Pre-ABD options for Greece June 2020

[TravelJunkieHubby]

We are heading out on the "Greek Odyssey" next June and have 5 days to do something on our own, I was looking for suggestions. My kids will be 12 and 11 - debating between exploring Delphi/sites ABD won't be covering vs. stopping in another country on the way. This will be our 8th ABD and my kids have seen a decent amount of Italy as well as London. Prefer a more relaxed pace than ABD. If we stop in another city/country, ideally it would be easy to get to from the US and easy to go to Athens after, so we aren't adding a bunch of flights.

I was thinking about Croatia since it's near Greece, not considering Turkey/Egypt since we have safety concerns. Appreciate any suggestions!

 

[BluesTraveler]

I think you should reconsider Istanbul. We did ABD Greece this summer and did not have time to add on Istanbul, but I would have if we'd had more time. Friends of ours did Istanbul/Greece this summer with their 11 and 13 year old, and then I read this article, which made me want to go even more:
https://travelbabbo.com/istanbul-with-kids/
Also, the history is so overlapping. I think you might get a lot out of it.

 

[disneyphx]

I would think about it in part from a flight perspective - where makes a good stopover or transit point? Depends on where you are flying from, what airline has good prices.....
And then can you get from the 'stopover' to Athens fairly easily/cheaply?
For example we did London/Paris and Italy/Switzerland ABDs back to back. Thought Paris to Milan would be easy - but turned out getting from Paris to the 'big' Milan airport that ABD picks up from, there were not many flight options.
We have thought about Istanbul previously as Turkish has some good fares, and it would be a great city to spend some time.
Greece is creeping up our ABD wishlist - enjoy!

 

[TravelJunkieHubby]

Thanks - I was also curious if anyone has any recommendations about OYO activities in Athens?

 

[sayhello]

Thanks - I was also curious if anyone has any recommendations about OYO activities in Athens?

I can highly recommend:

The National Archeological Museum. The entire first floor is a collection of sculptures that basically trace the history of sculpture in Greece from primitive ancient times to today. Some really amazing pieces, interestingly organized, and well presented. I also *highly* recommend Rick Steve's podcast that is basically a walking tour of the museum. It explains what you're looking at and puts it in historical context.

The Acropolis Museum. First off, this museum has a really amazing cafeteria! One wall is floor to ceiling windows, and has a spectacular eye-level view of the Acropolis. AMAZING! And the food was really good, too. Restaurant quality. The museum also has replicas of the Elgin marbles, which were stolen from the Parthenon by the Englishman Lord Elgin. Great Britain had said they would return them to Greece, so they built this museum to house them, but they were never returned. I've seen the originals at the British Museum, and the replicas are nowhere near as amazing, but they're still great. The collections they have there are very interesting, and they also have an area with glass floors where you can see the archeological digs that are under the museum.

The Ancient Agora. Fascinating ruins of the social/market area of ancient Athens. Again, for this, I recommend Rick Steve's walking tour podcast. Really gives context to what you're seeing.

Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon. Beautiful ruins on a breathtaking cape. I went for sunset, and it was spectacular.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Sayhello

 

[abdgeek]

Thanks - I was also curious if anyone has any recommendations about OYO activities in Athens?

I second what @sayhello said. On my pre-days in Athens, I visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch, the Plaka shopping area, new Acropolis Museum, Benaki Museum, and the National Archaeological Museum. I would also recommend visiting Filopappos Hill and Mt. Lycabettus. I ran out of time and never saw them, but they were on my list. If you want a pair of custom sandals, visit the Poet Sandal Maker. They only take cash, so make sure you have euros.

I just remembered I also visited the Agora, which is down the hill from the Acropolis, on the day ABD did the Plaka because I had already done that area on my own. When I did the ABD in 2012, entrance to the Agora was included with the Acropolis ticket. I see that the itinerary on that day has changed. If you’re interested in visiting it without having to pay an extra fee, you would need to check with the Adventure Guides to see if that would be an option given the time span that now exists between visiting the Acropolis and the Plaka.

 

[canter2u2]

This is our third ABD - we did the Viva Italia and Southeast Asia - both of which were spectacular! We are looking to adda couple days on the front end of the Greek Odyssey which we are taking in May 2020 (adults Exclusive). as Disney no longer goes to Delphi, we were thinking of taking a day trip to do this OR a day trip to the 15,000 seat Epidaurus Amphitheatre OR the one hour trip to beautiful and unique Meteora….

 

[Shakana]

Istanbul! Istanbul is as safe as London and Paris. I was in Istanbul for the first time in March during a business trip. I spent 4 days in the western part of Istanbul and was out shopping alone, out at night with friends. I felt safe all the way and very welcomed. Next month I will visit Istanbul with my hubby and kid (3) and explore all the sights. I also going to Athens this month for a conference and will be able to squeeze out a few hours of free time on the first day and maybe a few more on the last. The best areas to stay are around Syndagma, Plaka, Monastiraki, Psyrri, Akropoli, Koukaki, Makriyianni. These are all around the historical center where most of the action takes place. Most of the historic sites are walkable around a pedestrianized area. There are 3 options of travel from the airport to the city. Athens Taxi Transfer is the best but is also the most expensive. You have the metro direct from the airport to Syndagma/Monastiraki. This takes around 40 minutes and costs 10 euro each or 18 for two people. Please be aware that that there is an ongoing issue with pickpocketing on the metro especially to and from the airport. The metro departs every 30 minutes.
Then there is the option of the X95 airport express bus. They operate 24 hours a day and depart every 20 minutes approximately. This leaves from outside the arrivals area and terminates at Syndagma. It costs just 6 euro per person each way and takes around an hour depending on time and traffic. There is plenty of luggage space on the buses. The bus is a safe option.

 

[TravelJunkieHubby]

Thanks - please let us know how your visit to Istanbul goes and if there are any tour guides you can recommend in Istanbul.

Can anyone compare/contrast Delphi vs. Temple of Poseidon at Sounion? Did you feel they were different enough from one another that it is worth seeing both. The 2020 ABD itinerary skips Delphi and replaces it with Sounion. Our kids have enjoyed the Rick Riordian books but I'm not sure they would appreciate the difference between two ancient architectural sites.

 

[sayhello]

Can anyone compare/contrast Delphi vs. Temple of Poseidon at Sounion? Did you feel they were different enough from one another that it is worth seeing both. The 2020 ABD itinerary skips Delphi and replaces it with Sounion. Our kids have enjoyed the Rick Riordian books but I'm not sure they would appreciate the difference between two ancient architectural sites.

Delphi is a much larger site, with ruins of a market place, storage buildings, a sacrificial stone, a temple, an amphitheater and a sports stadium. It's up on a mountain, and has beautiful views. There is also a really interesting museum that contains a lot of the relics recovered from the site. It's also about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Athens. Part of what made Delphi so fascinating was the commentary from our amazing Adventure Guide, Elena. There was so much to the history of the area that I just didn't realize. LOVED Delphi. But I would highly recommend you go there with a guide, and not on your own to get the most out of the area.

To my knowledge, the Temple of Posiedon on Cape Sounion is just the Temple. It's not very big, but it's beautiful. Cape Sounion itself is beautiful. I did not go with a Guide, so I really did not know or experience that much about the history of the place, so I can't speak to that. It took us about 2 hours to get to the Temple of Poseidon, also. We did, however make a couple of stops on the way, so the drive itself is probably much less. You drive down along the coast, so it's a much prettier drive than going to Delphi. There *may* be other ruins in the area, but we only hit the Temple of Poseidon. I don't know if ABD will be taking you to any of those other ruins.

Sayhello

 

[im4kycats]

This is our third ABD - we did the Viva Italia and Southeast Asia - both of which were spectacular! We are looking to adda couple days on the front end of the Greek Odyssey which we are taking in May 2020 (adults Exclusive). as Disney no longer goes to Delphi, we were thinking of taking a day trip to do this OR a day trip to the 15,000 seat Epidaurus Amphitheatre OR the one hour trip to beautiful and unique Meteora….

My son and I are doing the May 22 Adult Only Greek Odyssey and considering a day trip to Delphi on the 21st. Are you on the same trip?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We are heading out on the "Greek Odyssey" next June and have 5 days to do something on our own, I was looking for suggestions. My kids will be 12 and 11 - debating between exploring Delphi/sites ABD won't be covering vs. stopping in another country on the way. This will be our 8th ABD and my kids have seen a decent amount of Italy as well as London. Prefer a more relaxed pace than ABD. If we stop in another city/country, ideally it would be easy to get to from the US and easy to go to Athens after, so we aren't adding a bunch of flights.

I was thinking about Croatia since it's near Greece, not considering Turkey/Egypt since we have safety concerns. Appreciate any suggestions!

We did not do the Greece ABD as I opted to do Greece on our own once I saw there were so many places we wanted to see in mainland Greece that were not covered by the ABD. We ended up booking private tours through a company called Private Greece Tours (http://privategreecetours.com). Over the course of 5 days, they took us to Cape Sounion (Temple of Poseidon), Corinth, Epidaurus, Olympia, Delphi and Athens (Acropolis, Agora, Acropolis Museum and National Archaelogical Museum). I would highly recommend doing your pre-ABD days in Greece - it's an absolutely magical country. With 5 days, I would probably do Athens, Cape Sounion and Delphi (Or Athens, Corinth and Delphi). You could do Athens in two days and Cape Sounion in a half day. If you go to Delphi, I highly recommend staying one night as going as a day trip is quite a long day.

 

[canter2u]

This is our third ABD - we did the Viva Italia and Southeast Asia - both of which were spectacular! We are looking to adda couple days on the front end of the Greek Odyssey which we are taking in May 2020 (adults Exclusive). as Disney no longer goes to Delphi, we were thinking of taking a day trip to do this OR a day trip to the 15,000 seat Epidaurus Amphitheatre OR the one hour trip to beautiful and unique Meteora….

We are scheduled for the May 8. Hoping it still happens but completely understand if it doesn't.... we decided to do a private/small tour of the canal Epidaurus and Epidavros the day before. here's hoping we both have our trips! If not...I'm counting on Delta to continue to waive cancelling and rebooking fees.....

 

[RG3]

Consider going to Israel! A short, cheap flight from Greece, beautiful nature/history/beach/great food/family friendly.
Let me know if you need itinerary help!