I've been to a few places in Europe (France England, Italy) and i was wondering what Greece has to offer?? I love to see cites that aren't too common, just small towns and get a feel for the local culture, any good places for that?
i can hardly think of any place in greece that isn't good. but for small traditional villages it is good to visit islands. Go to Crete, Santorini- they are both great yet so different. Visit Thessaloniki second big city in greece. let me know if you are around
if you are going to greece - go in summer. anywhere that offers hotwater from the taps or showers in athens or elsewhere will be horrendously expensive. you can go in winter but generally you'll regret that you went. greece has become more expensive since becoming part of the EU. since that point greece seems to have become more desperate, just seems to have more beggars wandering around these days. if you want to see something of greece, tour the historical sites, they haven't built anything of much worth since ancient times i can recommend olympia , delphi and some of the islands. crete is ok check out knossos. the people of athens aren't too friendly, the tourist board is non existant and you'll need to get a map of athens before leaving, they don't sell any reasonable maps of the city there. if you need to know where something is don't ask the locals they ignore you - you'll have more luck with the legions of plain clothes policemen that wander around the parliament square. don't bother tryign to find any offical tourist offfice, any location shown on any map will be out of date - you'll just waste your time tryign to find it. know where you want to go in athens before you get there. (i might just add though - the trip from the airport to the city is now much more efficient, before you had to run the gauntlet of non existant bus services and rip off taxi drivers - you can now get to the city very easily. don't stay in the omonia sqaure region, you'll find some reasonable backpackers around the parliament square area but look around them before deciding to stay check and see if the hot water works. only book in for the night initially, if there are any "problems" with the hotwater go elsewhere as quickly as possible , as they'll be stringing you out for days with no hot water) DON"T !! stay at the YHA in athens - its a flea pit and acts as a half way house these days. as a general rule of thumb the further you are from athens the friendlier the people, rhodes is the better place to visit, you have reasonably priced accommodation and plenty to see. try to get maps of places in greece before you go, don't try getting them when you arrive. when you've seen what you need to see in greece travel over to turkey, theres more greek stuff there than in greece , its in better condition and you can access it for a reasonable price. turkey is more organised and designed for tourists to travel the country, the buses always come on time and you'll find it is relatively organised - unlike greece. in fact i'd say that before you go to greece try turkey first, its cheaper, better for money, friendlier and more organised and has generally more to offer. oh yes if you are going to turkey go in summer too, they have the same "problems" as the greeks. heating water for showers must be very expensive so you'll find that wherever you go out of season (in a hotel) they'll turn off the hotwater whether anyone is staying there or not.
