Greece 2010-2011 Itinerary in brief: Patras, Olympia, Nafplio, Epidaurus, Mycenae, Corinth, Athens, Delphi, Kastraki (Meteora), Ioannina, Igoumenitsa. Country: GREECE (GR)
Number of days (from and to Rome): 12
A fascinating journey from Italy by car to discover classical Greece and Meteora in winter. Total km covered from Rome: 2,603 (in Greece 1,758). The quality of the roads in Greece is not particularly good. Apart from a few motorway stretches near the big cities (especially Athens), most routes run on secondary roads, some of which climb through the dense mountains of the interior. Roads often deserted, never busy, except for the road network of Athens. Our Tom Tom with the Greek maps was essential! Greece is quite cheap, in this season, especially as regards restaurants and hotels (it is, obviously, a low-season period). Less cheap, in proportion, bars and venues in general. In many venues and many hotels in Greece free wi-fi is available.
Guides used: Lonely Planet, excellent for travel advice, for restaurants and venues, for the less touristy routes, also because it has now reached its tenth edition and the Italian translation of the original English one is from June 2010, and Touring Club, excellent instead for visits to sites and museums. The opening times of sites and museums are often wrong in both guides. Almost all sites and museums in this period close at 15.00. Do not trust the opening times of the archaeological sites and museums found in the guides. In winter almost all sites close at 15.00. We booked the hotels from Italy via the internet. The best: the Athens Gate Hotel in Athens, well furnished (renovated in 2007), clean, excellent breakfast in the Roof Garden with a view of the Acropolis. Also excellent is the Best Western Europa in Olympia.
What would we not do, if we could go back? Certainly not arrive at the site of Epidaurus to find it already closed (grr...), perhaps sleep in Kalambaka instead of Kastraki, certainly not have devoted an entire day to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and perhaps not use Endeavor Lines as the company for the return trip. Even though tour operators' itineraries rarely go beyond a seven-day programme, having had the time we would certainly have devoted at least two weeks to the trip in order to savour more slowly the slightly less touristy face of mainland Greece out of season.
We decide to leave Rome by car on December 27 to arrive in Bari in the evening and board for Patras. The company chosen for the outbound trip is Superfast; the ship is decent, the cabin small but comfortable. We arrive at the pier at 18:00 to depart at 20:00. Despite the very rough sea we manage to sleep all night.
We disembark at Patras at 13:00. We set the address of Olympia on our Tom Tom and begin the magnificent Greek adventure. The road chosen is not the coastal one, but an inland country road, rather deserted, interrupted every now and then by villages of old houses often unfinished and left as bare blocks. We decide to take a break at a place in a small inland town, where a group of local men were drinking ouzo. We ask for two coffees and immediately realize that for them two coffees means two frappés. We smoke a cigarette, amazed by the fact that in almost all Greek establishments you can smoke, and chat a bit with the group of men sitting at the table, who insist on offering us a drink. Surprised, we thank them and resume the route to Olympia.
We arrive at the Best Western Europa Hotel**** (Drouva 1 – Ancient Olympia – tel: +30-26240-23850), an excellent hotel with very spacious, clean rooms and a good breakfast. The hotel is fairly close to the Olympia site, but it's better to have a car. We decide to take a walk around Olympia and after just a few minutes we realize we are almost the only tourists in town. Few shops and few places open. After a stop at a bar we return to the hotel to rest a bit. It isn't easy to choose a place for dinner given that it's low season, but we're lucky and manage to dine in a delicious taverna recommended by Lonely: Thea (Floka – tel 2624023264), not far from the hotel. With an excellent Greek dinner and the first of a long series of ouzo with ice, we conclude this first intense Greek day.
Excellent breakfast at the hotel and an appointment at 10:00 with the guide we had booked from Italy (Cleopatra – tel: 0030 693 7317110) for the visit to the archaeological site of Olympia, where we immerse ourselves for two hours in the atmosphere of the Olympics of ancient Greece. We are pleasantly struck by the presence of few tourists at the site. We leave the hotel and set off for Nafplio, an excellent base for visiting the Argolid. The 174 km separating the two cities are covered in more than 3 hours, since these are high hill and mountain roads. We arrive at the Marianna guesthouse, located in the upper part of the city (9 Potamianou Str – Tel +30 2752 024256), very pretty with an excellent view over Nafplio and the Argolic Gulf. The owner is very kind and helpful. To be recommended especially in summer for the many terraces and tables with a view.
We go down to take a walk among the alleys, mostly pedestrian, of this romantic city full of life that unfolds, given the season, in the numerous bars and cafés. We have dinner in the center at the restaurant Alaloum, very touristy, not to be recommended.
Good breakfast at the hotel and departure for the visit to the site of Mycenae. We stop along the road at one of the many fruit vendors and buy 5 kg of mandarins that will accompany us for the whole trip, all the way to Rome. We arrive at ancient Mycenae, making a stop at the majestic Tomb of Agamemnon, also known as the Treasury of Atreus. After visiting the museum, through the imposing Lion Gate, we reach the citadel of Mycenae and visit the Palace of Agamemnon, the cistern and the tombs, including that of Aegisthus and that of Clytemnestra. In the morning we resume our journey to Ancient Corinth, with a visit to the ruins located in the center of the modern city. Our attention is captured by the Temple of Apollo, a building in Doric style at the foot of which lies the vast agora.
In the afternoon we leave for Epidaurus, where we arrive around 3:30 pm, noting with deep regret, to use a euphemism, that the opening hours of the site listed in the guides are wrong. The site closes at 3:00 pm and not at 5:00 pm as both guides stated. Annoyed by the inconvenience, we decide to return to Nafplio and console ourselves with an aperitif on the terrace of our hotel, which was also kindly offered by the owner. Dinner at a decent restaurant in Nafplio (To Koutouki - Olgas 44), where we eat grilled meat and a good moussaka to the sound of the typical Greek kithara.
Breakfast and departure for Epidaurus with a stop at the supermarket to buy sparkling wine to toast the new year and the Vassilopita, the typical Greek cake eaten on New Year's Eve. Visit to the wonderful Theatre of Epidaurus, one of the best-preserved classical structures in all of Greece, also famous for its extraordinary acoustics. We continue the visit of the site, with the exception of the Temple of Asclepius which during our visit had been covered with earth by the archaeologists. We set off again for Corinth with an inevitable and somewhat disappointing stop at the canal, and continue to Athens, our destination for New Year's Eve. The hotel chosen for Athens is the Athens Gate Hotel**** (10, Syngrou Avenue, Koukaki – Tel 210 9238302), in a splendid position at the foot of the Acropolis, of which there is a magnificent view from the Roof Garden where breakfast is served.
The hotel is very nice, the rooms clean and well furnished. We go out for a walk at the foot of the Acropolis and to check the opening hours of the site (every day until 3:00 pm) and of the new Acropolis Museum (every day until 8:00 pm – closed on Monday). We decide to eat at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, in the Plaka district, and to go celebrate midnight at Syntagma where a concert and fireworks are scheduled. The restaurant is Mono (Paleologou Venizelou 4 – tel 2103226711), near the Cathedral. Contrary to the guide's description of refined Greek cuisine, we find a typically Spanish menu. The dinner is good anyway. Around 11 pm we leave the place and walk the streets of Plaka, crowded with people, which lead us to Syntagma, the large square with the former royal palace, current seat of Parliament, where we also witness the changing of the guard.
The concert we were waiting for is in fact played by the brass band arranged on the steps of the square. The clock in the square reads 11:40 pm when in reality it is 11:50 pm. When they start setting off the fireworks, we understand that it is Midnight. A very sober New Year's Eve. In the square there are no Greeks, only non-EU foreigners, mostly men, and a few tourists like us who haven't yet realized the passing of the decade. Somewhat disappointed, the square empties out and we head toward the streets of Plaka that lead us to the hotel, where the sparkling wine, the Vassilopita and the Italian midnight with satellite TV await us.
We wake up late and have breakfast facing the splendid view of the Acropolis. The sky is overcast, though it isn't raining. We decide to rest a little longer in the hotel and postpone the discovery of the city to the early afternoon. The city still seems sleepy, the archaeological sites and museums are all closed. We decide to take the walking tour of the city recommended by Lonely Planet, which will prove to be full of surprises. We start from the Temple of Zeus, which however we only see from the outside, since it is closed, with the Arch of Hadrian next to it towering over the wide Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias. Continuing toward Plaka, we find ourselves in front of the ruins of a Roman monument in the outer courtyard of the Church of Agia Ekaterini, from the 11th-12th century. We continue toward the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, from 334 BC.
A staircase then leads us alongside the Acropolis up to the Church of St. George of the Rock, which marks the entrance to the picturesque Anafiotika district, a village of whitewashed houses that belonged to immigrants from the Cycladic island of Anafi. Continuing along the narrow path that winds between the houses, we pass by the old University of Athens until we come to a long staircase that leads us to the small Klepsidra Café. There we stop for a coffee in an atmosphere that recalls the Greek islands. An itinerary not to be missed. We resume the walk to the ruins of the Roman Agora. From there we visit the Turkish Baths, the gate of the Muslim seminary and the Fethiye Mosque. From the Agora we pass by the Library of Hadrian and find ourselves in Plateia Monastirakiou, where the flea market is located.
We continue the walk toward the Cathedral of Athens, inaccessible inside due to renovation work. Next to it, however, stands the smaller but much more evocative Church of Agios Eleftherios, from the 12th century. Dinner at a typical Greek taverna, again recommended by Lonely, Palia Taberna tou Psara (Erehtheos 16 – tel 2103218734). Good dinner with the inevitable ouzo to finish.
We wake up early. Today rain is forecast, to be reconciled with the visit to the Acropolis. At 9:30 am we enter the Acropolis (free admission on the first Sunday of the month!) in the rain. After the entrance, the imposing Propylaea stand above us in all their magnificence. We pass through them and wait to encounter the Temple of Athena Nike, which however has been dismantled, it seems for the third time in its long life. It is impossible not to be enchanted by the splendor of the Parthenon before us! It is the temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the largest ever built in the country and the only one made entirely of Pentelic marble. Finally the sanctuary, that is the Erechtheion, dedicated to the worship of Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus (mythical king of Athens).
The feature that makes it recognizable are the six female figures of larger-than-life size supporting the southern porch, the Caryatids (women originally from Karyai, in Laconia). The copies replace the originals kept in the new Acropolis Museum. Leaving the site, also to shelter from the rain, we head to the new Acropolis Museum, inaugurated in 2009, ten times larger than the previous one, which houses the treasures of the Acropolis including artifacts previously kept in other museums or in storage, as well as pieces returned by foreign museums. We return to the hotel, rest a little and then decide to discover the Tissio district, this time however using the metro whose stop is a stone's throw from the hotel. We take a walk in the district, decidedly less touristy than Plaka, a living room with an Acropolis view, full of cafés and bars frequented by Athenians.
We enter a place, which we discover to be Argentine, for an aperitif. Dinner at one of the best restaurants we tried in Greece, also in Tissio (Filistron – Apostolou Pavlou 23).
Although we had booked the hotel in Delphi for the following night, we decide to make the excursion to Delphi as a day trip, both to avoid the snow forecast in Delphi (570 m above sea level) and to stay one more evening in Athens. The journey turns out to be less long than expected and the temperatures less cold. As soon as we arrive, fortunately it also stops raining, so we can enjoy this magnificent site perched on the edge of a cliff. Here too, the presence of few tourists makes the atmosphere even more special. Having more time available this time, we decide to also visit the museum, not to be missed, where we can admire the splendid Sphinx of Naxos, the frieze of the Treasury of Siphnos, the "twins of Argos" from the 6th century BC, the tall Acanthus Column with the Dancers and the famous Charioteer of Delphi.
We return to the hotel a little sorry to have to leave Athens the next day. We decide to celebrate the last evening with a dinner at one of the restaurants recommended by both Lonely and the Touring Club, without a doubt the best we ate at (Tzitzikas & Mermingas – Mitropoleos 12-14 – 2103247607). If you decide to sleep in the area, we recommend the delightful little village of Arachova, near Delphi, at 970 m above sea level, offering very evocative views of the Greek mountains.
Before leaving Athens, after the usual breakfast with a view of the Parthenon, we treat ourselves to one more walk in Plaka, with a bit of shopping on the pedestrian shopping street (Ermou) that for the first time we manage to see on a weekday. We arrive in Kastraki (a hamlet of Kalambaka) in the late afternoon. We settle into the hotel (Doupiani House – Kastraki Meteora – Kalambaka – Tel 0030 24320 75326 & 24320 77555) which is located right at the foot of the Meteora. The hotel is nice, the room too, the bathroom a little less so. The owners are rather stingy with information, contrary to what was announced in the Lonely Planet guide. We go out early to enjoy the breathtaking view. It feels like being in a science fiction film.
The Meteora area (Meteora means "suspended in the air"), rich in monasteries clinging to the pinnacles of smooth rock, is a plunge into the deepest and most deeply rooted tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy. Kastraki is a small, very quiet village close to the cliffs and 2 km from Kalambaka. It doesn't offer much for the evening, except for a few tavernas and a couple of bars, and it is certainly not rich in charm. However, we decide to stay in Kastraki anyway, where we choose a taverna awarded for its use of traditional ingredients, where we eat an excellent moussaka and again grilled meat. The evening ends with the inevitable ouzo, sipped in a jazz bar, warmed by fireplaces, very cozy and unexpectedly very busy (ABG Café – 2432075627) in Kastraki. If you pass by, stop at least for a moment.
The day is entirely dedicated to visiting the Monasteries. It is not easy to find the opening hours because they are not always respected. Each monastery is an autonomous entity and follows its own precise hours. As a general rule, they are all open in the morning (but not every day). The afternoon hours vary, but never extend beyond 5:00 pm. Women without a long skirt are provided with this garment at the entrance of the monasteries to wear over any trousers. We begin with the Monastery of San Nikolaou Anapafsa (tel 2432022375), the first rocky spur encountered when climbing up from Kastraki, which undoubtedly leaves an indelible impression.
Set on a narrow rocky spur, accessed by a long staircase, it develops vertically, with the church and the refectory on the first floor, topped by the monks' cells on the upper floor (Winter hours: Closed, in reality it was open - Summer hours: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm). We continue the itinerary toward the Monastery of Rousanou (tel 2432022649), accessed via a small wooden bridge. The convent's church is a beautiful Byzantine-style building, with a rather high dome. Both the main body and the narthex are decorated with remarkable frescoes, mostly splendidly preserved, despite being four centuries old. The monastery today houses 15 nuns. (Hours 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm, except Wednesday - closed). From the Rousanou Monastery we reach the Monastery of Varlaam (tel 2432022277), easily reachable in just under 200 steps, which date back to the 1920s.
Large and well-kept, it houses a small museum, an original rope basket (the method for hoisting provisions up to the monks) and beautiful late Byzantine frescoes. (Winter hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm - Summer hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm). In the afternoon we visit the Monastery of St. Stephen (2432022279), in the southernmost part of the Meteora. The rock on which it rises is connected to the opposite slope of the hill by an 8 m long bridge, which was once movable. The small church of St. Stephen, decorated with 16th-century frescoes, is truly fascinating. The monastery is completed by the guesthouse, the courtyard, the monks' cells and the refectory. (Winter hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm - Summer hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm).
The Monastery of the Great Meteoron is closed, so we postpone the visit to the following morning. We spend the afternoon resting in the hotel and decide to spend the last Greek evening in Kalambaka, which despite being an almost entirely modern town, having been razed to the ground by the Nazis in World War II, is pretty and full of life. We have dinner at Taberna Panellion (2432024735), located on the main square. A typically Greek dinner, made mostly of grilled meat. We end the evening over a melancholy end-of-holiday ouzo.
After breakfast, we leave for the visit to the Monastery of the Great Meteoron (tel 2432022279), certainly of great impact, located on the highest rock of the Meteora complex (613 m above sea level). A series of dark corridors and small steps carved into the rock lead to the ancient tower with the winch, the oven and some cells. But what strikes you most is the imposing church inside the complex, dating back to the late 1300s and entirely covered in frescoes. (Winter hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm; Summer hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm). We return to the hotel and prepare for departure. Next stop: Ioannina. We arrive at our destination in about an hour and immerse ourselves, on the last day, in a reality still so different just a few kilometers, about 50, from the border with Albania.
The lively life described by the guides, due to the presence of the university, is immediately noticeable from the large number of young people we find on the street and in the bars. The place we choose for lunch (Mystagogia – 2651034571) is mostly frequented by university students. It is very nice, spread over three floors with a large covered terrace and live music. The dishes served are excellent and, unfortunately, plentiful. After lunch we head toward the fortified citadel, dominated between 1788 and 1821 by the controversial figure of Ali Pasha. We stroll among the narrow streets and climb up to the ancient Mosque. Beautiful view of the lake, the minarets and the islet of Nissi.
A coffee at one of the large bars with elegant verandas overlooking the lake, and then we set off again for Igoumenitsa where we board the Endeavor Lines ferry, rather below standard (we slept without heating because it wasn't working, despite having reported it).
For the return, the company chosen is Endeavor Lines, cheaper but rather mediocre, we slept without heating because it wasn't working, despite having reported it. We disembark at Brindisi an hour early, and continue to Rome.
16 photographs · click to open them full screen
0 reader comments