Anyone been to Greece?

Is it Athens or bust

I wouldn't think so no. I didn't spend a lot of time in Athens, and it's a pretty dirty city. The Panathenaic Stadium might be worth a look but I'd much rather be on the beaches on the Islands. I wouldn't spend any time in Athens if I was you.
 
Had a dutch friend who went there recently. Said due to the economy going down its a shithole and he felt more in danger walking around the streets than he has bouncing around Eastern europe on his own.
 
I wouldn't think so no. I didn't spend a lot of time in Athens, and it's a pretty dirty city. The Panathenaic Stadium might be worth a look but I'd much rather be on the beaches on the Islands. I wouldn't spend any time in Athens if I was you.

Thats what I always picked up from Athens, usually that's were everyone wants to go?. The Islands are probably better. :icon_conf
 
Depends what you want.

Do you want history? If so what type of history?

Bronze age? (Crete/Peloponessus)

Classical? (Athens, Delphi)

Byzantine? (Neo Moni, Mystras, Constantinopoli (technically not Greece anymore)

Post Byzantine/Ottoman? (Rhodes, Thessaloniki)

Orthodox? (Mt Athos, Meteora)

Do you want a party island? Ios, Mykonos etc?

Good beaches? Tourist hotspots?

Induldge in the real culture? What culture? (Mainland, Ionian, Mani etc)


You can spend a lifetime in Greece and not see it all.
 
I'll post some pics Tuesday but we went to Mykonos, Santorini, Athens and a few other small islands. Awesome time.
 
Depends what you want.

Do you want history? If so what type of history?

Bronze age? (Crete/Peloponessus)

Classical? (Athens, Delphi)

Byzantine? (Neo Moni, Mystras, Constantinopoli (technically not Greece anymore)

Post Byzantine/Ottoman? (Rhodes, Thessaloniki)

Orthodox? (Mt Athos, Meteora)

Do you want a party island? Ios, Mykonos etc?

Good beaches? Tourist hotspots?

Induldge in the real culture? What culture? (Mainland, Ionian, Mani etc)


You can spend a lifetime in Greece and not see it all.

Really excellent post. I've had friends who have visited and said Athens is a 1.5-2 day excursion and the islands are where it's at.
 
Thats what I always picked up from Athens, usually that's were everyone wants to go?. The Islands are probably better. :icon_conf

I never really met anyone who wants to go to Athens to be honest...most people are all about the islands. But as someone said, there is a ton of different things to do all over Greece.
 
Had a dutch friend who went there recently. Said due to the economy going down its a shithole and he felt more in danger walking around the streets than he has bouncing around Eastern europe on his own.

The economy is getting shittier yes, and you can tell in Athens...but actually be worried...nah.

Besides, nothing wrong with some Eastern Europe...i got lost from my buddies at like 6 in the morning in Prague...Budapest...no worries.
 
Never been. Have been to Cyprus and it was chill. Always wanted to go to Greece though.

Another great place are the Canary islands. Had an amazing time there
 
Lol at people saying stay away from Athens...Sure if all you want to do is party the islands are propably a better choice but there are lots of things to do in athens if you are into sightseeing and stuff like that...
 
i was only there 2 days and didnt get to see anything (was in the military travelling somewhere else). but i do remember 2 things. a lot of anti-american graffiti and smoking hot girls. i was shocked at how hot the ladies were overall
 
I'll tell you what to see when I'm not on my phone posting.
 
since you won't be returning anytime soon, you really should do a few days on the main land.

the Parthenon is a must, which is only 30 minutes from the airport.
after that there are sites around the city that you can do.

Delphi is cool, but it is 4 hours away and that might keep you on the main land much longer. along those lines, mount Olympus is about 12 hours from Athens- so going there is a bit of a project.

I'd do a few days in Athens and then go to one of the larger islands for the rest of your stay.

crete is good because it is big enough that you won't see everything in a few days. there are also hundreds of the beaches you want to see - and literally thousands of restaurants like the ones mentioned in this thread.

one day you can take a boat to santorini.
another day you can do the Samaria gorge (worth a google).
another day you can go to Knosssos (also worth a google) and you can do Phaistos in the same day if you are into the archaeology thing.

ive been to crete like 30 times, so if you have any questions....

also - eating is cheap on the islands, though Rhodes is expensive I have heard.
eating at a good place on the water in Athens proper - the same meal that will cost you and your girl 35 euros on the island, will cost you 125 euros.

just an fyi.


edit = and I should mention that I would be a little careful in Athens the city. back in the day it wasn't too bad, but like any major city....
im under the impression it is rougher these days, so keep that in mind. don't be an idiot.

on the islands you can pretty much do whatever you want and you will be ok. the people are super easy going and all the recent troubles have not hit them as much.
 
Be carefull if you plan on doing some hiking there people have a hell of an idiotic mentality other than that life is kinda cheap there even eating at restaurant two time a day and of course there are lot of place to visit ,overall it's a nice place but the people mentality suck or i shouldn't have done some hiking in the first place but still.
 
I got a sister that just moved to Crete. I'm thinking about going to see her later this year.
 
Been to quite a few of the Islands. Lived on Santorini for about 6 months after I got out of the service.

Other Islands I've been to: Mykonos, Paros, Syros, Crete, Naxos, Sykros
 
overall it's a nice place but the people mentality suck or i shouldn't have done some hiking in the first place but still.

Can you elaborate ?

Always wanted to visit, but with recent riots and whole country going down into shitter I'm having second thoughts.
 
Been to Greece. I would recommend it. I was there for two weeks in 2010. We stayed in Athens for a few days and never came up short with stuff to do. Then again I'm the kind of guy that enjoys just walking around a foreign city to take it in. The Acropolis is a must see. The museum of natural history in Athens is great too. In 2010 the protests were not that big, just a few dudes gathered in front of the parliament building in Athens.
The rest of the time we were there we spent on a few of the island. Ouzo, lots of ouzo. Artwork on the island of Hydra, I'm into that shit and beaches.
Also in Athens you could check out Plaka.
 
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