Greece trip report: Athens and the Peloponnese

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bonvoyage

Recycles dryer sheets
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Just got back from an absolutely wonderful ten day vacation in Greece. Our itinerary
  • Flew into Athens. Immigration line was. bit long but no other problems. I had pre-booked a ride from the airport to our hotel. Stayed in a fancy hotel in the Plaka district for a couple of nights. Visited the big archeological sites including the Acropolis, Acropolis museum, and the ancient agora. You really need to book entry tickets in advance due to the crush of visitors. They have instituted timed entry tickets for the big sites.
  • Picked up our rental car from the airport and then drove to Corinth and Mycenae. Both are amazing archeological sites in beautiful locations. Checked into our hotel in Nafplio where we stayed for a couple of nights. Nafplio is a gorgeous seaside town with numerous Byzantine era artifacts and was the first capital of Greece after getting independence from the Ottoman empire
  • Visited Epidavros where there is a spectacularly preserved amphitheater and drove down the coast to Galatas
  • Drove to Mystras and saw the Byzantine era monasteries perched on the side of a mountain. The drive was just jaw-dropping with views of the snow capped Taygetos mountains. Stopped briefly in Sparta and then spent the night in Areopoli which is another beautiful town.
  • Drove down the Mani peninsula and then stopped in Kardamyli for lunch. Drove to Kalamata where we spent a couple of nights.
  • Visited ancient Messini and the town of Pylos
  • Drove to Olympia and saw the site of the original Olympic Games (started over 3000 years ago)
  • Spent the night in Nafpaktos - another beautiful coastal town in central Greece
  • Visited Delphi where the famous Oracle resided in ancient times
  • Drove back to Athens and spent the last night in a seaside town near the airport. Dropped off the car and caught our flight back home.
Driving was not hard. Although I am perfectly comfortable with driving manual transmission cars, I got an automatic as it cost very little extra. Highway surfaces are very well paved and road signs are clear. Most signs are both in Greek and English. Highway tolls can be paid with credit cards! Gas is expensive of course. Apple Maps works well in Greece for navigation and actually had more details than Google Maps. Having a car made the trip lot more enjoyable and gave us the flexibility to visit some out-of-the-way places that are simply unreachable by other means.
We barely spent about 20 Euros in cash - Apple Pay worked everywhere! Food is cheap and good. Hotels were all very good value for the money. Everyone speaks good English so no problem at all.
Our goals were to see archeological sites and beautiful scenery - we got do both. This has to be one of the best vacations I've ever taken.
 
bonvoyage said:
Our goals were to see archeological sites and beautiful scenery - we got do both. This has to be one of the best vacations I've ever taken.
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Both of ours were too. Considering going a third time.
 
We did a similar trip years ago but ran into weather issues. Would not mind repeating it eventually.

At the time, they used to drive down the main road to Kalambaka by diring down the sides of the two lane road and leaving the center open for passing. Do they still do that? It was quite a sight to see, in terms of people purposefully driving outside the lanes to create a new one.
 
"diring? You mean "driving"?

I don't recall such behavior. We were on our tour bus and all seemed normal. We met a couple at a monastery, they were from Atlanta. No complaints about that from them although they were irritated that they had their license plate (rental) removed in Aracova for a parking violation. It will cost them some bucks.
 
oiseux said:
Yes, driving in a car. The unwritten custom in greece apparently is to move to the right, especially on roads with a hard shoulder, to allow cars to use the middle to pass. It is a bit unnerving at first.
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Yes - using the shoulder to allow cars to overtake seems to be a common practice in Greece. In fact, I often pulled over to allow people to overtake me since were are not in a hurry and wanted to see the countryside.
Greeks aren't quite as law abiding on the road as the Northern Europeans but I didn't see any really really bad behavior :)
 
oiseux said:
Yes, driving in a car. The unwritten custom in greece apparently is to move to the right, especially on roads with a hard shoulder, to allow cars to use the middle to pass. It is a bit unnerving at first.
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Not so much different than state highways in Texas.
 
Greek Islands are very beautiful. Getting there might be a problem, considering the ferry workers sometimes go on strick and they only announce if there will be a ferry tomorrow after the midnight.
 
Been many years since I last visited Greece, & was never impressed, except for food & ancient architecture.
 
Sounds like a wonderful vacation. We spent a few days in Athens in 2023 prior to a cruise, and took a day trip to Delphi and a day boat trip to the Saronic Islands (a couple of hours at each island). Then visited Corfu and Olympia with the cruise. I enjoyed Greece and would visit again in a heartbeat.
 
Apple Pay seems to work universally in much of Europe. You mentioned success in Greece. I can vouch for its universal acceptance in Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland. I took my credit cards but never even got them out. Could’ve left them at home.
It kinda makes its frustrating back in the US when it’s not as readily accepted.
 
Back in Athens now after a week long small-group tour to Kalambaka, Nafpaktos, and Dimitsana. Saw our Windstar ship in Napfio today and are excited to board tomorrow for our first cruise through the islands. Credit cards and mobile wallets are widely accepted but most merchants prefer cash. Greece in May is beautiful as the temperature is just right and the wildflowers are in bloom. Already thinking of a return visit.
 
Going to Greece for a few weeks in late July. The focus is islands; so far, I booked Athens but only a few days, a week to Crete, a few days to Santorini and more to finalize.
 
Saintor said:
Going to Greece for a few weeks in late July. The focus is islands; so far, I booked Athens but only a few days, a week to Crete, a few days to Santorini and more to finalize.
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Everybody seems to head directly to theGreek islands which are great of course. However, the mainland is equally interesting with a lot worth seeing. If you can adjust your itinerary, consider spending some time on the mainland too.
 
OldConch said:
Back in Athens now after a week long small-group tour to Kalambaka, Nafpaktos, and Dimitsana. Saw our Windstar ship in Napfio today and are excited to board tomorrow for our first cruise through the islands. Credit cards and mobile wallets are widely accepted but most merchants prefer cash. Greece in May is beautiful as the temperature is just right and the wildflowers are in bloom. Already thinking of a return visit.
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Nafpaktos is one of the most delightful places we visited on our trip. I picked it more or less at random as I wanted to stay somewhere not too far from Delphi but we just fell in love with Nafpaktos!
 
Greece was just fabulous - mainland, Peloponnese, and some islands. Just left Crete.

Passing through the Corinth Canal a few days ago pulled by a tug, around 8:45pm passing under the last bridge. Only 15 ft clearance on either side. National Geographic Orion.
IMG_4741.jpeg
 
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audreyh1 said:
Greece was just fabulous - mainland, Peloponnese, and some islands. Just left Crete.

Passing through the Corinth Canal a few days ago pulled by a tug, around 8:45pm passing under the last bridge. Only 15 ft clearance on either side. National Geographic Orion.
View attachment 55974
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Great pic. What islands did you like?

And was this all cruise?
 
audreyh1 said:
Greece was just fabulous - mainland, Peloponnese, and some islands. Just left Crete.

Passing through the Corinth Canal a few days ago pulled by a tug, around 8:45pm passing under the last bridge. Only 15 ft clearance on either side. National Geographic Orion.
View attachment 55974
Click to expand...
We heard a few complaints in April that Windstar ships couldn't make the Corinth passage because the water/sea level was low. I have only seen the canal from the bridge.
 
Montecfo said:
Great pic. What islands did you like?

And was this all cruise?
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We visited Aegina, Corfu, Kefalonia, and Crete. They were all interesting and would have been nice to chill out for a few days to relax and enjoy the views. A few not from cruise, most from a cruise.

The show stealer however was Sicily. Corsica was very nice too.
 
audreyh1 said:
We visited Aegina, Corfu, Kefalonia, and Crete. They were all interesting and would have been nice to chill out for a few days to relax and enjoy the views. A few not from cruise, most from a cruise.

The show stealer however was Sicily. Corsica was very nice too.
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We cut Sicily and Malta from our Italy itinerary as it seemed like they could be their own trip,!
 
audreyh1 said:
We visited Aegina, Corfu, Kefalonia, and Crete. They were all interesting and would have been nice to chill out for a few days to relax and enjoy the views. A few not from cruise, most from a cruise.

The show stealer however was Sicily. Corsica was very nice too.
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Thanks. A fellow traveler from Calgary on our Greece tour had just spent 10 days in Sicily prior to the tour and said she loved it. I've got a points/miles flight to London booked for mid May 2026 and it looks like Sicily might happen on that trip. Maybe it's time to start a 2026 travel thread.

You may have missed it on your cruise but we had a wicked storm heading out of Athens to Mykonos on the 25th. Rain and heavy winds. It cleared on the 26th but we had very gusty winds for the rest of the day. Weather was back to beautiful in Kusadasi and is lovely as we're pulling in to Patmos this morning. I guess my point is that May travel in London and Greece has been mostly excellent and the crowds fairly minimal. This is our 4th late April/May in Europe and we've been lucky each time.
 
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