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Winters is the time when people from all round the globe run towards the beaches for a relaxing Xmas and New year’s. Europe is the least favored due to weather related reasons and major attractions being inaccessible. However, we had the privilege to visit Greece during the Christmas holiday season even after listening to so may people and reading umpteen blogs with mixed reviews and we were completely blown away.
First off, the prime benefit of visiting European countries during this time of the year is getting a sure shot cheaper flights and accommodation, add to that lesser crowd and easy access to the major attractions and classy restaurants.
Ours was a Honeymoon trip which soon turned into a backpacking trip 😛 but we saw some of the most amazing views and lived some of the best days of the year. This was our original itinerary planned –
Delhi –> Athens –> Santorini (2N,2D) –> Athens(no stay) –> Ioannina(1N,2D) –> Litochoro(1N,2D) –> Ioannina(1N) –> Back to Athens(3N,4D).
This was some over ambitious planning, and leaving some things to last moment improvisation which soon turned out to be so overwhelming that we literally had to do a cost-benefit analysis and changed the itinerary (It was also more to do with that amazing cozy apartment we rented in Ioannina 😉).
Revised Itinerary:
Delhi –> Athens –> Santorini (2N,2D) –> Back to Athens –> Ioannina(2N,3D) –> Back to Athens(4N,5D).
Our final Itinerary
Santorini (Pre-Christmas): 2D,1N
We reached Thira airport at 9 in the night and luckily got into the last taxi available at the taxi stand (Cost 20 Euros with luggage. Always ask the taxi driver whether the luggage is separately chargeable). The accommodation was in Fira near the main square which is supposed to be a happening place, however we were unaware that it closes off by 9:30-10pm and streets were empty, however, they were well lit with Christmas lighting.
Fira Square at around 10:15pm
The next morning was beautiful, the weather was soothingly cool, not uncomfortable at all and luckily no signs of rain. I strolled around the main square and checked out the local taxi stand and the local bus stand with the schedule to the nearby areas. Most of the restaurants were up and running and a few of the shops and cafes were closed for the holidays. There were people, quite a lot of them with Fira being one of the most happening areas.
We started off by having the most delicious fast food of Greece – “Gyros” which is basically a Pita bread roll filled with your choice of meat, fries, veggies and cheese. One large Gyro from Yogi’s and you’re done for the day trust me 😉.
Yogi’s Gyros.
Strolling around we looked at Santorini’s map and some pictures besides travel agencies and we decided to go to Pyrgos which is just 5 km from Fira. The bus ride took 15 minutes and around 3 Euros for both of us and boy it was the smoothest and the most noiseless vehicle we ever experienced. Happy, we got down and started to go towards the Pyrgos castle. Those clear white walls and clean stairs made us explore each gully and pathway. It was just two of us with a 4 pm sun and cool breeze.
Pyrgos castle
Our sunset was witnessed from the windows of Mythos Café right next to the Castle. It was dark now and the streets lit up with the most beautiful lights. We waited for the evening bus but unfortunately it didn’t arrive and one of the locals helped us get a cab back to Fira. Fira was oh so Christmasy! With even better lighting and Christmas decorations and it was quite busy as compared to the previous night. We had a lavish dinner and dozed off for the day.
Waiting for the evening bus..which didn’t arrive:(
At Fira Square.
The next morning, we decided to try our luck at hiring a two-wheeler as we were not eligible to hire a four-wheeler due to an Indian driving license. Luckily we got a 125cc scooter for 20 Euros and we vroomed towards Oia. The route guided by Gmaps was the most beautiful one along the sea with the entire stretch filled with white colored buildings.
Oia was even more beautiful, the pictures you see on Instagram don’t do justice to what you see with the naked eye. We went crazy and clicked every corner we could possibly find. Due to the off season, major hotels and cafes were closed but still we managed to find a few open and grabbed a bite and coffee. No hustle, not much noise, off season has its advantages. We explored Oia castle, the blue dome church and some awesome view-points. We also relaxed and sat down on the clean stairs overlooking the sea.
Oia
Unfortunately, we couldn’t take our scooter back as the brakes failed and we had to call the person we hired it from. Thanks to them they brought a car and took us back to Fira, they also refunded our entire fee. It was weird such an incident happened, otherwise there were many people who hired two wheelers roaming around the city. Take a test ride and check whether the vehicle is well maintained. The same day we had an evening flight back to Athens.
Important Note – During the off season, the ferries are not running too frequently from Athens to the islands, add to that our packed itinerary, we had to take this flight for 180 odd Euros for two people. You fly via a smaller prop plane and it has a luggage limit. On the return flight we were charged a humongous 80 Euros for the luggage.
Ioannina (Pre-Christmas):3D,2N
From Athens we took the last intercity bus to Ioannina from KTEL terminal B (sub-terminal 3 and 4) at 11:00pm – you get the tickets from the terminal itself(42.5 Euro per person); best is to pre-book a day or two prior). It was a very smooth 5 hour ride to the mountains, even though ours was the last seat, we slept off quite well and unexpectedly there was not even a single jerk.
We reached at 4:15am but unfortunately the apartment that we had booked only allowed us to check in at 3pm, so we dozed off for an hour at the bus terminal, but people started entering the terminal by 6am. We smelled the most delicious pita bread with pork and cheese freshly prepared. It was a cold rainy morning and we had this delicacy with piping hot Espresso and hot chocolate.
Finally, we took a taxi (8 Euros with luggage) to our service apartment at Anatoli. It was around 7 in the morning and we could hardly see any vehicle on the road, and it was drizzling with cold breeze, we were loving it.
Finally, we started our random vagabond stroll towards the Ioannina lake and Ioannina castle which was around 6 km from Anatoli. It was one of the most serene paths I’ve walked on. The feel of this place was something like an old European city with simplicity at its peak. Row houses, wet roads, lots of trees, dry leaves all over the place. The lake was one sight to watch. The mountains were covered with a thick blanket of clouds and the lake was looking like a dark grey scary monster. It was as if we were entering some mystical land because of the dark clouds and rain. But the lake was magical, it was wavy and huge.
That cold rainy Ioannina morning
The path alongside the lake was well laid out and filled with dry maple leaves. You could see a few people running and cycling on the way.
Finally, we reached the castle and the weather got colder. We squeezed in a cozy café (Its café) near the old mosque. It had all heaters fitted in and the vibe was just perfect. We had the best meal that we could find on our entire trip – “Veli Pasha Chicken”, it was chicken fillet with Swiss cheese, roasted potato fries and rice.
For a while the rain stopped, but the overcast was still there. We were strolling around the large area of the castle and came across the Silversmithing museum – a must visit if you’re anywhere in Ioannina. It is so well maintained and well organized. It shows you how the silver was produced, and ornaments were made right from sourcing to extraction to minute work, everything in detail. We loved it.
We finally managed to leave the castle as it was raining very heavy and went back to our booked apartment. To our surprise, the apartment was huge and so beautiful that it got a smile to our tired faces. Vana and John both were such helpful hosts and the facilities were so overwhelming that we decided to call off our trip to Litochoro the next day and decided to spend one more night at the same place. Heck we also purchased some grocery to cook dinner and breakfast the next morning. A wonderful supermarket was right next to our place.
Our Bedroom
The next day, luckily it was sunny, and we started out to watch Perama caves which we’ve been looking up a lot about on the internet. But this time we decided to take the local bus. As most of the locals neither speak nor understand English it was a little challenging for us to ask for the bus for Perama, but luckily a couple of locals helped us to get into one.
The Perama cave is a 15million year old God’s unique creation located even closer to the mountains. This is a mandatory guided tour for 7 Euros per person and a concession for students. It is a limestone cave where you witness one of the largest Stalactites and Stalagmites. It is also a must visit as you will really feel the uniqueness witnessing such a creation.
Stalactites and Stalagmites
The next day our bus to Athens was scheduled to depart at 5:30pm hence we had our entire day, so we planned to visit the famous Ioannina Island with a local ferry(costing 2 Euros per person). It was a dry and sunny morning luckily and we boarded a ferry to the island, a 30 min ride. A cold breezy beautiful ride with the mesmerizing views of snowy alps and Pamvotida extending to acres, we finally reached the island. We explored nearby Monastries, most were closed but few weren’t. The best one was Ali Pasha’s museum where you get a flavor of the Ottoman era and the Turkish Ottoman battle.
Ali Pasha’s Canon.
That evening we parted ways with Ioannina with awesome memories in our hearts and headed for the last and the longest phase of our trip to Athens.
Silent Pamvotida and the snowy Alps
Athens (Christmas):5D,4N
The Bus dropped us to KTEL terminal B at Athens at 10:30pm and we hired a cab to our Service Apartment at Kivelis, Athina. It was 11 in the night when we reached there and it was Christmas eve; however our hopes of watching a delightful Xmas eve were shattered as the roads were empty and no restaurant was open for us to have something to eat. However, our Airbnb check-in was perfect, and the apartment was cozy, much expected from a metropolitan city. We dozed off that night looking for to the special day of Xmas next day.
We started off late from our place at around 11am strolling towards Syntagma square (which was just a 15 min walk from our apartment) having a satisfying breakfast with the only open “Indian” restaurant run by a Bangladeshi, picking up hot and cold drinking chocolates from a lit up café and slowly stated to see some vehicles and people around us. Finally, we saw a huge crowd and a large Xmas tree waiting for us and there we were at Syntagma square – the heart of Athens. We clicked a lot of photos, did some fun activities at the museum if illusion and even watched the changing of guards ceremony at the Hellenic parliament which was very special.
Christmas Vibe!
Further we decided to head towards the most awaited Acropolis, but as expected the gates were closed for Xmas for the next two days but we didn’t give up. We hiked up to the Hill of Muses overlooking Acropolis, Athens city and the Sea.
Hill of Muses.
On our way back towards the square, we had the very delicious Yogurt Ice cream and Bubble Waffle from “Fresko”, it made our day. Walking a few meters ahead, we decided to make our way towards Plaka! A very special and scenic place we’ve always wanted to go. With low steps and lit up cafes on both the sides, it surely made a great Christmas day evening. People were sitting on the stairs and having their meals. We also ordered a Souvlaki with coke and enjoyed the dusk soon turned into a magical lane with lights all around. One Souvlaki is a Lamp/Chicken/Pork stick served with Mayo/Feta cheese and French fries costs around 11 Euros in a fancy restaurant in Plaka but it serves two.
It only gets better during Xmas 🙂
Streets of Plaka
It was still evening, and we decided to explore the metro route to get to KTEL terminal to inquire about the bus to Delphi and surprisingly it was way too easy. There are 3-4 ticket vending machines at each station which give you a 90min, 1 day, 2 day passes to travel on as many routes as you want within the timeframe. We purchased a 90 min pass( you get a ticket card that you need to punch at every station) and charges 1.40 Euros per person. It is the cheapest means of transport. We went to the nearest station Atikki from Syntagma metro station. It was a 5 min free local bus ride from Atikki to the KTEL bus terminal. As we had to choose between Acropolis and Delphi, we dropped the trip to Delphi.
The Next morning, we were in Plaka again exploring some more souvenir shops, enjoying the street side talent – there are many talented painters, singers, guitarists and even Jamaican drummists in the evening putting on a show at Syntagma Square and the streets of Plaka. Most of the shops were still closed but some were open by afternoon. We explored some clothing and footwear brands which were relatively cheaper than what we get in India.
It was around noon we decided to go to the beach area – Riviera of Athens. The most convenient way was to take a beach tour bus that takes you around the city and all the beaches. These buses – colored Blue, Red and Yellow are city tour buses you can find all around Athens and can be boarded at any of the terminals like Syntagma or Acropolis (the entire list you can find at various banners all over the city). These are “get-on get-off” buses charging 16 Euros per person for 2 days. If you want to get down at a certain point you may do so and board the same bus after a few hours as per the schedule mentioned on the pamphlet shared by the bus. They also give you earphones to listen to the audio guide throughout the journey.
City Sight seeing bus..beach line.
We reached Gylfada beach at around 3:50pm. The sun was extremely soothing, and the beach area had a very few people walking and sitting around on the benches. We sat there for an hour taking photos and reflecting upon the past few days and caught the same bus back to Syntagma at around 5pm. We had the entire night with us, so we had a big Pasta salad from Everest (a common food chain in Greece) followed by some more shopping and finally making our way back to the Apartment by 9pm.
Gylfada
The final day was here to explore Athens, esp. Acropolis. We left early from our place and reached the ticket counter, gradually the crowd was building up (Acropolis opens by 8am). There is a classification of sites and accordingly tickets are charged. For Acropolis and slopes it is 10 Euros per person, for Acropolis, slopes and remaining all sites, it was 30 Euros per person. We wanted to see it all and hence we took the 30 Euro one. Acropolis – the Odeon, Parthenon and temple are as majestic as you’ve heard. Unfortunately, there’s revamp going on at the Parthenon hence you see some cranes and construction equipment there, but you could feel the grandeur of the historical masterpiece of Acropolis. It was a cold, dry and sunny morning and hence it was tolerable to patiently experience the majestic structures.
Acropolis of Athens
After Acropolis we headed towards the remaining sites – we saw the ancient Roman Agora, Agora of Athens(must see – it has remains of Apollo temple and it’s a vast acre of land where you can just stroll around and chill), Ancient library of Hadrian etc.
It was almost evening and we had the entire Plaka market to explore as everything was up and running after Xmas. We did a lot of shopping right from souvenirs and brands. This was our last night in Athens and hence we decided to prepare our dinner. We bought some instant noodles for the night and coke. As it was getting colder, soupy instant noodles were a clear recipe for soothing our souls. We packed our bags post dinner and got ready for the next morning’s flight.
The next morning, we booked a taxi through “beat” mobile app. Although it showed the charges between 27-35 Euros, we were charged a standard fare of 38 Euros from Kivelis, Athina. The taxi was on time and the driver was extremely patient with us, he waited for approx. 10 min for us.
We got to the airport an hour before time, boarded the flight back to Delhi via Istanbul. The layover was 5 hours hence we explore the world’s largest airport, shopping, eating and chilling in general. Finally we heeded goodbye to our Greece trip with lots of awesome memories and learning.
Some Takeaways:
1. Always buy a local sim card from the Athens airport to make your life easier. There are options of Vodafone, Winds and Cosmote. We bought Cosmote in Santorini but unfortunately its App is only in Greek and caused trouble.
2. We didn’t see any local bus driver charging us money esp. for shorter routes like Athina to Syntagma.
3. Always take enough cash with you beforehand as you’re unlikely to get a good exchange rate if you exchange money in Greece or use ATM. We took around 550 Euros from India at an exchange rate of 79.4 but got a whopping rate of 84 and 90 when we used the ATM couple of times.
4. If you’re from India, you are liable to get tax refund from all purchases you do within Greece. The storekeeper will ask you to fill a form and get to the tax refund counter at the airport to claim the refund.
5. If you’ve got time on your hands always take the ferry to Santorini and not the flight. The ride will not only be very beautiful but also very cheap. However, if you must take a flight to Santorini and are planning to come back to Athens, keep your luggage in Athens only or buy your luggage beforehand – It costs lesser. Ours was Skyexpress and they charged 3 Euros/kg pre-book fee and 5 Euro/kg luggage at-the-airport fee. We also opted for “Fly Light” and maybe that could be the reason ours was a mini-airplane.
6. The food at the airport is way costlier than the city for obvious reasons, always carry some dry food and fruits at the airport wherever possible. For example, a pork and cheese sandwich costs 2.50 Euros normally, it will cost around 6 Euros at the airport.
7. You can drink tap water easily in Athens and Ioannina, but unfortunately our host at Santorini warned us from doing so, hence we purchased bottled water. A 250ml water bottle should cost you somewhere around 0.5 Euros in cafes and vending machines and around 0.2 Euros from supermarkets. Hence, use the supermarkets whenever possible, even for dry food.
8. You cannot eat in a local bus; they didn’t let us in Santorini. However, in the intercity KTEL bus to Ioannina, we could eat in the bus.
9. If possible, spend some more time in the Riviera – beach area of Athens. It is extremely worthy.
10. Santorini is a very small island. You can cover the entire island in two days. Do it, you will make some awesome memories.
11. Locals in Greece don’t speak English and majority don’t even understand it, esp. in less touristy areas and even in places like Athens, hence speak loud, precise and short. Don’t make sentences, they will lose you in between.
12. Souvenirs are negotiable in the local Plaka market, if you buy more you get better price.
13. If you’re going towards Acropolis you will find some Jamaican youngsters making praises and giving you gifts free of cost, don’t take it, say no humbly, they will ask you for “donation” later. There are also some people eyeing the tourists to tell their painful stories of how they’ve lost their luggage and are in dire need of money, ignore them and say no, humbly.
14. If you wish to see Mount Olympus, you need to go to Thessaloniki and then maybe take a bus or train to Litochoro.
15. Our 9-day trip cost us around 1100 Euros without the stay and flight charges. But we never compromised on food and things we wished to see. We could’ve done this in lesser but that is where the learning comes.
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