, Xania, however you’d like to spell it) Crete, on Agean Airlines. The flight was clean, on-time, and comfortable. We picked up a car that we had pre-ordered from Zakros tours (145 Euro, 5 days, with full collision damage waiver). Immediately headed to the Ammos Guest Hotel (85 Euro/evening). Wonderful hotel. Nikos (the owner) and Nectaria were sooo helpful. I would talk to one of them during the evening, discussing my ideas for the next day’s adventures – they would fine-tune the day, or offer alternative suggestions. They were great. The hotel itself was wonderful – clean, wonderful balconies overlooking the Agean, nice breakfast (7 Euros).
Highlights of Crete –
Knossos – be sure to join a guided tour, 8 Euro, 1 ½ hours
Mountain drives – especially to Vamos and Agriopolis. In Agriopolis, go to the soap shop and get a map of the Roman ruins around the town, from the wonderful proprietor of the shop. Be sure to ask for directions to the natural springs. (don’t drink the water – I think I got a stomach bug from that water).
Dinner at Anopolis, in Hania. One of the most romantic, delicious dinners that we’ve ever had. The dining area is in an open courtyard – it may have been bombed out in WWII. I had a fantastic pork tenderloin dinner with a yogurt/tomato based sauce. Incredible. With a drink a piece, dinner was 21 Euro. I’d skip on the Raki that they give you with the bill – I just couldn’t get the stuff down.
Shopping in Hania for leather
Walking around the harbor, especially at night, with all of the lights on the bay
Samarai Gorge – my wife didn’t want to commit to the entire walk, so we just walked down the ‘wooden stairways’ (I think it was over a ¾ of a mile down), and walked to the first rest area. That took us about an hour. We then rested and walked back from the way we came. We were very disappointed that we hadn’t made arrangements to do the entire walk. Even the small amount that we saw was beautiful. If we ever make it back to Crete, we plan on walking the entire gorge.
Lowlights of Crete –
Dinner at one of the restaurants overlooking the water in Hania. Expensive and very poor quality.
Driving on the ‘New National Road’. Other than in one of the three major cities, the New National Road is only one lane in each direction, and is very windy. I found out by following other cars, is the way that you drive this road is to hug the right-hand line in the road, actually driving part-way in the shoulder. When a car wants to pass you, they’ll signal a left hand turn – you pull further into the shoulder and let them pass. The road was extremely difficult to drive in the early morning, going from Hania to Irkalion. The 120 km took over 2 hours to travel.
Santorini:
We took the Flying Dolphin ferry to Santorini. Comfortable, fast. Arrived in less than 2 hours. Our hotel, The Loucas, picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel. Wonderful hotel. Beautiful view over the caldera, nice swimming pool, clean, comfortable rooms.
Please don’t get me wrong. We liked Santorini – it was absolutely beautiful, and a photographer’s (amateur) dream. It just didn’t seem ‘real’. Coming from Crete, with it’s wonderful, lived-in villages, Santorini seemed more like a swim-up-bar. We liked it, we didn’t love it.
Highlights:
Wine tours especially at the ‘wine museum’, with their underground animated displays. (I have to admit, however, that I liked the Cretan wine, and even the Retsina better than the Santorini whites).
Island tour, visiting the ghost village, deserted after the 1956 earthquake, the oldest church on the island, Oia, etc.
Sunsets, from our hotel balcony, over the Caldera.
Lowlights:
Steps – It took us 50 steps to go from our hotel room to the main road. 30 steps just to get to the reception desk.
Akortiri – the unfortunate accident that killed an English tourist (may his family find peace) happened on the day that we got to Santorini. We had planned on visiting Akortiri the next day. It will be closed, I believe, for quite a while
Cruise Ships – when the ships are in, the streets are absolutely packed and noisy.
Athens:
We flew back to Athens for two more evenings. We spent the first day back at Plaka, with the rest of the tourists. The 2nd day, we took a 45 minute ferry to Aegina Island, rented a scooter, and cruised the island. We went up to the temple (Aphea). It was wonderful, and in great shape. Had a so-so dinner near the fish market and took the ferry back to Athens at 7:00. (but not before my wife purchased bags and bags of pistachios. They are supposed to be the best in Greece).
Leaving Athens, and not wanting to lug our luggage thru the Metro again, we splurged for a taxi. We had read horror stories about cabbies ripping off tourists. Our trip from the hotel near the Acropolis to the airport was only 23 Euro. The cabbie was pleasant and charming. So much for rip-offs.
If anyone has any specific questions regarding our trip, please drop me an email at [email protected]
Oct 5th, 2005 | 10:47 AM
#4
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
Hi joearena99,
We are going to Greece in early Nov. Plan to fly from Amsterdam into Athens stay a few days and overnight ferry to Crete for a few days and back to AMS.
Would like to line up guides for Athens and Crete, perhaps driver in Crete,your road experience doesn't sound like too much fun to me.
Can your agent do that?
Thanks for the helpful and interesting post.
CCF
We are going to Greece in early Nov. Plan to fly from Amsterdam into Athens stay a few days and overnight ferry to Crete for a few days and back to AMS.
Would like to line up guides for Athens and Crete, perhaps driver in Crete,your road experience doesn't sound like too much fun to me.
Can your agent do that?
Thanks for the helpful and interesting post.
CCF
Oct 5th, 2005 | 05:19 PM
#5
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 125
Likes: 0
Island Girl:
You can contact Uli Perschau at the Dolphin Hellas Agency. Website: www.dolphin-hellas.gr, email: [email protected] . Uli will take care of as much of your plans as you would like her to, and allow you to do some on your own (if you'd like to).
CCF: I wouldn't decide not to rent a car, based on my dislike for the New National Road. Having a car was a wonderful thing on Crete. The smaller roads were wonderful to travel on - no stress at all. It was great having the freedom to visit town after town, driving thru some of the most amazing scenery. I'd highly suggest renting a car for Crete.
You can contact Uli Perschau at the Dolphin Hellas Agency. Website: www.dolphin-hellas.gr, email: [email protected] . Uli will take care of as much of your plans as you would like her to, and allow you to do some on your own (if you'd like to).
CCF: I wouldn't decide not to rent a car, based on my dislike for the New National Road. Having a car was a wonderful thing on Crete. The smaller roads were wonderful to travel on - no stress at all. It was great having the freedom to visit town after town, driving thru some of the most amazing scenery. I'd highly suggest renting a car for Crete.
