Solo backpacking Greece is one of those things that many of us dream about doing. There’s so much do and see and experience all over the region. You could easily spend months traveling around the country and still not experience everything Greece has to offer. But don’t let that be a deterrent. Even if you’re like me and you’ll only be visiting for a short time, you’ll still be able to do a lot. It just takes a little planning and patience.
When I first decided that Greece would be my next destination, I knew I had my work cut out for me to make the most of my time. For me, I knew that I wanted to do as much as possible in the least amount of time, while not having to take out a second mortgage to finance the trip. And I’ll just go ahead and tell you, I was absolutely able to accomplish that!
I’m going to briefly share some tips on how I planned this trip, what my budget looked like, etc. But if you just want to see some pretty pictures and read about my experience, feel free to click here to skip to the end.
How To Plan A Trip To Greece
One of the first things that I do when I decide on a country that I want to visit, is I find out when the best time to visit will be. Then, I start looking for flights. (For tips on how to do this, check out the 3 Best Tools to Find Cheap Flights) Sometimes I’ve been known to monitor flights to certain destinations for up to a year at a time to determine when I can get the cheapest flights, but you don’t have to be as crazy as I am! Once I’ve booked my flight, then I start researching places that I want to visit and begin the process of putting together my itinerary.
For Greece, I knew I wanted to visit a lot of ancient archeological sites, see some beautiful places, and do some island hopping. So that’s where I started for this trip. From there, I gleefully went down a bunch of rabbit holes until I pieced together an itinerary that I felt confident about. For me, that means I have a list of places that I know I want to visit, I’ve researched and priced out my accommodations, I’ve gotten a good idea of how I will get from one location to another, and I have a few ideas for how I might spend my time in each place.
Researching Accommodations
Once you have a rough list of places that you think you might want to visit, go ahead and start looking up accommodation options. When I decided that I would be solo backpacking Greece, I knew I wanted to prioritize finding places to stay where it would be easy to meet people. This could mean staying in hostels that have a social atmosphere or staying a hotel or guest room somewhere close to the center of town where you can easily walk to places where people will be hanging out. Hostelworld and Booking.com (usually in that order) are my two go-to’s when I am looking for places to stay.
Getting Around Greece
Greece has a very good transportation infrastructure so you will have lots of options. Most international flights will arrive in Athens or maybe Thessaloniki and there are also airports on some of the major islands as well. The bus system is good, but just know that you’ll need to search for bus timetables in each area that you visit. Just Google KTEL bus timetables + where ever you’re going, and you’ll be fine. I often use Rome2Rio as a jumping off place when figuring out how to get from location to location.
All that said, I think that renting a car in Greece is a really great option as well. For example, I rented a Nissan Micra with an automatic transmission for 5 days from Volta4U and it only cost around €130., and it would have been even less if I hadn’t decided to take their Collision Damage Liability coverage. When I was there, gas was about €2 per liter. I drove probably close to 2,000 kilometers and I think in total I paid around €150 for gas. ***If you do decide to rent a car, be aware that there are lots of toll roads in Greece. Just to give you a basic idea, I probably spent around €30 on tolls in total.
Best Time To Visit Greece
There’s really no bad time to visit Greece. But here are the basics of the travel seasons:
The High Season is June-September. This is by far the most popular time to visit. The weather will be hot and sunny and everything will be open. If you decide to visit during this time be prepared for higher prices and TONS of people everywhere. Coming during this time, you’ll need to book your ferries and accommodations well in advance to avoid the stress of places being booked up and having to find something else last minute.
The Shoulder Season is May, Late September, and Early October. My trip was September 26 – October 14, so it was absolutely perfect for me. During this time some places on the islands are already starting to close up, so if you’re looking to party hardy, your choices might be slightly limited. The weather was also wonderful during this time. It didn’t rain at all, while I was there. It was nice and sunny and warm (hot even) during the day, and just a touch on the chilly side in the evenings. The prices for accommodations were very reasonable during this time as well. While there’s less people traveling during the shoulder season, don’t expect to have the islands or the cities to yourself.
Low Season is Late October through Mid April. Prices are at their lowest and the temperature is at it’s coldest (if you like to ski or snowboard, this would be a great time to visit central and northern Greece and hit the slopes).
2 1/2 Week Greece Itinerary
Below is the itinerary that I created for this trip. It’s by no means perfect, but when I was building it, it was meant to be for my eyes only. So it’s a little stream of conscious-y. But hopefully, it will give you an idea of how my brain works when I’m planning a trip.
How Much Does It Cost To Travel Greece
As you can see from the itinerary above, it really doesn’t have to cost that much to visit Greece. Like I’ve mentioned, I really enjoy budget travel so I treat the planning process like putting together a puzzle. My goal is always to do as much as possible without spending an arm and a leg. The puzzle is just putting the pieces together to make that possible.
Including your flight, this will almost always be your most expensive category. I was able to find a flight from Atlanta to Athens with layover in Istanbul for $669 and since I had some travel miles available on my credit card, the out of pocket cost came to $430 for me.
I also spent about €130 on a series of 4 ferries to get to and from the islands. I used the Ferryhopper App and it was very intuitive and easy to use. They don’t add any fees either, so you can be confident that you’re paying the best price.
I budgeted about €300 for my rental car and gas, but because I ended up splitting the cost with a fellow traveler, I was able to save a little bit from that budget. (Which came in handy because I simply did not budget enough for night life. lol)
You absolutely could eat in Greece for under $15/day if you don’t mind a diet dominated by pastries and gyros. That said, I wouldn’t recommend it. Greece has incredible food and it would be a damn shame not to enjoy it! Don’t get me wrong, I had a several gyros during my trip, but I was not about to pass up on all the delicious seafood and traditional Greek dishes! And neither should you!
My Food budget was $30/day which I comfortably stayed within almost every day. But you could easily spend double or triple that on food if you really wanted to dine like the Gods.
I also budgeted about $10/day for booze. And lets just say..I did not stick to that budget. Again, I absolutely could have. But when you’re out dancing and having a good time, what’s another cocktail or two? …Or at least that’s what I told myself.
Realistically, I probably averaged between $20-$30/day for alcohol. But I’m not brave enough to really dig that deep to find out. Either way, I regret nothing.
This is always a category where I do exceedingly well because of the way I like to travel.
For me as a solo-traveler, I love staying in hostels because they’re almost always super social and extremely budget friendly.
In Greece you can expect to pay anywhere from $15/night to $50/night to stay in hostels, depending on whether you choose a dorm or a private room. For this trip, I did a healthy mix of both.
In areas outside of Athens have less hostels, so when I stayed in Naxos and Nafplio, I opted for small hotels. But I was still very happy, and I got a great value for where I was.
All in all, I averaged just under $24/night for my accommodations on this trip.
If you want all private rooms or if hostels aren’t your thing, you’ll probably want to double or triple that daily budget.
I planned for about $400 in my entertainment budget, and I definitely stayed well within that.
In this category, I include things like, entrance fees, quad rentals, day trips, etc.
In later sections, I’ll give some details about what some of these things were for me.
Grand Total of what I ACTUALLY spent: $2,399.41
($2,549.26 if you include Amazon purchases before the trip for some water shoes, snorkle, sunscreen, etc.)
My Solo Backpacking Trip To Greece In 2022
I’m going to tell you right now, I’m about to write this off the cuff, so buckle up and bear with me. 🙂
To put it simply, this was a trip of a lifetime. I’ve been fascinated by Greece for a long time and it’s been on my bucket list forever. From ancient civilizations to pristine beaches and everything in between, Greece has it all. And I’m so glad that I got to get a small taste!
Day 1 & 2 - Travel Days
This part isn’t particularly interesting so I’m going to breeze through it.
My flight left Atlanta at 10:10pm and after a 10 1/2 hour flight to Turkey, a 5 hour layover due to delay, a 1 1/2 flight to Athens International Airport, and a 1 hour ride on the subway, I finally reach my first hostel in Athens at around 11:30pm on Day 2 of my trip. I checked in at Pella-Inn Hotel, went out for a quick gyro, and then went directly to sleep so that I could wake up early to catch my ferry to Paros and really begin my trip!
Day 3 & 4 - Paros
Paros was the first stop in the island hopping portion of my trip and it was the perfect introduction to island life. It was laidback but still had an pulsing energy to it. Since I was only here for 2 nights there was no way I could explore the whole island. But in my short time, I managed to visit the port town of Parikia where my hostel (Paros Backpackers) was located, the beautiful village of Naoussa, and two gorgeous beaches. The night life in Paros was definitely existent, but I’m not sure it was quite the vibe I was looking for, so for the most part, I just bought beers that I kept cool in the mini-fridge in the dorm and enjoyed them as I walked around the town or while hanging out at the rooftop of the hostel.
The village of Naoussa definitely did not disappoint. It was only about half an hour away by bus (around €3 round trip) and it was the perfect place to base out of for the afternoon due to it’s charm and proximity to some other beautiful beaches nearby. I had gone with a Colombian guy, a guy from Texas, and an Australian girl, all from my hostel. After wandering around the town for a bit and taking some pictures at the Venetian Fortress, we decided to take a taxi for around €4 each to the gorgeous rocky beach of Kolympethres about 10 minutes away. We stayed there for a good portion of the afternoon before heading back to Naoussa to meet up with more people from our hostel for dinner.
The next day, I slept in a bit for the first time since arriving in Greece and then one of my dorm mates (we’ll call him Tom) and I went out for brunch before heading off to Golden Beach. The bus system on the island was very easy to use, and you could get pretty much anywhere for a few Euros. After brunch, we had a bit of time to kill before catching the bus, so we walked around Parikia a bit taking photos and enjoying the island.
Once we arrived to Golden beach, we ordered cocktails from one of the beach bars and posted up in two of their beach chairs and had a great afternoon relaxing and sunbathing. Midway through the day, we noticed two other American girls also at the beach, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with them. (Ask me about our taxi ride back to town that turned into carpool karaoke, hahaha).
We finished out our night with a delicious meal at a Thai restaurant called Aroi Thai Restaurant that the girls had heard about. I must admit, it was a little surreal. We were 4 Americans in Greece, eating Thai food while French music played in the background.
After our delicious dinner, the girls went out for a nightcap and Tom and I decided to take the cheaper option and just grab a beer from a mini-market on the walk back to our hostel.
We walked around the town a little bit more while we finished our beers, then headed back to the dorm.
Day 5-8 - Ios
Day 5 was technical a half day in Paros and then the first evening in Ios. My ferry left around 3:15pm and arrived in Ios around 6:30pm, so I had plenty of time that morning to do a little more exploring in Paros. I didn’t really do much of anything though. I just strolled through the streets taking pictures, stopped into several of the local shops, and visited the beautiful Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Ekatontapyliani, a beautiful Byzantine-era stone church in Parikia.
Later that day, as I was heading to my ferry I noticed two others from my hostel were headed to Ios too, so we hung out and had a few beers during the 3 hour ferry ride to Ios. The girl was from London (we’ll call her Meg) and the guy was an Aussie (he’ll be Mike). We had hung out for a bit the previous two night’s in Paros, and they both seemed pretty fun, so I was glad to learn they would be staying at the same hostel as me in Ios as well. Once we arrived, we all got checked into our rooms and met up again later that evening to go out for dinner.
Oh! And speaking of our hostel, we stayed in Francesco’s which was by far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at in my entire life. I had a nice private room and the hostel itself was super social and had arguably the best view in the entire town!
Ios was definitely my favorite island location that I visited in Greece for a bunch of different reasons. It just felt quintessentially Greek. It was lively with some GREAT restaurants, bars, and clubs, and because it was a relatively smaller island, it was just begging to be explored in more depth. If you ever make your way to the Greek islands, do NOT miss Ios. I promise, you will fall in love just like I did. When you go, I highly recommend eating at Siani’s and Lord Byron if you want to have some really excellent food for a decent price.
I was there September 30 through October 4 and for me it was the perfect time to be there. It was just outside the peak season so even though some of the bars and clubs had already closed for the season, there was still more than enough places still open. Best of all, I felt like there was the perfect amount of people on the island. Enough to have a good time, but not feel cramped. Overall, I was smitten with the island’s charm, natural beauty, and bustling nightlife.
On my second day in Ios the plan was to meet up with a friend from the hostel (let’s call her Meg) and this Irish guy that we met at the bar on the first night (let’s call him Greg) and hike down to Koltisani beach to spend the day.
Things didn’t quite go to plan, though, and Meg never made it because Greg and I 100% took the longest and sketchiest way possible to get down to the beautiful beach, so we weren’t able to give her directions. Long story short, we followed the road signs (definitely intended for people with cars) and after hiking up and down mountains for over an hour ultimately decided TO SCALE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN and hope we could connect to the walking trail we saw on the other side.
What should have been a 30 minute hike turned into 2 hours, but the good news is we eventually made it down and Koltisani was amazing. We spent probably 3 or 4 hours just relaxing in the one shady part of the beach, enjoyed some snorkling, and admired the picturesque landscape and water.
The following day, Meg and I decided to rent a quad from a little place down on the main road called Ios Moto Center and drive around the island to do a little beach hopping. It was €50 for 24 hours, and it was the perfect way to get around the island for the day. I actually think we only ended up going to 2 or 3 beaches, but the drive through the mountains, stopping for pictures along the way, made for an unforgettable day.
A quick side note: in Greece there is something called the Meltemi winds which are usually the strongest during peak summer months, but are known to occur as late as early October as well. As “luck” would have it, we definitely got a taste. Thankfully it wasn’t anywhere near the 100km/hr winds that are possible, but it was still gusty enough to make the sand sting our bodies when we were lounging on the beach. The good news for us is that it wasn’t windy the whole day, so it really only was a little bit of an annoyance while we were at Magganari beach in the later part of the afternoon. But either way, we most definitely were not going to allow a little bit of wind to get in the way of having an incredible day.
We drove all over the small island that day. For reference, it took a little more than an hour to go from almost all the way at the north end to Magganari beach at the southern end of the island. Along the way, we saw breathtaking views of the Aegean sea from atop the mountains, goats chilling on the side of (and in the middle of) the road, and as we were coming back into town we decided to drive up to check out some of the ubiquitous old windmills. All in all, it was a perfect way to spend the day.
This section is already getting a little long, but it wouldn’t be right not to tell you a little more about the nightlight in Ios. Like I mentioned, things were already starting to die down from the peak season, and in fact our hostel would be closing down for the year the following weekend. But for my taste, the nightlife scene was perfect. A little crazy at times, but pretty cheap drinks and great vibes all around. In the town of Chora, the only major town on the island, there’s a nice central square where most of the bars and clubs are, so you really don’t have to do much stumbling around to find your next destination. Some of my favorite places were Louis Bar, Traffic, and Slammer. There’s also a nice Irish pub down near the main road called Fun Pub that has beer pong, a pool table, and other bar games.
And remember that Aussie guy, Mike, that Meg and I had dinner with on the first night? Well he was on a mission to get as many people as possible to do a “shoe-y” with him. Now if you’re like me and you had never head of that before, let me explain. A shoe-y is when you pour a beer or presumably any drink into a motherf**king shoe, and then you down it. Why, you may ask? I have no earthly idea. He was a hoot to hang out with, but he really wanted me to partake in a shoe-y with him. So at one point I just told him, “I’m not certain about very many things in life, but I can tell you with 100% certainty, I will NEVER be doing a shoe-y!” …That said, it was a mix of awe and disgust watching him do them all the time!
From shoe-ies to all night partying, the nightlife in Ios was never a dull moment.
Day 9 & 10 - Naxos
After several days of non-stop action in Ios, I was ready for a little bit more of a relaxed vibe when I arrived in Naxos. The island of Naxos is the largest in the Cycladic islands and is popular destination for families to vacation. With only 2 nights here, I wasn’t even able to scratch the surface of all the things Naxos has to offer. But I did have a wonderful time getting lost in the old town as I wandered around the area near the Venetian castle, stopping in museums and shops all along the way. And of course no visit to Naxos would be complete without checking out the Temple of Apollo which looms mightily over the port. It was windy the day I decided to venture across to the temple so as the waves would crash, the pathway and the people on it would get drenched in the ocean spray. Thankfully, somehow I managed to make it across and back while staying relatively dry.
When I first arrived in Naxos it was nearly sunset, so I hurried to my hotel (Windmill Naxos) to get checked in, and then I immediately walked to the nearest beach (Agios Georgios Beach) to enjoy the sunset. It doesn’t seem to matter how many beaches I visit in Greece, they are all just perfect. After the sunset, I walked back to my hotel to grab a jacket since it was starting to get cool, and then I set off to find dinner.
On my way out, I met a guy who was staying in the room next to mine, so I introduced myself and found out that he’s also from Atlanta. We’ll call him Andrew. Andrew was on his way to a classical guitar recital at the Venetian Castle that evening so we exchanged contact information on WhatsApp and said we’d try to meet up sometime before I left in a couple of days. We didn’t end up getting together that night, but the next evening after I got back from exploring the town all day and taking a bus to and from Plaka beach in the late afternoon, we met again at the hotel and decided to go grab dinner at this seafood restaurant that he had been to a few days prior called Café Ouzerie Barabbas.
As we were walking to the restaurant, another guy that I met in Ios messaged me and said that he just arrived in Naxos from Ios and was actually staying at the same hotel, so we told him where we were going and we all had a great seafood dinner at a local restaurant away from the tourist area. After dinner, we went out for a drink near the port at The Rum Bar. The drinks we tasty, but definitely a little expensive for our taste, so after one or two drinks we decided to head back towards the hotel. We each picked up a bottle of wine and some snacks on our way back and then we went to Andrew’s room (since it had a bigger balcony) and hung out there for the rest of the evening. Andrew is a gifted classical guitar player himself. So after a couple of drinks Neil and I (Neil is who we will call the other guy from Ios that just arrived that evening) convinced him to play a bit for us.
This was such a nice chill night and the perfect way to spend my last evening on the relaxing island of Naxos.
Day 11-14 - Nafplio, Mycenae & Epidavrus
This was almost the portion of the trip that never was. Originally I had planned on spending significantly longer in Athens. But at the last minute, I decided to expand my trip a bit and include a little time in the Peloponnese region of Greece. And WOW I’m so glad that I did. It’s hard to pick out favorite parts of my trip, but if I had to, this part of the country would without a doubt rank pretty high up there for me.
Nafplio is a short 2 hour drive from Athens by car and was the first capital of modern Greece. It’s easy to see why this is such a popular destination for both Greeks and international travelers due to it’s excellent beaches, it’s attractive streets filled with museums and restaurants, and it’s proximity to some of the best and most important archeological sites in Greece.
I arrived at my hotel, Pension Eleni, shortly before 9pm where I was immediately greeted by the hotel reception and was shown to my room. I was immediately enamored with the town’s charm. Even at night I could tell this place was special. I went out for quick dinner and then came back to rest up before next days adventures.
The next day was a full day of exploring. Now before I go any further, it’s important to note that I am not even the least bit qualified to write about ancient civilizations, but I will leave some links at the bottom of the page for you to do some further reading if you’d like. So for now I’ll just give you a brief run down of the places I visited. First was the archeological site of Mycenae. The Mycenaeans were an elite warrior society who excelled at trade and who also gave us the earliest attested form of Greek, Linear B. Next was Tiryns, another major site related to the Mycenaean civilization. Both of these sites, by the way, are referenced by Homer in the epic poems The Illiad and The Odyssey. The penultimate stop of the day was Epidavrus. Epidavrus was known as the birthplace of the God of Medicine, and son of Apollo, Asclepius. People from all over the ancient world would visit the Sanctuary of Asclepius to pay tribute to the Gods and to be healed. There would also participate in games at the stadium and attend performances at the impressive ancient theatre of Epidavrus. As an actor myself, I especially love that in one of the most famous places of healing in the ancient world there was theatre there as well. This wasn’t a coincidence though. And what a theatre it is! The acoustics are so perfectly engineered in the 12,000 seat amphitheater that audience members the back row could clearly hear a coin dropped on the alter at the center of the theatre. Finally, as I made my way back into Nafplio, I stopped by the Fortress of Palamidi, a beautiful Venetian fortress that overlooks the town of Nafplio.
After a long day of visiting some of the most impressive sites of the ancient world, I was ready to grab some dinner and enjoy the sunset. However, the universe had different plans. I’m not sure if you remember, but on my first day in Paros, I met a guy from Texas who we’re going to call Tom. Well, turns out after leaving Paros, Tom met a Greek girl in Mykonos and had decided to go stay with her and her family for bit in Kiato, about an hour and a half north from Nafplio. The details are still a bit fuzzy as to why, but for some reason she was convinced they were going to get married, so Tom asked me if I’d come pick him up. After trying my best to talk myself out of it, I ultimately decided to go get him, which turned out to be a great idea since now I had a travel buddy for a few days as well as someone to split the cost of my hotel room, gas for the car, and toll roads!
By 9:30pm Tom and I had made our way back to Nafplio. We went down into town for dinner at O Vasilis Taverna and gelato from Rebello, then made a plan for the following day. As we were wandering around the town we happened upon what looked like some kind of car show. Turns out it was an annual event called Tour du Peloponnese which was an annual event and basically an excuse for classic car owners to show off their beautiful cars while driving from town to town in the Peloponnese region.
On our last day in Nafplio we decided that we’d visit the Archeological site of Argos, the Archeological Museum of Nafplio, and then go spend the rest of the afternoon at a nearby Karanthonas Beach. After visiting such impressive sites the previous day, the archeological site Argos didn’t really seem to measure up. But it was still very interesting to walk around the ruins and imagine how the theatre, the baths, and the odeon may have looked in their prime. It’s so wild to me to think about how thousands of years ago ancient civilizations were building cities just like ours today only with different tools. Our time at the beach later that afternoon was very reminiscent of our last day in Paros at Golden Beach since again, we managed to find some beach chairs and umbrella that we could use for the price of buying some drinks. We took turns doing some snorkling, and Tom used my underwater camera sleeve to film some videos for his TikTok channel.
After enjoying the sunset at the beach we headed back into town to have dinner and get some rest before a long, LONG day of driving the next day.
Day 15-16 - Delphi & Meteora
I’m not going to lie to you, these were two very long days of driving and they absolutely did feel a little rushed. But when you’re traveling, it never seems like there’s enough time, so instead of cutting two places out of my itinerary that I knew I’d regret not visiting, Tom and I got our asses up early, piled into the car and we were off. We were surprisingly getting what felt like great fuel economy but since this was going to be a long day of driving and we weren’t sure how often we’d come across a gas station, we filled up the tank (for around €60) and made tracks towards our first stop of the day, Delphi.
The drive to Delphi from Nafplio took around 4 hours with a stop about half way to use the bathroom and it was honestly a very pleasant drive. Tom wasn’t the greatest driving companion since he slept most of the way, but he’s a whole decade younger than I am, so I totally get it. I’d have probably slept through the drive too at 24. But as I was driving, I thoroughly enjoyed winding through the Greek mountains and countryside. For brief moments, it felt like I was driving through the Appalachian Mountains near my hometown in Georgia – if the Appalachians had significantly fewer trees and overlooked rolling olive fields.
Just like Mycenae and Epidavrus, Delphi is another UNESCO World Heritage site and is a place that is just teeming with spirituality and mystique. It was here where Oracle of Delphi would deliver prophecies, as the God Apollo spoke through the priestess to give answers to those who sought guidance. As you make your way up through the Sacred Way climbing up to the Temple of Apollo, you can’t help but imagine what it must have been like to travel from all corners of ancient Greece to speak with the Oracle and what kinds of questions they must have had that would motivate them to cross over mountains and hundreds of kilometers to get there. Along the way up, be sure to check out the bronze Serpentine Column. It’s often overlooked by tourists eager to see the Temple of Apollo, but it has a fascinating history. High up on the hill beyond the ancient theatre and the end of the Sacred Way sits the Stadium of Delphi. At the time when I visited, you could walk around the stadium, but there was a sign at the entrance of the archeological site mentioning that it was closed, so that makes be believe eventually it might be re-opened.
After leaving Delphi, it was another 3 or 4 hours before we arrived in Meteora. Since we arrived after dark, we couldn’t yet see how impressive of a place this was. But our excitement was bubbling, so after dinner we decided to go with a couple of Polish guys up to sit at the steps of Holy Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, a beautiful old Byzantine church that overlooked the city. We had a great time chatting and getting to know our new friends, but before long we went back down to the town and turned in for the night.
The next day, we packed up the car again and headed up to the see the monasteries. Tom had never heard of Meteora, but I knew that this was going to be one of the highlights of my trip ever since I first read about this place and decided that I was going to visit Greece. There are six different monasteries situated on the clifftops of Meteora and while we definitely got amazing views of all six, we actually visited 3 of them: Varlaam Monastery, Holy Trinity Monastery (which made an appearance in the 1981 James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only), and Great Meteoron Monastery which is the largest of all 6. Each monastery costs 3 Euros to visit, and with a car, they are very easy to get to. You’ll have to prepare yourself for quite a bit of going up and down stairs, but while you might be a little winded by the time you get inside, I’m here to tell you, it’s worth every step.
Day 17-19 - Athens
I’ve hopped from island to island, I’ve driven through parts of the Peloponnese, I’ve walked the Sacred Way to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, I’ve visited the majestic monasteries of Meteora, and now I’ve made my way back to Athens. It was going to take a lot to impress me at this point, but considering all of the things I had done up to this point, absolutely nothing compares to the city of Athens. On one hand it’s a city like any other European city: great night life, tons of people everywhere, amazing restaurants, etc. But on the other hand…the real wonders of Athens lies in its cultural and historical significance. Everywhere you turn there’s pieces of the ancient world begging to be explored. With its expansive history, you could spend weeks in Athens taking guided tours every other day and you probably still couldn’t even scratch the surface. But even with just 3 days…y’all, it sure was fun to try!
My first full day in Athens, I wasted zero time. I got up what I thought was sufficiently early to avoid the crowds (I was wrong, that time doesn’t exist), and I headed straight towards the Acropolis. After grabbing an energizing smoothie, I stopped at Hadrian’s Library on the way and purchased a combination ticket for 30 Euros that would allow me entrance into the Acropolis as well as several other archeological sites throughout the city. For me, this was a no-brainer since even if I only visited 3 places, I’d still be saving a good deal of money in the long run. But of course I didn’t stop at 3 sites. I think there was only one place on the combination ticket that I didn’t make it to. But hey, even more reason to go back one day, right?
After spending a couple of hours wandering around the Acropolis I headed back down the hill and headed towards The Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s arch, stopping at the Roman Agora along the way. On that note, this feels like a great time to mention that the city is sprawling, so when you visit be sure to bring some good walking shoes.
As I was approaching the Temple of Zeus I walked by a painter who had his artwork displayed along the sidewalk. When I travel, I’m always on the lookout for a piece of art that I love that isn’t crazy expensive. Browsing through his paintings, I found a small canvas with a beautiful interpretation of the Parthenon, so €20 later it was mine and I absolutely love it. THANK Dimitri! (@athensoilpaintings on IG)
Once I had finished walking around the Temple of Zeus I headed towards the Acropolis Museum. I have to be honest, I had been to several museums on this trip at this point and I wasn’t actually all that excited about visiting another. But I’m so glad that I did. The Acropolis Museum is, in fact, the most important museum in all of Greece and one of the most important in the entire world. It houses artifacts and artwork exclusively from the Acropolis and it’s surrounding slopes and, to date, houses over 4,500 objects of absolutely breathtaking quality.
During my final days in Greece I also decided to visit the Panathenaic Stadium which was originally built in 330 B.C. and was restored centuries later for the first modern Olympic games in 1896. It was €10 to enter, but included in that price was access to a self guided audio tour that was very entertaining and informative. After leaving the stadium, I walked around the Plaka district (which is great for shopping and scoping out souvenirs) for a while before visiting the Athenian Agora and the magnificent Temple of Hephaestus. By this time, my legs and back were aching and my feet were pretty much just one big blister from all the walking. But somehow, I couldn’t seem to tear myself away for more than just a few minutes to pop into my hostel and cool off for a while. By evening, I was out and about again and planning to meet up with Tom and his new friends from his hostel across town. We all met on Philopappos hill underneath the stunning Philopappos Monument and watched the sunset one last time over the Acropolis.
After parting ways with Tom and his hostel mates, I headed back down to the Monastiraki district where my hostel was located and met up with another traveler at Cuba Libre for dinner and a few beers. I had been hearing about this place every night that I had been in Athens, but I hadn’t been able to check it out yet. But the Latin music and the delicious food definitely had me kicking myself for not making time to go earlier.
Since my flight didn’t leave until the evening, I had one final day left in Athens. So I decided to check out Hadrian’s Library before walking across town to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watch the changing of the guards at the Parliament building, and then take a stroll through the National Gardens. This was a very bitter sweet day for me, but I was determined to savor every moment I had left in this beautiful country.
By the time I walked back towards my hostel and made a couple of pit stops for souvenirs and some baklava to bring home, it was nearly 5pm.
And just like that, it was time to go home.
This will be a trip that I remember for a long, long while. And furthermore, it’s a trip that I want to encourage everyone to take. If you’ve read this far, I hope you can take a little bit of inspiration from something here and more than anything, I really hope that you give budget travel a shot. If I can do it, I know for sure you can too!
Explore, friends.
Some Further Reading
If you’re anything like me, it’s pretty easy to fall down the rabbit hole when you start researching places that you’d like to visit. But sometimes we tend to overlook some of the historical significance of the places we want to travel. So I just wanted to leave you with a few links that I think will give you a good jumping off place to dive in to this history and cultural importance of some of the places that I visited on this trip.
Cycladic Islands – https://www.worldhistory.org/Cyclades/
Ancient Mycenae – https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/941/
Epidavrus – https://visitworldheritage.com/en/eu/sanctuary-of-asclepius-at-epidaurus-greece/
Delphi – https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/393/
Meteora – https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/455/
Ancient Athens – https://www.worldhistory.org/Athens/
