As we start emerge from our pandemic cocoon, I'm back to planning our family vacation to Greece in 2022. We initially planned for last September this year and had it all mapped and reserved. I assumed we would merely push everything back a year but my MIL wants to visit her village for the St. Mary festival on August 15. This is all the way up North in the mountains near the Albanian border. This has scrambled my oh-so-carefully laid plans. But for me, planning is part of the fun! So back to the drawing board.
Travelers: 2 adults (me and spouse), 4 grandparents (our parents), and our 2 kids (8 & 11)
Dates: Early August, must be in the North on 8/15, would prefer to be back in the US shortly after for new school year. This means putting the festival at the end of the trip vs. starting up North and heading south.
Day 1: Leave US
Day 2 - 4: Arrive & ferry to Hydra, stay 3 nights
Day 5 - 7: Back to Athens, stay 3 nights
Day 8: Delphi, sleepover
Day 9-10: Meteora, stay 2 nights
Day 11 - 13: Igouminitsa, stay 3 nights **Day trips to Corfu or Paxos?
DAY 13: FESTIVAL
?? Day 14 - 16: Back to Athens ??
Day 17: Fly home
Usually I'd pack in the sights a little more but I'm trying to be mindful of the weather and crowds during this time. Plus the said effect on 70+ grandparents and little ones. In addition, no one wants to drive so we'll need to hire a driver to get North and then back down. We could fly out of Ioannina to Athens. We hired George's Taxi for Delphi/Meteora and a local drive to get us to the village.
Should we lengthen the stays at any of these places? Try to add another location like Monemvasia or Nafplio? We could head back to Athens after the festival and fly home but I don't really want that long of a day(s) of traveling.
This is still a work-in-progree so I'd appreciate any thoughts and/or suggestions!