April 22 - May 7, 2025 - Greece
Greece has long been on our bucket list. After doing Italy last year, this year seemed a good time to visit Greece. Since Rick Steves has a book on Greece, we decided to do the trip on our own, as opposed to a tour like we did with Italy. We basically took the Rick Steves suggested two weeks exploration of Athens and the Peloponnese itinerary and executed it, with some very minor twists. For the first time, we travelled with another couple -- old friends -- as opposed to just the two of us. Also, we added a visit to one of the Greek Islands -- Hydra -- at the end of the trip. We did the trip in the spring to avoid the heat and crowds of summer. Most of our lodging was through AirBnB. We rented a car for transportation between Athens and Hydra. Everything went according to plan, the weather was almost perfect, and we just had a great time.
Click on the following links to see what we saw:
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April 22 : Travel to Athens, Greece
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April 22: Athens Walking Tour
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April 23 : Acropolis Guided Tour - Parthenon
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April 23 : Acropolis Museum
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April 23 : Ancient Agora
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April 24 : Athens Archeological Museum
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April 24 : Athens Food Tour
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April 25 : Thebes
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April 25 : Delphi
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April 26 : Delphi - Sanctuary of Apollo
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April 26 : Delphi Museum
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April 26 : Drive from Delphi to Olympia
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April 27: Ancient Olympics Museum
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April 27 : Ancient Olympics Site
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April 27 : Olympia Archeological Museum
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April 27 : Olympia Town
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April 27 : Olive Oil Mill
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April 28 : Kardamyli
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April 29 : Mani Peninsula - Pyrgos Dirou Caves
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April 30 : Monemvasia Old Town
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April 30 : Monemvasia Upper Ruins
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May 1 : Nafplio
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May 2 : Mycenea
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May 2 : Treasury of Atreus at Mycenea
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May 2 : Epidavros
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May 3 : Corinth Canal - Piraeus - Ferry to Hydra
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May 4 : Hydra Day One
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May 5 : Hydra Day Two
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May 6-7 : The Long Trip Home
I never could have planned the trip without this book. The Rick Steves books have all the information you need. Plus they are beautifully written with regards to the history.
This trip gave me a good reason to start something I've been wanting to do my whole life: read The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant. There are 11 volumes and each one is almost 700 pages or more. The Life of Greece is the second volume and I did get it done prior to the trip. It was excellent.
