Hello - My boyfriend's family and I are planning a 2-week trip to Greece in late September. The primary purpose of the trip is to see where his Macedonian grandparents came from (from what I can tell, Gabresh - now Gavros, and Kastor - now Kastoria). Even though these are all in Greece, there is some interest in visiting the country of Macedonia as well. The problem is keeping the itinerary under control. My boyfriend wants to see Santorini (not that I don't!), but didn't realize it was an 8-9 hour ferry ride from Athens. I love love ancient history and ruins, so am interested in Delphi and anything else I can see (would really love to hit Ephesus and anything else Turkey, but know that's ambitious). I've heard that you should approach Santorini by ferry in daylight, so was thinking about Athens-ferry to Santorini, fly to Thessaloniki, drive to genealogy spots, drive through Meteroa and Delphi enroute back to Athens. How ambitious is that? I apologize, I haven't really researched distances or time yet. Also, any way to include another island? I would love to see another, quieter island. The choices are overwhelming, it perhaps will depend on ferry routes - something between Athens and Santorini.... Thanks for your assistance! Cyndi
Posted by
Grapevine, TX, USA
875 posts
Approaching Santorini by ferry is beautiful, but just being on Santorini and seeing the view is amazing. It is easy to fly from Athens to Santorini and save yourself some time. If you stay in Oia you will be able to have the quiet island experience and unsurpassed beauty. Meteora (in Kalambaka) and Delphi are sites not to be missed (IMHO).
Posted by
Grapevine, TX, USA
875 posts
Approaching Santorini by ferry is beautiful, but just being on Santorini and seeing the view is amazing. It is easy to fly from Athens to Santorini and save yourself some time. If you stay in Oia you will be able to have the quiet island experience and unsurpassed beauty. Meteora (in Kalambaka) and Delphi are sites not to be missed (IMHO).
Posted by
Grapevine, TX, USA
875 posts
Approaching Santorini by ferry is beautiful, but just being on Santorini and seeing the view is amazing. It is easy to fly from Athens to Santorini and save yourself some time. If you stay in Oia you will be able to have the quiet island experience and unsurpassed beauty. Meteora (in Kalambaka) and Delphi are sites not to be missed (IMHO).
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Janis, You might want to delete two of your replies..... Cyndi, On the topic of approaching Santorini by daylight for "the view", it's good in theory but not as good in reality. I was there several months ago and found that as the ship approached Santorini, every possible vantage point was packed solid with people! I was barely able to get a few photos, and eventually gave up. As I was travelling solo, I didn't want to leave my Backpack "unattended" for too long during the time I was on the upper deck trying to have a look at the arrival (one of the disadvantages of travelling solo). You might consider stopping for a few nights on Naxos, as it's on the same route as the Ferries to Santorini. That would reduce your travel time between the islands considerably, and Naxos is a wonderful place to explore! You may find it helpful to have a look at Matt Barrett's www.greeecetravel.com for information on travelling in Greece. There's LOTS of information there! Happy travels!
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3122 posts
As awesome as entering Santorini's caldera for the first time by ferry is, I think you would be better served by flying there from Thessaloniki since it's a lot closer to Gavros and Kastor than Athens. If you can catch an airfare sale for the flights involved you will save a lot of time and money. 2 weeks will fly by. There's no sense wasting precious days in transit if you don't have to. Both Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air do periodically offer discounted promotional airfares from Athens and Thessaloniki to the islands. If you sign up for their email newsletters you will be notified a couple of months in advance of the promo fares. If you preferred to book now Aegean has fares for as little as €107, all taxes included. That's cheap. This includes the connecting flight in Athens. You could get from Thessaloniki to Santorini in as little as 2.5 hours. Then you could take the daily ferry from Santorini to one of the islands on the route back to Athens/Piraeus. These include Ios, Naxos and Paros. Your idea of taking this route in reverse would accomplish the same thing, it really just depends on where you want to go first, and if seeing the caldera from the deck of a ferry is worth going to Santorini first. I do believe it is. Ferry schedules for next September won't be available for several months yet, but the Athens>Santorini>Athens ferry with Blue Star Ferries has been a constant and reliable presence in the Aegean Cyclades islands for years. You will be able to see all ferry schedules here once they're finalized: http://www.gtp.gr You can break up the long ferry trip by going from Santorini to Paros, which takes 3 hours, then when you're ready you can get to Athens in 4 hours, or less if the highspeed ferries are still running when you need to go.
Posted by
OP
St. Paul, MN, US
34 posts
Thank you everyone for your helpful information. As for the rest of the trip, do you think that's too ambitious to cover all that in two weeks? Thanks again,
Cyndi
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3122 posts
Well, it's do-able, but I suspect that when you're finished you'll wish you had gone at a slower pace or had more time.