Please critique my Athens itinerary

[cruise kitty]

We will be in Athens on Thursday, Oct 27th from 10am to 8pm

 

I am allowing for 1 hour from the time we leave the ship to get to our first destination.

 

I am figuring that we need to get on the metro for our return by 6pm at the latest, this gets us back on board around 7.

 

so, really we're only working with about 7 hours of time. Here's two different plans, & some questions:

 

Plan A:

 

off ship 10am, take free shuttle to port entrance, then take bus 843 to metro;

green line to Monastiraki, then blue line to syntagma square.

 

11:00; Use Rick Steves Athens City Walk (90 minutes long)

 

12:30; Walk ends near Monastraki square, now do the R.S. Audio Agora walk: 1 hour

 

1:30 rest break, water, w.c. snack

 

2:00 new acropolis museum; 1 hour (do we need to metro from monatraki to here, or is it better to walk? If we take metro..is it green to red?)

 

3:15 start acropolis R.S. audio walk; 2 hours

5:15 snack in plaka area,

6:00 make our way back to ship.

 

I'm afraid that this is trying to cram way too much in, that we will be starving, grouchy & over whelmed... so here's an alternate:

 

Plan B:

 

same time & transport plan, bus 843 to metro green line, Monastiraki Square,

 

11:00 R.S. audio agora

 

12:00 Make our way to Acropolis, do R.S. audio walks 12:15-2:15

 

2:15 to 3:15 time in New Acropolis Museum

 

3:15 to 6:00, wander plaka, eat lunch, drink beer, maybe pop into the Cathedral, make our way Monastaraki square, get on metro by 6:00 take green line to bus 843, back on ship by 7-7:15

 

 

Am I making a mistake trying to fit in the museum? Should I skip it, & do the athens city walk from 2:30 to 4 instead?

 

So, please, expert opinions needed. We are relatively young (mid forties, & able to walk & hike long distances big hills no problem) We'll be carrying plenty of water with us.

 

We will just have done Istanbul all day Tues, & half day Wed.

 

 

Thanks so much in advance.

[swifs]

We just returned from Athens and used the Steves book extensively. I would recommend in Plan A that you stop for lunch in Monastiraki Square before you continue on another walk and stop at Bairaktaris (mentioned in Steves' book page 100) for lunch- we had a great meal of greek salad and souvlakis and the atmosphere was fun. Also, we went to the Archeological Museum late in the day and found that despite the times indicated in the book, due to the financial problems they were closing early (like 3 instead of 5). I don't think this would necessarily affect the Acropolis Museum but you may want to watch out for public sites like museums that may close early so you aren't disappointed. We very much like the Agora Tour and the Agora Museum should not be missed. If you had to choose between that and the Acropolis Museum, you would see more and learn more in the Agora Museum (which is smaller), in my opinion, than the Acropolis Museum.

[Keith1010]

I have been to Athens many times. As you can imagine there is much to see and each time we visit we revisit some sites and see other sites.

 

The museum is great but I would skip it. You just can't do everything.

 

So, would do plan A but instead of the museum and that 1:30 PM snack I would build lunch into that time. Then I would spend the rest of the time sight seeing.

 

Now, I would be prepared that if the weather is bad and it is raining I would insert the museum(s) into the plan.

 

Keith

[cruise kitty]

thanks so much for the replies!

 

& thanks Keith, it's so difficult planing a port that I haven't been to yet, I don't want to try to cram in too much & be overwhelmed & not enjoy it, I really wanted the museum, but not if it means not seeing a bit of Athens proper. Prioritizing is so hard:) , especially with our odd port time.

[cruisemom42]

I agree that the first one sounds like too much. I don't you your sightseeing style, but I usually find that Rick Steves' walks take me longer than his recommended minimum time to complete -- just something to keep in mind if you are the type to stop and linger in a few places along the way.

 

If your interest is primarily in seeing more of Athens' past than present, I would go with Plan B. But given what you just added about wanting to see some of present day Athens, then I like Keith's suggestion of skipping the Acropolis museum. It is fantastic, but since you'll be doing the RS tour on the Acropolis, you will already be getting a lot of the background and information that you would pick up in the museum. Of course, if you DO end up having time, you could add it back in at the end.....

 

From Monastiraki to the Acropolis you do not need to take the metro. It's easiest if you eat lunch BEFORE doing the Agora tour, because you can exit out the back (or front, however you consider it) of the Agora and walk a short path right to the Acropolis entrance. However, there's nowhere to eat along the way!

[cruise kitty]

Thanks, CruiseMom,

 

It looks like we'll skip the museum, I am leaning towards plan B, minus the museum time, which will now give us Athens from 2:15 to 6:00, Since we can't get off the ship till 10, I just don't think we'll be ready to eat anything till then. I know the Acropolis will be crowded at noon, but I feel like we should do it first, because otherwise I'll be in a rush all day to get to it, I feel like once I can see it, I'll be in a much more relaxed state to enjoy the rest of Athens & maybe a nice sidewalk cafe.

[Mexfolkart]

Sorry..just started and I accidentally clicked somewhere..do the acropolis first then wend your way on your walking tours, go to Bairakstrikis at Monastriki Square for lunch..the souvlaki is the best there is..last trip that was our main quest..to get that! There is a great driver A.Kambas who can pick you right up at the dock and take you to Acropolis or wherever, drop you off and pick you back up at Syntagma Square in front of McDonalds and it is VERY reasonable for 1-4 people..VERY..we used him and it really saved us time and hassel..good luck and have fun..

Sherry & Kimber

[freakatck]

your plan sounds good, but I think you should try doing the acropolis first thing in the morning. if i remember correctly, it opens at 8:30 am, and there are hardly any people. at around 9:30 is when all the tour groups start to arrive, it get very crowded. we went by taxi and he got us there as soon as it opened.

[cruise kitty]

your plan sounds good, but I think you should try doing the acropolis first thing in the morning. if i remember correctly, it opens at 8:30 am, and there are hardly any people. at around 9:30 is when all the tour groups start to arrive, it get very crowded. we went by taxi and he got us there as soon as it opened.

 

I would love to be at the Acropolis at 8:30, however, our port time is 10 to 8, so it won't be possible.

[zqvol]

I would flip flop the order of your tours. Start with the Acropolis and then walk down through the Agora, that will take at most 3 hours unless you spend an inordinate time reading reviews, etc. Then walk back through the Plaka, and the Styngmata area. We did something similar to this last summer and finished it all in less than 5 hours including eating.

 

The area is not large at all, but is very hilly and by starting at eh Acropolis, you get the hill climbed first before you are tired and then for the most part are walking down hill after that.

 

We used Rick's book and found that his times we exaggerated, nothing took as long as he said, now, having said that it was Pentecost Sunday morning when we did this, which is probably the fourth most important religious holiday in the country, and we started around 7:30 since were we staying at the Grand Bertagne, which cut transport time.

[cruisemom42]

We used Rick's book and found that his times we exaggerated, nothing took as long as he said, now, having said that it was Pentecost Sunday morning when we did this, which is probably the fourth most important religious holiday in the country, and we started around 7:30 since were we staying at the Grand Bertagne, which cut transport time.

 

Regarding the time to allow for the Rick Steves' walking tours -- it's highly individual. His walks always take me much longer than the minimum times given, as I stated above. :D