Private Christian Tour in Athens

I don't think I will be of great help, but I was reading the Rick Steves Athens book this morning, and I have a couple suggestions.

There is half a page in the RS guide of recommended local guides. I'm sure you've would like a personal recommendations, but in case you weren't aware that there are some in the guide.

Secondly, you are likely aware of this, too, but there is a recommended (by RS) Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens. The guide has a few pages you could use for a self guided tour. To me, it sounds very interesting, unfortunately, I likely will not have time for it.

Lastly, your church may have connections that might help you find a guide. I have a few friends that have done biblical tours, especially of Paul and John.

Hi Julie! My wife and I are going in 3 weeks to Athens and having the same exact issue. Did you come to any resolution? We’d love an amazing tour following Paul’s footsteps in Athens and in Corinth.

Hi.. I am also looking for the same exact tour. We are headed there in October. Did you find anything? Thank you, Beth

Yes I actually reached out to our church and they referred me to ask the leader of a trip that we did in Israel, he had connections and had just done a trip to Greece and Turkey with a tour guide that he highly recommended and I knew if he recommended them they would be good. We did 2 different tours, we flew in and out of Athens, so on the front end of the trip we did the Athens tour of the historical sites like the parthenon etc and footsteps of Paul. And on the back end before flying out of Athens we did a day tour to Corinth. I got very lucky because the tour guide I was referred to was booked out for months and happened to have the day I wanted available because someone got sick and wasn't able to travel. He was not available for the Corinth tour but he referred me to a few colleagues to try and I finally found one that also had a last minute cancellation due to travel plans. I was still trying to book a month out and everyone was booked, so definitely try to book as soon as you can. There are the regular group tours or other tours out there that say they do the footsteps of Paul but they were more general and not based around the christian aspect like I wanted. I wanted someone who could do a private tour and incorporate the christian & biblical aspect of everything and I was very pleased with both of our tours. The first tour guide we used for Athens was Thanasis Paparoupas, he was a licensed tour guide that spoke great english and was excellent, so resourceful and knowledgeable about everything, history and biblical aspects of the area etc. It was amazing, Thanasis asked what was important to us and if we wanted lots of museum type things etc and what our interests were and catered it to us. The 2nd tour guide we used for Corinth was Apollon Kyrkos, he was a licensed guide who spoke great english so knowledgeable and helpful. He met us at our hotel and recommended a transportation company to use which was a nice comfortable van and the driver was excellent as well very friendly and we felt safe and enjoyed the time exploring as it is an hour drive or so to Corinth from Athens. And almost the whole way Apollon explained things about Greece and the things we were passing etc. Both were excellent and I would definitely recommend.

The contact info for Thanasis Paparoupas his email is [email protected]
The contact info for Apollon Kyrkos his email is [email protected]
And if they are both booked you can try 2 other recommendations that Thanasis gave me for Corinth since he was not available that day, it was Voula Kalapoda her email is [email protected]
and Faye Georgiou her email is [email protected] I did meet Faye in passing when we were on our tour with Thanasis and she seemed very nice and knowledgeable as well.

Just keep in mind when contacting the tour guides, that most of them work for a large tour company as well as doing private tours when they are not scheduled all day or for multiple days trips. They are busy with usually 2 tours a day back to back starting early morning and going late. So you will need to be patient with them responding and getting back to you as they are usually working non stop days with people and are not checking their email constantly. I hope all this info helps others, it took me a while to figure it all out and once I did it was like I finally hit the jackpot and glad I can share and hopefully help others!!

Thank you Julie for such helpful info. I gather that these guides are not Christians but that they have a good understanding of the Bible in where it relates to Paul and his journey in Greece. Was it just you and your husband? I am hoping to find others who may be interested in joining this private tour so we can split the cost.

Are Greek Orthodox people not considered Christians? Not being snarky, honestly want to know what people think.

Try https://www.aristotletravel.com

It’s not precisely what Dino does, but he might have recommendations.

Stan, thank you for pointing that out to me. You are right, I didn't think of that. :-)

Stan, as is the case with some Protestants and Catholics in the US, some Greek Orthodox people are "cultural Christians" who don't know much about the Bible and have never read the books of Acts or I & II Corinthians.

Julie,
This email for Apollon is kicking back as undeliverable: [email protected]. We really appreciate your research.