May 2025
ATHENS
I’ll meet you at the airport for a Reception to answer your many questions. We will have a small Greek Coffee at the outside Kafenion (may sound silly now – you’ll be glad we did). I suggest you plan a flight that arrives in the morning or the day before your sail begins. It will help your jetlag, give you time to acclimate, and allow you to settle into your lifetime adventure. Bring your Camera for the city and port – this will be followed by a very tasty local’s favorite “Paradosiakos” neighborhood restaurant depending upon your flight arrival.
May 2025
Acropolis & Museum
Bring your Walking Shoes!
Today will be historical for us in every sense of the word. We will walk the pathway heretofore trod by a millenia of predecessors.
What’s more… energy allowing us – we will walk the historical pathway through one of the world’s most ambitious architectural achievements… the Acropolis Museum. Walkways literally made of glass that allow you to look down into the old city ruins! Acrophobics… Hold onto your guide’s hand.
Dinner will be ontop of Restaurant 360. Do Not Forget your Camera today.
May 2025
Corinth – Isthmus & Castle
Bring Great Walking Shoes today!
We will be visiting the Isthmus Canal (one of man’s great achievements). Hungarian and Greeks got together and virtually by hand created this famous crossing. We’ll also take a look under the bridge and view something few will ever attempt in their lives.
We will nosh on souvlaki and gyros with possibly the best Freddo in all of Greece.
Then a hike up to the top of the Acro-Corinth or view the Agora depending upon member’s choice. Past my mother’s old home, a visit to the Temple of Apollo, a sip from an ancient natural water spigot and photographs to rival National Geographic.
We will build an appetite for tonight’s outdoor dining and wine.
May 2025
Nafplion Epidauras Mycenea – Or Dephi 2nd Week
Bring Great Walking Shoes today!
Ultimately, driving into Nafplio is deceiving. It seems a bit like entering a suburb of Athens, with congested traffic, too many buildings and a feeling of disorder.
Enroute to Nafplion, The Day tour will start in the Mycenae (Unesco Site), allegedly the home of Agamemnon. The museum features a death mask ‘stolen’ by Schliemann and purported to be that of Agamemnon. However, the mask in fact predates his death. In any case, it is considered by some to be the Mona Lisa of artifacts.
After our Mycenea Sojourn, and once we are finally down by the harbor waterfront you’ll discover that Nafplio is like a bigger version of the Plaka in Athens, only more beautiful and clean. The harbor square is one of the best preserved 19th Century platias in Greece. It is a very festive town square that often has vendors selling hot nuts, roast corn and cotton candy. Grab an ouzo and enjoy!
Wonders of Epidaurus.
This amphitheater is miraculous in that the skills and maths of the day put to use the Pythagorian Theory to create this analog sound machine in such a large scale. Take a friend… One of you in the last top row… and one of you on the stage… then speak in a normal voice and be blown away.
May 2025
Crete Island
We will fly RT to Crete on Aegean Air from Athens.
Ultimately, we will discover Knossos. The World Famous Minoan Ruins. We will spend a day hiking the world’s largest gorge. The Samarian Gorge. On the south of Crete is a small fishing village, Plakias. We will discover seafood and beaches that defy reasonable expectations of what ‘Amazing’ is all about.
If you are up for a hike through the Samarian Gorge in Crete, you’ll enjoy…
Spectacular views. The 10-mile hike through the Gorge of Samaria can be a Cretan highlight.
Your home base for this loop trip is Hania, a city on Crete’s north coast serviced frequently by the overnight boat from Athens or direct flight. After a scenic 25-mile ride, you’ll be standing high above the wild Gorge of Samaria. Xyloskalo is a small lodge, the end of the road, and the beginning of the trail.
Buses will be full of hikers; no one else would come here at this hour. The air is crisp, the fresh blue sky is cool, and most of the gorge has yet to see the sun. Before you lies a 10-mile downhill trek, dropping 5,000 feet through some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere in Greece to a black-sand beach on the south coast. Descend to the floor of the gorge down an hour of steep switchbacks, where you’ll reach the stream, a great place for your picnic brunch. A leisurely meal will bolster your energy, lighten your load, and bring you peace, as this break will let most of the other hikers get ahead of you.
If the crowds just won’t let up, find solitude by following a stream up a side gorge. Between you and the Libyan Sea on Crete’s southern shore are about eight miles of gently sloping downhill trails. Hiking along the cool creek, you’ll pass an occasional deserted farmhouse, lazy goats, and a small ghost town with a well.
In the middle of the hike, you’ll come to the narrowest (and most photographed) point in the gorge, where only three yards separate the 1,000-foot-high cliffs. Keep your eyes peeled for the nimble, cliff-climbing agrimi, the wild Cretan mountain goats. Finally, by midafternoon, signs of Greek civilization begin peeking through the bushes. An oleander chorus cheers you along the last leg of your hike to the coast.
You’ll find a tiny community with a small restaurant and a few cheap places to stay. The town, Agia Roumeli, is accessible only by foot or boat. Three to six times a day, a small boat picks up the hikers and ferries them to Chora Sfakion (last ride is usually around 6:00 p.m.).
Take a dip in the bathtub-warm, crystal-clear waters of the Libyan Sea. Africa is out there somewhere. The black-sand beach absorbs the heat, so wear your shoes right to the water’s edge. A free shower is available on the beach. The hour-long boat ride (or eight-hour hike) to Chora Sfakion passes some of Crete’s best beaches and stops briefly at the pleasant fishing village of Loutro (with several pensions).
In crossing the island of Crete, the bus goes through some dramatic scenery and several untouched villages inhabited by high-booted, long-mustachioed, espresso-drinking Cretans.
Description by Rick Steves
May 2025
Meteora
Geological & Architectural Wow!
Today we travel from Athens to Kalabaka- Meteora. this is a long and beautiful ride. We’ll stop along the way for a village nosh.
Once there we will see the geological structures that have boggled scientists world wide. No explanation has yet been accepted for how these spire features were created.
What’s more, you’ll be agog at the ability of the Greek Monks and the perched Monastery Masterpieces they’ve created. We’ll hike our way up vs riding the rickety woven basket that is winched up from the ground to the peak.
Kalambaka Hotel
May 2025
Athens Last Day
Return with a New Life Perspective
This is your day to try out the Greek that you have learned. Drop over to negotiate for that special Souvenir. Take a last nosh on your favorite gyro or souvlaki and a cafe’ Freddo.
Then it’s off to your flight back home and memories of Greece
DISCLAIMERS AND TERMS OF TRAVEL
INCLUDED ITEMS
Schedule is subject to unforeseen change without notice as elements of the tour are not certain. Substitution may be made unilaterally by Nicholas Varzos.
8 Days and 7 nights include: Double Occupancy room (unless single supplement is paid). 2 Meals per day with 2 glasses of local wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages per meal. Extra beverages will be at traveler’s own expense.
Small group size – 10 or less.
All entrance fees to museums, tours, trains, taxis, and coaches are included. Private guide or Nicholas Varzos.
Fresh bottled water while touring. Airport transfers.
NOT INCLUDED
Tips, gratuities for waiters, drivers, porters, and guides.
Souvenirs, gifts, personal expenses.
Extra or Premium beverages beyond meal inclusions.
No Drugs are allowed to be carried by travelers unless prescribed by their physician and traveler should carry such prescriptions with their valuables.
Individual Personal Travel insurance for trip interruption, medical and accident issues is required. Each traveler should purchase insurance through their airline, insurance agent, credit card company or other source of their choice at their own expense. Repatriation for any reason is the responsibility of the traveler.