13-Days Unique Greece, Alumni Tour.

Are you ready and well prepared for your 14 Days Unique Greece for Alumni tour? If yes, your first step is to take your flight to Athens and try to sleep to be fresh and full of vitality when you reach your destination.

Day 1: Welcome to Athens!

Your meeting point with the representative of the Vikings Navita is at the Athens International Airport. A private coach will be waiting for the transfer to your Athens Boutique hotel located in the friendly Plaka area.

Free time for a stroll around the old Plaka area with the picturesque small houses or to the centre of the Athenian capital. A great number of different museums and art galleries, as well as lots of shops are waiting for you.

In the evening you will walk to the Michelin starred restaurant we have booked for you, located near your hotel. Enjoy your welcome dinner with local and international specialties. Back to your hotel where you can relax during your first overnight in Athens.

Hephaestus Temple, Athens Greece

Day 2: Sight seeing of Athens

What a better way to start your first morning in Athens than to walk with your guide to the Acropolis, part of UNESCO world monuments list (WML).

You will visit the Parthenon and its surrounding area, the new Acropolis Museum and the Agora. Afterwards you will have the chance to visit the Benaki Museum in order to admire its precious exhibits. You will have some free time in the evening.

Dinner at another Michelin starred restaurant. Full of new experiences and images, you’ll enjoy your second overnight in Athens.

Day 3: Island of Hydra

After your breakfast, you will get on your coach for a short drive to Piraeus, the famous port of Athens, the centre of commerce of Eastern Europe. Your “14-Days Unique Greece” Alumni Tour next destination is the island of Hydra. Your trip by high-speed boat will last for one hour and a half.

The artists’ island where lots of movies have been shot, is here to explore. Visit the Maritime Museum and the Naval Academy and walk in the small streets to take pictures of very old houses of unique architecture or ride on a donkey as cars are not allowed on this picturesque island.

A very relaxing sleep during your overnight in Hydra at Bratsera Boutique hotel will follow this marvelous day.

Epidaurus ancient theatre

Day 4: Hydra-Epidauros-Nauplion

In the morning you will take a sea taxi and cross over to Metochi, at the mainland. It is a 20 minutes ride.

The coach will be waiting to drive you to the Epidaurus Theatre, the second item on your UNESCO WML. Then you will proceed to Nauplion, the first capital of Greece since its independence.

The beauty of the medieval Venetian castle and its walls around the old city along with old churches and picturesque houses will captivate your eyes . Relax during your first night in Nauplion at the Grand Sarai Boutique hotel.

Day 5: Nauplion-Mycenae

In the morning, you will leave the city of Nauplion to visit the town of Tyrins, famous for its walls and tunnels, built at the end of the 13th century BC.

These walls were constructed of massive irregular limestone blocks, some of them weighing several tons and thus were called Cyclopean.

Your next stop is 20 kilometers far away, at the ancient city of Mycenae, the third item on your UNESCO world monuments list. Mycenae, the kingdom of Agamemnon during the Bronze Age, is famous for the Lion Gate and the tholos tombs.

You can appreciate exhibits from these tombs at the local museum.

Lunch will be served at the historical small restaurant of Belle Helene that celebrities such as the archaeologist Schliemann, Agatha Christie, Virginia Wolf, Henry Miller, William Faulkner, Debussey, Irving Stone, Jean Paul Sartre, Patrick Leigh Fermor and J.K Rowling have visited.

After completing your lunch, you will proceed to Nemea, the place where according to the myth, Hercules affronted the last Greek lion -things didn’t go well for the poor lion- to visit the stadium and an organic winery.

Taste the beautiful local wines made of carefully chosen grape varieties. You will spend your second overnight in Nauplion at the Grand Sarai Boutique hotel.

Athens’ flee market

Day 6: Byzantine Mystras and Monemvasia.

After having breakfast, the coach will drive you to Byzantine Mystras, the forth item on your UNESCO world monuments list.

Built as an amphitheater around the fortress erected in 1249, this abandoned medieval city is full of churches, monasteries, palaces, mansions and residences. Once the tour of Mystras is completed, you will be transported to another medieval town, the one of Monemvasia.

This castle-town is unique, build on a very small island connected to the mainland. The site is well preserved and the sea view is breathtaking. You will spend the night in Monemvasia, feeling like you are part of a fairy-tail.

Day 7: Monemvasia – Mani

After tasting lots of local products at breakfast, you will board the coach. The first stop is Aeropolis, the city of Ares, the ancient Greek god of war.

Aeropolis that was formerly called Oitylo and mentioned by Homer, was the place where the Greek war of independence started.

Greece – Poseidon Temple in Cape Sounion. Courtesy of A. Kaknis

Next stop is the Diros Caves, an amazing underground system with stalagmites and stalactites. Take a boat ride and admire one of the greatest geophysical formations on Earth.

An organic winery, not far away from the caves, will be your next stop. Learn how the locals cultivate vines and taste the different types of wine produced here.

Enjoy your overnight in Mani, surrounded by its legends.

Day 8: Mani. Nestor’s Palace -Bassae -Ancient Olympia.

In the morning you will depart for Pylos to visit Nestor’s Palace who bravely fought during the Trojan war despite his very old age.

Back on the coach to visit Bassae, the fifth item on your UNESCO WML. The Temple of Apollon, the second largest temple after the Parthenon, is still in a good condition and is one of the numerous exhibits of this archaeological site. Today’s journey will finish in Olympia, the sixth item on your UNESCO’s WML.

Overnight at Boutique hotel Europa Olympia to profit out of the good vibes of this sacred land.

Monastiraki flea market

Day 9: Olympia

After having breakfast, you will visit Olympia, the museum and the archaeological site.

Olympia was the place where the first Olympic Games took place. A sacred land for the ancient Greeks, full of temples, the most famous of which was the sanctuary of Zeus, the father of all gods and humans .

In the museum, you can admire the wonderful statue of Hermes made by Praxiteles along with numerous other exhibits. Unfortunately, the pride of ancient Olympia, the colossal gold-and-ivory statue of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, vanished in the Middle Ages so you will only learn how it looked like.

Your second overnight at the Europa Olympia Boutique hotel will follow this miraculous day.

Day 10:  Olympia – Delphi

After breakfast, you will depart for Delphi via Patras, one of the most important Mediterranean ports and Rion bridge.

In Delphi you will visit the archaeological site, the seventh item on your UNESCO world monuments list and its Museum. The ancient Greeks used to believe that Delphi was the bellybutton of the world.

They were visiting this sacred place to go to the sanctuary of Apollo to find the answer to their problems. Apollo was speaking through the mouth of the Oracle.

Mesmerized by the vibes of this land, you will spend your night at the Kastalia Boutique hotel in Delphi.

Lysicrates monument, Athens

Day 11: Delphi – Meteora – Kalambaka

After having breakfast, you will travel North to visit the hanging monasteries of Meteora, the eighth item on your UNESCO monuments list.

You will be amazed by the stories of the monks who managed to build these monasteries without using any of streets or paths and how they lifted all the building materials all the way up. Precious manuscripts are carefully kept in these monasteries along with very old icons.

You will spend your first night in Kalambaka at the Dellas Boutique hotel.

Greece – Meteora Monasteries

Day 12: Meteora – Thermopylae- Athens

After having breakfast, you will visit some more Meteora monasteries, built on steep rocks, places of deep meditation.

You can also visit the Museum of Mushrooms and Natural History. You will leave Meteora early in the evening.

On the way back to Athens, you will pass by Thermopylae, the famous place where Leonidas and his 300 men along 700 Thespians, fought bravely the Persians. A heroic decision that cost them their lives but also gave “immortality” to their names.

The code of life of Spartans was based in honor and pride. Simonides of Ceos  (c. 556 BC – 469 BC) in his known epigram said: “Oh Stranger passing by,  go tell the Spartans,  that here, obedient to their laws, we lie”.

You will arrive in Athens at around 18:00. Get ready for your farewell dinner while listening to bouzouki music and tasting local dishes. Spend your last overnight in Athens.

Day 13: Athens

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the Athens International Airport for the return flight back home with the best memories, promising to come back to Greece, the land of wonders. The 14 Days Unique Greece for Alumni Tour, this magnificent journey through history and civilization has come to its end.