Rick Steves Athens & The Heart of Greece
"fervently wish your journey may be long,
full of adventures and with much to learn"
Ithaca - C.P. Cavafy
from Athens to the Aegean...
Welcome to our
Rick Steves Athens & the Heart of Greece 14 day tour
Travel Scrapbook!
We are excited to share our travel adventures through Greece with you! We hope to show you what makes Greece a special place and you may possibly hear our pleas of "Just leave me here!"
It's a Greek adventure waiting to happen, Let's get started!
First, let's make a few introductions
This is us! We are Debbie and Ron from Denver, Colorado, and we love to travel. We took our first trip together before we were married; we wanted to be sure we were travel compatible! Married 30 years now, we still enjoy experiencing the world together!
So far, including this tour, we have been on (4) Debbie and (3) Ron tours with Rick Steves. And we certainly hope to be doing more in the future!
"Kalimera! So good to see you this morning!" Our guide, Apostolos Douras, would greet us this way with a smile every morning.
A little background: Apostolos was born and raised in Athens; after school he moved to England to pursue a master's degree in international relations.
Always approachable, always surprising the group with special treats, we loved the time spent listening to him tell tales of his family and living in Greece!
Meet our bus driver George (Yorgos). He's been a bus driver for 40 years! Behind the wheel of a big tour bus bus, he maneuvered some pretty narrow mountain roads on our tour (some 80% of Greece is mountainous!), he didn't flinch a bit on any of those hairpin turns! We could sit back and relax, knowing we were in good hands!
Rick Steves style of travel "attracts people who are friendly, thoughtful, and ready to lend a hand." We whole heartedly agree!!
Our group of 23 travelers came from all over the USA and included many people new to Rick Steves tours, as well as those veteran RS travelers. We shared our lives, our laughter, and our love of travel with each other; we came to Greece as strangers and ended up as friends!
(picture taken at the Sanctuary of Asklepios)
Second, we need to show you where we are going!
RS Athens & the Heart of Greece tour
Looking at a tour map is like opening a box of chocolates and anticipating how each little piece is going to taste.
Rick Steves Athens & the Heart of Greece tour includes those places we've heard of and think we know, but also unfamiliar towns that grab our attention. Just like taking that first bite into our chocolates, we are curious what we are going to find. And always, there are those places NOT on the map, those surprises along the way, that we have no idea are coming!
With anticipation from beginning to end, there's no doubt our 14 day tour will go quickly (just like that box of chocolates!)
For more information about Rick Steves tour of Greece, click here, or go to ricksteves.com
Why take a Rick Steves tour?
For us, it was an easy choice - Rick Steves offers everything we look for in a tour: small group size, hand-selected guides, the efficiency of a well-planned itinerary. We like the benefits of group travel combined with those "free days" to do what we choose. Rick's philosophy is that his tours "should leave its participants happily needing a few rest days" after the tour is over. We enjoy the pace of the tours, but also know that we can opt-out of any group activity if needed. Flexibility is a must while on tour, and Rick's tours give us that.
Rick Steves tours attract a certain type of traveler - those people that like to get out, be active, have curiosity for the world and a love of travel. These are the kinds of people we want to spend two weeks with!
Most importantly, we don't want to be travelers looking through a bus window! We want that hands-on experience, the feeling that we are locals instead of tourists!
Third, we want you to have fun and learn about Greece as well!
It's all so very Greek!
It may have been a similar line in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, but we've all said words to that effect at one time or another. I've added this section to highlight some of the things I learned while on tour, things that make Greece, well, so very Greek!
One more thing! We just wanted to say thank you
It was a long couple of years without having the luxury of jumping on a plane and seeing new places. It helped to travel virtually with Rick Steves on his weekly Monday Night Travel zoom meetings! With his great attitude and his enthusiasm for travel, it helped us keep things in perspective, that we WOULD travel again!
Thank you, Rick!
Passports and airline tickets in hand, carry on luggage packed, we are ready to go!
Or, as they say in Greece, Pame!
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We are those people that think if you get to the airport early, the flight will leave earlier. Well, maybe that is exaggerating a little, but it was so exciting, after two years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, to be able to go to Europe again. Like many people, we were READY!
It's a nonstop flight from Denver to London, with a connecting flight on to Athens. It's going to be a long day but worth it!
Added bonus: we have an empty seat between us for the whole 10 hour flight!!
It's almost like being in first class!
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