Part 3 - Athens: getting around, where to stay, what to do and more!
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Great travel agents are able to guide you to the best locations, accommodations, transportation and sights to see for your trip. When travel agents haven't been someplace, we often ask our colleagues and scour travel guidebooks and websites. Some people like to research every aspect of a trip, others would rather just pack and go. I read a LOT, asked my fellow agents and friends, studied maps and decided on hotels, tours and transfers.
When you're looking at reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, Google and the like, keep in mind that a percentage of reviews are fake, people may not actually be reviewing the particular property or restaurant-rather, they might be reviewing the booking experience through a big On Line Travel Agent (OTA) and that they may in fact, work for a competing place and they're slinging mud. There's a saying about reviews and it goes something like this: reviews are opinions, everyone has one and they're not always good, but I digress.
Before you accept everything in a review as fact, look at how many reviews the person has written, and how they write. Very short reviews tend to be unhelpful. I prefer longer ones with examples of what was good or bad, and I'm a huge fan of photos. My point is, I skip past "one hit wonders" and look for reviewers with over 100 posts.
Now, back to Athens. There are many neighborhoods in Athens and some are better located than others. My first hotel, the Hermes Hotel, was in the Plaka/Syntagma area and I preferred this location to that of my second hotel. The Acropolis View Hotel was located essentially next to the Acropolis in the Koukaki area, but not necessarily close enough to dining and "stuff" for my liking. It's becoming trendy, but for me, it wasn't as 'centrally' located as Plaka. I will say that the views from the rooftop terrace there were delightful.
Other hotels I considered were the Plaka Hotel, Athens Gate, Hotel Grande Bretagne and the King George Hotel. (The last two are actually part of the Marriott family of brands and are five star, luxury properties). There really are hotels in Athens to suit every taste and budget. I felt comfortable with my choices of the Hermes Hotel and Acropolis View Hotel and I'll get to them in greater detail later!
As far as transfers go, I opted to pre-book my airport pick up and transfer to the port through AthensTransferServices.com. I was pleased with their service. As far as getting to my post-cruise hotel and back to the airport, the Acropolis View hotel arranged taxis for me and again, I was very pleased.
I've come to like Hop On Hop Off bus tours as they give you a nice overview of a city. I pre-booked my HOHO tour through Shore Excursions Group. I intended to do one loop upon arrival and then spend more time the following day. Well, the best laid plans tend to end up with me falling asleep and/or getting hungry. Needless to say, I did the tour early on my first full day in Athens. Oops. (I wound up booking it again, directly through the tour bus company for my final full day in Athens.)
So, I had hotels booked, transfers set up, and my HOHO tour arranged! All I had to do now was pack, plan some shore excursions, count down the days and hit the bricks!
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| © 2021 Meg Ryan |
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