Overview
In 2016, we visited the Island of Crete in Greece for several weeks and had a blast, however, we’ve never been to mainland Greece. High on our bucket list was the Acropolis in Athens as well as a number of other famous archeological sites such as Olympia, Delphi and Mycenae.
We started planning for this trip by reaching out to Insight Guides, a company that connects travelers with hand-picked local travel experts. On their website, we filled out a short form identifying where we wanted to go and described the type of experience we were looking for. They then connected us with a Greek Tour Company named Somewhere We Know and from that point on, all communication was through the Insight Guide secure message system.
We spent 1-2 months figuring out all the places we wanted to explore and how to weave them together for an experience that matched our preferred travel style. There were numerous iterations and Eirini from our tour company was just fabulous. She offered suggestions, found guides and identified amazing lodging. Once finalized, our entire itinerary was available through a mobile app that included local maps of the towns where we were staying, restaurant suggestions and even the names and phone numbers of our private tour guides. This app also offered an easy way for us to contact the company while on our trip which came in handy when we had a few questions. We couldn’t have been more pleased with this tour company.
Our trip included lodging (with free hot breakfast), primarily private tours with different licensed guides at each site, and a driver with a van, but did not include lunch, dinner or attraction ticket entrance fees. We also left 1.5 unplanned days for our time in Athens to give us flexibility.
Day 1: Arriving in Athens, Settling In and Getting Our Bearings
Nema Hotel & Suites
Our driver, George, picks us up at the airport and we spend 45 minutes driving from the airport area of Athens to our hotel. When we arrive, he hands us a bag with a few small gifts from Somewhere We Know. This tour company has booked us in the fabulous small boutique hotel, Nema Hotel & Suites, in a truly great location in Athens. This hotel is run by a family and over the course of our 3-night stay, we met them all. After completing our stay here, we would highly recommend this hotel (and for the record, it is very reasonably priced)!
Exploring Athens – Monastiraki Square
We head down to Monastiraki Square to explore and look for a place to have a late lunch. The square is only a few blocks from our hotel and is far more than just “a square”. The Monastiraki is a maze of streets and alleys full of clothing boutiques, souvenir shops, specialty stores, cafes and restaurants – not to mention historic buildings with diverse architecture. It’s a Sunday and it is a lively place with plenty of people walking around and street musicians playing. As we walk, we realize how close we are to many sites we plan to visit – and for pretty much the first time in 18 days, it is just the two of us! If you read our Italy and Egypt blogs, you would see we had been traveling with our friend in Italy for 10 days, then with our son Carl for 8 days in Egypt.
Late Lunch – Taverna Acropoli
After a bit of exploring, as we round the Roman Agora, we found the Taverna Acropoli. Not only does it sit along the ruins of the old Roman market, but it has a view of part of the Acropolis that we’ll be touring tomorrow. It’s common practice for us when we are in a new area with lots of food options to graze at several places instead of just eating one big meal. We order Dakos, a Greek version of bruschetta that originated in Crete, that we enjoyed many times on our Crete adventure. For the record, it starts with a barley rusk (which means it is twice-baked bread) that is hard, but softens when topped with olive oil, juicy chopped tomatoes and a Greek cheese called mizithra (very similar to feta). We sit back and just soak in the atmosphere and gorgeous weather for bit.
Exploring Athens
When we have finished at the Taverna Acropoli, we walk around and explore a number of the streets and shops for a few hours. We make a brief stop at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. This church was built starting in 1842 and used the marble from 72 demolished churches to build its immense walls. We walk in for a few minutes to admire the beauty of the interior and then decide to start to search for a place to have dinner.
Dinner at O Thanasis
By complete chance we sit down at a great little outdoor table at a place called O Thanasis. It turns out this restaurant has been ranked as one of the 150 most legendary restaurants in the world! We decide to order souvlaki and it was amazing. We didn’t even notice the little sign posted outside announcing the ranking of the restaurant until we had finished our meal. Additionally, until we wrote this blog, we didn’t know that souvlaki is their signature dish! Sometimes you just wander into the greatest things.
Day 2: Bucket List Sites in Athens
Breakfast at the Nema Hotel
We are up early and are ready to go exploring, but first we head to the breakfast area where we find a wonderful selection of Greek and traditional breakfast foods. The breakfasts included delightful cheese pies, dry meats & cheeses, dry cereals, assorted pastries and breads. There’s also plenty of coffee and tea.
Ancient Agora of Athens
The Ancient Agora of Athens was the founded in the 6th century BC and was the central public space where artistic business, social and political life took place. It contained many buildings and monuments, such as temples, altars, stoas (covered walkways or porticos), fountains, statues, and a law court. It was also a residential area. There are a number of ruins scattered throughout the site with plaques describing what was once there. In addition, there are 3 structures that have been reconstructed, renovated or are just still standing.
Temple of Hephaestus
Situated at the top of the hill on the north-west perimeter of the Ancient Agora is the temple of Hephaestus, the patron god of metal working, craftsmanship, and fire. This is one of the best-preserved ancient temples, primarily due to its conversion into a Christian church. It was constructed in about 460BC and converted in the 7th century AD to the church of Agios Georgios of Akamas.
Church of the Holy Apostles
The Church of the Holy Apostles of Solakis was built shortly before 1000 AD and was renovated in the 1950’s. It was closed the day we visited and so we only saw it from the outside.
Stoa of Attalos
The Stoa of Attalos was a “stoa” (covered walkway or portico) in the Agora of Athens. The building was reconstructed from 1952 to 1956 by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and currently houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora. With the exception of the reconstruction of the Panathenaic Stadium for the 1896 Olympics, the rebuilding of the Stoa of Attalos was the most ambitious reconstruction of a freestanding ancient building carried out in Athens. The building was reconstructed on the original foundations with as much of the original structure and materials as possible. In particular the north end, part of the south wall, and the south end of the outer steps were able to be retained. To obtain similar materials to the original, a couple of ancient quarries were reopened.
A Little Halloween in Athens
We have an 11:00am tour of the Acropolis (4 hours) and as we walk around the streets, we run into a fairly large outdoor Halloween decorated area. We didn’t see a large amount of this in the city, but it was pretty concentrated in this one area. Halloween isn’t typically popular in Greece as it has nothing to do with Greek culture or traditions, but we enjoy this slice of home.
Walking to The Meeting Point for our Acropolis Tour
We continue on toward our meeting point at the base of the Acropolis. Shops and restaurants are just opening up and the streets are uncrowded.
Meet up at the Yogurt Shop
We reach the little yogurt shop where we meet up with our tour. We have time to enjoy some Greek yogurt, honey & berries which should tide us over for yet another late lunch after the tour. Our guide distributes headsets and 20 of us begin the walk toward the Acropolis.
The Acropolis of Athens
The world-famous Acropolis of Athens was a major bucket list target for us on this trip. The word “Acropolis” in Greek basically means highest point of a settlement and as such, many Greek towns and cities have their own Acropolis. Truth be told, when most people think of an Acropolis, they think of THIS Acropolis. This particular site rises about 500 feet from the sea level in Athens and consists of a number of temples and historical sites.
The entrance is a little bit crowded but really doesn’t take that long to get through (thank you “skip-the line” ticket with tour guide). To get to the ruins on top of the Acropolis, you have to walk up a path that winds around the base past several historical sites including the Oden of Herodes, the Theatre of Dionysus and the Sanctuary of Asclepius.
It’s a little unseasonably warm today and our guide tells us we will make several stops along the way, in the shade, to learn about the archeological sites at the base of the Acropolis as we work our way to the top. He also assures us the 500-foot climb will be gradual and not to worry.
– Sanctuary of Asclepius
Our first stop during the walk up is the Sanctuary of Asclepius where our guide goes into a great detail about how this sanctuary functioned.
The first doctor in Greek mythology was Asclepius. This area of the Acropolis was dedicated to serving pilgrims seeking spiritual and physical healing. Treatment at the temple largely centered around promoting healthy lifestyles, with a particular emphasis on a person’s spiritual needs. Central to this treatment was a practice called “temple sleep” where patients would sleep in the temple with an expectation they would be visited by Asclepius or one of his healing children. A priest would interpret the dream and prescribe a cure, often a visit to the baths or a gymnasium workout.
– Theater of Dionysus
We take a short walk over to the Theater of Dionysus. This theater was constructed around 550BC and at one time had a capacity of up to 25,000. It was in continuous use through the end of the Byzantine era but fell into decay and was not identified, excavated and restored to its present condition until the 1800’s. One interesting thing that you can clearly see is the “VIP” throne type of seating in the front row that still bears inscriptions of the owners.
– Oden of Herodes
We pass by the Oden of Herodes as we move near the top of the trail.
This theater was built in 161AD by Herodes Atticus in memory of his Roman wife. It was originally a steep-sloped theatre with a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof made of expensive cedar of Lebanon timber. It was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000. It lasted intact until it was destroyed and left in ruins in 267AD. The audience stands and the orchestra (stage) were restored in the 1950s and this venue is now used for the annual Athens Festival. Additionally, a wide variety of international performance artists such as Elton John, Foo Fighters, Frank Sinatra and Jethro Tull have performed here. It has even been the venue for the Miss Universe pageant.
– The Top of the Acropolis
The top of the Acropolis consists of a number of distinct structures such as the Propylaia, the Parthenon, the Erechtheum and the temple of Athena Nike.
– Propylia
As we walk the steps up to enter the Acropolis, we pass through the Propylia which functioned as the ceremonial gateway into the Acropolis. Propylia is the Greek word for “gates”. The classic Greek Doric complex was the last in a series of gatehouses built on the top of this rugged hill. It was built of grey marble and had a height of just under 33 feet.
– The Temple of Athena Nike
Located to the right of the Propylaea is the Temple of Athena Nike which was built around 420BC. This temple was dedicated to the goddesses Athena (the goddess of wisdom) and Nike (the goddess of victory). The citizens of the Athens worshipped Athena here by representing her as victorious in war in hopes of a successful outcome in the long Peloponnesian War fought against the Spartans. NOTE – Athens is named after Athena.
– The Erechtheion Temple
The Erechtheion Temple was dedicated to the goddess Athena and is known for its iconic “Porch of the Maidens”. It is one of only a few asymmetrical temples in Greece.
Our guide takes us first to the side of the temple where he tells us the myth of Poseidon and Athena’s competition for the city’s affections. The story follows that Poseidon struck the ground with his trident, making a salt spring, but Athena won by producing the first olive tree. There is an olive tree growing outside the temple said to be grown from a cutting of the original tree that Athena gifted to the city. The current tree was planted in 1952, from a cutting made during World War II to protect the tree from obliteration during the conflict.
– Parthenon
Completed around 432BC, this temple was built as a dedication to the Hellenic victory over the Persian Empire during the Greco-Persian wars. In about 690AD it was converted to a Christian church. After the Ottomans conquered Athens in the mid 1400’s, it was converted to a mosque. It survived intact until 1687 when the Venetian’s landed a bomb on it during a siege campaign. The bomb hit a munitions dump stored inside the temple. The resulting explosion severely damage the temple but since the 1970’s there has been ongoing restoration work and we got to see evidence of this on one side of the temple. We are not allowed to walk inside the Parthenon.
Many of the surviving sculptures were removed in the early 1800’s and shipped to the British Museum. Even today, Greece is still trying to get them returned.
Unlike other Greek complexes of Ancient Greece, the Acropolis was built on a master plan with the buildings related to one another. Take for example the relationship between the Propylaia (the entrance gate) and the Parthenon. Both are structures with Doric features, but also incorporate Ionic columns in their interiors. They are related in size, (the Propylaia width being equal to the length of the Parthenon), and in proportional ratios (4:9 for the Parthenon and 3:7 for the Propylaia). Both buildings are oriented from North to South.
The Parthenon stands on a platform of three steps and is surrounded by columns. There are eight columns at either end and seventeen on the sides. There is a double row of columns at either end and the corner columns are slightly larger in diameter. The columns have a slight parabolic upward curvature intended to shed rainwater and reinforce the building against earthquakes. The columns might therefore be supposed to lean outward, but they actually lean slightly inward and if one were to follow the lines into they air, they would meet almost exactly 2,400 meters (1.5 mi) above the center of the Parthenon.
– Acropolis View
It’s a wonderfully clear and beautiful day and the view of Athens from the Acropolis is spectacular!
– Acropolis Museum Entrance
When our tour of the Acropolis is completed, we head down the hill to the Acropolis Museum to begin part 2 of our tour.
The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes. As we approach the entrance, we look down and see something we were not expecting – the ruins of part of the Roman and early Byzantine Athens. It took a lot of engineering and planning to build a museum over this archaeological site. Even inside the museum, some parts of the floor are glass to allow visitors to see the excavations below.
– Acropolis Museum
The museum itself is laid out to the dimensions of the Parthenon and the artifacts that have survived through the ages from the building are displayed in the same manner and orientation they had when they were installed originally on the Parthenon. Our guide leads us around giving us detailed explanations of what each scene that is depicted in the various reliefs are representing. A lot of what we see are the actual artifacts that were on the Parthenon, but our guide repeatedly calls out plaster reconstructions of those that are still in the British Museum. By storing and displaying the original artworks inside this building, they are better protected from erosion and external elements.
Getting a Snack
Four hours have flown by. Its late midafternoon and we have been walking and touring almost continuously since early morning and we are starving. Thank goodness we grabbed that Greek yogurt snack before we started our tour! We want to head back to the area near where we are staying and find a restaurant somewhere near Monastiraki Square, however, we have a 45-minute walk from where we are. Although we don’t usually eat at museums, this one has as a really nice indoor area and outdoor dining terrace with a view of the Acropolis so we decide to get a snack to tide us over. Nancy orders a bagel with cream cheese and when it arrives, it’s a much more delightful treat than expected, including tomato and basil. We wolf it down and with our hunger abated for a bit, we begin heading back to the area where we want to hunt down a place for dinner.
Taverna Karyatis
There are SO many sidewalk cafes to choose from. Taverna Karyatis is advertising “happy hour” and catches our attention. They not only have a large indoor area but have outdoor tables in the courtyard in the middle of the picturesque Plaka. We settle for an outdoor table, beer, wine and look over the menu. We order an amazing appetizer thinking we’ll eat again in a few hours. This time we enjoy Saganaki (fried cheese) that just melts in our mouths.
Souvenir Shopping
We’ve already bought a few shot glasses as souvenirs, but Nancy is in the mood to look for a good quality Greek sweatshirt. After looking around for a bit we find a shop that has what she is looking for and chat for over 30 minutes with the shop owner. He tells us about his family in America and how “everybody” wants to come and live in the USA. We also got a great deal on a sweatshirt with a stitched portrayal of the Parthenon!
Dinner at Bairaktaris Taverna Stathmos
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Day 3: Another Day in Athens
Today is the day we chose to leave mostly unplanned so we have flexibility to do and see what we want to see. When you have a long trip like ours (3 countries in 28 days), you need to build in “down days”.
Kerameikos Archaeological Museum
We get up early and after enjoying another scrumptious breakfast at our hotel, we walk about a mile to an area that includes the Kerameikos Archaeological Museum that was used as cemetery beginning around 3000BC. Numerous funerary sculptures were erected along the Sacred Way, a road from Athens to Eleusis, a town located a short distance from Athens. Much of the funerary sculptures are lost to time, but luckily, many others have been relocated to the National Archaeological Museum of Greece. The sacred grounds in Kerameikos do contain some interesting artworks on display as well as a large collection of inscribed square marble blocks that were used as gravestones. We found it very interesting to walk around this and imagine what it might have looked like in its glory days.
Hop on Hop Off Bus
A lot of major cities offer narrated “hop-on/hop-off bus” service where you purchase a ticket and ride a bus for a specified period of time, getting on and off as much as you like. The route takes you to or close to main attractions and offers commentary along the route. Athens has several different companies, and each company is associated with a different colored bus with very similar routes. We decide to get tickets on the City Sightseeing Bus and take it completely around Athens. We are given a set of earphones to plug in where you can select the language of our choice to hear about the sites we are passing by. We’ve used this type of bus tour on other trips and find it is an excellent way to get a feel for a city and what it has to offer.
A Quick Bit of House Keeping on the Road
We packed light for this one-month trip with only one suitcase and a couple of small backpacks. We did laundry on day 10 of our 10 days in Italy but having spent 8 days in Egypt and we need to wash clothes again. We planned on using the laundry service provided by our Athens hotel, however, their laundry service wasn’t up and running. Thankfully, there was a laundromat one block away. Instructions were provided in both Greek and English. It was 3EUR to wash and 3EUR to dry and took a mere 1 hour and 20 minutes. And here is one reason you plan “down days”.
Nancy’s foot has been bothering her and she wants to rest it. She stays behind to use the laundromat while Harrison heads out to explore the nearby Hadrian’s Library and the Roman Agora.
Hadrian’s Library
Hadrian’ Library was constructed 132AD, as part of the Roman emperor Hadrian’s grand plans to revamp Athens. Unlike modern libraries, this was not generally used as a lending library but as a place of study and storage. Papyrus scrolls were kept in partitioned wooden cupboards (armaria) set in niches in the walls of the room. It also offered a place to hear lectures and hosted various philosophical schools. It was designed to make a big impression with a façade of 100 marble columns, a painted ceiling, and high surrounding alabaster walls.
Roman Agora
You enter the Roman Agora through a set of columns known as the Gate of Athena Archegetis. The gate was constructed in 11BC by donations from Julius Caesar and Augustus. During the Romans rule over the Greeks, this was a marketplace and the city’s civic center.
On the far end, on the opposite side of the entrance stands the Tower of the Winds – also known as the Clock of Andronicus Cyrrhestes. Likely built in the 2nd century BC, the octagonal structure is the most famous ruin of the Agora today. It stands 44 feet high on a base of three steps and served as a timekeeping tower with a water clock, 9 sundials, and a wind vane. It is probably the most frequently painted or photographed structure in the Roman Agora. Thanks to recent restorations, tourists are now allowed inside, and Harrison took a peek.
Around the corner from the Tower of Winds are the ruins of a set of public toilets. You also get a glimpse of the ancient sewer system.
Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa
As Harrison heads back to reconnect with Nancy, he stops by the Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa in Monastiraki Square and pokes his head in for a moment to get a couple of pictures. The church was built in the 10th century and is one of the oldest churches in Athens.
Center Market
By the time Harrison gets back from the Hadrian’s Library and the Roman Agora, the laundry is done! We take a short walk up the street to the large public market. Once we leave Athens, we’ll be on a 6-day road-trip and we want to find snacks to take with us. The Public Market Place of Athens has been in business nonstop since 1886. It consists of a fish market, vegetable market and a meat market extending along both sides of Athinas Street. We also see a wide abundance of dried fruits and spices. Although this market offers a lot of interesting foods, we end up buying our snacks in a nearby small grocery store.
Excursion to Temple of Poseidon
We are going on a side trip to the Temple of Poseidon in Sounion, about 45 miles south of Athens on the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula. Our tour company has connected us with a driver from T-squared named Thanassis. It’s not long after we return from the market that we meet Thanassis and head south out of Athens to our evening destination. The drive along the coast is quite beautiful and we pass through a number of beach areas and little towns.
We make a brief stop overlooking Lake Vouliagmeni, a picturesque brackish lake fed by underground currents. The lake formed about 2000 years ago after an earthquake collapsed the roof of a cavern. The lake’s water temperature never drops below 65° and usually ranges around 70-75 ° making it a popular summer weekend destination.
It turns out that Thanassis will be our driver for the next 6 days as we embark on the road-trip portion of our Greece adventure.
The Temple of Poseidon
The Temple of Poseidon, dedicated to the mythical Greek god of the sea, was built in the 5th century BC around the same time as the Parthenon. The marble temple has 16 Doric columns that are more slender at the top to give the illusion it is taller than it actually is. Legend says tha King Aegeus perched on this hill to await the arrival of his son Theseus from battle. When King Aegeus saw his ship approaching with black sails, he assumed his son had been killed by the Minotaur, a mythical creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man. King Aegeus killed himself by jumping off the cliff. Ironically, his son was alive but had forgotten to change the sails. The Aegean Sea was named after the King.
Today the temple also hosts various festivals and events throughout the year, such as music concerts, cultural performances, and religious ceremonies. We spend a couple hours here walking through the ruins and then sitting down at the little nearby café. We invite Thanassis to join us at the cafe so we can get to know him – after all, we’ll be spending the next 6 days with him. It was very relaxing as we watch the sunset by the temple.
Dinner at the Erato Restaurant
It’s dark when we get back to the Nema Hotel and we want to catch dinner at a place we haven’t been to before. After a short walk, we decide to take a seat at Erato for a beet root salad and great little meal that had more of an Asian taste than Greek. We forget its Halloween until we see a couple of little girls all dressed up. Nancy asks if she can take their picture and they smile and pose. On the way back the hotel, we stop and get a little bit of gelato for dessert.
Day 4: The Beginning of the Road Trip – Athens to Nafplio
Athens to Corinth
Thanassis picks us up and it’s not long before we are out of Athens and on our way to the Peloponnese Peninsula area of Greece. Athens turns out to be a much larger city than we thought. We learn it is 15 square miles and has a population of 3.1 million people.
Breaking Out Of the City
After clearing out of Athens, we start to hug the shoreline of the Gulf of Elefsina on our way to our first stop in Corinth.
Corinth
Just before we cross over to the Peloponnese, we stop to look at the Corinth Canal.
This Canal was completed in 1893 and separates the mainland of Greece from the Peloponnese Peninsula. It links the Gulf of Corinth of the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea. The walls of the canal are almost 300 feet high but the canal itself is only 70 feet wide and ships cannot be wider than 58 feet to use it. In today’s world of mega-ships, the Corinth Canal is primarily used by small cruise ships and tour boats.
Corinth to Mycenae
We plunge deep into the Peloponnese towards the Mycenae Archeological Site passing through sparsely populated country with mountains and rolling valleys.
Mycenae
As we drive to the top of one of the mountains, we enter the Mycenae Archeological Site. In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centers of Greek civilization. It was a military stronghold dominating much of southern Greece, Crete, the Cyclades and parts of southwest Anatolia. The period of Greek history from 1600BC to about 1,100BC is referred to as “Mycenean” in reference to this specific citadel. At its height, this area had a population of about 30,000. Mycenae is connected to Homers Iliad and is mentioned a number of times in the text when the Trojan War takes place against the Mycenaean empire. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We meet our guide Theodore and begin our 2-hour tour in the nearby Mycenae Museum before we walk up the trail to the ruins. We pass through the Lion Gate which is the sole surviving monumental piece of Mycenaean sculpture. It is called the Lion Gate because it has 2 stone lionesses facing each other on top of the 10-foot lintel. It is the only monument of Bronze Age Greece to bear an iconographic motif that survived without being buried underground.
A short distance from the main ruin site is a tomb known today as the Treasury of Atreus, so named because of the wealth of grave goods found there.
Mycenae Museum
The Archaeological Museum of Mycenae contains a collection of artifacts focusing on the everyday life of the Mycenaeans. It also has reliefs depicting their beliefs about the afterlife and death.
Epidavros
From Mycenae, we head to Epidavros, an important healing center in ancient times. It is considered the cradle of medicinal arts and the mother sanctuary of the plethora of other healing centers built throughout the Hellenic world. Pilgrims came from all over the Mediterranean seeking healing for their ailments through physical and spiritual means. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The sanctuary reached its zenith in the 4th and 3d centuries BC with monumental buildings like the Enkoimeterion (dormitory), the Hestiatorion (the dining hall), the famous theatre, the hospice, the temple, and the stadium.
Our guide Theodore has traveled ahead of us and meets us at the entrance, and we begin another amazing 2-hour tour. As we enter the site, we head first to the theater. It is divided vertically into two unequal parts, the lower hollow and the upper theatre. The lower part of the theater is divided into 12 sections, while the upper part is divided into 22 sections. The lower rows of the upper and lower theaters have seats reserved for important people. The most noteworthy feature of this structure is its acoustics. The floor of the theater, known as the orchestra, is circular and 65.5 feet in diameter. It has a slightly elevated stone in the center and if one stands on that spot and speaks, their voice can be heard throughout the entire theater. Many people try their best to have 15 seconds of fame, speaking from the center to demonstrate of the awesome acoustics. You are allowed to wander through the steps and levels of the theater. Harrison heads to the top to gets some great photos.
Epidavros Museum
After leaving the theater we head down the hill and visit the museum which houses a large collection of the many important finds discovered during the 1881-1920 excavations.
Epidavros Healing Site Ruins
Exiting the Musuem, we head into the nearby ruins that were the heart of Epidavros and get a glimpse of the size of the healing center, the huge restaurant, stadium and some of the temples. Theordore continues to fill us in on lots of detail about this area.
We wander through the ruins for a while and when we’ve had enough, we walk back to find our driver and head off for a short drive to Nafplio.
Leta Nuevo Hotel
We are staying in a small boutique hotel named Leta Nuevo overseeing the bay in the town of Nafplio. We get checked in and put our baggage in our room and head out for dinner as we are famished after a day of exploring.
Nafplio
Nafplio is a beautiful small coastal town in the Peloponnese and Thanassis tells us that Athenians often come here to escape the city. The first capital of independent Greece, Nafplion is a magical, romantic, historical town with heaps of things to see and do. We are only here overnight but it quickly becomes apparent to us we could have spent a few days in the place. There are numerous restaurants and cafes along the waterfront with gorgeous views of the setting sun. All look fairly upscale and we’re more in the mood for something casual. We walk the harbor area for a bit and head into some of the back streets to search out a place to eat. It’s the off season now and it’s also a weekday so the town is not crowed at all. After a little pondering, we pick an outdoor table in Syntagma Square and end up having a delightful evening. They have a special that includes a Greek pizza and a bottle of wine for 12EUR.
Day 5: Nafplio to Olympia
Nafplio to Sparta
We have the busiest day of touring scheduled for today, so we leave around 7:00am and head south towards the ancient city of Sparta, 75 miles from Nafplio.
Sparta
We are headed to the ruins of the mountain top Byzantine castle city of Mystras. To get there we drive through the heart of Sparta. We find it awe-inspiring to be in the area of this world-famous ancient town (although its modernized).
Mystras
High up on a mountain near Sparta are the ruins of Mystras, a fortified town that served as the capital of this area of Greece during the 14th and 15th centuries. It remained inhabited until the 1830’s when during the Greek war for independence, many of the people in the area where massacred and it was abandoned. In 1989 the ruins, including the fortress, palace, churches, and monasteries, were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our tour company was unable to find us a tour guide for this off-the-beaten track site since we’re in the off-season. We will tour this one on our own over the next hour and a half.
The majority of the important churches are still standing, including St. Demetrios, the Hagia Sophia, St. George, and the Monastery of Peribleptos. The Palace of the Despots, home to the local governor, has undergone substantial restorations in the past decade but was closed the day we were at the site.
Our driver Thanassis drops us off at a trail head about 75% of the way to the top of the entire complex. This entrance is at the bottom of a rustic, steep footpath to a fortress at the top. Thanassis tells us he will meet back up with us at the bottom of the mountain when we are done.
We pay our admission, snap a photo of the map of the complex and begin the 20-minute climb up to the top. The view at the top is spectacular and after touring the fortress for a bit, we start the rough trail back down. After passing the entrance where we started, we continue downhill over winding, steep, rocky trails stopping at a number of churches along the way. We pass by the palace but find it’s closed (renovation working going on in the off-season) so we continue down the trail until we hit the museum near the bottom. At the Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, there’s a small museum with interesting exhibits from the ancient and Medieval era.
Mystras to Olympia
We get back in the van and begin the drive to our next stop in Olympia. We need to meet our guide at 1:30 and are pressed a bit for time. Along the way we enjoy more of the beautiful scenery in this part of Greece.
The Archaeological Museum of Olympia
The Archaeological Museum of Olympia is the site of the original Olympic games and a UNESCO World Heritage site. As we tour this area with our guide, Maria, we learn this area was actually a religious sanctuary, not a town. Ancient Greeks held a fervent belief in the well-being and health of its citizens, and many travelled to these sanctuaries (aka, resort) to get exercise and rest. The archaeological site held over 760 significant buildings, and ruins of many of these survived. There were over 70 temples in total, as well as treasuries, altars, statues, and other structures dedicated to many deities.
Of special interest to Greeks of all times is the Pelopion, the tomb of the quasi-mythical king Pelops who led the people to war against Troy. The Peloponnesus is named for Pelops.
Of particular interest to both ancients and moderns is the stadium. It is basically a field with start and end lines marked off by curbs. The athletes entered under an archway of a vaulted corridor at the start. Spectators sat mainly on the field’s sloping sides. The stadium has been resurrected for Olympic use with no intentional changes to the ancient topography. The first major games played in the Olympia stadium were said to have first begun in the 720’s. These prestigious ancient games took place every four years during the festival of Zeus at Olympia. During the games, all wars called a “time-out” so soldier athletes could complete in running, jumping and throwing events. The games were held from 776BC to about 394AD.
Another well-known feature of Olympia was the Temple of Zeus with its 41-foot-tall ivory and gold seated statue of Zeus. The statue was destroyed before the end of the 6th century AD, with conflicting accounts of the date and circumstances. Details of its form are known only from ancient Greek descriptions and representations on coins and art. The Temple of Zeus sat on a platform of three unequal steps. The exterior columns were positioned in a six by thirteen arrangement. Two rows of seven columns divided the inner chamber into three aisles. We’re told the design is identical to the Temple of Hera at Paestum in Italy and our guide is delighted to learn we visited it earlier in our trip.
There was so much more to see here such as the baths, the “hotels” and the gymnasium. We just don’t have the space to describe it all.
Olympia Museum
There is a fairly robust museum on site that focuses on the large number of artifacts excavated from this area. While it would be wonderful to see the artifacts in their original locations, it is easier to preserve them in a modern building.
Bacchus Pension Hotel
We head out as the museum as it closing (off-season hours) and drive 20 minutes to the Bacchus Pension Hotel. Our room overlooks the mountains and valley below, but since we’re hungry, we head down to the on-site tavern for dinner. The menu is in both Greek, English and French. We start with the appetizer “piperies kupes” described as pepper cups stuffed with a variety of cheeses and bacon. Delicious! We decide to split a main meal, the Greek traditional “gyro platter” with chicken and lamb. Portions are generous and we don’t even have room for dessert. We head back to our balcony with the left-over bottle of wine from dinner and a few beers to enjoy the view as the sun sets.
Day 6: Olympia to Preveza
Driving Olympia to Preveza
We rise and head to breakfast at the hotel, then load up the van and head towards Preveza. Nancy has a friend in Preveza we want to spend some time with, so our day isn’t quite as filled as it normally is. We push north and as we enter the city of Patras, we get a glimpse of the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge. It is one of the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges (7810 feet) and will take us across the gulf of Corinth. Before this was completed in 2004, the only way across was to take a ferry, a much more time-consuming trip. It opened one day before the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, on August 12 2004 and was used to transport the Olympic flame. Once we cross the bridge, we leave the Peloponnese region behind.
Nikopolis
We do have one stop today before meeting up with Nancy’s friend: Nikopolis was the “victory city” and was the largest in size of all the ancient Greek cities. Located a few miles north of Preveza, this ancient archeological site is spread out over 375 acres. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and given its significance in history, we’re surprised how “unknown” this place is.
Nikopolis Museum
We start our tour at the museum with our guide Tatiana. We get a very detailed understanding of the founding of this city and the history of all the years that followed up to the mid 20th century. Nikopolis was founded by Roman emperor Octavian after his naval victory at nearby Aktion against Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt. He chose the hilltop site where his troops camped during the battle and built a Temple to honor Apollo. He also built trophies to honor Mars and Neptune to thank them for their support of his victory. Soon came the city walls, a theater, gymnasium, stadium and odeion. It grew to become a major transportation and communications link between the eastern and western halves of the Mediterranean.
Nikopolis Site
We all hop in the van to head to the site. Many of the old city walls are amazingly intact and we start with a walk through one of the gates. Tatiana is an archeologist who works at the site and on the day we were there, we got to tour an area and observe a team conducting live excavations. She shows us several areas that just the week before had been covered and are now exposed for the first time in ages. We were surprised to see fields of crops and sheep grazing inside of lot of these ruins.
We stop at an unimpressive cubby – unimpressive until Tatiana splashes it with water from her water bottle. Suddenly, we see a beautiful mosaic on the wall! We visit archeological ruins of several Christian churches where we view some of the tiled floor murals.
We hop into the van again to see the stadium and the Odeion. The stadium is completely unexcavated, but the Odeion is a work on progress. In fact, it is sometimes used for outdoor music concerts. While we’ve seen a lot here, much of Nikopolis has not been excavated and Tatiana tells us that since this is Roman site, they often have trouble with the Greek government securing funding.
Dioni Boutique Hotel
We had a reservation at the Dioni Boutique Hotel and as we start to check-in, Nancy asks about paying for an upgrade to the best room in the hotel. As we go to our room, Harrison asks her about it as they would normally talk about this first. Her friend Konstantina once worked here as their “IT” person and she had given Nancy the inside scoop that for a mere 30EUR extra, we could get this amazing room. The room has both a bedroom and a living room. As a corner room, it has 2 balconies. We will be visiting with Konstantina tonight and having the extra living room will give us a place to relax together and visit.
Preveza
At the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf is the cute little town of Preveza where Nancy’s friend Konstantina lives. They met over 4 years ago while taking some on-line classes. They developed a friendship but had never met in person. Konstantina takes us to a beautiful church in town. We head down a small alley to one of her favorite restaurants, Rempetiko Steki 2, which is highly rated. We get a table outside and our waiter is delighted to see Konstantina and when he learns we are visiting from the US, we get the VIP treatment. As is often customary in Greece, he brings us each a drink of home-made ouzo, on-the-house. It is STRONG, so we cut it with some water, but Konstantina is used to it and drinks it straight. We order some appetizers and get some wonderful meals including chicken souvlaki.
After dinner we go for a walk to see more of the town and do a tiny bit of souvenir shopping. The sun has set and winds are blowing lightly off the water as we walk by the waterfront. Numerous boats are tied up and we can sense what a great little place this would be to visit in the summer months. Konstantina takes us to the Mermaid Statue and then we head to the room while Konstantina hops on her motorbike to bring us some wine and dessert from one of her favorite places.
Once she’s back, we sit in the living room area of our hotel room. We talk for hours as we enjoy the delectable pastries and cakes – and wish we had a second bottle of wine AND more time together.
We highly recommend including both Nikopolis and Prezeva in your travels to Greece. If it hadn’t been for wanting to meet Konstantina, we probably wouldn’t have come here – and that would have been a huge loss to miss both places. We hope we return in 5-10 years to more fully enjoy Preveza and to see the excavation and restoration progress on Nikopolis!
Day 7: Preveza to Kalambaka
Driving Preveza to Kalambaka
It is time to leave the coast and head to the mountainous interior. We really, really loved this part of the road trip in Greece as the views just kept on giving at every twist and turn in the mountains as we pushed towards our next stop. Thanassis has learned how much we enjoy back country roads, so we take the longer, non-highway route.
Near Kalambaka are the historic Meteora Monasteries. We had seen pictures of this area of awe-inspiring rock formations with a series of monasteries perched up high in the air and became intrigued, so it was included in our lists of stops. We get to the area in the early afternoon, but our tour isn’t until the next day. Thanassis takes us up in the area of the monasteries and we stop at one not on tomorrow’s tour. Unfortunately, it is closed so we hit the road for more views of the area and to get a few photographs before heading to our hotel for 2 nights.
Kalambaka
We walk around the small town for bit, taking in the scenery and ambiance before following up on a restaurant recommendation Thanassis has given us.
Late Lunch
Tsikeli Boutique Hotel
We are staying at the Tsikeli Boutique Hotel and our room has a balcony with a wonderful view of the some of the nearby granite outcroppings which treat us the following morning to a glorious sunrise. We must say that our tour company did an excellent job with all our overnight accommodations!
Dinner
We had a late lunch, but still need a small snack for dinner so we decide to not adventure out of the hotel for dinner and end up having a great little pizza in Senses RestoBar, the hotel’s restaurant.
Day 8: The Meteora Monasteries
Meteora Monasteries
The historic Meteora Monasteries are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Greek word “meteora” means “suspended in the air”, and this phrase aptly describes these remarkable Greek Orthodox monasteries. The views were breathtaking of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains.
Between the 13th and 14th centuries, twenty-four monasteries were once constructed high on the top of tall vertical rock formations to make them difficult to access. The average height is 1000 feet, but a few go as high as 1800 feet. One had to scale a series of ropes and ladders to get in and any heavy items were winched up by hand. Only 6 remain active and today, but today there are bridges and steps, even if some of them are fairly long and steep. Two are inhabited by nuns and the other four by monks.
According to our guide, Greece treats this site as virtually another country where taxes and Greek law doesn’t apply.
To enter a monastery, women must wear a skirt – knees covered by pants are not enough. They sell large scarves for 3.5EUR and Nancy had to buy one and tie it around her waist. Almost all the “scarf skirts” that we saw were thin and see-through, so it just doesn’t seem to make sense. We guess that with over 2 million visitors each year, half are probably women and half of those probably come without a skirt and need to buy one. Do the math and it is quite a money maker.
Each of the monasteries have very valuable collections of art and artifacts reaching back to the early Middle Ages. Unfortunately, photography in most of these areas is prohibited so we only have a small sample. In one area, Harrison didn’t see the sign and got reprimanded by one of the nuns. LOL.
One Monastery that wasn’t open was Holy Trinity Monastery. It was featured as a setting in the 1981 James Bond thriller “For your Eyes Only”. Our guide told us this movie opened the tourism gate for this area of the world.
Trikala Fortress
We have several hours left before dark and Thanassis suggests heading to the Trikala Fortress. We drove down to the town of Trikala and visited a Byzantine castle/fortress that was high up overlooking the town. Most of it was closed, but it was wonderful just to walk around. There was a beautiful clock tower on the grounds and we walk around it too before heading down to the town square and exploring the town.
Trikala
It’s Sunday and this town doesn’t have a lot of tourist traffic, so we get to immerse into what the weekend life is like for a little bit. We wander around the main town square area for a while and then stop in at one of the local cafes for a cold beer and just to relax. Once we order a second beer, they bring us a free appetizer.
Dinner
Thanassis gives us a wonderful dinner suggestion at a restaurant about a 1/4 mile from our hotel. The Gardenia Tavern isn’t crowded and we enjoy a quiet dinner. We opt to share a fresh tomato salad and the Greek traditional meal of moussaka, a lasagna-type dish made with eggplant, beef, mashed potato, cheese and a béchamel sauce.
As we walk back to our hotel, we take a wrong turn, but once we figure that out, we turn around and make our way back. Once back at our hotel, we buy 2 bottles of beer and a bottle of wine that we enjoy out on our balcony.
Day 9: Kalambaka to Delphi
Kalambaka to Thermopylae Battlefield
We leave this picturesque mountainous region and head south toward Delphi. We passed tons of beautiful scenery and stopped for a bit at the ancient Battlefield of Thermopylae which is a significant event in ancient Greek history and took place in 480BC.
Thermopylae Battlefield
You may recall a movie called the “300” from a few years back that recounts the heroic stand the vastly outnumbered Spartans took against the invading Persians. It was the Battle of Thermopylae and for three days, the Greeks held a narrow pass against the Persians vast forces, before being outflanked on the third day via an obscure goat path a traitor showed the enemy. In ancient times this was a very narrow pass with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.
Thermopylae means “hot gates,” in reference to the presence of the hot sulphur springs in the area. In Greek mythology, the entrance to Hades, the underworld was thought to be at Thermopylae.
Where is the Battlefield?
Today as you look across from the mountains you see a wide plain of fields and houses. Since this used to be a narrow pass between a mountain and the ocean, the natural question is – how did the landscape change so much? We find out that over the last 2500 years, earthquakes caused the land to rise and the sea to recede, so the ancient battlefield conditions no longer exist.
Thermopylae Battlefield to Delphi
As we push back into the mountains from Thermopylae we are treated to more wonderful mountain and valley views.
Ancient Delphi
Delphi (pronounced “Dell-fee”) was once considered the center of the world by ancient Greeks. It was marked by the stone monument known as the Omphalos of Delphi. According to Greek mythology, Zeus launched two eagles from the two ends of the world, and the eagles, starting simultaneously and flying at equal speed, crossed their paths above the area of Delphi, and so Zeus placed the stone there.
We begin our tour of this UNESCO World Heritage site by walking up the “Sacred Way’, a wide stone road that winds past the stoa (covered walway or portico) and through many treasuries and locations of statues now housed in the Delphi museum. Many Greek city-states built treasuries to house gifts that commemorated their victories they believed resulted from the advice of the oracle. The road leads up to the main focal point, the Temple of Apollo.
Those who’ve read about ancient Greece have heard of “The Oracle of Delphi”. An oracle was thought to access portals through which the gods spoke to people, providing insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions of the future. The oracle’s powers were highly sought after and never doubted. Any inconsistencies between prophecies and events were dismissed as failure to correctly interpret the responses, not an error of the oracle. Oracles were always female and were virgins. Our guide, Georgia, tells us there were multiple oracles over 12+ centuries, each one lasting 13 to 30 years. The oracle was located in a particular room underneath the Temple of Apollo near an area spewing hydrocarbon vapors rising from the earth that some believe were hallucinogenic.
As we visit the theater, our guide tells us that Greek theaters were built carved into hillsides while Roman theaters were built on solid ground using stone and cement.
Delphi Museum
After touring the ancient ruins, we head to the Delphi Archaeological Museum to view artifacts found at the site. It is one of the most visited museums in Greece and contains a wonderful display of statues, in particular.
Fedriades Delphi Hotel
We get checked into our hotel, the Fedriades Dephi Hotel, and we have a great view of the valley from the balcony of our room. They serve breakfast at their rooftop restaurant, and we look forward to tomorrow’s breakfast with a view.
Delphi Today
The town of Delph is near the archeological site. It is small and only has a couple of streets. As usual, we walk around for a bit to just enjoy it all and then head out for dinner.
Dinner
Thanassis recommends yet another fabulous place for dinner. To Patriko Mas is busy with 2 large groups (one has 12+ people and the other 20+ people). This is the most crowded any restaurant has been in Greece. We watch as great looking (and smelling) dishes are delivered to their tables. We get a wonderful table with a view of the valley below and are treated to a spectacular sunset. We share a delightful dinner of chicken filets with potatoes and treat ourselves to a dessert of cheese pie drizzled with honey.
Day 10: Delphi to Athens and Back to Rome
Today is our last day in Greece. We fly back to Rome on a 10:30pm flight so we have quite a bit of time today!
Temple of Athena
Just below Ancient Delphi is the Temple of Athena. It was not part of our tour of Delphi, so Thanassis takes us there on our way out of town. He tells us this temple, viewed from Ancient Delphi above, is one of the most iconic photographs you will see in guidebooks. We climbed down the hillside and spent some time wandering the ruins. People traveling from the east to Delphi would see this first and know they were almost to the Temple of Apollo. The complex consists of altars, temples and 2 treasuries. It also contained a round structure that is unusual in Greek architecture. Called The Tholos, it had a domed roof.
Arachova
Distomo
We drive for another 30 minutes through the town of Distomo on our way to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hosios Loukas. As we approach and pass through this town, Thanassis relates to us the story of the Nazi massacre that occurred in this little town on June 10, 1944. As a part of reprisal for a partisan attack upon a Waffen-SS convoy, the Nazi’s went door to door and slaughtered 228 men, women and children. On a hill nearby is a monument to the victims.
Monestary of Hosios Loukas
We’re thinking – another monestary, like we haven’t seen enough monestaries? We couldn’t be more wrong – this was probably our favorite of all those we visited.
Hosios Loukas is a historic monastery in Greece, founded in the 10th century by a hermit named Luke of Steiris. He is most famous for having predicted the conquest of Crete by Emperor Romanos but is also known for other prophecies and miraculous healing “powers”. The complex is one of the most important examples of Middle Byzantine architecture and art. The centralized parallelogram-shaped monestary is the oldest example of the cross-in-square type in Greece. The monastery is attached to a katholikon (a Catholic Church) that represents the earliest domed-octagon church. St. Luke’s elaborate crypt is beneath the church. It wasn’t uncovered until 1960 when restorations and cleaning took place. Believers made pilgrimages to this site often sleeping in the tomb to seek out its healing effects. The entire church is decorated with rich marble, mosaics, and frescoes.
We pay a small donation and walk around this site for about 90 minutes before we head out to continue our journey to Athens.
Back to Athens
As we push back to Athens from Hosios Loukas, we pass through a large agricultural area where cotton is being harvested with big combines. It is a very scenic drive and Thanassis points out some of the interesting features that we pass. At one point we pass the memorial to the partisan resistance in World War II and Harrison was able to get a quick picture as we passed it. We pull into Athens and as we get close to our next stop at the National Musuem, the traffic intensifies.
National Archaeological Museum – in Athens
We wanted to visit the National Archaeological Museum earlier when we were in Athens, but it was closed the morning we had available. With a late evening flight back to Rome, we had plenty of time to fit this in. We asked Thanassis if we could stop off and visit this for a few hours and he graciously accommodated us. We when first arrived, we wondered if we have made a mistake – a large cruise ship had just dumped a huge number of people off at the entrance and it was incredibly crowded. We worked our way to the back of the museum and freed ourselves of this after about 15 minutes. After that, were able to really enjoy this stop and all it had to offer.
It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of Greek Antiquity artifacts worldwide. The museums displays are organized by time period, starting with artifacts from the Neolithic/Mycenaean Era. There are numerous marble and bronze statues, decorative vases, large frescoes and other antiquities. During World War II the museum was closed, and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting. The museum was re-opened in 1945.
Athens to Rome
It’s late when we land, so our hotel airport shuttle has stopped for the day. It seems to take forever to get a cab to the hotel where we are only going to sleep for a few hours before we get up to catch the flight home from Rome. All in all, this works out without a hitch and after a 10-hour flight back, we are once again safe and sound back in Virginia.
Summary
This was a really wonderful way to spend our fall adventure. We really grew to like how this form of travel (in Greece and Egypt) worked with a driver, dropping us off and picking us up. There’s no worry about directions, finding parking or gasoline, and no concern for getting to a tour/destination on-time. Our driver was in contact with our tour guides to ensure they were there when we arrived. He offered commentary along our route and allowed both of us to take photos, since neither was driving. Our driver got to know us and the types of experiences we enjoy on our adventures. He took alternate, more scenic routes when possible that we probably would never have known to drive. We have always driven ourselves (like we did in the Italy leg of this adventure and our countless cross country North American trips), but this form of travel definitely has some strong pros to it.
We also loved the lodging our tour company arranged for us. Every place was small, intimate and included a full hot breakfast buffet. Every place was in a prime location for what we wanted to do/see in that town and was within easy walking distance of wonderful restaurants. We learned travel agencies typically have relationships with these hotels so we had some of the best rooms at less than we could have booked them ourselves.
Based on our experience now we are definitely going to explore doing more of this type of travel with small group or private van tours where you can get a rich and tailored adventure created to your liking.
What’s Next?
At the moment are headed back to Europe next year for a river cruise and we have several other North American adventures planned which we will post on as they occur. We are also long-term planners and are already started exploring the next areas in Europe that we want to go after next. Adventure planning never stops!
You can find the links to the other two legs of this adventure here.
The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 1 – Italy
The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 2 – Egypt
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