Travel Talk Sat August 8: Greece (beyond Athens) - online, everyone welcome

FUTURE ONLINE MEETINGS: 2nd Saturdays, except as noted

November 14: let's start hearing about the trips we have taken this year and build discussions around those!
- volunteers requested to share their 2026 travels!

December 12: travel souvenirs and travel trees
- let's see what you bought from this year's travels
- show us your Christmas travel tree (if it's not up yet, maybe a photo from last year?)

I will be there! And just back from northern Greece .

Hello

Your invite says that it is going to be on Saturday August 8th. Assume that is not correct. What is the real date?

Falls again on a Saturday I work. I really need to retire.

I haven't been to Greece, but hope to make it there eventually (so many places to see, so little time to travel). I have no idea what I might be doing on in August yet, but for now please put me down as a YES. Thank you!

2025 date corrected to 2026, thanks CL for the catch on my copy and paste error from a 2025 meeting!

Your invite says that it is going to be on Saturday August 8th. Assume that is not correct. What is the real date?

indeed the second Saturday is the 8th of August.

why is the date incorrect, bostonphil7?

I'll be home from my US visit and well over jetlag by then. I look forward to reminiscing about some lovely places. I've taken the RS tour and been to Crete and Naxos.

Chani, I'll look forward to hearing about your RS Best of Greece tour.

My tour in 2025 was with OAT and included Athens, Crete, Thessaloniki and Northern Greece, with very little overlap with the Rick Steves tour. So that's still been on my list of possibilities.

Andrea, drat again. We've got to fix this!

If this is February 14, 2026, I'd like to attend.

Hi MariaF, this is actually in August. I've published the next few of our second Saturday meetings aligned with various people's travels so that we can hear their trip reports, ask questions and chat about their destinations.

Darn! I’m very interested in Greece but I seem to have a conflict every time Greece is the topic. I’ll be on the last day of my family trip to Cape Cod, so it’s unlikely I will be able to join.

hi Nigel

When I first read the notification, I believe it said August 8 2025 which has since been corrected to 2026.

However, we are in February and I just assumed that the Travel Talk was taking place sometimes in February.

Thanks for the correction. I will update the calendar, I will admit my mind doesn't compute future summer dates yet, but getting there.

I would like to join although I must admit August is not in my mind either.

I am spending 16 days in the Peloponese in May followed by a visit to Thessaloniki.

I have no idea if I'll be free that day, but the topic is of interest, so for now I'm a yes please. Thank you!

I'm interested since I plan to go to Greece.

Please include me just in case it’s raining on Cape Cod!

Please sign me up for this one. I’m taking a tour of Northern Greece, North Macedonia, and Albania in October and will be ending with a few days in Athens. I’ve been to Greece twice before but my last visit was in 1991.

Thanks!

Hope to be there!

Updated post (above) with Future Meetings.

Please sign me up for this greece meeting.

I also am interested in the Christmas markets meeting next month. Should I return to that threadand place a request to be included? Not sure.

Glad to have you join, lah!

Yes, please RSVP for each session that interests you. In the week or so leading up to each meeting, I send out the meeting invites via forum message to those who have responded to that specific meeeting announcement.

I would like to attend.

I would also like to attend the Greece meeting.

Please include me for the Greece talk. Thanks!

Please add me to your list. We will be in Greece the beginning of October - Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos, and Athens. Except for a quick visit to Corfu in 1978, I haven’t really been to Greece.
Looking forward to everyone’s stories and advice.

I would like to join the Greece talk. Not sure if you have my info.

Please add me to this meeting. Thanks.

I will send meeting details via forum message within the next few days. Please continue to RSVP for anyone who would like to attend.

Please add me to the list. Phyllis

I have sent forum messages to everyone, above, who has expressed interest in attending the meeting. For some of you who are new to the meeting, you'll need to reply to my message and tell me a little bit about your Greece travels or travel plans. I'll reply with the meeting details.

Hello,

I've been to Greece a few times and I would definitely like to join the meeting. You should have my information from previous meetings, but if not, please let me know.

Thanks!

SunnyBlueFlax, I've just sent you the meeting details via forum message. Welcome!

Sorry I can't make it this time, sounds wonderful!!

Hi. I’ve never been to Greece and would like to join this meeting. Thanks.

Hi CWsocial, I would like to attend this one. My son’s family is staying here but are leaving Saturday morning. They’re aiming to leave by 10am. If I’m late it’s because we’re still saying goodbyes. : )

Thanks for hosting these!

Jean and Valerie glad you can make it! I've just sent forum messages with the meeting details.

Everyone, above, should have the meeting link. Please let me know if you do not so that I can speak to my administrator ;-)

MEETING PLAN

I will open the meeting about 15 minutes ahead of time, so you can join to test your audio and video, and chat with fellow travelers.

I will begin the meeting promptly at 10am Pacific Time with general questions: who's been to Greece? who's planning a trip to Greece?

TexasTravelMom will share about 15 slides of her most recent trip to Greece!

And then I'll open it up for general discussions, questions, and reminiscing about your favorite places in Greece!

I will share a little about my 2 trips to Greece.

The first, in the early '90s, was to the island of Aegina where I stayed in an apartment with a co-worker friend from England, where I was living at the time. It was in mid-to-late September, many restaurants were already closed and the pace was slow. There was a beautiful little cove where we floated around in perfectly clear water. These days, when I'm sitting in the dentist's chair, I escape back to that peaceful little cove on Aegina!

My more recent trip was a 2025 OAT tour to Athens, Crete, Northern Greece, Albania, N Macedonia and a day in Kosovo.

Last call to join tomorrow's meeting is tomorrow morning at 9am Pacific Time, when I will check this thread one last time before the meeting start.

Hello, I am interested in attending the Greece session! Thanks, Barb

If you want a glance at my report, it’s here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/17-nights-in-northern-greece-in-june

I’ll just quickly go through some photos but not a lot of detail.

I would like to attend the Travel Talk about Greece on Saturday at 10am. Thank you!

I thought I had signed up for this but apparently not.
Please send me the link.
Thanks!

SharYn and juliajames1001, please see your forum messages for instructions to attend the meeting.

I would like to join but will be flying home from a tour - depends on if we have WiFi. Thanks.

Would like to attend this please. This is our first one.

met2031, now that's dedication! I've sent you the meeting details. I probably won't remember that you'll be on a plane and likely in silent mode. Please remind me if I ask you a question that we don't want to disturb your fellow passengers!

madisonhousehunt, I have sent you a private message on this forum. Please respond to the questions so that I know you have received the message and I will send the meeting details.

Everyone with an RSVP, above, should have the meeting details for today. If you do not, please message me on the forum! I'm waiting for one more person who has expressed interest to post their RSVP and send their meeting link.

MEETING PLAN

I will open the meeting about 15 minutes ahead of time, so you can join to test your audio and video, and chat with fellow travelers.

I will begin the meeting promptly at 10am Pacific Time with general questions: who's been to Greece? who's planning a trip to Greece?

TexasTravelMom will share about 15 slides of her most recent trip to Greece! You can also read her Trip Report:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/17-nights-in-northern-greece-in-june

Then I'll open it up for general discussions, questions, and reminiscing about your favorite places in Greece! We'll take a break around mid-meeting.

CWsocial asked if I would add my 2023 Greece trip report link, so here it is.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-weeks-in-northern-greece

For Barbara from Brooklyn, this is the Athens food tour that I took:

https://www.getyourguide.com/athens-l91/athens-half-day-ultimate-food-walking-tour-t88115/

And yes, we went to Lukumadez for our Greek dessert. Another stop was at Apiana for Greek coffee, made the old fashioned way. Plus Harry's Kitchen - a tiny little hole in the wall establishment that has been there forever making hand made pies: chees pies, potatoe pies, eggs with sausage, lovely little takeaway breakfast treats!

Great meeting! Thank you to everyone for sharing your experiences and also questions, which helped give us ideas for future trips.

Here are a few notes about some of what I mentioned:

National Archeological Museum: this is the museum I recommended going to in addition to the Acropolis musuem. The National Archelogical Museum is about a 30 minute walk from the Ancient Agora area or if you are staying near Monastiraki Square, about 25 minutes.

C.H.A.T. tours 4 Day Classical tour: here is the link to the tour I took which includes Delphi, Meteora, Olympia, Epidavros, Mycenae. Fantasy Travels evidently offers similar tours. Both companies offer longer and shorter versions.
https://chat-tours.com/tour/4-days-classical-tour-tour-9/

And finally, just in case folks want the names of hotels we stayed at:

• Naxos: Hotel Galini https://www.hotelgalini.com/
• Rethymno: Astali Hotel https://www.astalihotel.gr/
• Athens: Hermes Hotel https://www.hermeshotel.gr/ Plaka Hotel https://www.plakahotel.gr/