Unexpectedly I spent the middle of April in Greece.
I just joined my friends, so our itinerary was on their own heads. It was only 10 days, and it was first time in Greece for all of us, so we decided to try pick up a little bit from everything.
Our itinerary:
Athene (two days + one evening) – flight to Santorini (and two days on Santorini) – flight to Athene, car rent, driving to central Greece with visit of Delphi and night stop in Meteora – day in Meteora – driving to Corinth (night in Corinth) – driving in and for Peloponnese (Corinth, Mycenae, Palamidi) and return to Athene – flight back to NY
The time (April 6-16) turned out to be ideal. During the summer it is very hot, dry and crowdy on the mainland. We had plenty of sun, comfortable 18-22C, and exuberant blooming. It was windy and chilly on Santorini (islands have better weather in summer), but everything is required a compromise.
We were a little afraid of Greek road, but it was wrongly. The road are very good. There are plenty of tunnels. Greeks are fanatics of tunnels. Many of the are several kilometer long. All have personal name. Towns, especially old and small, are different story. Streets are very narrow and curvy, some of them we tried to avoid with our big car. However without harry everything is drivable.
Greek drivers is separate story. They know about traffic laws and sighs in theory, but don’t understand the reasons to follow them. Speed limit exits only for tourists. Nobody care about red light if there are no other car around. Oncoming traffic lane can be use easily, crossroads pretty often are regulated by circumstances. However everybody is very polite and kind. They give way to each other, wait patiently and don’t honk at first second of traffic light change. As a result the driving is enjoyable even in chaos.
Greeks park in any possible and impossible locations. Sidewalks, lawns, streets are equally good; nobody care about any signs and restrictions. Even a presence of the real parking cannot help. I saw how on huge, well-marked parking with plenty of available space cars were set in all possible and impossible positions.
Road policemen exist, but they never pay attention to anybody.
Greece is very religious county. Churches and chapels are everywhere. Usually they look aesthetically pleasing.
If you are going to Greece during Christian holidays, remember that Greeks don’t like to work at whose days. During summer season (starts April 1) most historical places work from 8am to 8pm 7 days per week, but at Eastern week (time of our visit) it is different: at Friday and Saturday they are closed at 3pm, and at Sunday they don’t work at all.
Short announce my nest Greek posts:
Athene with Acropolis, temples, aromas of blooming oranges, markets, hills with red poppies and ruins, picturesque guards, and museums.
Delicious Greek food
Beautiful windy blue-white Santorini
Greek wine, sometimes dreadful, sometimes delicious
Delhi with Parnassus and Oracle
Meteora with monasteries on the tops of huge rocks
Corinth, city of Sisyphus and Diogenes, with Apollo temple and citadel with sea view
Mycenae, city of Menelaus, Agamemnon and Elena, that brought glory to Schliemann
Palamidi, the castle of Greek-Turkish War’s times
To be continue…..
