Greece Untour, Fall of 2005
by John and Sue Schimmels , Paseo Robles, CA
We left Lax (made our own flight arrangements as we had free air fare) on Friday Sept 2 and got to Athens on Sat the 3rd. We stayed at the Plaka Hotel, recommended by Untours. We had a teeny room with the world's smallest shower BUT our bed faced the Acropolis and we fell asleep looking at the Parthenon every night, all lit up! Magnificent (room 410). We stayed in Athens until Wed and then took the airport bus back out to the airport (so easy) and met the other Untourists. By the way, I am a big fan of Matt Barrett’s website for info on Greece, but "George the Famous Taxi driver's" fares are absurd. When we arrived in Athens we took the airport bus INTO Athens--2.90 euros each! You buy the tickets at the kiosk outside baggage claim, then validate them in the machines on the bus. Takes you right to Syntagma Square, only a couple of blocks up from the Plaka Hotel.We loved the location of the Plaka Hotel--walked to every single major site. One whole day just for the Acropolis (which was never equaled by any other ruin). Many others to see. We spent 6 hours just in the Archeological museum (took the "400" bus to it--a sight-seeing bus where you can hop on and off at will at different locations all day)--my husband actually was in that museum for 7 hours. It is amazing. We did lots and lots of walking. The cab drivers will try to rip you off--they go off-meter. Better to have the Plaka call you a cab when needed--yes it cost 2 E just for the call, but the fare will be half. We only took cabs twice, and discovered the first time, we could have walked to our destination. Do take the funicular up the Lycabettous Hill at night--well-worth the trip and hassle (actually our most harrowing "ride" of the entire trip was the cab ride TO the funicular!)
We have heard that it is not recommended to “do” Athens first. We did not find Athens to be overwhelming, and we were happy we went to Athens first—it put everything else into perspective.
When we got to Napflio (we were in Dimitri 2—a warning: lovely apartment, wonderful balcony, but on Sunday mornings the church bells will knock you right out of bed) we got our car. All of the horror stories you hear about driving in Greece do NOT apply to the country, they apply to the towns, where road anarchy exists. Stop signs seem to be mere suggestions. The streets are crowded. But paying attention and a little nerve helps, and after awhile you become familiar with the trouble spots and avoid them. We had zero trouble on the country roads (also, we are from CA and discovered the toll way which made many trips so much faster, if we were in time crunch) That famous trip to Olympia that is supposed to be hair-raising? We made it in 3 hours, with stopping in Langadia for coffee (gorgeous gorgeous town). We left at 7 in the morning and avoided much traffic and took the toll way just a short part of it. The trip was no different than driving up the Big Sur coast (or any other mountain road elsewhere, I'm sure) We took the recommended route there, but took what we call the "north" road back, through Lassio(a?) and Lambia (another gorgeous town) This way was even more dramatic and beautiful (at one point you are on a ridge and looking down at breathtaking scenery on both sides) but again, just drive safely and no problem. We were back in 2 1/2 hours. Do not miss the museum of the history of the games at Olympia. Make sure you know what is open and closed on Mondays.
We did day trips to Corinth (combined with Nemea—one of the few places where we could “flush”) and climbed to the top of Acro-Corinth; a day trip to Delphi (our longest--we did not take the recommended ferry as we wanted to see the new magnificent bridge at Rio, and on the way back, detoured a bit to go to Messalonghi to see the statue of Lord Byron under which his heart is buried--the rest of him is back in jolly ole' England--supposedly) Again we left at 7 am to get an early start and took the toll way almost the entire trip. But yes we saw plenty of side roads and went down many a country lane just "looking." We did Epidaurus (the theater is not to be missed), Mycenae (at the end, so a little disappointing to us after all we’d seen), two trips to the beach, did Palamidi (I am killing the spellings here, don’t have my diary in front of me), the open market in town on Saturday mornings...we took the ferry from Tolo to Hydra for a day--almost all the Untourists went, and that was fun, but to me, one day sufficed.
We were the only ones to take up a suggestion by Els (the local Untourists representative) to go to Spetses the first Saturday night there to attend the "Bouboulina Festival." Wow, wild times! Bouboulina was the wife of an admiral who was killed during the battle for independence with the Turks in 1822 and she took over her husband's role and led them to victory. Or something like that. The date is Sept 8th and they celebrate it with a festival the closest Sat night to that date (I understand Hydra also has a festival in her honor, but in July--go figure!) They re-enact the battle in the harbor, blow up a ship, then have the most fantastic fireworks you will ever see. All of this at night. We got back (90 minute ferry ride) at 2 in the morning.
Our most memorable trip was to Monemvasia. On the way to Monemvasia, we intended to stop to eat lunch in Leonedio as suggested, but could not find a parking place, and decided to try for the next mountain town of Kosmos--what a great decision! We were the only English (or I should say, non-Greek-speaking) people there in the little restaurant in the town square. The best meatballs we ate on the entire trip. Bought some pottery there too. The drive was memorable, not a fast trip--lots of switchbacks. Reminded us of the drive to Hana.
Everything people write about Monemvasia is true--this walled medieval (young by Greek standards) town out on the rock--the "Gibraltar of Greece." We stayed inside the old walls in a little room we booked on the spot, overlooking the water. It could not have been more charming (except for the mosquitoes--we left our repellant back in Napflio) I cannot imagine NOT staying within the walls. 60 E. We ate inside the walls by moonlight--very very romantic. We did the climb all the way to the top--arduous. I needed my inhaler part way up. Worth it. Every climb to every top was worth it. The next day we drove down to the little port town of Gythios, just because it seemed like a cool town, and it was. We had brunch along the port, then it began to rain, and poured and poured (our only day of rain--apparently it began at 4 in the morning back in Napflio and poured all day). We had intended to "do" Mystras on the way back, but as it was still pouring, we just drove past it to see if it was worth the trip back another day. And it was. Another memorable (and tough) climb to the top of another memorable fortress. When we did go back, it took about 2 hours driving each way. We got very very familiar with the town of Argos (not a quaint little town...enough said) as we had to drive through it to go almost anywhere. When we got back the day of the rainstorm, the two couples in Poppy invited us over for spaghetti and meatballs that night--what a treat that was!
I know that Untours recommends a lot of overnights on this trip. We did not do it for two reasons--one, we did not find the driving and distances to be prohibitive. And two, Napflio is such a gorgeous little town that was it wonderful to go back to it each evening, relax, have some wine on the balcony overlooking the square, then go find a treasure of a taverna for dinner, sit at the edge of the water later with a drink...what a town! Because the area is small, we ran into the other Untourists a lot and would exchange stories, finds, and suggestions. Eat together, etc. The last Sunday night there most of us met at Carrerra's for pizza (excellent!) which was very enjoyable. Great group of people.
On (our last) Tuesday we were going to take the bus back to Athens (generally you drop off the car in Napflio) as we had booked Santorini for Wed., but we had not gotten down to Sunion (at the tip of Attica--the "county" Athens is in) to see the Temple of Poseidon, so we decided to drive there--the long way, AROUND Athens on the toll way, and it proved to be a very enjoyable and easy drive (I had been sort of freaking about it) and got down to Sunion--so glad we went, the temple is really something to see. So much still standing, at this magnificent spot overlooking the water. Yannis at Avis (in Napflio) pointed out the route for us, and told us it was no big deal, and he was right. Then we drove back to the airport, turned in the car, deposited all but the one bag we needed for Santorini at the "Left luggage" (lower arrival level of airport, on far right if you are facing the building--2 euros per bag per day--but worth it not to haul them all over) and then took the Metro into Athens for the night (it was more convenient to the hotel we had there that night, not one recommended by Untour--the Attalos--in the Monestraki area. Not the greatest hotel, but magnificent roof top bar, better than the Plaka's, and it was just for one night) The next day we took the slow ferry (the Blue Star) to Santorini--this part of the trip we used a local Athens travel agent for, booked way in advance, because of the difficulty of getting ferry schedules--I even contacted Blue Star directly, they just don't plan them far in advance. ( Ahh Greece, where you will get as a response to most problems, a shrug and the words, "Maybe tomorrow, maybe no. So sorry, no problem.")
Anyway, we had heard from several people that you should experience Santorini for the first time by water, coming into the caldera. Long ferry ride--8 hours, but we were in first class, it was very comfortable, stopped at Paros and Naxos so at least got to "see" a bit—didn’t get off, of course. But coming in by water was absolutely the best decision (you can also take the high-speed ferry which is almost 5 hours, but we had been told by the travel agent it would not still be running by this time of year--it was) Our intention was to fly back. Unfortunately, the travel agent booked THE WRONG DATE (just carelessness, we all had the correct date on our itineraries; somebody in her office just didn't double-check the documents for accuracy.) We discovered this error as soon as they delivered our packet to that Attalos Hotel--a method they like to use there rather than send you your documents in advance; I argued against it, to no avail. We spent the next 3 days trying to get a way OFF of Santorini for our Sunday flight back to LAX, as the flights off Santorini were now all booked! ("Maybe tomorrow, maybe no...")
On Santorini we stayed at the Volcano Views Villas and Hotel, in a hotel room, not one of the villa rooms, with a view of the caldera. Beautiful place. Room, so-so, but sufficient for what we needed for 3 nights. Several pools, great food in the hotel restaurant, wonderful kitchen staff (sort of snotty individuals at the front desk), breakfast included. Weird showers. Our shower curtain did not reach the floor, so we had water everywhere the first night. My husband, an engineer, gerry-rigged something with hangers, and the next day we had a new shower curtain in our room! Pretty funny. Anyway, this place was quintessential Santorini. About a mile to Fira. We were a little disappointed in that, until we realized how hopping (and noisy) Fira is, and that it was good exercise to walk to town and back (though the hotel has a free shuttle to Fira and back til 10:30 at night) We had had a pretty full and active vacation thus far and wanted relaxation, and it was very quiet at the Volcano Views AWAY from the town, so it worked for us. Might not be what others want (we usually like being in the middle of the action, but this was just perfect) So Wed was shot on the ferry, then Thursday to Fira for the day (and back on the shuttle for dinner Thursday night in Fira) then on Friday we rented a car for one day to explore the island and go to Akrotiri. Well you may or may not have heard, but Akrotiri, the newest excavation in Greece, but the oldest site so far, was being enclosed so as to protect the site (just began excavating around 1969 I believe)--seeing an ongoing excavation like that was thrilling to me, an anthropology major. As we walked through (on our own--we avoid tours like the plague, never enough time to spend on what you really want to see--plus the tour guides are so loud, you can just listen in if you want to know what something is)--it was crowded and we noticed a lot of dripping water from overhead--we heard other tourists mention the same thing. We left when we were finished, went to the Red Beach (to look, too grueling to get to if not swimming there) and within a couple of hours of our leaving, the roof structure collapsed at Akrotiri, killing at least one British tourist and injuring several others, including two Americans! It was chilling to discover that we had JUST BEEN THERE. Very scary. (we did not find this out until Saturday morning when we were getting ready to leave) So Akrotiri was closed indefinitely.
We drove around the entire island, ended up in Ia, walked around there all afternoon, very artsy little town, lovely, then drove back to Volcano Views, relaxed (must see the sunset every night--lives up to expectations) then back to Fira for dinner. We finally got tickets on the high speed ferry and that is how we left Santorini on Saturday. We were taken from Piraeus directly to Sofitel Hotel at the airport (wow, what luxury! Fabulous bathroom--and we could flush! Yippeeee!) We picked up the rest of our luggage (literally RIGHT THERE) and flew home on Sunday morning Athens to London to LAX.
Whew.
We did not make it to Meteora, a place I really wanted to see. Just too long a trip when so much else to see. My husband and I both love history, and the ruins, etc were exciting to us. We did a lot of reading beforehand, especially my husband (I do the planning, he does the research, usually), which we found enriched the trip immensely. I even tried to reread "The Iliad" but man, couldn't get past page 79!
We always front-load our vacations while we have energy and stamina, so when we got to Napflio, the first big trip we made was to Olympia. Glad we did it that way. Saved the local trips til towards the end of the two weeks. And we always try to end in a place where we can relax.
One more hint about driving--my husband really got into the Greek way of driving for conditions rather than for rules, BUT he paid the price. Caught in a tourist-only speed trap on a Sunday afternoon on the road between Napflio and Argos--reason I say tourist-only is because the rental cars have big red stickers on the windshield, and I watched the cops cull rental cars from packs of other cars all speeding--same as us. 33 euros, pay at post office, "so sorry, no problem." Of course, he WAS speeding...
Money...we were advised not to use travelers' checks (haven't for years, actually) Credit cards were fine in Athens restaurants and hotels, but not in the shops in the tourist district. Outside of Athens and major restaurants (and big hotels), credit cards are NOT accepted. We found using the ATM machines--debit cards--(available everywhere, including the baggage level of the airport) to be the easiest. Best rate of exchange, don't have to carry around a lot of cash, and it's convenient. Be sure to check with your bank on fees, however. I have been informed that BofA charges a whopping five bucks per transaction on foreign withdrawals. My bank, a regional Central California bank, just charged us the same dollar per transaction.
As always, the Untour handbook was very very helpful. We had a great time.
This was our second Untour—first one to Swiss Heartland, but it will not be our last. I just signed up for Tuscany South!
Any errors in content are mine alone...
Sue Schimmels