So, I’ve got about 5000 dollars.
Just renewed my passport.
And I have been obsessed with classical antiquity since I was 8.
I also have 2 weeks of vacation time.
So obviously I’m going to Greece 
My doubt is, how should I spend that time?
I’m going to Athens for sure, and I will visit the Acropolis and Marathon.
But I dream of touring the entire country, from Sparta to Pella (It’s Pella in Greece?)
Some of the cities I want to visit probably no longer exist or have had their names changed.
Anyway, fellow dopers, what would you recommend?.
The airfare from here (Buenos Aires) it’s about 1000 $ which leaves me about 4k to spend there.
Take a ferry or a short multi-day sleep aboard cruise to see some of the islands:
- Rhodes for the old walled city
- Crete for the Minoan Knossos
- There’s a monastery at the top of virtually every island that you can hike to and invariably a cave that some god forsaken monk managed to make home (see one)
- If you can find a tour that goes to Kusadasi and Ephesus, Turkey, do that as well
I hear the islands are ridiculously crowded now. Santorini being by far the worst.
Mostly I wonder how to organize it, should I had everything planned beforehand? all the places I’ll sleep already reserved, or should I just go to Athens and then see from there?
It’s also the first time I’ll travel so far on my own and I’m more than a bit nervous TBH.
First of all, are you talking US Dollars? Second, I’d suggest starting to think in Euros if you’re going to Greece. Take a look at YouTube, many travel vlogs are pretty down on Athens, so don’t expect it to be perfect.
Yes USD.
You are right about thinking in Euros, so let’s say I have about 3500 euros to spend 
I don’t expect it to be perfect, as long as the ruins are there I’m a happy camper.
If you’re going anywhere from March to October both included, I think you should get bookings in advance whenever possible.
My college class trip was a week in Greece (in July+; we didn’t die because we were Spaniards so it was like being back home with a different accent): land in Athens, two days of “go wherever” (when we got to the Acropolis after dropping off our bags at the hotel, our longest-legged classmates had already roped a couple of guides and were trying to convince them that yes, they needed to arrange for two 40-people, English or Spanish groups; no it was not just the five of them), next day take the overnight ferry to Crete, rent cars there (we* went to Knossos, Phaestos, Matala and Agios Nikolaos; other popular spots were the gorges and a beach all the way on the East cape), back to Athens, one day of shopping (and, in our case, a couple museums more because c’mon…). We weren’t able to visit the Greco Museum because it was closed for renovation: please say “hi” to it for me if you do go!
- My group was nicknamed los de las piedras, “the stone people”, because where other people were talking beaches and clubs we were very much into ruins, museums and architecture.
- Christ. Today is the exact aniversary. I refuse to count how many years it’s been but damn…
I recommend Akrotiri in Santorini especially with a good tour guide who can bring the ancient settlement to life.
I’m going in December, just for that very reason (I was also told that it will be cheaper)
I’ll say hello to the Museum (If I go), in the name of the Stone People
Definitely make arrangements in advance, as you won’t exactly be the only tourist vying for accommodations.
And you really don’t want to miss the monasteries atop Meteora. Spectacular!
Here’s a tourist map of Greece.
Some key ancient sites on the mainland, aside from Athens, would be:
-
Delphi, ancient sanctuary, home of the Pythian oracle and location of the omphalos stone, which was considered by the Greeks to be the center of the world.
-
Mycenae (Mykínai), center of the earlier Mycenaean civilization, and home of King Agamemnon, who led the Greeks against Troy.
-
Olympia, where the ancient Olympic Games, forerunner of the modern Olympics, were held.
I’d also recommend spending some time by the sea.
I see thanks!
So I should arrange accomodations in advance, what about travel? how do you move around there?
I assume by bus? (I see there are trains too)
I’m going to read about the current Greece in lonely planet to help me know about more about how to arrange things. (going from what I know about Greece from my readings I’d had to go in a tunic and sandals, with a lot of olives and cheese and then start walking to go everywhee )
I don’t want to try and tell anyone what to do, and December might offer some unique challenges due to the holidays, but when we were in Northern Greece for our honeymoon in early April, (Thessoloniki, Kavala, Khalkidhiki) NOT getting advanced reservations (except for the first night we arrived) and then winging it and flying by the seat of our pants the rest of the time was the best travel decision we could have ever possibly made, the highlight of which saw us take a gorgeous deluxe Honeymoon Suite, with jacuzzi and huge private deck overlooking the Agean Sea, (less than 50 yards away) for $45.00 (40 Euro) per night, total, a rate that never in a million years would have been offered advance online, no matter how slow the time of year.
(I see that same suite is currently going for over 380 Euros per night this month, I wonder if they throw in a bottle of cheap yet excellent Greek wine like they did for us?)
I get that travelling without an advanced itinerery isn’t for everyone, but depending on the destination, the time of year, your budget and your willingness to roll the dice, it can be a HUGE “plus” in stretching your travel dollars and getting you to some amazing, “Off The Beaten Track” places you would otherwise never end up experiencing.
Just one word of warning for December - many ferries and hotels shut up shop around the end of October, as so much of Greece is tourist orientated, and tourists follow the sun. This will impact your travel arrangements, so I would strongly suggest planing in advance (even if you don’t book - at least you’ll know what’s open/running).
Island hopping is one of the absolute joys of Greece - for ruins lovers, not just sun lovers - so I would at least try and travel when the ferries are still running. There’ll be some running in the off-season, but worth checking in advance.
Thanks all of you for your help!.
What I plan to do buy a tour for transport and accomodations and tour a few places I want to see like Corinth and Delphi, I’ll arrive in Athens a day before the tour begins and leave a few days later so I can see Marathon and perhaps Plataea and Salamina and generally see the place in my own time.
So I’m going to buy the air tickets and reserver tours and airBnB today.
I’m scared of messing up and ending on some ditch because I miscalculated something or worse being denied entrance for lacking some prerequiste, wish me luck!
Almost all done, Tickets bought, tour bought, medical and travel insurance bought…
Now I’ll have to wait for 140 days 14 hours and 35 minutes 
It could be worse, there’s a clock in Pamplona which currently stands at 356 days, 21 hours and 28 minutes…
Be sure to come back and tell us how it was!
Oh I sure will!, I plan to bore everyone in in my immediate family, workplace, social media and the SMDB to death with tales of my travels trough Greece 
I give up, I googled, thought, asked, I event put on my thinking cap and everything, but I don’t understand this reference
Sanfermines. There’s a clock which counts the time until the beginning of the next one, on July 6 at noon. During the week of Sanfermines a sleepy, rainy small city/large town in Northern Spain becomes a hive of activity, bulls, giant papier-maché dolls and general festivity. They are closed on the Pobre de Mí (the “poor, poor me”), at midnight from the 14th to the 15th (well, it starts at midnight and lasts until everybody is in bed snoring except for the heroic people who have to wash the streets).
When someone expresses moderately-negative feelings (like, bluesy but not fully depressed), the standard response of someone from Pamplona is (pero hombre, no pasa nada) ¡ya falta menos p’al glorioso San Fermín! - “(c’mon, man, it’s not so bad), not so long left until the next Sanfermines!” This line cannot be said between noon of July 6th and the Pobre de Mí; saying it during that time would be like saying “and I’m opening my Christmas gifts tomorrow”… on Christmas Eve. And well, since right now it’s July 17 I’m currently suffering from the Pobre de Mí Blues… waaaaaaa, Sanfermines has just ended, waaaaaaa… but no worry, it’s only 11 months and change until the next ones…