Who's visited Nafplio? Any hints, recommendations?

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Permalink Reply by Mary Ann Miller on October 12, 2007 at 8:02am

Three friends and I went on this wonderful Untour in June of 2006. We stayed in Idyll's "Elina" apartment (see pix on my page) and it was a perfect location for parking and walking everywhere. Easy access to beautiful seaside cafes for coffee early in the morning or yogurt and honey for breakfast occasionally. Nafplio is full of friendly people - especially the waiters in the tavernas! Yannis at Avis was also great, but none was as helpful and friendly as Christos, our Idyll contact, who turned out to be a chef at the Hotel Aris in Tolo. Don't miss "Greek night" there and maybe he will do his "fire dance" for you. Olympia can be done in a (long) day, but our favorite day trips were to the islands. The boat cruise to Hydra and Spetzes was thoroughly delightful - be sure to take the (10 minute but long enough!) donkey ride around the island, though a bit pricey at 30E. On our own we drove to Galatas and took the ferry to Poros where we watched the sun set between the mountains from the (ruins of) the Sanctuary of Posoidon on top. Quiet and beautiful. As for Athens, we chose to leave our apartment a day early and spend 2 nights in Athens before our flight home. It was enough. We lucked into a taxi driver who spoke excellent English and was very friendly and knowledgeable. For a reasonable price (for 4 of us) he became our chauffeur for the day, and we saw EVERYTHING! If we had had to walk or find our way around ourselves, I don't think we'd have covered half the territory. We climbed the Acropolis, of course, early before it was too crowded, saw the Temple of Zeus, Parliament where we saw the changing of the guard, Olympic stadium, took the funicular to the top of Mt. Lycavittos, and saw the National Archeological Museum. Mid-afternoon he took us to a delightful waterfront taverna in Pieraias, the port of Athens. Our final memory was of our wild ride with him down to Cape Sounion and the famous Temple of Poseidon to see the sunset. I had read about this and wanted to experience it but thought it was too far from Athens to go. We paid him extra, but it was well worth it, we all agreed. We got back to Athens about midnight with one final trip to see the Acropolis lit up at night. He parked outside our hotel and was there to take us to the airport at 4 a.m. If you want his name, let me know. I know you will enjoy this.

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Permalink Reply by Sophie on October 15, 2007 at 7:30pm

Hi Mary Ann:
I am going to Nafplio on October 23. Will you share with me the name of taxi driver in Athens and his phone number? Can you tell me how much you pay for his service for my reference. We are thinking about just take day-trip into Athens, and maybe the driver can pick us up at the bus station. Thank you very much for sharing your trip.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Ann Miller on October 16, 2007 at 6:36am

We called him Peter. His name, as he wrote it in my sketchbook, is PANAGIOTIS DIMITRAKAKIS. Taxi #TAA8707. Phone 0030-2105020779, Mobil - 0030-6932206300. I think I paid Peter 350E., but that included the extra 180E. to take us to Sunio. And that was for EACH of us (we thought at first it was for all of us, but NOT!) A little pricey but I'd definitely do it again. I have SEEN Athens. We also had to pay some admissions, but they were very reasonable.

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Permalink Reply by Sophie on October 16, 2007 at 10:13am

Thank you so much for the information.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Powers, Heartland Staff on October 16, 2007 at 9:54am

Hi Cliff,
I am part of the Heartland staff in Switzerland but I used to live in Greece on Poros Island which is not far from Napflio (ca. 1.45 hr drive) so I often visited (I also have friends there). I've read the other suggestions and I agree with them all, especially all the ones about food! Napflio is a charming town with lots to offer and is a great starting point for many day trips. One person mentioned a boat trip to Hydra which I can second. Its a beautiful little island and great to explore on foot or donkey (no cars allowed) And I'm happy to see they visited Poros too. It's an easy day trip and can be reached by driving to the East coast of the Peleponese towards Galatas and then taking a 3min water taxi or a car ferry over as it's almost a part of the penninsula. This can be handy as strong winds and fall schedules in Nov. can mean that the boats don't run so regularly as in the summer. Poros is a special little island, that will be very quiet that time of year. Aside from the temple of Poseidon, there's a beautiful Monastery amid the pine forest dedicated to the 'life giving spring' that runs nearby...make sure to take a drink! Henry Miller also wrote some wonderful descriptions of the town in the 'Colossus of Maroussi' if you need a reading suggestion. Fall is the best time to go to Greece and my favorite time of year there. I'm sure you will love it too!
Enjoy, Jessica

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Permalink Reply by Cliff Seiber on October 16, 2007 at 1:15pm

Big wide grin! Henry Miller's Colossus of Maroussi was a big motivating factor in moving me toward this trip. Ahtough I've read it twice, I'll have it and Thomas Cahill's Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea in hand, along wiht the excellent Eyewitness Travel guide book, provided by Untours, in hand. Thanks for the encouragement toward Porols and Hydra.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Powers, Heartland Staff on October 20, 2007 at 12:21pm

That's wonderful! Miller lived for a while on Poros while he was writing that, in the VIlla Galini. The place is definately inspiring! I can also recommend Durrell's "Bitter Lemons" if you haven't already read it. And the poetry of Seferis!

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Powers, Heartland Staff on October 16, 2007 at 10:29am

Hi Again,

I just read further to the other replies and saw the one about the taxi tour. It sounds like they were lucky to have such a great experience with a good driver, however I would be very careful about booking taxi drivers. I've had many, we'll call them 'odd' experiences with Taxi drivers in Athens and Greece in general. I wouldnt book one without some previous research or you can find some very good services on line to book ... an Athens tour, including Sounion gen. costs around 200€. Also, by law in Greece only registered guides can do tours at the Archeaological sites. I think for the amount that they paid (or less) you can get a guide and a driver. I have a good friend, Rebekka Stathopoulou who is a fantastic professional guide who can do day tours and could organize a private driver/car to see the sites. If you or anyone is interested I can give them her phone number and address.

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Permalink Reply by Sophie on October 16, 2007 at 10:40am

Yes, yes, please Jessica, can I have Rebekka's number and address? Thank you.

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Permalink Reply by stevesavel on October 16, 2007 at 3:18pm

Cliff,
We certainly agree with all who have made positive comments about the staff person in Nafplio, Christos. We hope you share your impressions of him when you return. When we were in Nafplio we met his fiance and we are interested to know if they got married? They both were such fun and we had a great dinner with them one evening. Another couple and ourselves were the only Idyllers for that term so we were fortunate to benefit from all the attention he was able to give us. Besides the usual information given at the orientation, we were able to learn a lot about his life and the lives of the locals in general and about Greece.
One other tip we could relay is that it was suggested we try restaurants away from the main tourist areas. As it turns out those were the restaurants that local people would frequent and the food was great and the prices were considerably lower than the big restaurants near the water or in the main square.
Again we wish you a great trip and look forward to hearing about your experience when you return.
Steve and Karen Savel

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Maverick on October 22, 2007 at 11:18pm

Dear Cliff,
We enjoyed our March 2007 stay in Nafplio very much. It was our first trip to Greece, and we had much to learn! We went to Athens one day on the bus, we took an overnight trip to Olympia, we went to Delphi and back in one day, we went to Hydra and back in one day, and we did Epidaurus and Mycenae and Mystras and Argos. Argos was the subject of many jokes among the Untourers - easy the get to Argos, impossible to get out! We loved Nemea too, a very special site and museum.
For us it was news that the Peloponnese had been so dominated by Turkey. We learned that there were very few ethnic Greeks in Nafplio when it became the capital of Greece. And the domination of the region by Venice was new for us too. So there was much to learn, as well as so much to enjoy: the market, Christos the Untour on-site person, Yannis the Avis person, wonderful food, beautiful walks and views, and the feeling of a living town.
Emily and Andy Maverick

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Permalink Reply by Marilee Taussig on October 26, 2007 at 10:49am

Hi,

You can see Marianne's picture this way:

Click this link:
http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenNam... or just go to the Member Tab, put "Marianne" in the Search Box and you click on her picture to go to her Page. You will see her photos there.

Thanks,

Marilee

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