Athens Tour Guide ??

[WJBonds]

Hello Cruise Critic Friends,

I am an active member and follow the boards religiously. In looking for a guide to assist me on my one day in Atehens (Star Princess) all I have been able to find are the unlicensed "taxi" drivers.

Can someone recommend an experienced, English speaking tour guide who can accompany my wife and me on our day in Athens.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

[cberge]

Hello Cruise Critic Friends,

I am an active member and follow the boards religiously. In looking for a guide to assist me on my one day in Atehens (Star Princess) all I have been able to find are the unlicensed "taxi" drivers.

Can someone recommend an experienced, English speaking tour guide who can accompany my wife and me on our day in Athens.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

 

Send an email to Paul re the email link I am giving..tell him what you want,when etc. and he will send you the info.Quite a few of us on the board have used him and he and his driver's are good and speak English well.They( if you get just a driver) cannot go into the sites with you as they are not lic'd as guides,BUT if you want a lic'd guide make this clear.You generally can pick up guides at most of the sites,and the driver's know so much that you will hear all you need to know before you arrive.

info@*****

[WJBonds]

Thanks for your prompt reply. I will contact him and try to make arrangements.

[calberry]

We just got off the Millennium yesterday (sitting now in our hotel in Barcelona overlooking Las Ramblas!) We had Paul's son Jimmy as our driver in Athens and he was wonderful. I would highly recommend him.

 

Steve

[betonic]

We just got off of the Westerdam Friday and we had Paul's son Nick, who was also fabulous. I'm in the process of writing a detailed review but I would recomend him in a heartbeat.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We've used Paul too, but I thought you wanted a licensed guide?

[WJBonds]

I do want a licensed guide. I was hoping that perhaps Paul could lead me to one.

If anyone has another idea, I would love to hear from them.

[Juliadlf]

I do want a licensed guide. I was hoping that perhaps Paul could lead me to one.

If anyone has another idea, I would love to hear from them.

 

We also had Paul and shared the tour with others from our roll call. I had arranged for a private licensed guide via Paul to be with us for the most important sites and then had Paul for the remainder. Well worth the extra money for the licensed guide as she was fantastic.

I think having the licensed guide go into the sites with you is important if you've never been to Athens. Port stops don't leave you much time to wander around trying to read guide books and thinking about getting from point A to point B to point C and then back to the ship. Just my opinion but reading many reviews from past travelers and experiencing it for ourselves, the licensed guide is the better way to go and so glad we went this route.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Julia

[aamechs2]

When we were in Athens, we did a walking tour that was fabulous. The guide was a professor and he was so interesting and had lots of info. It was not private but there was only 10 in our group. You can find it under www.athenswalkingtours.gr. Rebecca

[Juliadlf]

I forgot to add on the post that there is another guide who we did not hire (found her too late and she was already booked)but used her for our Katakolon port stop and she was great. She also does Athens and she's a licensed guide.

Her name is Gemma Economopoulou (geconom@otenet.gr)

 

Julia

[WJBonds]

Thank you all for your help.

[Almagetty]

We were guided by Despina Savvidou, the owner of the above mentioned Athens Walking Tours. She was wonderfully knowledgeable. However, we were there during the hot, hot month of July. Others in our group hired Paul for the day. They saw A LOT more than we were able to and had a much more relaxed and enjoyable day.

 

As I said, Despina was awesome and I would not hesitate to use her again if the weather were cooler, but in the heat of the summer months I personally think that an air conditioned car and driver are invaluable. (BTW, I am from Florida and used to the heat!! :eek: )

[cruisingmimi]

Thanks for the info on walking tours vs driving. We will be in Athens in late Nov so temp would be ideal for walking. We are crunched for time and can only do a tour in the am of the day we head to port to board the ship. So the 3 hr walking tour would fit our needs.

 

Does the walking tour actually go to the Acropolis or just stop there and leave everyone off? Does it include a guided tour of the Acropolis or do you have to book that through the Acropolis? Is that where the tour ends or do you head back to the starting point?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Mary

[Almagetty]

Hi Mary:

 

We did a combined tour that lasted about 6 hours. Our tour included the Acropolis. Despina guided us through the site. Her knowledge of all of the places we went was truly impressive. Licensed guides go through many years of schooling before they can obtain their license and they have to regularly attend classes in order to maintain their credentials. Their "product knowledge" and having the guides accompany you into all of the sights are the very real advantage of using a guide instead of just a driver. Our tour ended back at the Metro station, where we caught the train back to Piraeus. (She also met us in the metro station in the morning to begin our tour.)

 

I hope you have great, cool weather when you visit in November. Be sure to wear very, very comfortable walking shoes with non-skid soles. The marble walkways at the Acropolis are slick!