Athens, Greece

Dreaming of a Greek holiday but feeling like the Gods of the Economy are conspiring against you? Not only has the dollar fallen, but prices in Athens have risen dramatically since the introduction of the euro to Greece. But those two factors don't have to squash your dream vacation. You can still plan a fantastic Greek holiday using the following money saving tips:

1. Be flexible on your travel dates. Remember that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are almost always the least expensive days to fly overseas. Use online search tools like kayak.com to search over a range of websites. Plan early if you are using miles to get your tickets, the free seats go fast! And remember, Athens is a major destination, so while the discounts aren't as great as they once were "off season", airfare is generally still a better bargain in early spring and late fall (and the weather is better, the crowds are thinner and you'll actually have a good chance of photographing the Parthenon without a hundreds of tourists).

2. Save $150 - $400 per day by opting for a self-catering apartment over a hotel. Vacation rentals are always more economical than a hotel particularly so when you find 2 or 3 bedroom properties where the cost will always be lower than booking a comparable hotel. Look for those that offer free internet and save even more. Full kitchens save an average family of 4 over $100 per day in restaurants bills in addition to the savings over hotels. And of course, staying in a furnished short term rental in Athens means staying outside of the tourist track, which often also means less expensive dining options when you do eat out (not to mention the priceless bonus of eating where the locals eat, in truly authentic Greek tavernas and grillhouses).

4. Visit a local farmers market, a cheese shop and a bakery and pack a lunch to enjoy al fresco!

5. Avoid overpriced coach tours. Why travel with 50 strangers to Delphi when you can go on your own? A typical tour costs 80 - 100 euro per person. A famiy of 4 can rent a car and drive for around 30 euro or book a private driver for the day for 250 euro. Both options will undoubtably save you money, but also get you to the site BEFORE the hourdes of coach tours arrive, meaning a more pleasant experience as you explore this magical site. Of course, you can save even more by catching the KTEL bus (9 euro per person) from the bus stop near the National Archeological Museum. You will want to leave Athens early (6:30 AM), but the bus does get you to the site with some time to explore before the coach tours arrive.

6. SKIP the three island cruise! Not only does the 3 island cruise cost much more than going on your own, it also leaves you very little time to explore any of the islands. Instead, use the metro to get to Pireaus (port) and take a flying dolphin or a slower ferry to Hydra or Aegina. Explore on your own, eat where you want, and if you get bored, catch a boat to another nearby island.

7. Find free events in Athens: Athens is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city filled with free and nearly free entertainment options. Since most of the programs are geared toward locals, you'll have to look where the locals look: www.athinorama.gr, although that's in Greek, for continious English updates regarding events in Athens, you can also look herehere.

9. Plan your visits to coincide with free admission days: all Sundays from November to March are free admission days for most archeological sites (as are the first Sunday of April, May, September and October). Museums list their free admission days on their website, or for a comprehensive list visit here: .

10. Take it slow!! Greece is packed with things to see and do and experience, and it is, geographically, a tiny country - but, avoid the urge to see it all. I've been traveling to and living in Greece for 20 years, and I still have not seen it all! Itineraries that have you spending 2 nights here, 2 nights there and 2 nights somewhere else eat up valuable time (not to mention money!) and will leave you feeling like you spent much of your vacation packing and unpacking or waiting for a plane or ferry to depart.

You're coming to Greece. You've booked your flights, and now you're surfing the internet trying to plan your journey. Santorini, then Mykonos and an overnight stop in Paros. Ten days. Perhaps two weeks in glorious Greece. You've got your plan. You'll land in Athens, find a hotel in Plaka, while your body still wonders what time it is, you'll check out the Acropolis and the Parthenon, snap the requisite photos and head off for the port or back to the airport in the morning to head to the islands. But it's ok, you'll overnight in Athens one more time before your return trip home.

"What can I do for two days in Athens?" "Is one night in Athens enough?" "They spent a week in Athens, what did they do?" As an expat in Athens I get these questions all the time. A friend of a friend is visiting Greece, so they've passed along my phone number or my email. "One night in Athens?" I ask rhetorically, "Spend it figuring out how to cut your time elsewhere and return when you can give this magnificent metropolis your undivided, unjetlagged, attention."

So for those planning on visiting my adopted city with a well rested mind, I offer an ongoing collection of my favorites in my Athena. From where to dine outside of the tourist center yet still downtown, to where to visit a real shadow puppeter, to where to find freshly braided garlic and homemade wine. Sure, you'll find tips about exploring the historical center here as well, because the Parthenon is certainly a grand part of Athens' history. But I'll also encourage you to steal a few hours from your day to share a park bench with a group of Athenian men playing tavli, or let your kids kick around a soccer ball in the square with some Athenian children, or wander beyond Syntagma Square to one of the outdoor farmers markets. I'll even challenge you with this website to open your eyes to the beauty of "modern" Athens, the architecture of the past century, from Art Noveau to Art Deco and into the new millenium with steel and glass.

So, keep planning your travel to Greece. Just remember, give Athens the respect she deserves.

Have you found yourself in Athens on a holiday, and the sites are closed? Or perhaps it's a rare rainy day and you'd like to find a way to stay under cover, yet still see some sites? Or maybe you are on a budget and need a cheap way to see some really cool archeology? Or, you just have a short attention span and the thought of all those galleries filled with ancient vessels at the National Archeological Museum makes your head spin?

How about an Athens Art and Archeology tour, by metro?

As you can imagine, digging anywhere in Athens runs the risk of digging up something, so imagine when the city began constructing an underground railway system that runs directly through the entire downtown area? The result is perhaps the largest archeological excavation project every undertaken! In all, an area of almost 50 miles uncovered more than 50.000 ancient artifacts.

Today, 7 metro stations contain exhibits from the excavations:

Evangelismos (Blue)

Syntagma (Blue) (pictured here, a cross section of an ancient cemetery - if you have medical/human biology background, check it out - it seems the poor guy had two left femurs!)

Panepistimio (Red)

Monasteraki (Blue)

Keramikos (Blue)

Acropolis (Red)

Dafni (Red)

When planning your tour, you may choose to visit the stations in the order listed above, heading north from Syntagma on the Red line to Panepistimio, and then returning to Syntagma to continue your tour, or, you could continue on the Red line to Omonia Square (which has some interesting art on display by Greek artists), where you can transfer to the Green Line which will take you to Monasteraki where you can get back on the Blue Line to Keramikos.

Several stations also have interesting art, the Dafni station, with both its archeology and art, is worth a visit, as are the sculptures by Greek artists in the Evangeslismo metro station and the station at Syntagma Square (look up for the mobiles).

The cost of this tour fits everyone's budget (.80 euro cents for 90 minutes!) - just be sure to purchase and validate your metro ticket (there are little towers where you need to insert your ticket, get it stamped, and then keep in on you at all times - they do random checks, and the fine is quite stiff!) If you are going to be moving about on the metro all day, consider a 24 hour ticket, which will run you 3.00 euro but is valid on the metro, the buses and the trolley, as well as the tram and the suburban rail systems (EXCEPT FOR THE AIRPORT).

If you are planning on a week in Athens, you may want to consider a week pass, which is valid on all transporation other than the airport, and costs 10 euro. The truth is that Athens is an extremely walkable city, so the chances are you will spend a lot of time outside of the metro - but having a week long pass means you never have to look for a place to purchase a ticket for the trolley or bus, and offers you the freedom to hop on and hop off at your leisure.

The above two passes (24 hour pass and 7 day pass) are not valid on the Athens Sightseeing Bus (bus 400) or for the suburban rail line to the airport.

Ever since my first trip to Athens in 1989 I have been fascinated by outdoor street markets. Back then large chain supermarkets were non-existent in Greece, so each neighborhood had it's own outdoor market day. And though today there are plenty of big supermarkets, Greek owned chains like A B Vasilopoulos and Veropoulos, and even the French owned Carrefour, the weekly "laiki" or "people's market" still sets up on the streets throughout the city.

In central Athens, visitors have several choices throughout the week to wander through the crowds, through the tables and stalls overflowing with locally grown produce, fresh fish, house wares including everything from bed linens to drapery to kitchenware, seasonal clothing, shoes and LOTS of underwear, there are even flower vendors selling everything from fresh cut flowers to miniature orange and olive trees to large, lush ficas trees.

The best time to visit the market is between 9 AM and 1 PM. The tables will still be piled high and the crowds will not have gotten too crazy yet. After 1 PM, the prices start to fall, and the vendors try frantically to sell out - prices fall, bags are prepared as the stacks and stacks of lovingly and beautifully displayed fruits and vegetables dwindle, and the locals scramble about looking for lower prices on the remaining produce.

Take time to spend a few hours at one of these outdoor farmer's markets (Laiki agora, in Greek).

I never tire of wandering through them, snapping photos of the freshest finds and learning about what grows in which region of Greece at what time of year. Today, just 5 days after a historical two day snow storm in Greece I was amazed to learn that artichokes, still considered somewhat of a delicacy in America, at least in the Midwest, are already being harvested in the Agroloid region near Nafplion. They are a popular spring vegetable here in Greece, but apparently they are considered a late winter vegetable here in Greece!

As you explore the nearest laiki, take time to meet the people. While some are venders, many are farmers and they are as proud of their produce as a parent is of their child.Many will be happy to engage you, and some even dance in the street. Many speak some English, and if they do not, someone nearby does. Visiting during slower times allows me to spend more time with the people, learning about various farm regions of Greece, and getting to know the various merchants who temporarily set up shop as my neighbors each week.

Here's a list of the downtown Farmer's Markets in Athens - There are more, but these would be the closet to center, and all are within a 20 minute walk of Syntagma Square, though I have included metro or trolley instructions for getting there as well.

Any astute travelers knows that Athens is landlocked, but that doesn't mean you need to catch a ferry to an island to enjoy a refreshing afternoon dip in the sea.

Catch the coastal tram near Syntagma Square and head west - jump off at Alimos if you're really just itching for a quick refreshing splash, and planning on heading back downtown soon.

If you've stopped at Alimos Beach, once cooled off you can stroll back north on the boardwalk that runs to Palieo Falero (tram exit Flisvo) where you'll find lots of cafes and restaurants perfect for people watching and relaxing with a cool drink.

If you have time, my preference would be to continue south, the water is cleaner the further you get from the port of Pireaus, continue on the tram to the end of the line, Voula, and you'll find Voula Beach, lined with cafes and restaurants, or, walk along the shore to Kavroui Beach.

To reach Vouliagmeni, you'll need to take the bus, either from bus stand near the Panepistimieo Metro Station (A2) all the way to Voula City Hall, where you change to any southbound bus (numbers 114, 116 or 149). If you find yourself in Voula via the tram, you can connect to these buses from the bus stop at Voula City Hall.

Once you get yourself this far south, it is worth considering a sunset visit to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.

Every August, on the eve of the full moon, several archeological sites in Greece stay open late for a full moon festival. This year, 2008, is no different, and if you are fortunate enough to be in Athens on August 16, you'll have the opportunity to visit the Acropolis and the Parthenon under the light of the moon, while being serended by various classical musicians and opera singers.

The Acropolis will be open from 9 PM until 1 AM on August 16, 2008, and best of all, admission is free!