Dream Vacation in Greece

Greece | Mar 8 - Mar 15, 2019

We, a family of four (two adults and two kids, one boy 8 yrs and one girl 11 yrs) had one full week of dream vacation in Greece , thanks to Tasos and his team’s dedicated arrangement! Yes, This is a dream trip that we print out those photos and frame, rather than just post them on social media; a dream trip that turns us into artists, spending hours to record those moments by drawing; a dream trip that could serve as fodder for party conversations for year from now on……..For this, we would like to give a big shout out to Tasos and his team, for helping us develop the most suitable itinerary for our family; for booking most amazing accommodations at each destination; for offering best options/services on means of transportations; for providing 24/7 real-time support and overseeing all details to ensure the perfectness at each stage of the trip.

1) Itinerary
The trip itinerary that Tasos put together for us embraces two types of experiences: immersing ourselves into the world of Greek Mythology and ancient history; living like a local through mountain hiking and farm visiting.

We had spent two days in Athens, visited Sounio (a breathtaking scenery of the Temple of Poseidon at sunset), Temple of Zeus as well as Acropolis through a Mythology tour, Plaka (eating and shopping), Roman Agora (seeing the Tower of the Winds), the Parliament Hill (watching the Changing of the Guard ceremony). Then we drove to Kalabaka, where we had a marvelous mountain hiking with our fantastic tour guide Kris from Meteora Thrones; he took us into the routes where ordinary tourists may not be aware of (thus we could see unique views); we also visited four of the six UNSECO monasteries. The next day we drove south to Delphi Archaeological site (another UNSECO heritage site), where the ancient Greeks considered as the central of the world. Through a private guided tour, we soon understood how those ancient ruins were originally constructed following a holy-path as the Sanctuary of Apollo and the significance of the site of the ancient Oracle in Greece. On the sixth day of this trip, we drove towards the Peloponnese through the impressive suspension bridge of Rio, visited another two UNSECO sites. It was a spring windy day, we thought we saw the best part of the “rich in gold” Mycenaean civilization centre at the Mycenae archaeological sites through the signature Lion Gate and the beautiful “Mask of Agamemnon” (although it is a replica and the real one in National Archeological Museum ); we were also lucky enough to perform in the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, where we enjoyed the astonishing acoustics designed by ancient Greeks 2,400 years ago. Then the next day we had an amazing full day with Stavroula's Grecopaths team. We went to an ancient theater performing mimes and dramas with local elementary students; We visited a local farm, getting to know Greek wine, olive trees, orange trees, lemon trees as well as many types of herbs; We had a delicious lunch and pleasant afternoon tea with the farm owner’s family; we also visited a small Greek pyramid (a hidden gem of Nafplio, many visitors may not know of) in the afternoon. With the excellent guide of Stavroula’s team, we were experiencing the real Greeks for one full day, which became the highlight of our one-week Greece trip.

2) Accommodations
The hotels and B&B Tasos booked for us at four destinations are amazing.

The NLH Fix at Athens has the best location you could have (close to everything); the room is spacious and service is fantastica. The Five-stared Grande Meteora Hotel has one of the best locations in the town, we could see the soaring monoliths from our rooms’ balconies and its sublime beauty cannot be conveyed in words or pictures. The Ippoliti Hotel in Nafpolio, sets in a lovely old pink mansion and is located close to the port, restaurants and cafes.

But our favorite is the Ganimede Hotel in Galaxidi, where we stayed in a family suite with two beds in the upper level and one main beds in the lower level. It locates at a very quiet street and nicely decorated. It offered us a wonderful night resting and “the best breakfast in the world”. We really hope we could be able to stay there longer.

3) Transportation
One convenient service Tasos offered is the airport pickup by our friendly driver Lampros, who gave us the warmest welcome and best introduction service to Athens. While in Athens, we walked to all interested sites as all of them are not far away from each other. The rest five days, Tasos helped us rent a car so we drove every destination with freedom and flexibilities. It is a great way to experience Greece by driving yourselves, the views are stunning and the roads (outside of Athens) are very clean and quiet (Maybe March is the low season?)

4) 24/7 Support and 360 Services
Tasos and his team offered us a local cell phone for communication – all destinations are uploaded into google map and linked to the itinerary; which saved us time and efforts so we could focus on experiencing everything in Greece.
During the trip, we could reach him and his team any time by all types of means. For example, we had an emergency on the way from Nafplio to Athens as we would like to see the Corinth Canal but not sure where we could get the best view. So we called Tasos to let him know our problem. Within less than one minute, he sent us the google map location of Corinth Canal and told us which bridge has the pedestrian cross (so its easier to take pictures).
In the same time, Maria from Tasos’ team also reached us regularly to check if everything is on track. When we asked her to recommend some restaurants along the Plaka while we were wondering there, she sent a list of restaurants within five minutes, each of them are highly rated and great choice for travelers. On the day we were going to leave Athens, Maria also called to check if we need the change the vehicle pick-up place from downtown Athens to the airport as Lampros told her that we were a little bit nervous about driving in the crowded downtown Athens. Although we did not take that offer in order to save time, we appreciate their attentiveness and considerations.

All those services helped us create the peace of mind thus we could enjoy every moment while at Greece. By the end, as my kids said, this is an amazing trip which makes them want to visit Greece again and again!