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Come in if you've gone to Greece/Greek cruise...
We are thinking of going to Greece next year- not sure if we'll take a E. Med cruise or go to Greece and explore on our own.
If you've done either, will you let me know your itinerary and your thoughts about the cities you visited? (Hotel recs too if you remember..)
Thank you!
Re: Come in if you've gone to Greece/Greek cruise...
I've done it both ways (cruise and just fly). The cruise went to Santorini, Mykonos, and Athens. By air, I've been to Athens and Crete.
I like sailing better-- the islands really are very beautiful. I'm not too impressed by Athens (don't get me wrong the history is impressive), but the city itself isn't my favorite. Two days is usually plenty for me in Athens and I feel the same way about Crete.
If you cruise, I'd recommend flying into Athens 2 or 3 days early to explore the city and then go off and enjoy the islands and the beaches. The islands, while lovely, are do-able in a day's port stop. I mean, while I could def relax at the beach forever, I wasn't heartbroken to have to leave at the end of a day (Mykonos and Santorini).
Thanks for your perspective. So, you didn't feel "rushed" by only having 1 day at each city? That seems to be the main callout for an Italian cruise so I guess I thought it'd be the same for Greece...
eta: Which cruise line did you go on?
We sailed Celebrity out of Rome to GR and Turkey.
I agree that it's not ideal to see IT via cruise. IMO the major tourist cities (Rome, Florence) need at least 3 days. Even if you're not a big art person (I'm not), the Vatican museum and the Uffizi are each worth the better part of a day, the cities themselves are geographically large(ish) and so easily take 2 days to see the highlights.
The Greek islands that I've been to (Mykonos and Santorini), on the other hand, are pretty much beach towns-- little shops but not alot to see/do, other than the natural beauty of the beach/volcano/springs, which you can do in a day. Crete's larger, but I still think you can hit the highlights in a day.
Mainland Athens does have more than the islands, but IMO doesn't take as much time as Rome or Florence. For me, I was a little rushed in Athens on the port spot. However, having been back for 3-4days, I don't think I would need THAT much time. I'm just not that into the city, beyond the primary tourist attractions. Not sure if that's helpful, because everyone's taste is so different.
VABeach- thanks so much for your insight! We'll look into sailing for Greece/Turkey. Still not sure if we're going to do mainland Italy (non-cruise) or Greece/Turkey (cruise)...
ETA: How did you like sailing Celebrity? Did you partake in any shore excursions (either through the cruise line or third party)?
Let me caveat my responses by saying that I have take a cruise from Athens to the Greek Island and Turkey BUT it was 10 years ago.
I was with 3 girlfriends and we LOVED Athens. We stayed in Plaka and had such a fun time. The Acropolis was amazing, it really took my breath away. I wish we would have had more time to tour Athens.
On the cruise (which I think was Costa Cruises?) we went to Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete and Kusadasi(Ephesus), Turkey. We loved all of them, and I think a cruise was a great way to see so many places in a week.
Now I also studied a semester in Rome, so I can't say enough good things about Italy. Either trip you choose will be amazing!
It is so hard to decide! We took a family vacation to Rome/Florence/Venice/Paris/London 15 years ago for almost 3 weeks and I loved Italy. DH has never been. We both have never been to Greece either. I really like how cruises kind of give you a "glimpse" into a city, but reading on this board- people say they wished they could have taken more time in the actual cities @ Italian ports. I thought it'd be the same thing too for Greek ports, but now I'm not so sure.
Celebrity had really, really great rooms (very well-designed spacious for a ship). I've only been on Royal Caribbean and Carnival international-cruiselines, and I'd say Celebrity was much nicer room/spacewise. The food was good. I also liked the specialty restaurants (upcharge to go, but, I thought worth it). The one con, the crew was definitely tired/overworked. While they were all nice people, almost every single crewmember complained about how long they had been at sea. Understandable, but kind of depressing on a vacation.
YGPM
ygpm!
We went to Greece on our own for our HM in 2006. We spent 3 days in Athens, though one day was a day trip to the Argolis area (Mycenae, etc) which was great. We had enough time in Athens in 2 days to see all the major sights. We enjoyed the sights and found some good restaurants thanks to Rick Steves but some areas were super touristy and waiters were standing outside trying to lure you into their restaurant where you'd then have a very mediocre meal. Not my favorite part of the trip but I'm still glad we got to see the Acropolis, the archeological museum and the Agora.
We then flew to Santorini and stayed in Imerovigli at the Iliovasilema hotel. This was gorgeous! We loved our stay there (we stayed for four days). The view from the terrace was amazing. We walked to Fira one day and took a boat tour to the volcano and Oia (took the bus back to the hotel at the end). We walked all the way to Oia another day. Beautiful hike! We rented a car another day to see the south tip of the island, the red beach, and Perissa. Also stopped by some wineries.
Finally we took the fast catamaran to Crete and stayed there for 5 days. Rented a car for the whole time and divided our time between Chania and Rethymnon. Booked a day tour to the Samaria Gorge. Drove across the island to Elafonisi, a beautiful shallow beach on the south side. Also drove to Knossos another day. The harbors at Chania and Rethymnon were full of great restaurants.
We booked everything there through a travel agent in Athens (Dolphin Hellas). That was perfect for us.
YGPM...
We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Greece for our Honeymoon in 2009. Best trip ever. I've never cruised so my opinion is biased...I'd avoid the cruise so you can spend more time in each place and really explore. We did Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini and Athens, in that order. We had four-five nights in all places.
I loved each island, they all had something different to offer. In Mykonos we stayed at the Petasos Beach Resort and loved it. Great location...near one beach, near the boats for the other beaches and there was a bus stop right outside the hotel to get into town. Great pool and view!
Naxos is a bit less touristy. We rented a car and drove all over the island, visiting small towns and beaches. Very cool. It's a laid back island.
Santorini is amazing. I know people say it's touristy (and it is), but it's still very much worth a trip! We stayed at Esperas in Oia, in a cave house. Fabulous hotel, amazing view, great rooms! We took a boat trip to the caldera and walked around then swam in the hot springs. We visited a bunch of beaches. Rented a four wheeler and drove all over the island. Went to several wineries. I talk about going back to Santorini all the time!
Athens was really cool because of the history -- the parthenon, etc. We stayed in the Plaka and that was a great location.
Happy planning!
BFP #1 12/28/09 D&C 2/15/10
BFP #2 DS
BFP #3 5/13/12 M/C 6/10/12
BFP #4 8/12/12 M/C 8/18/12
September 2012 - 2.5mg Femara + Ovidrel + TI = BFP #5 Beta #1 - 61 @ 12 dpo, Beta #2 - 183 @ 14 dpo, Beta #3 - 1466 @ 19 dpo
(kind of butting in...)
Did you need to get a special temp of license to be able to rent and drive a car in Europe/Greece? Did you find it difficult to drive over there? Also, did you just rely on a map or did you rent a GPS when you were there?
We got international licenses from AAA. I know we went in and got them same day and it wasn't very expensive. We had a travel agent hook us up with a car rental in Naxos so the car was delivered to our hotel and we really didn't need the international license -- they just took our passport info.
Driving on Naxos was easy because it's not a huge island. We used a map rather than GPS. Overall, it was easy but we weren't in a busy area like Athens!
BFP #1 12/28/09 D&C 2/15/10
BFP #2 DS
BFP #3 5/13/12 M/C 6/10/12
BFP #4 8/12/12 M/C 8/18/12
September 2012 - 2.5mg Femara + Ovidrel + TI = BFP #5 Beta #1 - 61 @ 12 dpo, Beta #2 - 183 @ 14 dpo, Beta #3 - 1466 @ 19 dpo