Greece

Our trip was nothing short of magical. Greece is wonderful country to visit.  

What makes it so special? The ancient sites, the friendly people, the lovely accommodations, the excursions, the unique landscape, the turquoise Aegean Sea, the fabulous food and our awesome travel companions were absolutely the best.

Our friend, Debbie, is a miracle worker with the patience of a saint when it came to booking our flights, hotels and transfers. We couldn’t do this life without her!

Our Itinerary

We had 11 days in Greece and decided to island hop. Our journey took us from Boston to Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Paros, back to Athens then home. We felt that if we didn’t try some of the country’s most popular destinations, we would always be wondering about them. If you click on the Gold colored hyperlinks throughout the blog you will be brought to the separate blog about that particular destination.

Athens – 2 nights then flew to first island

Santorini – 3 nights then ferried to next destination

Mykonos – 2 nights then ferried to last island

Paros – 2 nights then flew back to Athens

Athens – 1 night then flew out to Boston in the AM

The only thing that we would have changed on our trip would be to spend more time in each spot – 2 nights is not enough time to get the feel for each place and too much of each day taken up by moving around. The local flights and ferries were short, but traveling to airport, flight, baggage collection then transportation to hotel takes up a lot of time.

Each place could have been its own vacation, but we wanted to see as much as we could fit in for our 11 days. Moving forward, we will a lot at least 3 nights per stop when traveling by plane, train or ferry. If traveling by car, shorter stays are ok.

The flight from Boston is 9+ hours so it is important to plan sleep accordingly. We flew overnight, arriving at 8:30 am. Our hotel held our bags until we could check in closer to 3pm. For those of us who did not sleep well on the plane, this made for a long, tiring day.

Timing

High season in Greece is the summer months, which can lead to overcrowding and extreme heat. We wanted to skip that, so we visited in the very beginning to the middle of October, which is considered the “shoulder” season, which is also a little less pricey. The temperature is a little cooler – 70’s to 80’s in the day, high 50’s to high 60’s at night (more bearable in our opinion). Dress was shorts or sun dresses in the day and a light sweater or jacket at night.

The crowds are supposedly not as bad in October, but we thought it was pretty crowded. It’s hard to imagine how it would be in the summer, especially in the heat. Stores, beaches and restaurants were closing for the season during our visit, with many on the islands stating if they weren’t already closed, they would be by October 20^th. Most of the staff told us that they come to the islands annually from Athens to work every day from March to the end of October, then return and take some time off. Beach clubs, restaurants along the water, etc… might be closed if you visit past peak. We couldn’t help but notice that many workers, though still pleasant, were already mentally checked out. Who can blame them after working so much all summer.

Getting Around

Getting around Greece with 8 people posed some challenges. We booked transfers to and from hotel/airport/port ahead of time and unfortunately, the first one did not wait for us after our 15-minute delay at the gate. We were able to use two taxis to get to our first hotel (a bit more costly than the transfer would have been). We chose not to rent cars on our trip (we would have needed 2 each time) and were happy we didn’t after our introduction to Athens driving with our initial cab ride. There are so many scooters in Athens that, along with the cabs, don’t seem to obey any traffic laws. Lots of travel sites and previous travelers recommend renting a car in Santorini as the island is fairly spread out. Again, with 8 people we opted not to, but this is a viable option that we did not look into.

We mostly walked the steep hills and stairs all over Greece. Though we anticipated the rigor of this, it is important to know how challenging this is going to be before taking on a trip like this. We found this to be a bit more laborious than imagined. Our group is all around 60+ and me in particular with a hip issue, but others with a sore knee, hip and foot. We agreed that we would not want to try this any later in life (unless you are in tip-top shape).

We hired concierge recommended drivers with a vehicle to accommodate 8 people for our local rides to dinner or to sites. Typically, $10 (Euro) per person or under each way – seemed pricey when they would say $80 (Euro) each way, but not bad when you think per person. In Santorini we met George (center of photo). George drove us all around the island for the 3 days we were there, then took on driving Evan and Kelly on their honeymoon. George is planning a trip to Boston soon and has been invited to visit with us during that time. We are looking forward to catching up with George then!!

We used some public busses (in Santorini) which were easy and affordable, $2 (Euro) each way. We also opted to do a Hop on Hop off bus on our second day in Athens to bring us to some of the touristy spots – the Acropolis, the Ancient Olympic Stadium and the changing of the guard, though there was some walking and inclines once you got there.

Communication

Learning just a few words in Greek goes a long way. When we made the effort to greet or thank the locals in Greek, they would smile and become even more friendly. We ended up finding a shirt that had all of these translations on it which became invaluable.

Good morning – kalimera

Good evening – kalispera

Please and you’re welcome- parakalo

Thank you – efcharisto

Trying to make phone calls on our cell phone did not work well. The drivers had us download “What’s App” and used that for contacting locals. It worked well when they answered.

Accommodations – Utilize the Concierge

When planning with a group, the discussion came up whether to do hotels or Air BnBs. We felt that at least at our first stop we wanted to have the support of the concierge. We ended up using all hotels and all the concierges were so nice and helpful. They answered any questions we had and assisted in dinner reservations, tickets to various sites and with transportation.

Our hotels were all great. I have graded them out of 10 points and explained why I deducted points or gave a perfect score. Each hotel offered breakfast with the price of the room which came in handy. Athens 1890 even gave us a boxed breakfast on our last morning because we were leaving before breakfast time.

Athens – Athens Manor Houses – 8/10 (-2 for no elevator, 3^rd floor)

Santorini – Hotel Atlantis in Fira – 9/10 (-1 no elevator, 2^nd floor)

Mykonos – Absolute Mykonos – 8/10 (-1 no elevator, -1 hotel up a steep incline from downtown area)

Paros – Kanale’s Rooms & Suites – 8/10 (-1 no elevator, -1 vertical living, many flights from lobby to room and then to pool and up again to dining)

Athens – Athens 1890 Hotel & Spa – 10/10 (centrally located, elevator, 30 minutes of spa time included)

Greek Foods

Greek food is amazing. There is definitely something to the Mediterranean diet. All the salads, seafood and fresh ingredients are so good!! And the cocktails were fantastic too. See the blog on the Foods of Greece.

Currency/Credit Cards

Greece uses the Euro as their currency. The exchange rate varied greatly from our planning stage (1:.77) to a better rate while we in country (1:90). We exchanged some USD for Euro at AAA in Massachusetts. We started with $300 USD which only gave us $255 Euro. We ended up needing to take out another $300 Euro once there. Most places take credit cards, though not many take American Express. We mainly used our Chase Sapphire card which does the conversion for you and there is no foreign transaction fee. We used cash for small mom and pop type restaurants who preferred or required cash, for tips (5-10%) of bill in restaurants, hotels and drivers is recommended.

Packing

We feel that we mastered our packing during this trip. We try to travel with carry-on luggage only, especially after bringing large suitcases with us to Italy (Positano) – BIG MISTAKE. This is more cost-effective since most airlines now charge more to have a checked bag, but also more convenient than having to play the waiting game at the baggage carousel – will it come out or will it not. We definitely don’t like to check bags when there are connecting flights. For Greece, we did pack carry-ons but since it was a direct flight and our other travelers were checking bags, we checked ours as well.

 We (Jim & Patti) each packed a 20” suitcase along with a Foldie bag as our personal item. Jim had a backpack to bring along and I had a cross-body bag as my purse (both of these could fit into our Foldies).

In the suitcases we rolled our clothing – all shirts rolled together, all dresses rolled together, etc… and all fit just fine. Blow is the description of what Patti packed as hers was a little more than what Jim needed.

In Patti’s suitcase:

5 dresses

5 T-shirts

2 pairs of casual pants

2 pairs of dress pants

5 pairs of shorts

5 blouses

2 bathing suits

1 bathing suit cover up (and bought another one there)

1 light sweater

1 shawl

12 pairs of underwear

12 pairs of socks

In Patti’s Foldie:

2 pairs of shoes – dressy and flip flops

Toiletries

Medications

Jean Jacket (kept handy for plane as can get cold)

Electronics case – headphones, chargers, adapter, portable charger

Cross-body bag

Patti wore on plane:

Yoga pants

T-shirt

Light zip-up sweatshirt

Walking sneakers

With the logistics of moving around so often, and with the lack of elevators in some hotels, it is important to pack lightly, carry-ons if possible. The drivers and hotel staff can be good about helping with bags, but not always. Some hotels have their drop-off a distance from the main entrance over cobblestone or up an incline or stairs.

Packing cubes can be helpful for organization, Patti used them for her shoes inside the Foldie so everything didn’t get dirty from contact with them. Most of the larger hotels provide a laundry service for a minimal fee, but when moving around as much as we did, we didn’t use it. It can take a day to be completed. I washed out some T-shirts in the sink and hung them in shower or on the balcony if I wanted to wear them again. There are all sorts of helpful hints on various Youtube or Tik Tok videos about how to pack – bring only neutral colors, wear each top twice, etc… I found that with the amount of walking we did, I needed to wash each shirt before wearing again. It worked out well. I probably could have fit some T-shirts in Jim’s bag or in my Foldie and not worried about washing them.

The Foldie

Without realizing it, 5 out of the 8 of us had a Foldie bag for carry-on. Several had the Foldie cross-body bag as well. We have had ours for a couple of years now and love them. The other owners have newer versions that have some handy our pockets that ours don’t. We ended up ordering a new one for Patti and a couple as Christmas gifts of our children. We also ordered a Foldie cross-body.

Electricity/Adapters

The adapters for Greece are “C” or “F”. We used “C” because that is what we had at home. I believe “F” has the third prong. We did find, though, that our steamer wouldn’t work there with the “C: adapter. It wouldn’t work once we got home either. One of our travel buddies couldn’t use her hair appliance over there either. We don’t know if it killed the drier or not. Each room had a hair dryer, but irons were hard to come by. Only one of our hotels had one. We had the front desk bring one up, but we had to share it between our rooms.

Toilets

Yes, the rumors are sort of true. Greece, especially on the islands, has a water problem. The water is not drinkable. The hotels ensure that there is bottled water in your room for drinking – at least 2 bottles. They may charge you for more after that. Many of the bathrooms (not hotels) had signs to not flush ANY paper down the toilet. Yes, this included toilet paper. We spend a lot of time on boats with portable toilets, so we are used to that request when it comes to urine. However, we did take exception with that when going number 2!! Or when someone is menstruating!! There were trash receptacles provided for the TP. We did what we felt we needed to do in those situations and so should you.

Our Destinations

The problem with a trip to Greece is that there are too many islands to pick from, meaning we need to come back many more times. Next time we would opt out Santorini and Mykonos, having already now been there, and check out other popular islands next, such as Naxos, Milos, Crete. If we do a 3^rd trip, we would then go to less popular, smaller islands to just relax!! Of the 3 islands we visited, Paros and Santorini have our heart. Mykonos was beautiful but is more of a young person’s island with restaurants that become clubby later. That is fine, but it seems to be the focus of the businesses.

The people of Greece were so welcoming and accommodating. We felt completely safe in all areas we visited. We were amazed by the number of stray cats in Greece – all over the country – in Athens as well as on each island. We are not cat people, but they didn’t bother anyone. Cats just wandered around the streets, keeping to themselves.

to the Acropolis. This was unique as stairs help you navigate the incline. Restaurants are on the patios with the steps going through the center of them. We ate an incredible lunch in Plaka at Ydria Cafè, but not on the stairs.

moving forward – just so much to share!!

Until next time,

Patti & Jim