Day Tour Operators from Nauplion to Mycenae?

[Optobear]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a day tour from Nauplion port to Mycenae for a private tour option or small group option instead of the ship's tours? Will be there in June. Thanks.

[MercedMike]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a day tour from Nauplion port to Mycenae for a private tour option or small group option instead of the ship's tours? Will be there in June. Thanks.

 

We had an absolutely wonderful day from Nafplion with Nick of GreekTaxi http://www.*****. I would absolutely recommend him!

 

Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/blacksea.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[abc2media]

What cruise are you on Optobear? I will be there June 12 on AZ Quest. Unless you get a big enough group the cost of a tour from an Athens operator is expensive from my little bit of research. Have not found a local operator yet so was going to go with the ship tour. Please post if you have any luck finding something.

[Rocket4Oh]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a day tour from Nauplion port to Mycenae for a private tour option or small group option instead of the ship's tours? Will be there in June. Thanks.

In reading Rick Steve's Athens guide book, he mentioned a tour guide that works out of Nafplion. Her name is Patti Staikou.

While we haven't been on the tour with her yet, she was very responsive to our emails and we've set up a tour with her. Our group will take a taxi from the port of Nafplio to Mycenae and she will meet us at the entrance for our 90 minute tour.

[abc2media]

Rocket - Do you have an email for Patti? I used the one in Rick Steves but did not get a response. I am trying to set up the same taxi-tour arrangement next month in Naplio.

Thanks.

[Optobear]

I have tried the tour guide with no response. I got the email from Rick Steve's. At this point I think it easier to do a ship's tour which is what I think we are going to do.

[abc2media]

I just received an email response from her last night. That Rick Steves email is correct (pstaikou@mail.gr). If you get 4 people the cost is a little cheaper than on the ship tour (Azamara for us). The big plus to me is getting there earlier in the day before the crowds and heat and touring in a small group. We are also going to return via Palamidi Fortress in Naplio so that saves a minor taxi excursion (or hike up hill) there. Patti would do a tour there as well but I think we just want to go for the view and a quick stop. Back in town around noon gives us the whole afternoon there.

 

It looks like my first email went to her Spam filter but she fished it out. So if you are still interested you should probably try again.

[Rocket4Oh]

I just received an email response from her last night. That Rick Steves email is correct (pstaikou@mail.gr). If you get 4 people the cost is a little cheaper than on the ship tour (Azamara for us). The big plus to me is getting there earlier in the day before the crowds and heat and touring in a small group. We are also going to return via Palamidi Fortress in Naplio so that saves a minor taxi excursion (or hike up hill) there. Patti would do a tour there as well but I think we just want to go for the view and a quick stop. Back in town around noon gives us the whole afternoon there.

 

It looks like my first email went to her Spam filter but she fished it out. So if you are still interested you should probably try again.

It sounds as though you are doing exactly what we are planning to do; arrive at port, take taxi to Mycenae, have tour with Patti, take taxi back to Palamidi Fort & DIY the Fort and the town. Plenty of time to leisurely stroll through the town and have an ouzo or 2 :rolleyes:.

The taxi we are going to use for the Mycenae trip is Taxi Hellas. email is info (at) taxi-hellas dot gr.

Please post a report on how the tour/taxi went upon your return.

Keith

[abc2media]

Thanks for the info. Will be back June 21 so will post some trip report info then.

[abc2media]

We had a delightful tour 2 weeks ago from Nafplion to Mycenae. We arranged the whole thing through Patti Staikou. (pstaikou@mail.gr). When I called her to confirm the day before as she had requested, Patti told me that she was unable to make it herself because of a personal problem but she arranged an excellent replacement (Lena from the Corinth area). Lena was educated as an archeologist and had some very good insight into the Mycenae site and its history. She spent about 2 1/2 hours with us there which was more than we were expecting based on Patti's email.

 

Patti had arranged a taxi for us which met us at the dock and took us to Mycenae. The trip there went fine and the driver was very friendly, spoke English, and answered our questions along the way. The only hangup was when we asked the driver to return by way of Palamidi Fortress he said he could drop us off there but could not pick us up again. There are some pretty territorial taxi rules there and he was not authorized to do that. But since our tour at Mycenae went longer than expected we didn't really want to tour the fortress just get some pictures so he was able to take us to a high lookout spot for that.

 

So your best bet is probably to just book with the local taxi company in Nafplion for the transit portion (it was a little bit more than what Patti arranged but probably gives you more flexibility. The only problem I had is that my emails to them started bouncing back so I just let Patti make the arrangements).

 

In any case we left the dock at 7:30 AM and were back around 12:30 in time for a lunch at one of the waterfront spots and then had plenty of time to walk around and shop in town. It was very hot so we passed on the museums I thought we might go to and tendered back around 5. We thought the shopping experience there was one of the more relaxed of the trip. Pretty laid back place (maybe everyone was just inside because Greece was playing in the World Cup that afternoon).

 

For 4 of us the per person cost was cheaper than the ship's tour by about $10 and we appreciated the attention of a small group guide. Some of the folks on the ship's tour were listening in to our guide and later asked us some questions that they had not had answered because of the size of their group tour.

 

I would definitely recommend a half day excursion to Mycenae for anyone stopping in Nafplion. It is much older than other ruins sites you will see and has a pretty fascinating history as the protagonist in the Trojan War. Most of the gold found there is in the National Archaelogy Museum in Athens but there are reproductions of some of the masks and other items in the museum which is well worth visiting. If you are tight for time you could easily do the entire round trip in a 3 hour period if you hire a cab to take you there and wait for you for 75 or 80 Euros. Unless you have a good written guide you would want to have an in-person guide for the visit as there are not a lot of marked explanations at the site.

[harbormaster]

We will also be in Nafplion in three weeks. We usually do private tours or just on our own. However, we are a bit concerned about private tours here. We have contacted taxi-hallis.gr, as mentioned above, but they do not have a web booking site and insist on full payment before arrival via bank transfer.??? This has me a bit worried.

In addition the price they are quoting is 150E for the tour for 4 hours max. I know the Greek economy is bad, but this seems high. Can someone give me an idea if this is ok or if you have used them and how you paid? They say no credit cards, but want our credit card info via fax. I'm concerned about this. Any help would be appreciated.

[Rocket4Oh]

We will also be in Nafplion in three weeks. We usually do private tours or just on our own. However, we are a bit concerned about private tours here. We have contacted taxi-hallis.gr, as mentioned above, but they do not have a web booking site and insist on full payment before arrival via bank transfer.??? This has me a bit worried.

In addition the price they are quoting is 150E for the tour for 4 hours max. I know the Greek economy is bad, but this seems high. Can someone give me an idea if this is ok or if you have used them and how you paid? They say no credit cards, but want our credit card info via fax. I'm concerned about this. Any help would be appreciated.

We were quoted 80 Euro PER CAR for a max of 4 hours. The original email response to us indicated that a deposit would be required but on a subsequent inquiry not deposit was asked for. I will be following up with them in about 2 weeks.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Note that there is a thread somewhere here on this board about taking the public bus to Mycenae. It's quite close to Napflion. Perhaps another option would be renting a car for a few hours, don't know how difficult this would be, but you could make it over to Epidavros as well, which is a little further, but not much.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Note that there is a thread somewhere here on this board about taking the public bus to Mycenae. It's quite close to Napflion. Perhaps another option would be renting a car for a few hours, don't know how difficult this would be, but you could make it over to Epidavros as well.

[maryann ns]

We rented a car in Athens last year after our cruise and drove to Naflion (the town of many spellings). We had brought a GPS with European maps, and had no trouble getting to Mycenae and Epidaurus. So renting a car in Naflion would be a viable option.

[catskier]

How was your trip, do you have a review of it somewhere?

I am really interested in Taxi-hellas, did you use them?

I am considering them for October.

Any feed back?

[FreeSpeech]

In reading Rick Steve's Athens guide book, he mentioned a tour guide that works out of Nafplion. Her name is Patti Staikou.

While we haven't been on the tour with her yet, she was very responsive to our emails and we've set up a tour with her. Our group will take a taxi from the port of Nafplio to Mycenae and she will meet us at the entrance for our 90 minute tour.

 

90 minutes in Mycenae???? I think I'd rather have my finger nails pulled out with pliers. There are only a few important things to see in Mycenae, and you can knock them out in 30 -45 min depending on how healthy you are and your ability to walk the site. The rest would just be filler....in my opinion.

Do a Google search of photos of this site and ask yourself do I really want to spend 90 min here?

Although important, this 4500 year old site is really just a bunch of old foundations (rocks sitting on top of other rocks) but hey if that’s your thing...why stop at 90 min , take a picnic lunch and spend the day :) the view is beautiful from the hill side.

but if you want to maximize your short stay in port, might I offer an alternative? Hire a taxi guide (we used "greecetaxi@greecetaxi.gr" cost 170 euro's for the day (we were in port for 5 hours) In that time we were able to see not only Mycenae but also had plenty of time to tour Epidavros...the best preserved Greek amphitheater in Greece, the Palamidi Fort and still left plenty of time for shopping in the old town of Naphlion.

I understand that each tourist has different interests...but although very interesting...if you do schedule a 90 tour of Mycenae... have your pliers handy just in case... :)

Hey, just my opinion...isn't this why we all "plan ahead"?

 

PS: We did give a 20 euro deposit via paypal...and had no problems at all...very reliable. One thing I would change with this vender is that they meet at the Tender port rather than the coffee shop they suggest. It took us 15 min to find them...would have preferred they found us instead.

[MercedMike]

90 minutes in Mycenae???? I think I'd rather have my finger nails pulled out with pliers. There are only a few important things to see in Mycenae, and you can knock them out in 30 -45 min depending on how healthy you are and your ability to walk the site. The rest would just be filler....in my opinion.

 

Do a Google search of photos of this site and ask yourself do I really want to spend 90 min here?

 

Although important, this 4500 year old site is really just a bunch of old foundations (rocks sitting on top of other rocks) but hey if that’s your thing...why stop at 90 min , take a picnic lunch and spend the day :) the view is beautiful from the hill side.

 

but if you want to maximize your short stay in port, might I offer an alternative? Hire a taxi guide (we used "greecetaxi@greecetaxi.gr" cost 170 euro's for the day (we were in port for 5 hours) In that time we were able to see not only Mycenae but also had plenty of time to tour Epidavros...the best preserved Greek amphitheater in Greece, the Palamidi Fort and still left plenty of time for shopping in the old town of Naphlion.

 

I understand that each tourist has different interests...but although very interesting...if you do schedule a 90 tour of Mycenae... have your pliers handy just in case... :)

 

Hey, just my opinion...isn't this why we all "plan ahead"?

 

PS: We did give a 20 euro deposit via paypal...and had no problems at all...very reliable. One thing I would change with this vender is that they meet at the Tender port rather than the coffee shop they suggest. It took us 15 min to find them...would have preferred they found us instead.

 

There are many many things to see on the Peleponesse. Mycenae is a fascinating place and it depends on how deep your interest in history is. You can stop at the Lion Gate, look at the grave circle where the gold mask was found, and get back in the car. OR -- you can take your time climbing the hill, contemplate the vision of a besieging army below, examine the placement of the stones, read the history as you climb, even recite parts of the Odessy here and there ;) just depending on what you want to do. 30 minutes for some folks, hours for others. And actually, the idea of taking a lunch and eating with the gorgeous view of the valley spread out below is not a bad one. Bread, cheese and olives would go marvelously!:D

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

There are many many things to see on the Peleponesse. Mycenae is a fascinating place and it depends on how deep your interest in history is. You can stop at the Lion Gate, look at the grave circle where the gold mask was found, and get back in the car. OR -- you can take your time climbing the hill, contemplate the vision of a besieging army below, examine the placement of the stones, read the history as you climb, even recite parts of the Odessy here and there ;) just depending on what you want to do. 30 minutes for some folks, hours for others. And actually, the idea of taking a lunch and eating with the gorgeous view of the valley spread out below is not a bad one. Bread, cheese and olives would go marvelously!:D

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

Great post! We spent probably 2 hours or more at Mycenae. But we are interested in history (and Greek mythology, and the two converge on this site.) Also spent over 2 hours at Epidavros the next day, easy. You are right, there are many things to see in the Peloponnese, and I have only seen a few of them.

 

A picnic lunch is a great idea! The views over the valley are really lovely, you've made me remember this!

[4774Papa]

Just hope that the Greek strikes don't hit when you are in Nafplion. The day we were there in July, there was a strike and our NCL tour to Mycenae was cancelled, so we did Nafplion on our own. We did the walk and all 990 steps to the top of the fortress, which is great, and saw the archelogical museum in town, which was excellent.

[X-ring]

We rented a car in Athens last year after our cruise.

 

Hi Maryann,

 

Can you help with this question please?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1279263

[TLCOhio]

For those considering Mycenae, here are a few visual samples of what's there. We liked it very much. Some, however, might just view "it" as "old rocks" in a remote area. The history there is real and huge.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For lots of interesting details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. Don’t be shy and feel free to ask any questions of interest.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

These Mycene ruins go back 2700 years from a spectacular empire:

 

 

 

Example of Mycene gold in the museum at this historic site:

 

 

 

For a Mycene ruler, this was his burial place with its space for a carved triangle:

 

 

 

The “triangle” is the symbol for the Mycene empire. This carved stone is placed above where you enter its historic capital:

 

 

 

In Nafplion, there is this view of the small fort out in the harbor and the main town:

 

[MercedMike]

 

For a Mycene ruler, this was his burial place with its space for a carved triangle:

 

The “triangle” is the symbol for the Mycene empire. This carved stone is placed above where you enter its historic capital:

 

 

Great pictures as usual Terry!

 

An interesting bit of information our guide gave us ... The triangle in the architecture at the "Treasury of Atreus" which your picture shows is more than symbolic. It is actually a device to remove weight from the lintel of the door, as the arch had not yet been invented. If the stone over the door were solid the weight would be too much for it to hold. The inside of that tomb is a fascinating beehive shape which architecturally preshadowed the dome, which came much later. Considering how many years ago this tomb was built the engineering is truly amazing.

 

The second picture you show is known as the "Lion gate." It is truly sad that the heads of the lions are missing as I am sure it was spectacular.

 

The majority of the gold from Mycenae, including the famous "Mask of Agamemnon" is in the museum in Athens. It is particularly impressive if you visit the museum after having visited the site.

[TLCOhio]

Great pictures as usual Terry! An interesting bit of information our guide gave us ... The triangle in the architecture at the "Treasury of Atreus" which your picture shows is more than symbolic. It is actually a device to remove weight from the lintel of the door, as the arch had not yet been invented. If the stone over the door were solid the weight would be too much for it to hold. The inside of that tomb is a fascinating beehive shape which architecturally preshadowed the dome, which came much later. Considering how many years ago this tomb was built the engineering is truly amazing. The second picture you show is known as the "Lion gate." It is truly sad that the heads of the lions are missing as I am sure it was spectacular. The majority of the gold from Mycenae, including the famous "Mask of Agamemnon" is in the museum in Athens. It is particularly impressive if you visit the museum after having visited the site.

 

THANKS, Mike, for the nice comments on the pictures and the added, great background on this empire! It is amazing what they did and accomplished 2700 years ago. This location didn't seem to be the most "strategic", but they made it happen. Fascinating history from so long ago. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For lots of interesting details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. Don’t be shy and feel free to ask any questions of interest.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923