Day Trips from Athens

[abenaki]

Just wondering if there are suggestions for recommended day trips with car and driver from Athens ( such as going to Sintra from Lisbon) We will be in Athens for 4 days.

thanks

[cruisemom42]

I would highly recommend a full-day tour to Delphi. Beautiful ruins and scenery.

[Anapli]

Ancient Corinth -> Mycenaes -> Nafplio -> Ancient Epidavros

[TLCOhio]

Ancient Corinth -> Mycenaes -> Nafplio -> Ancient Epidavros

 

cruisemom42: I would highly recommend a full-day tour to Delphi. Beautiful ruins and scenery.

 

Before starting our Athens to Istanbul cruise' date=' we were torn in the choice of of the [b']Peloponnesian Peninsula . . . versus . . . Delphi[/b] as wisely noted and pushed by Cynthia. Both seemed excellent based on our reading, research, various comments, etc. The Peloponnesian Peninsula route worked super for us and below you can see a range of my visuals samples and details on what we enjoyed in doing this route.

 

You can check out my earlier post on “Athens Tips, Suggestions, Examples to Enjoy!” for many details, ideas and interesting visuals on this great city. Lots of ideas here from me and others experienced with Athens. This posting has had over 6,790 views. Appreciate those who have dropped by, made comments, etc.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1101008

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 120,584 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

The Corinth Canal is right on the route as you are circling the Peloponnesian Peninsula and nearby to the famed, ancient, historic city of Corinth. This canal is a unique engineering job carved through about 260' of rock. The canal is four miles in length, 75' wide and was built between 1881 and 1893:

 

 

 

Historic Roman ruins are in Ancient Corinth, including this portion of the Temple of Apollo and the mountains over this site. This historic area is 48 miles southwest of Athens. It was a city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth that joins the Peloponnesus to mainland Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. In classical times, Corinth rivaled Athens and Thebes in wealth, based on the Isthmian traffic and trade. Apostle Paul first visited the city around AD 51-52. He lived here for eighteen months, including writing two of his epistles on the difficulties of maintaining a Christian community in such a cosmopolitan city with so much sin and corruption existing in this city.:

 

 

 

These Mycene ruins go back 2700 years from a spectacular empire. As a major center of Greek civilization, this military stronghold dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae's power during this "bronze age". Much of the Mycenaean religion survived into classical Greece in their pantheon of Greek deities. Lots of "real" history here!!:

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Looking down upon Nafplion from the historic Palamidi military fortress that overlooks the town and its harbor. This fortress is on the crest of a 216-metre high hill. It was built by the Venetians during their second occupation of the area (1686-1715).:

 

 

 

Epidaurus is the famed outdoor theater with super great acoustics. Their local prosperity enabled Epidaurus to construct civic monuments including this huge theater that had dramatic performances, ceremonial programs, etc. It was designed in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. As with many Greek theaters (and as opposed to Roman ones), the view on a lush landscape behind the performing areas was an integral part of the design. It seats up to 15,000 people. The acoustics permit almost perfect intelligibility of unamplified spoken word from the proscenium. A 2007 study by Georgia Tech scholars indicates that the amazing acoustic properties are either the result of an accident or the product of advanced design . . . rows of limestone seats filtering out low-frequency sounds and amplify/reflect high-frequency sounds from the stage.: