Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Overview

Our trip to Greece was a last minute decision as I spotted an irrefusable bargain on Qatar Airways. This trip was squeezed in between on the other trips we planned last year for our 10th Wedding Anniversay Year. We went to Siem Reap in early May, a week later I went to Tokyo when the husband went on his business trip, followed by the trip to Greece in late May. Not forgetting we went to Italy for a 2 week trip in late feb/early march. I was a happy bunny with all those travelling :)

So with our air tickets sorted, I had to plan where we wanted to go in Greece. All the years of living in UK where all my British friends would be off to Greece for their summer breaks, we had never ventured that way. The husband and I are not really sun, sea, sand and beach people. Our worse holiday would be spent on a beach resort in a tropical country!! We prefer cooler climates, driving holiday and walking to discover beautiful sights.

I have always heard great things of Santorini, and with a bit of research, I was sold on going there. Of course since we were flying into Athens, we were going to explore Athens. The husband is a history buff, so we had to decide if we were going to do a driving exploration or just follow a tour. After reading a few websites where they described Greek drivers as hormone-ridden teenagers who have no driving licenses, and steep, windy roads. It didn't take much convincing to pick to go on a tour. 

The most popular tour offered was a 4 day Classical Greece tour, you will find it being offered by expedia, viator and most tour agencies in Athens. There are price differences between the agencies, so do spend a little time researching. Some tour agencies consolidate all their customers into one tour, while the larger agencies don't. If you google 4 day Classical Greece tour, your search results will give you various hits. We ended up going with Antelope Travel based in Athens. They had online booking and payment facilities which was very convenient for us. This tour is available from 1st April to 31st Oct with English or French tours available. You can choose between staying in what they called a First Class or a Tourist Class hotel. After checking lots of review sites, I decided it wasn't worth to pay for First Class hotels and went with Tourist. It was only after the tour ended that I realised that they upgraded us to First Class and I paid a lot less than if I had booked a tourist class hotel tour with Expedia or Viator. Bargain again!! Yeah!!!

I will again break up the Greece Travelogue blog posts into several parts to cover each place we went in detail:

Route of 4 Day Classical Tour. Source: Trafalgar Tours

1. Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Exploring Athens Part 1
2. Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Exploring Athens Part 2 (Acropolis)
3. Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Exploring Athens Part 3 (Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion)

4. Travelogue: 4 Day Classical Greece Tour: Day 1 (Corinth Canal, Epidaurus & Olympia)
5. Travelogue: 4 Day Classical Greece Tour: Day 2 (Ancient Olympia & Delphi)
6. Travelogue: 4 Day Classical Greece Tour: Day 3 (Delphi & Meteora)
7. Travelogue: 4 Day Classical Greece Tour: Day 4 (Meteora & Drive back to Athens)

8. Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Greek Cuisine
9. Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Santorini : Arrival/Accommodation
10. Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Santorini: I never want to leave

The history, culture and sights in Greece is amazing and we had only covered a tiny portion of the country. We hope to be able to return again soon. This time when we move back to the UK, it will be much easier just to pop around for a holiday :)