We booked a Royal Caribbean cruise of the Greek Aisles for August 2022 that didn't include Athens, so we planned to fly into town from Rome for a couple days to see the sights. We are a family of six with kids ranging from 5 to 18 yrs old. My mom and sister-in-law were also travelling with us, so we were a bit worried about navigating the city and surrounding area with eight people in the heat of the summer.
We found recommendations for Marios Stavrou on this forum and emailed to see if he could accommodate our airport pickup and drop off as well as shuttle us around Athens one day and explore some of the surrounding areas another day. Marios replied promptly and tailored our two full days in the Athens area to exactly what we wanted to do. Our airport pick up went without a hitch the afternoon of Day 1. On Day 2 Marios picked us up at our hotel right on time and helped us get to the Acropolis and museum early before the heat of the day set in and the lines got long, suggested great local restaurants, and helped with guidance for shopping and sight seeing before picking us for a tour of the city in his van and then bringing us back to our hotel. Day 3 was an itinerary that Marios largely put together for our kids, who wanted to hit a fun beach and also see the Temple of Poseidon (they love the Percy Jackson novels). We first did the Temple, then Marios brought us to a very nice beach with inflatable water activities that the kids loved and inexpensive beach chairs and umbrellas with a great view and affordable drinks that we loved. Then we ate at a very good local restaurant he suggested and had an enjoyable ride back to the hotel hearing anecdotes about the area's history and sights the whole way. Day 4 Marios picked us up and brought us to the airport, all right on time.
We found Marios super professional, punctual, informative, great company, and he speaks perfect English, German, and of course, Greek. His van is a Mercedes Vito Tourer that had plenty of room for our party of eight, plus luggage. Will definitely be hiring Marios again for our next visit - hopefully to Meteora and some other wider-ranging attractions outside Athens.
Marios Stavrou
info@vforvan.com
+30 6988038964