Are you planning a trip to Greece with the family? Then I can help you!
Greece is a lovely place with very friendly people. Join me on a trip to the beautiful monasteries at Meteora, to the sunny caldera in Santorini. Follow me on a race track in Olympia, to the tasty Souvlaki at lake Ionnina. So, what are we waiting for, let’s get started.
You can hear all about my first trip to Greece.
Itinerary
This 2.5 week itinerary covers the Peloponnese region, the Greek mainland and the Cyclades and the Ionian islands.
Day 1: Arrive in Athens, drive to Nafplion – stay in Nafplion
Day 2: Visit Mycenae & Epidaurus, visit Nafplion town & Palamidi fortress – stay in Nafplion
Day 3: Visit Monemvasia – drive to Sparta / Mystras – stay in Sparta
Day 4: Drive to Diro Caves, swim at Limeni, climb to Mystras castle – stay in Sparta
Day 5: Visit Olympia and drive to Delphi – stay in Delphi
Day 6: Visit Delphi Apollo temple, take ferry to Corfu – stay in Corfu
Day 7: Corfu beaches, local food and sightseeing – stay in Corfu
Day 8: Yellow submarine boat tour, donkey shelter – stay in Corfu
Day 9: Visit Ionnina lake, Metsovo, drive to Meteora – stay in Meteora
Day 10: Visit Meteora monasteries, mushroom & animal museum – stay in Meteora
Day 11: Drive to Athens via Thermopyla and Livadia Springs – stay in Athens
Day 12: Fly to Santorini, visit Fira – stay in Santorini
Day 13: Visit Oia, Imerovigli, wine museum, sunset at Akroti lighthouse – stay in Santorini
Day 14: Boat tour to volcano caldera, hotsprings, Therasia village – stay in Santorini
Day 15: Visit Akrotiri site, archeological museum, tomato factory – fly to Athens
Day 16: Monastrakiri flea market, Plaka neighbourhood – stay in Athens
Day 17: Acropolis site & museum, change of the guards, Benaki museum – stay in Athens
Day 18: Return to Singapore
Day 1 & 2: Nafplion
In the morning, we took a 10-hour flight from Singapore to Athens and reached Athens Airport by 11:55 local time. We got our luggage and rented a car. It was a BMW X1. I was very excited because I had never been in a X1 before!Our first stop was Nafplion, and on the way, we stopped at a place called the Corinth Canal. This canal separates the Peloponnese from the Greek Mainland. They are two different provinces in Greece.
When we reached our house in Nafplion, it was evening, so we went to a seafood restaurant to have dinner. At the restaurant, we tried new dishes like Orzo, which is a type of Italian rice, and Greek meatballs. There was so much food that we had to pack some for breakfast next morning!
The next day, we started out by going to the Mycenae fortress. At that time, Greeks thought building things on hills was safer because it would be harder for enemies to attack, therefore the whole Mycenae village was on the hill and the fortress was at the top. When we went to the top of the hill, we could hear the wind howling very loudly. It was also very cold
The next place we went to was called Epidaurus. Epidaurus is a small ancient town which used to be a sanctuary for healing. People came there to be treated for illnesses. The sanctuary was also dedicated to the god of healing, Asklepion.
In the sanctuary, there also was a giant theatre which was used to perform plays and acts. We climbed to the top of it! The theatre was circular, therefore when an actor spoke the sound would carry to the top even without a mic.
The last place in Nafplion we went to was the Nafplion old town. We climbed up a fortress called Palamidi fortress. The view from there was splendid! I could see a cliff and the whole city of Nafplion. In the distance, I could see mountains peeking over the horizon and at the bottom was the sea with boats going back and forth
Then I played in a playground with my sister after which we went for dinner. The restaurant we had dinner in had a saltwater pool at the back. Inside the water, there were fishes and sea urchins! My sister and I had one of our favorite foods: Pasta Bolognese, and some Greek salad. Then we went home as we had an early start tomorrow because of the long drive to Sparta.
Day 3 & 4: Monemvasia, Diros Caves, Mystras & Sparta
Day 3, we set of for Sparta and on the way, we stopped at a place called Monemvasia. We were going to spend the day there. Monemvasia means single entrance because the entire city was shielded by a rock so the only way you could get to see the city was by sea. We climbed to the top of Monemvasia and when we looked down, I saw houses with brick roofs. Beyond in the distance, we could see the sea.
After we climbed back down, we went to the sea, where I dipped my legs in the sea water. It was cold but crystal clear. Then, we had lunch at a restaurant. I tried chicken souvlaki. It was very delicious. Souvlaki in English means skewer so chicken souvlaki means chicken skewer.
It was afternoon when we arrived at our apartment after lunch. We decided to go to a supermarket called LIDL to buy some food to cook. At LIDL, we got a small trolley. My sister was very excited to drive the trolley and she still says its one of her favorite things to do in Greece. When we were done shopping, we decided to go for a walk to see the sights. We saw the statue of Leonidas, a former Spartan king, Roman baths and the Spartan Acropolis. In fact, if we wanted to see the Spartan Acropolis, we just had to step outside our front door!
Day 4, we took a 2-hour drive to Diros caves. At Diros caves we went in a boat to explore the caves. It was so cool! I knew this experience would rank very high in the things I did in Greece. The whole cave was full of stalactites and the water was deep and clear. I could see rocks underneath the water. The person rowing the boat would push against the rocks to move the boats. These caves are from the prehistoric period. Many animal skeletons as well as a skeleton of 2 people hugging each other was found here. After the boat ride we had to walk 300 meters to reach the exit of the cave.
We then, drove to the town of Limeni. At Limeni, we went down to a beach for a dip. The water was clear and when I put my head inside, I saw lots of fish. The water was so cold that my sister decided not to get in. While we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach, we saw turtles fighting in the water. We even saw them put their heads out of the water. It was quite entertaining!
After lunch, we went to the little town of Mystras where we we climbed to the top of Mystras castle. The view was great and well worth the climb. We went to have dinner at a restaurant with the view of the castle. Thus ended our Day 4.
Day 5 & 6: Olympia & Delphi
The next day, we drove to Delphi. On the way, we stopped at a place called Olympia, the place where the Olympic games were held. Did you know that the Olympic games were first held in Greece? The sports played were foot races, jumping, discus throwing, javelin throwing, wrestling, the pentathlon, and boxing. There was a temple of Zeus which used to have a giant golden statue of Zeus inside. WOW! There were lots of other temples and a gymnasium where the athletes trained and an Olympic track which I ran on.
If someone cheated in the Olympics, they would have to pay for a golden statue of Zeus and on the golden statue, the judges would write the person’s name and what he did. Women were not allowed to compete, and they were not even allowed to watch. If they did, they would be killed. The only women allowed to watch were the high priestesses.
After we saw the Olympia site, we went to the museum. One statue was that of a man riding a chariot. The man’s statue was so well preserved that I could the wrinkles on his cloak! The statue was called the Charioteer.
We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. I tried gyros which is a type of Greek food made with chicken/pork, onion, tomato, French fries, and Tzatziki sauce. I called it my favorite food in Greece. After lunch we went to the Archimedes Museum. Archimedes was a Greek inventor who made lots of things such as the Archimedes pump. The Archimedes pump was a cylinder with a screw inside. There were buckets on each side of the pump and one was full while the other was empty. The bucket that was full was at the bottom. Then somebody would turn the screw with a lever and the water would come up. Once at the top, the water would fall into the second bucket. My sister and I also tried it out.
On our way to Delphi from Olympia, we spotted a beach and decided stop. It was a rocky beach, and it also had a slide. I went up and down the slide 3 times! My sister and I also drank milkshakes. We drove on after that to Delphi and arrived at our hotel. By then it was night so we had a quick dinner of ‘Pastitisio’, a Greek pasta, and we went to sleep.
The next day, we woke up early and headed to the Apollo temple to avoid the crowds. In Greece, at this time, there are lots of tourists who want to see the many monuments. Apollo was the Greek god of music. Apollo and his twin, Artemis, were born on the isle of Delos to Zeus and Leto. Apollo’s grandfather Cronos vomited a stone onto the earth. A python was sent to guard the stone. The same python attacked Leto and the twins and to save them, Apollo killed the python. Zeus punished Apollo for this and sent him to guard the stone for 8 years. After Apollo succeeded, he made this site, the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle of Delphi, whose name was Pythia, was supposed to guard the stone and people thought she could speak to Apollo, so they built temple of Apollo to honor him and hear the Oracle’s prophesies.
After we had seen the Apollo temple, we took a 4-hour drive to Igoumenitsa ferry port. We were taking a ferry called Keykeyra Seaways to Corfu. When it was boarding time, my father drove the car into the ferry. The car was coming to Corfu too! There were also lots of buses and lorries. While he was doing that, we boarded the ferry. Once inside, my sister and I were bored so we watched Tom and Jerry until we reached Corfu. We were about to reach the port so I decided to look outside and what a view it was! Corfu was beautiful. From a distance, we could see the old town and lots of beaches.
Since it was evening, we went to our house directly. The house was awesome! There were 2 balconies that gave us a direct view of the sunset! We had a whole backyard which had a well, a barbecue area and even a pomegranate tree! The owner had even made homemade pomegranate wine for us! After a quick dinner, we went to bed.
Day 7 & 8: Corfu
The next day, we set of for a nearby olive wood shop. The craftsman at the shop showed us how to make things using olive wood. He made me a honey dipper and my sister, a ring. He said that some of the olive trees that were cut were over 300 hundred years old! Then we saw the handicrafts being polished in olive oil. On the way out, we saw a blue and yellow macaw that tried to say “hello” and “how do you do”!
After a good lunch, we decided to go to Agios Spiridon beach. I went out into the water to try to catch fish with the water toys we bought but it was no use because they were too fast. I even saw 3 crabs scuttling about. I built my own Olympia out of sand! I even wrote the words O-L-Y-M-P-I-A on the sand. When it was evening, we went home.
The next day, we set off to the waterside to go on a yellow glass-bottomed submarine to see the underwater life in Greece. There were 2 groups. When the first group went down, my group stayed up and when it was feeding time, we saw all sorts of fish darting to get the fish food. Halfway through the feeding, the second group was called down. Once, I were at the bottom, I saw lots of fish – Angelfish, Parrotfish, Mackerel, and even Clownfish!
Once back on land, we decided to go to Acharavi beach near our house. The beach was a rock beach with very big rocks but if you went into the water, the rocks became sand, clean and soft sand and it was very shallow so I could go far . While we were playing at the beach, my mom bought us dinner and back home we went to bed early as we had an early start tomorrow. We were taking the ferry back to Igoumenitsa, and then driving to Meteora.
Day 9 & 10: Lake Ionnina, Metsovo & Meteora
The next day, we drove to the port. We were taking the Keykeyra lines ferry back to Igomenitsu. When it was boarding time, we got onboard the ferry. We were lucky to get lounge seats in the air-conditioned lounge which were window seats. When it was time to go, my dad, my sister and I went to see the ferry moving. We saw the ship turning around to face the sea!
At Igoumenitsa, we took a 1-hour drive to lake Ionnina. Ionnina was where one of the big lords within the Ottoman empire, Ali Pasha’s ruled from. Ottoman empire was a mix between the Greek and Roman culture. We saw lots of churches and their museums too! One of the churches had winding steps that were very steep, so it was easy to fall.
After we left Ionnina, we set of for the village of Metsovo. The roads were going up and down while the old looking houses were on 1 side. There were also lots of roses in many different colours. We walked around Metsovo, and we saw a church. We couldn’t go inside as it was locked so we walked around it. At the back, we saw lots and lots of acorns! My sister had been collecting flowers and acorns to take back to Singapore, so this was her lucky day.
After we had seen Metsovo, we took a drive to our house at Meteora. The house was great! It was in a small village which had lots of farms! My dad bought dinner, and we had it in the garden under a chestnut tree.
The next day, we set out for the monasteries in Meteora. The monks in the monasteries built their monasteries on hills so that they could pray in peace and quiet but there were no steps at that time so the monks would have a large pillar with 2 handles and attached to the large pillar was a rope. The rope would lead to the bottom of the hill and attached to the rope was a basket. A monk would climb into the basket while 2 monks at the top would turn the stick around using the handles. That’s how monks used to climb the monasteries.
The first monastery we went was called the Great Meteoran Monastery which is the most famous monastery in Meteora. There was a museum, and a church at the monastery. The church was very beautiful with lots of murals of stories in the bible and golden & silver chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling.
After we had seen the monastery, we went to the second monastery: Varlumm, and the third monastery: Agia Triada (also called Holy Trinity). To climb Agia Triada, we had to climb 145 steps to the top of the monastery, but 145 steps did not seem like a lot to me!
There were at least 3 more monasteries, but we decided to stop and head to the mushroom museum. The mushroom museum also had a stuffed animal museum. Apart from seeing the animals, I also learned some facts. Did you know that a golden eagle can catch a red fox! It’s true! There were many other types of animals too! At the top, we saw different kinds of mushrooms. We also tasted some of them. One of them was salty while other one was sweet. After buying a packet of mushrooms, we went home
Back at our stay, we decided to explore the our owner’s farm just outside the house. In the farm, we saw all sorts of fruits and vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, capsicum, olives, figs, chestnut, grape vine, and orange. I had never been to a proper farm before, so seeing all the fruits and vegetables was very exciting.
Day 11: Drive to Athens
The next day, we set out for Athens. On the way, we stopped at a place called Thermopylae. The pass of Thermopylae was basically a road between 2 mountains. In ancient times, there was a battle at Thermopylae between the Greeks and Persians that lasted 3 days. The Persians could also climb the mountains but Greece wasn’t their homeland so they would get lost easily.
The Greeks won the first day of battle, but after the second day, a local resident from Greece named Ephialtes revealed to the Persians the existence of a path leading behind the Greek lines. The Spartan commander Leonidas discovered what was happening and sent home a lot of the Greek army leaving himself with only 300 Spartans. The outnumbered Greeks fought to death and became heroes.
We went to the memorial of king Leonidas and the nearby hot springs. The Sulphur in the water made it so stinky, I had to cover my nose. After Thermopylae, we went to the springs in Livadia. Unlike Thermopylae, the springs in Livadia were cool so we could get in the water. After that, we stopped for a snack and tried a traditional Greek dessert called Orange pie. made with orange flavoured phyllo pastry mixed with ice cream and whipping cream. It tasted delicious.
After food, we drove to our airport hotel. Our balcony faced the airport and we could see planes take off and land so I kept watching this until late night.
Day 12, 13, 14 & 15: Santorini
The next day, we got up early to go to the airport. At the airport, while were waiting for the gates to open, I watched planes take off and land. Some of the planes I saw were Aegean air, Aegean, American airlines, Olympic jet, Sky express and Canadian airlines. The plane we were on was called Aegean air. Once we were levelled in the air, we were already coming down!
Once we reached Santorini, we rented a new car, a Toyota Aygo. It was a very small car for good reason, that the parking spaces in Santorini were very small. Our stay was at a boutique hotel and there was a pool too. My sister was itching to go to the pool so my mom promised to let her before we left Santorini.
We set off first to Monolithos Beach. Unlike other beaches, Monolithos beach had black sand because of the volcanic eruption that happened in Santorini. The sand was very soft and was very fun to play with. Then we went to the town of Fira, where we took a cable car ride to the bottom of the caldera. While we were going down, we saw the center of the volcano’s caldera. It was beautiful!
Santorini used to be a big island and it was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. The remains of the volcano are called the caldera. Once at the bottom we tried to climb the 150+ steps back to the top, but we found out they were covered in donkey poo! So, we took the cable car back to the top .
The next day, we went to the town of Oia pronounced as Ee-a. We climbed to the highest point of Oia to get a view of the caldera. I could see the water down below and the high mountains peeking over. After that, we had lunch, where my sister and I tried a type of Orzo mixed with mushrooms, cheese and octopus.
Our next stop was the Koustanopolios wine museum. The wine museum was underground, and the staff gave my mom and dad a special phone, in which they would press a button (depending on what number was shown on the sign), and we could hear the recordings through the headphones. It told the process on how to make wine and how this process has evolved over periods of time. After we went through the whole museum, my parents tasted 4 different kinds of wine while my sister and I sat at our own table and drank juice!
After the wine museum, we went to a few beaches – a rocky beach, a white sand and a red sand beach. The water was dirty, so we did not go inside. After that, we went to the Akritori lighthouse to see the sunset, stopping at a restaurant where we could see the sunset. We had a typical Santorini dish of fava beans which were crushed to make paste and then mixed with spices, olives, and capers.
The next day, we boarded a tour bus to go to the port for a boat tour of the Volcano crater. Once we reached the port, we boarded a sailboat called Pegasus and set sail! Our first stop was the volcanic crater of Santorini.
We climbed to the top of the volcano and Wow! You should have seen the view! We could see the towns of Oia, Fira and Imerovigli. It was very cool. I listened to our guide who was telling us stories about the history of the volcano.The people of the island escaped to the island, Crete. Our next stop were the hot springs near the volcano. We had to swim 10 meters to the hot springs and the water at the boat was 4 meters deep.I wanted to go but my dad was scared I would drown, and the guide said I could swim at the third spot which had beaches, so I agreed.
At the third spot, which was the town of ‘Thirasia’, we had lunch where we tried another Santorini specialty, ‘Fried tomato balls’ which are crispy balls with mashed tomato. Then, we swam in the beach. The beach had lots of big rocks, so we had to be careful on where we put our feet so that we didn’t step on a sharp rock or a sea urchin. Yikes! We then took the boat ride back to the hotel after which, we took a dip in the pool. My sister was satisfied that she got to go to the pool after all.
The next day, we set out for the Akrotiri site. Remember the volcano I talked about, well, we were going to see the village it destroyed. Once we reached, we saw a whole set of ruins covered in black because of the ash from the volcano. We saw streets, houses and even 3 storied flats! The people of this ancient city were one of the first people to make 3 storied houses.
Then, we went to the museum of the Akrotiri site. In the museum, we saw lots of wall paintings from the houses in Santorini. We even saw a golden Ibex model. The people of had evacuated the island but had left behind some valuable things like this golden Ibex.
We stopped for a quick lunch, after which we went to the tomato museum. Like the wine museum the tomato museum also had an audio guide. The owner of the museum was called Dimitros Nimikos, it used to be an old factory with all the machines which are now maintained here. Then, we went to the airport to take a flight to Athens.
Day 16, 17 & 18: Athens
Once we landed in Athens, we got our luggage and went on a taxi to our apartment. It was evening when we arrived, so we had dinner and went to bed. The next day, we started at the local flea market called Monastiraki to buy things for our family. There were many shops around selling leather slippers, Greek food specials – olive oil, honey, nougat, baklava, pretty dresses, cushions and other souvenirs.
Then, we met a friend of my Dad who was from Greece. He showed us around the Plaka neighbourhood as well as a fun Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant called ‘Little Kook’. It was nice to have a local guide showing us around Athens. We climbed a hill see a monument dedicated to the 9 muses and get a view of the Acropolis. The muses were women who were responsible for protecting the culture in Greece. They were also responsible for entertaining the Greek gods.
We then went to get ice cream where I tried a type of ice cream called milk chocolate and domori brownies. Then, we saw some other landmarks such as Hadrian’s ark, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the temple of Zeus. After we said goodbye to my dad’s colleague, we bought dinner and then went home.
We got out of bed the next day and set off to the Acropolis hoping to avoid the queue. There was a delay in getting a cab so when we arrived at the Acropolis, there was a very long queue, so we decided to see the museum first. At the museum, we received an activity booklet. I had to find animal sculptures that were all around the museum.
We also saw a video that told us about an argument between the goddess Athena and God Poseidon about who should be the patron of Athens and Athena won because she made an olive tree which would give food to the people while Poseidon made a fountain of salt water, and it was no use. That is why the city is called Athens or Athea Polis.
After we had seen the museum, we went to check if the queue to the acropolis was short enough and sure it was! We were able to get in.At the top of the Acropolis, we saw the Parthenon, the Erechthion and even Hellenic marble statues holding up the building. I thought that was very creative.
Next, we went to the parliament to see the change of the guards and they were wearing traditional dresses. Their shoes were pointed up at the tip and curled into a ball. We then went to the Benaki museum. Atonion Benaki was a rich person who collected lots of rare Greek treasures and we were going to be seeing them at his private museum. There were wooden figures, plates, jugs, traditional dresses, Greek pottery, gold jewelry, carved marble and even a full room decorated like in the past. On the floor was a wooden cradle and a leather couch. In front of the glass window was a silk curtain while a few meters behind the cradle was a wooden table.
Then we went home for a relaxing evening on our last day here. The next day, we set out for the airport, we were taking the Scoot flight back to Singapore. This trip was one of the best trips I had, and I am still thinking of coming back again!
Bye for now
Thank you! You’ve read the whole article about my trip to Greece. I hope you enjoyed my story and that it has given you plans for your trip. Good luck and bye!
