Sightseeing in Greece - what could be simpler? Not much, but there's a world of difference between an overwhelming and exhausting day, and one which you can take easily in stride.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 4 hours
Here's How:
- Set your alarm and get up early, allowing plenty of time for packing a day pack and eating a good breakfast.
- Buy a liter-sized bottle of water - if no market is handy, most tavernas or the hotel restaurant will sell you a bottle.
- Apply your sunscreen and bring the bottle for reapplications later, when sweat and time have taken their toll. Throw in sugary, salty, and protein-based snacks.
- Bring some hard candy or very well wrapped energy bars to boost stamina, wrapped cheese to ease hunger pangs if a meal is delayed, and a salty snack like chips or pickles to help prevent dehydration.
- Bring your hat.
- For visiting active religious sites, women should bring a scrunchy skirt to pop on over shorts, and wear or bring a long-sleeved top. Men should wear long pants, not shorts.
- Place any camera equipment in a padded case or wrap it in the extra garments. Use that neck strap. This provides protection against the uneven, slippery ground at many monuments.
- Get extra film if needed; film, if available on site at all, will be at a premium price.
- Exchange enough money for the day; break down big bills.
- Take along a notebook and a pen for your impressions, sketches, or bits of historical information you want to remember; this is also a great place to keep the decorative ticket stubs provided at most locations.
- Occasionally set aside the cameras, tune out the crowds, even ignore your tour guide, and take a moment to just feel the rich past surrounding you.
Tips:
- If you are in control of your own time, schedule your visits to the major monuments in the early morning; late morning is the busiest period. Things calm down for lunch, then pick up again in the early afternoon.
- Don't go behind any barriers, don't pick up any fragments of marble. Both activities are illegal and can get you escorted off the site or even arrested, jailed, or fined.
- Some major sites, like the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, will have free admission on Sundays.
- On hot days, the kiosks on-site can frequently run out of water entirely - and there usually aren't drinking fountains.
- Remember that many monuments and museums are closed on Mondays and close by 3pm the rest of the week. Have to see a particular site? Pleading and begging may get you in outside regular hours if a site official is present.
