Porridge Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Anyone familiar with Greece or traveled there before? If you could take your newly 6 and 8 year olds to Greece next spring for about a week, what would your itinerary look like? Which cities / places are must-sees? We did SOTW Ancients last year and both kids loved it. For starters, I think it would be great to take them to Crete (Knossos) and Athens (though I heard there is actually not much to see there besides the Acropolis). Any travel tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I would take a look at some of Rick Steves travel guides for Greece. He does a great job planning a reasonable day (or afternoon) for most people and will have things organised in a convenient way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternallytired Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I went to Greece for a college interim course, so it's been a looong time ago, but... Knossos was one of my favorite sites. The size of the place, the way the tour guides describe what it must've been like... Crete in general is absolutely stunning. As I recall, we took an overnight cruise from the mainland to Heraklion and made stops at Knossos palace, Phaistos palace, Matala beach, Mallia palace, Ayios Nikolaos (beautiful little coastal town--quick stop, as I recall), Gournia (Minoan town), Rethimnon (Venetian fort), Khania harbor (beautiful lunch stop). We spent five days on Crete, just for reference--but I think you would not take as long in musuems with kids, and you could easily pare down the palaces and just pick a palace, another archaeological site, and a beautiful little coastal town to visit and spend a day on it all with overnight cruises there and back. From the mainland, I know we flew into in Athens and saw the Acropolis, the Areopagus, the Agora, and the changing of the guard in Syntagma Square, as well as the National Archaeological Museum. We went to Corinth, which I thought was cool to see as a Christian. Make sure you visit Mycenae! It's pretty cool to walk through the Lion Gate and to see the Treasury of Atreus and walk inside it. I definitely recall our tour of Olympia--running on the field, seeing the theatre, walking the column-lined streets. The other thing that you HAVE to do is see Meteora. It's this ethereal place with these spires of rock on which monasteries were built. You can visit a couple of them, but there are some that are unreachable unless you climb the rock spires. The view is breathtaking, and driving through them is like being in another world. Dug out my itinerary: We took a ship to/from Piraeus, if that helps. I can probably also find more info if I go digging through my notes, so let me know if you want more details on anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kessepha Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Knossos is amazing! So, really, was Athens. Since your kids, are still young, I think it would be a good idea to keep the ruins to Athens and Knossos. Spend a day on the islands, just for the sake of island relaxation. Santorini is beautiful, smallish, friendly and on the top of an awesome volcano! You can stand in town and look over the caldera. I think if I were traveling with little kids, I'd shoot for two days (or so, travel between being a factor) in each of Athens, Crete/Knossos, and Santorini. If I had time for one more, I'd add Rhodes. Its a spectacular medieval walled city. Not all history in Greece is ancient. I traveled in 2012 with my then 15 year old son on an organized academic tour. Best trip ever. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 First on your itinerary: Swing by my house and take me along! :) Lucky! Enjoy your trip! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 thank you all! I had never heard of Meteora but it looks amazing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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