Greece
Athens:
What we did.
1. We arrived in Athens after lunch. We stayed in Acropolis area which turned out to be the perfect area to walk in. We walked up Filopappos Hill. Which was a short easy walk with amazing views. We then went to the Acropolis museum.
2. Second day we bought the open bus for 2 days. We think this is by far the easiest way to get a feel for the city. However it is slow and we hopped off and on the for the following (we have found that it's not worth the stress of trying to see everything, so we don't try).
First Bus Day: Zeus Temple*, National Museum, Changing of the Guard*, Temple of Hephaestus. Then we walked back through all the side streets.
Second Day: Kolonaki square and walked to the tram to the highest point in Athens and then we walked down as it wasn't too far, we bought a sandwich at the Deli on the square (delicious) and walked to the national garden, got the bus to Omonia Square and walked around, then got bus back. We rested, then walked up at 6 to the Acropolis and watched the sun set.
3. Third day we walked back around the acropolis and through the antique and flee markets and had lunch in Plaka square. We then went for our first Hamman where we had a Ali-Mama (visit their website it's a MUST).
N.B. (a) Buy ticket at Acropolis as this ticket incorporates other sites - not the museums.
(b) Acropolis was a great area to stay in as we used the hop on/off bus as our taxi service and the other days we could walk around.
( c) Try Masticha. It's an digestive drink. Comes only from one island and is amazing. Better I would say than ouzo!
What we did.
1. We arrived in Athens after lunch. We stayed in Acropolis area which turned out to be the perfect area to walk in. We walked up Filopappos Hill. Which was a short easy walk with amazing views. We then went to the Acropolis museum.
2. Second day we bought the open bus for 2 days. We think this is by far the easiest way to get a feel for the city. However it is slow and we hopped off and on the for the following (we have found that it's not worth the stress of trying to see everything, so we don't try).
First Bus Day: Zeus Temple*, National Museum, Changing of the Guard*, Temple of Hephaestus. Then we walked back through all the side streets.
Second Day: Kolonaki square and walked to the tram to the highest point in Athens and then we walked down as it wasn't too far, we bought a sandwich at the Deli on the square (delicious) and walked to the national garden, got the bus to Omonia Square and walked around, then got bus back. We rested, then walked up at 6 to the Acropolis and watched the sun set.
3. Third day we walked back around the acropolis and through the antique and flee markets and had lunch in Plaka square. We then went for our first Hamman where we had a Ali-Mama (visit their website it's a MUST).
N.B. (a) Buy ticket at Acropolis as this ticket incorporates other sites - not the museums.
(b) Acropolis was a great area to stay in as we used the hop on/off bus as our taxi service and the other days we could walk around.
( c) Try Masticha. It's an digestive drink. Comes only from one island and is amazing. Better I would say than ouzo!
Meteora
We travelled by train from Athens (5 hours) to Kalampaka.
This area has an amazing history. Firstly populated 130,000 BC you can visit a cave where there is evidence of people living for 126,000 years. On a more recent history hermits came here to live in caves on the sides of rock as far ago as 750 AD. They survived by waiting for the local population to feed and cloth them by lowering buckets from their cave. From then came more monks until they got together and at one point there were 24 monasteries high up on the rock formations. You can visit most at least 12 of them if you wish. The rocks were carried up and only when they had everything ready did they start to build. One monastery took 20 years to bring all the things needed but they then built the church in one month to beat the death of the founder.
Recommendation: take this tour to see a couple of monasteries and the cave. www.visitmeteora.travel
We stayed at Petrino Guest House in Kastraki which is the old town at the foot of the mountains for two nights. Not cheap but very clean, good breakfast and on the second night we got a bottle of home made wine which was delicious. We also ate at a really friendly family restaurant called Taverna Gardenia
We travelled by train from Athens (5 hours) to Kalampaka.
This area has an amazing history. Firstly populated 130,000 BC you can visit a cave where there is evidence of people living for 126,000 years. On a more recent history hermits came here to live in caves on the sides of rock as far ago as 750 AD. They survived by waiting for the local population to feed and cloth them by lowering buckets from their cave. From then came more monks until they got together and at one point there were 24 monasteries high up on the rock formations. You can visit most at least 12 of them if you wish. The rocks were carried up and only when they had everything ready did they start to build. One monastery took 20 years to bring all the things needed but they then built the church in one month to beat the death of the founder.
Recommendation: take this tour to see a couple of monasteries and the cave. www.visitmeteora.travel
We stayed at Petrino Guest House in Kastraki which is the old town at the foot of the mountains for two nights. Not cheap but very clean, good breakfast and on the second night we got a bottle of home made wine which was delicious. We also ate at a really friendly family restaurant called Taverna Gardenia