marazul

It is in the heart of Plaka with tons of restaurants and shops around it. It does not have the best view of the Acropolis. It does have very good reviews. Why don't you post here later and let us know how you liked it?

Most of the impact seems to be in Central Greece. Affected ports would be Skiathos and Volos. Both places have had major floods. Turkey has also been affected. The weather should start improving tomorrow.

I agree with the previous post. Just ask at your hotel where the closest shops are. You will have more than enough choices at any of them.

If you want to see more of Florence on day 2, stay there for the night. Why?: *That saves you 3 hours travel time (90 minutes each way). *It saves you the cost of transport on day 2. *It lets you spend the evening in Florence and go to dinner in a great restaurant. *You can get an inexpensive room in a hotel. It's only one night!

You could take a boat tour of the caldera as your beach day. There are some that leave from the tender port so you don't have to worry about cable cars or donkeys. All you have to do is tender there and back. With all those cruise ships in port I would book it ASAP. The ship probably offers that excursion too.

Those tickets have not been released yet. Check again every couple of weeks.

Official website: hhtickets.gr You must ask each tour operator whether they provide the tickets. Many do. You can use euros or a card in all the countries you will be visiting. Some merchants will prefer cash for small purchases. If you use a card, make sure you are billed in euros.

Monterosso is divided by promontory on the water betweeen the old town and the new town. The ferry is on the old town side just by the promontory. The beach is on the new town side on the other side. However, it is only a 5-10 minute walk from one to the other. I am just saying this because you will probably not see the beach from the ferry, but it is just a short walk away.

We have toured with Amy Pace and can highly recommend her.

You do need to reserve a cancelable hotel room for three days just in case. If the strike gets canceled, it will not be at the last second because people need to be able to get back to work. Even if it were, the most that it will cost you is one night at the hotel. Call it insurance. The real problem is whether to rebook your flight now or wait to see what happens with the strike. Find out what happens if you rebook your flight for three days later but the strike is canceled. Will they rebook you to your original flight? Or, if you keep your original flight and the strike takes place will you be able to get in that later flight or do you have to wait for a different flight? Sorry that there are so many bad options and that you are in this position. The safest thing, if you can manage it, is just to extend your vacation by three days and change your flights now. At a minimum, reserve a room so you can keep your options open.

By default. It is a "general" "national" strike, which means all sectors are on strike. No exceptions are made, which means that air transport will also be on strike. The strike lasts from midnight to midnight. The exceptions you see under "Modalita" are for two sectors (trains and toll takers in the autopiste) that will have their 24-hour strikes from 10 pm to 10 pm to coincide with their work shifts. Italian law requires that certain services be maintained during a strike, such as a very few trains during that period. The emergency services requirements are not listed in the tables that you saw. They are found elsewhere in the "Sciopero" website (good luck to chrome translating it). These requirements are observed, but they will be of no help to you. Please, follow cruisemom's advice on making alternate plans. And keep checking the website. They will post whether the strike gets canceled.

The announcement says that the strike starts early for train and motorways work shifts (10 pm or 9 pm, respectively) that start before midnight on the 19th and will last for 24 hours each. All other sectors will be on strike from midnight on the 19th to midnight on the 20th. No sectors are excluded in the announcement. So the air transport sector will also be on strike

We were spending a few days in CT a while back. There was a national strike like this one on one of those days. Neither the trains nor the ferries were operating. It turned out to be a beach day for us.

According to their website, Enoteca Sebastiani does sell a wide variety of liquor. As they say, from whisky to cognac. It does seem to cater to the higher price range. Photos of Enoteca Cavacini also show some liquor bottles.

You can do it on your own. There are good signs. It would be good to read a little bit (or a lot) about it before you go.

VV- We have been sailing SB for over 15 years and have done a number of B2B cruises. Your concern is that the passenger mix in either of the two segments may be large, disruptive groups. From our experience, that only happened once in the middle of summer in a very popular Med itinerary. It wasn't a corporate group, but a very large extended family group that were obviously and loudly celebrating something. Other than that, the vibe is bound to change some between segments whether there are large groups or not. The first one may be "livelier" than the following ones, or viceversa. I think if you sail away from the busiest vacation dates you will be fine. Or, if you must sail in the busiest seasons, avoid the itineraries with the most "must see" ports.

Birra, not birria. 😉

@dickinson- OK. Here are a few thoughts on your plans. On day 1 you would like to walk through the Ancient Agora, etc and also go to Sounion. Your concern is that you will be too tired to do both. You can do it. Just do not try to get an early start and get some rest. You can go first to the Ancient Agora and the temple of Haephaestus, walk back alongside te Roman Agora, and go into Anafiotika and Plaka. This will take you about 3 hours and you can do it on your own. You can also look for a walking tour that does this. Break for a late lunch and a little rest. Take the Sounion excursion. As I said before, the most that can happen is that you will fall asleep on the bus on the way back to Athens. On Day 2 you are taking the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum tour. That only takes a half day. You have the entire afternoon for other things. For example, go to the National Archaeological Museum. Or, else take the tour of the Ancient Agora to Plaka that afternoon instead of doing that on Day 1. In that case, on Day 1 you could sleep late, go to the National Archaeological Museum, go back to Plaka for lunch and then go to Sounion. Whatever you do, plan on dinner in Plaka. The Athens Gate is not directly across from the Acropolis; it is directly across from the Temple of Zeus. The hotel is about four blocks away from the Acropolis, and it does have a great view of the Acropolis from the rooftop terrace and from some of the rooms on the top floor. You wonder why most people do not talk about tours to the Acropolis. That is because the vast majority of people do it on their own getting tickets for both. A good tour adds value to the experience, so it is worthwhile doing it.

I found the description of the Getaways tour. It takes two extra hours because it spends a lot of time picking up and returning passengers to different locations. That is the problem with many shared tours. You could check the price with other companies that do a small group tour, like PK. However, any tour that includes time for dinner will take 4-5 hours and nearly half of that time is the drive. It will be closer to 4 hours if it is a private tour which picks up in only one place and lets you control better how much time you spend at dinner. Consider staying in Athens and going for a late dinner in one of the many restaurants in Plaka that have a view of the Acropolis. That is also a wonderful experience. Save Sounion for another trip.

Go for it, but listen to CruiserBruce and get a local tour - PK Travel or George's Taxi.

It will be fine. The ride to Sounion is a little over one hour. The most that can happen is that you will take a nap during the ride. You get to Sounion a little after 5. You may or may not see the sunset depending on the date.

If the tours are only drive-by tours, you may be better off doing tours on your own.

It is easy enough to find out. Look through the Hotels in Rome thread on this board and look at the price of transfers with romecabs.com or look up a shared shuttle transfer.

Check on a private airport transfer that includes a tour. You only need to be at the airport three hours before your flight. Spain Day Tours is a good company.

Look into taking the train to Paris. You can get there earlier and be in the center of the city. Get a hotel near the station and you will be ready to start sightseeing.