I know March isn't the peak season, but that's kinda why I'm going then.

Will fly into Athens and stay for a few days in Crete as well.

Anyone ever been to Greece? Have any good or bad experiences?

12/30/2008 10:14:00 PM

Bump for input -- I'm teetering on doing a similar trip soon.

12/31/2008 2:50:01 AM

Ironically, I'm also considering it.

Definitely enjoy the ouzo.

12/31/2008 3:18:29 AM

Coincidentally, you mean.

12/31/2008 11:33:55 AM

Make sure you get the good ouzo. I got fucked up on some cheap ouzo while in Athens and it almost ruined the taste for it for me.

My time in Athens was kind of a haze because I had been traveling on buses and not sleeping for a couple days, and when I got there I just drank and drank. I do remember the main area for going out late at night was pretty awesome. There are like 3 or 4 streets that all run together where there are bars, clubs, etc. everywhere, and it was probably one of the best night spot areas I went to in Europe. I ended up going in early around 4am because I had to catch a ferry to Santorini...but I had friends stay out till about 6am and had a blast. I did the sight-seeing (the Acropolis and surrounding areas) and that was pretty cool. There actually wasn't much there because it was all so damn old...but it was just cool being in the presence of the Acropolis knowing how long it had been there and the shit that went down.

There was a really cool market area near the Acropolis too...make sure you check out the antique spots around there. The stuff that was showing up at those places was amazing (just completely random, cool shit).

Didn't go to Crete...but heard good things. Santorini was incredible though...so I'd recommend a two day or a day trip if you have the time.

12/31/2008 11:51:21 AM

Just know that if Russia attacks Turkey from the rear, Greece will not help.

1/1/2009 6:31:59 AM

I spent a day in Athens and 7 days in Santorini a few years ago on my Honeymoon. I really feel like we saw all we wanted to see in Athens in 1 day although we were exhausted at the end of the day. 2 days would have been ideal.

As suggested earlier, Santorini is a must see. Beautiful island. Decent bus system to get you to the main attractions on the island. We stayed in Fira, but easily took a bus to the black beach, the red beach, and Oia.

1/1/2009 9:46:47 AM

My husband said Athens was like a dirty New Orleans. I would recommend staying around the Plaka as much as possible. I think the hotels around Omonia Square weren't too bad. The ouzo is STRONG. Metaxa is also something you should try. The Byzantine Museum is pretty cool, and we could see some sort of changing of the guard from the museum balcony. The subway is cheap and clean (clean compared to NYC, not spotless like the DC metro). You have to walk through a neighborhood to get to the Acropolis. The signs for it are just hand-painted ones stuck in people's yards. There was a deal when we went where buying tickets for the Acropolis also got you tickets for a few other places.

During the day it's a regular city, tourists going to the sights and all. At night everyone comes out, all the cafes are open, EVERYONE is drinking coffee. We walked around all day long, and we were coming from walking for four days straight in Rome, so we didn't do much at night.

It's not as nice as Rome, but it's definitely worth checking out. Just be careful. We had no problems, but the place is a powder keg, as demonstrated by the recent riots.

1/1/2009 5:45:19 PM

eat lots of food... there's nothing better than greek food

1/1/2009 6:07:00 PM

Quote :

"Going To Greece in March - Any Advice?"

Advice: PLEEEEEEEEEEASE TAKE ME!!

1/1/2009 11:42:28 PM

Be sure to visit the historical stuff - even though they've touristed it up, one of the coolest things I saw in Europe was the Parthenon. Surprisingly, the beer selections are small, at least in the restaurants I went to. Try the local wines if there are any, and eat fish when you're on the coast. Fresh caught fish in a greek harbor is awesome.

Like everywhere else, you'll find people who speak English, especially at hotels, in the big cities - but on smaller islands, you'll have a harder time. My parents went to Santorini - I didn't - but they said it was awesome.

Oh, and if you want a Greek salad like you'd get here, order a rocket salad. Real greek salads don't have lettuce.

1/3/2009 2:08:34 PM

out of all the places ive been in europe from various trips (italy, france, uk, germany, austria, spain, portugal, holland, denmark) , greece is by far my favorite

if you get a chance, take a 2 hour roadtrip from athens to the mountains and visit delphi .. its unbelievable

if you plan to commute by plane through italy .. dont take olympic airlines, its gov't run and not privatized .. delays and cancellations are frequent

also the traffic in athens is unreal .. dont plan on driving at all

1/3/2009 2:44:22 PM

since im going in March (the off season), the traffic shouldnt be that bad.

Cant fucking wait.

1/5/2009 11:44:02 PM

i went for 3 weeks last june and it was pretty awesome. if you want good food stay away from the touristy areas unless you like spending a stupid amount of money for something that just is pretty average when compared to what's really out there.

no lettuce in greek salads, gyros are made with pork or chicken, never lamb and sometimes have fries on them. they are also stupid cheap. (like 1-2 euros) don't order gyros from sitdown restaurants, get them from the little greasy stands. if you order water in a restaurant it comes in a large bottle and therefore is not free. soda's are amazing as they don't use high fructose corn syrup. (coke is 10000x better).

definitely get a chocolate filled sesame pretzel thing from the stands in syntagma. soooo good. the coconut stick things are good too.

i would recommend eating saganaki as much as possible. (fried cheese, unfortunately they don't set it on fire and yell opa like they do here)

if you run across a theos vanias (my family's bakeries), get the cream filled bugatsa. great breakfast food.

i think there are 3 of them in athens, but they arent near the touristy areas iirc.

mythos is like greece's budweiser.

definitely get the pass that lets you see the parthenon, temple of zeus, museums, etc.

check out the first modern olympic stadium and walk to the top of mount lycabettus and visit the chapel of st george while you are up there. (AMAZING VIEWS of the city) there is also a cable car that's pretty cheap if you don't feel like walking.

for trendy/expensive shopping and restaurants go to kolonaki, its pretty close to syntagma square.

cab drivers will overcharge the shit out of you if you will let them, especially going to and from the airport. don't be afraid to call them out on it. also cab drivers are nuts. they will not hesitate to park/drive on curbs and sidewalks so never assume they are going to stop.

i never had a problem finding english speaking people so i wouldn't worry too much about that.

i wish i could remember the names of some of the restaurants my family took us to. they were infinitely better than what was in the plaka. (basically the area around the acropolis)

santorini is gorgeous.

if you go to mykonos stop by the dorian hotel and find out how to get to a lady named voula's house/bed and breakfast. (the manager is a hugggge fan of her cooking and will glady steer you her way). basically if you want some of the best food youve ever had you need to go here. her meatballs are insane.

1/6/2009 12:41:36 AM

bump for my trip in less than a month

can't fucking wait.

Even lined up a meeting with a Potential Client in Athens.

2/10/2009 9:49:30 AM

i've been to Crete. Chania has some good restaurants and bars. There was one restaurant in particular that I really liked, but I can't think of the name of it offhand.

2/10/2009 10:01:23 AM

Didn't most of Greece burn to the ground with all those riots they had?

2/10/2009 3:52:01 PM

Don't throw anything at cops.

2/10/2009 3:55:41 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNIxODEAQZI

i love no reservations.

2/11/2009 12:50:36 PM

Chania, Crete





navy base in souda bay
[Edited on February 11, 2009 at 2:04 PM. Reason : asfd]

[Edited on February 11, 2009 at 2:08 PM. Reason : asdf]

[Edited on February 11, 2009 at 2:09 PM. Reason : i think that Lithos restaurant in the 3rd Chania picture might be the one that i liked]

2/11/2009 1:58:03 PM

Santorini:

2/11/2009 5:30:18 PM

i was seriously considering a greece sailing vacation in july but am postponing it until maybe next year. you basically get on a sailboat and tour different islands and sleep on the boat.

2/11/2009 5:43:10 PM

tip the pilot when exiting the aircraft.

2/11/2009 6:03:47 PM

^^

How much would that run you??

2/11/2009 6:20:40 PM

^^^ I thought about doing the same thing through croatia a few years back.

2/11/2009 6:23:44 PM

^^^^ When did you go to Santorini (month)? Water warm/cold?

I so wanna go but the flight is so expensive from RDU.

2/11/2009 7:14:41 PM

its an 8 day trip, $800 in advance, 200 euro when you arrive

meals are on your own on the islands, lodging is obviously on the boat

plus the plane ticket to get there.. thats what killed the deal for july. two friends of mine are going and invited us but the notice was too short to come up with $5k for vacation

2/11/2009 11:07:15 PM

ha, I forgot about Mythos beer

2/12/2009 2:37:52 AM

Quote :

"When did you go to Santorini (month)? Water warm/cold?"

I was there in the first week of October. I was in the final two weeks of a European backpacking trip.

Weather was amazing. Low to mid-80s the whole time. Water temperature was perfect too. Perfect time to go. End of the tourist season...not too crowded. And a lot cheaper. We had a friend there, so we kind of got the hook-up...but we met some Canadian girls there that were paying 25 euros a night for a very nice hotel room.

2/12/2009 10:34:42 AM

if you have limited time on the islands
rent a scooter and roam around, the views are killer on mykonos and pathos

2/12/2009 10:53:39 AM

for getting hammered and whoring around, I highly recommend

Mykonos and Rhodes. In Rhodos, Faliraki was a pretty cool beach area and lots of wasted English, German, Irish girls, etc.

In Faliraki, during the day, people sort of just hang around on the beach, but at night the place goes bananas.



But Paradise Beach in Mykonos is also pretty farking amazing.




And like Duke, I've been to Chania more times than I care to count. It's aight, nothing special.

2/12/2009 1:28:55 PM

Greece is fucking awesome

Also, it might be different now, but around 2005 everything was really cheap...you don't have to spend a lot

it's the shit

2/12/2009 5:04:46 PM

Sweet! Check this out! Just added a soccer game to the mix.

Quote :

"Dave mentioned that we have an opportunity to go see a soccer match at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on one of our free evenings (Saturday, March 7). The two teams playing will be Panathanaikos v. Larissa. Panathanaikos is the local team and their color is green. Larissa’s color is burgundy (so don’t wear that color if you are going!). *Here’s a little more information if you are interested about Panathinaikos Football Club: Panathinaikos F.C. (Greek: ?.?.?. ?a?a???a????), also known as P.A.O. (?.?.?.), is a Greek professional football club based in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1908, they play in the Super League Greece and are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Greek football history. They have won 19 Greek championship titles, 16 Greek Cups and in 1971 they reached the European Champion Clubs' Cup final. According to International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), Panathinaikos F.C. is by far the most successful Greek club for the period between 1991 and 2008 and holds the 52nd place in IFFHS Club World Ranking for the aforementioned period."

GO PANATHANAIKOS!!!

2/12/2009 6:47:43 PM

that's sick, definitely, definitely don't miss that. greek soccer fans are nuts.

while I was in thessaloniki, aris (thessaloniki team) had a game against AEK athens and everything pretty much shut down because of it. unfortunately the game was beyond sold out and aris ended up losing anyway.

random aside. it was really funny hearing cab drivers talk about how the greek national team beat team usa in basketball. (i think we lost in 2006 but they made it sound like we had just lost to them that day)

have fun, i really want to go back now.

2/13/2009 1:33:58 AM

bump.

next Thursday!!!

cannot wait.

2/23/2009 8:24:27 PM

The eagle has landed safe and sound in Greece.

There is this amazing African Fog that is blanketing Athens right now. So mysterious and beautiful.

Staying at Electra Athens. Amazing 5 Star hotel.

This should be a great trip.

3/6/2009 10:43:14 AM

Raki, Retsina, Ouzo. Watch out for the Raki though...
Look down alleyways for small local places that serve mezzanines (Greek tapas). Grilled Octopus with a bottle of Ouzo and ice ... my favorite.

[Edited on March 6, 2009 at 5:30 PM. Reason : ]

3/6/2009 5:25:29 PM

Quote :

"mezzanines (Greek tapas)"

hahahaha thanks for the laugh

3/6/2009 9:36:42 PM

This...short of having a child and getting married, has been the greatest week of my life.

On to Creete in the morning! (It's 2:21am here)

3/9/2009 8:21:36 PM

did you get a chocolate filled sesame pretzel thing yet?

3/9/2009 11:10:03 PM

bump. going to Greece in May. Any new advice?

10/7/2017 11:39:03 PM

A couple of friends and I grabbed a cab (which I am still amazed didn't wreck) and asked the driver to "Take us to a good restaurant."

He drops us off, and in a very heavy accent, says something along the lines of "Here, this is very goot restaurant...but after 10, it is, ehhhh, how you say...it is poo-sey place! Very goot, very goot food, it is goot restaurant...after 10, it is not same, it is poo-sey place!"



[Edited on October 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM. Reason : i think he repeated it more than that...we got it the 1st time, which made it even funnier, haha]

10/8/2017 12:00:05 AM

What part are you going to? Athens was worth seeing the obvious stuff but overall with all the graphiti and such the city just seemed trashy to me which was very disappointing. I only spent time in Athens and then the rest on Crete which was much much better.

10/9/2017 8:20:49 AM

Athens and Santorini as of right now. Initial plan is to spend 3 nights in Santorini and 4 nights in Athens. Is that too many days in Athens? Should I add a third destination?

10/9/2017 9:32:49 AM

I havent been to Santorini but I have heard its similar to Crete so I would try to spend more time there. I basically did all the Athens stuff in one day but two would allow you to explore more but depends on what you want out of the trip I guess. I dislike big cities in general anyways so for me after 2 days I was ready to get out of there. The port in Athens at night was one of the scariest places I have been kinda felt equivalent to walking down through a bad section of town at night except carrying luggage so its obvious you are a tourist haha.

10/9/2017 9:39:45 AM

I completely agree that you should spend more time in the islands and less in Athens.

I liked Athens a lot for the historical and tourist sites but I'd only do a day or two.

As others in this thread have suggested, go to Crete. If the places my wife and I visited (Athens, Crete, Mykonos, santorini) this was probably my favorite. That said, I don't think that it is particularly similar to Santorini. It's a big island that requires a rental car that really explore and has tons of sand/pebble beaches to find. We spent he first two nights in Heraklion after flying down from Athens. In retrospect, I'd probably eliminate this city mostly because it's a typical bustling small city. There were a couple of great historical sites, but those could easily be a day trip from elsewhere.

The last part of our Crete portion was in Reythemno and if I I could do it all again I'd stay there the whole time. We stayed at Avli lounge hotel and the place was great and the service even better. It was in the old part of town so you have to carry your luggage a ways from the parking lot. We mostly spent time driving around the island in search of great beaches. St Nicolas beach was good, not my favorite. Elafonisi was pretty great but I liked Balos beach way better. Perhaps my favorite was Agiofaraggo because it required driving down dirt roads for a while, parking the car and hiking (easy hike) through a canyon before getting to a private cove beach. Google them all and you won't be disappointed.

Santorini was great too, but very different. There are relatively few beaches and most time is spent lounging by small pools overlooking the caldera. The Fira to oia hike is pretty cool and there is a good swimming spot down the 150 stairs of the amoudi bay at the ebd. I highly recommend staying at one of the typical cave style hotels around Imerovigli or oia. The views are amazing and the service is generally awesome. We stayed at above blue suites and it was fantastic. That said, you probably can't go wrong with most similar offerings

10/9/2017 9:09:28 PM

I stayed outside Chania on Crete and most of what was said is true. We took an overnight ferry from Athens and arrived before sunrise so we were able to get to the downtown area with the lighthouse to watch the sunrise and eat breakfast which was pretty sweet.

We only did Elafonisi beach which was an interesting drive through mountains on small narrow roads populated mostly by goats haha. That beach was very cool and provided great pictures and pink sand. Then of course the beach at the resort we stayed at.

We drove down one day and hiked the Mili Gorge which was a pretty nice hike down through a gorge towards the sea but if anyone ever does this make sure you start at the bottom and not the top, I made that mistake. I had read there was a place to stop for food and drinks at the other end and the GPS took us to the parking lot at the top. Needless to say we hiked all the way down and the place at the bottom was a place you would see in some horror film with all sorts of creepy statues and baby doll heads and creepy stuff. Needless to say we saw no one around other than dogs so we headed back up and I was nearly dead by the time we made it back up. Turns out if you start at the bottom you get the uphill out of the way and the place to get food and drinks is at the top where we started haha.

10/10/2017 8:48:45 AM

Thanks for the tips. Ill add Crete to the trip. Probably fly into Athens and go straight to Santorini for 3 nights, take a ferry to Crete for 2 nights, and then fly to Athens for 2 nights.

[Edited on October 11, 2017 at 12:05 PM. Reason : a]

10/11/2017 12:04:06 PM

So final itinerary for trip in May is 4 nights in Santorini and 3 nights in Athens. Decided not to fit more than two destinations.

Any recommendations on things to do in either/both locales aside from the normal touristy stuff?

1/16/2018 2:02:53 PM

I would have a backup in case you don't like Athens tbh. Everybody I know who's been says it sucks compared to the rest of Greece and they wish they'd spent more time outside of it. I won't be in Greece until August, so I can't help you before then, but we are only spending a day there. The rest will be on Crete and Santorini.

2/5/2018 10:56:32 AM