Advice for one day in Athens

Will be in Athens for a precruise day on Oct 24. Has anyone used a private
tour guide that they can recommend. We usually meet people, hire a taxi
for half day and see the points of interest. Has anyone done that in
Athens? Have never been in Europe, so a little unsure of the best way to
see the highlights. Holland America is not offering anything precruise. My
other option will be to have the concierge at our hotel work something out
for us. Would appreciate any suggestions from experienced travelers. Thanks
Jeri

Jeri252 wrote:
> Will be in Athens for a precruise day on Oct 24. Has anyone used a private
> tour guide that they can recommend. We usually meet people, hire a taxi
> for half day and see the points of interest. Has anyone done that in
> Athens? Have never been in Europe, so a little unsure of the best way to
> see the highlights. Holland America is not offering anything precruise. My
> other option will be to have the concierge at our hotel work something out
> for us. Would appreciate any suggestions from experienced travelers. Thanks
> Jeri
>
>
Well, its been many years since we did this back on our 25th anniversary
cruise out of Athens, but like you, we had a day available. We did it
totally on our own and its still my wife's most memorable birthday (the
day just happened to coincide). Guide was not needed, we managed just
fine with absolutely knowledge of Greek. So if you're up to an entire
day of walking (we went out after breakfast and came back after supper)
here's what we did:

I don't remember the hotel we were in, but it was on the main road
between downtown Athens and Piraeus. We just took a cab from the hotel
downtown to Sintagma Square (these names are all from memory) square and
hopped out, map in hand.

We wandered westward towards the Monastiraki area exploring all the
small old streets in the area. Eventually we reached the area of the old
Agora and headed down into it to explore. From there we wound our way
upward towards the Acropolis and headed up for an exploration there.

Coming back down we turned back northeast into the little old streets
below the Acropolis again and wandered some more. Had a very memorable
lunch in a small courtyard outdoor restaurant. Great food, atmosphere,
fed tidbits to the mother cat and kittens which were hovering around and
toasted the great birthday by trying out some Greek Metaxa brandy.

Then headed down southeast and visited the remnants of the (I think)
Temple of Olympian Zeus.

From there we walked the rest of the way back to our hotel, sat in the
bar and had some more Metaxa (great stuff!), a few bar snacks and fell
into bed totally exhausted. But what a day! It was great to have no
pressure to meet any kind of schedule.

You may not do anything close to this, but I enjoyed writing this for
you. It brought back loads of great memories. Isn't that what vacations
are for?

George

On Sep 3, 9:07 pm, "Jeri252" <wvan...@> wrote:
> Will be in Athens for a precruise day on Oct 24.  Has anyone used a private
> tour guide that they can recommend.  We usually meet people, hire a taxi
> for half day and see the points of interest.  Has anyone done that in
> Athens?  Have never been in Europe, so a little unsure of the best way to
> see the highlights. Holland America is not offering anything precruise.  My
> other option will be to have the concierge at our hotel work something out
> for us.  Would appreciate any suggestions from experienced travelers. Thanks
> Jeri

There will be tons of taxi drivers for hire when you arrive at the
port, too. If you are a walker, most of the usual sites are within a
very walkable locale once you get there, so an alternative is just
getting a taxi from the port to, e.g., the Acropolis to start your
day. We actually did the subway from the port into town--very doable,
if you're interested, read up in advance so you understand a) where
the station is adjacent to the port (a quarter mile walk, I'd guess),
and b) the station names / where you want to exit.

Have a great day in Athens! It's a fascinating city. Gotta love the
people and food, too.

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

Oh, silly me. I apologize for reading too quickly--you will be in
Athens pre-cruise. I think the essential advice is the same: from your
hotel, assuming it is fairly central, you can walk to most of what you
want to see; taxis are cheap; and if you want a tour, Spiros is often
recommended, I would trust Number 6's judgment implicitly, he has a
lot of fun with explorations.

Diana Ball