phart

We're in Athens for about 2 days. Is it better to go to Corinth, Delphi or Temple of Poseidon on Day 2 -- after seeing Athens Day 1? How long a drive to Delphi? To Corinth?
To Poseidon? And which is best?
Thanks
Pat

indytravel

You asked so I'll tell you. You shouldn't leave Athens after one day. There is so much to see and do. I spent Thursday (friend's jetlag day) Friday and Saturday. I saw only half of what I wanted to.

Delphi is the best of what you've mentioned if you must day trip. 2 and little more hours each way from Athens. That's 4 or 5 hours on the road driving when you could be in Athens. An incredibly historic site it's well worth seeing if you have the time. I recommend staying overnight so you can see it at 5:00pm after most of the daytrippers have left. Daytripping yourselves you'll be in the thick of them.

Temple of Poseidon next on the list. Really cool ruins with a view over the sea. Waves below and the columns of a temple centuries old, it's beautiful and interesting. That's all it is, the one temple ruin. Not the multiple ruins of temples, Roman stadium, etc. that is Delphi.

Corinth last of all. It's probably an hour or so drive too. My guidebook said it suffered a terrible earthquake decades ago. The city was rebuilt on a modern grid. No real reason for a tourist to go there now.

Just to clarify the travel times will depend greatly upon time of day, day of the week and from where you leave in Athens. I didn't drive in Athens, only around it on the autobahn when I visited October of last year.

grandmere

I agree; I wouldn't leave Athens after 1 day either. However, Delphi and Sounion are beautiful sites; have not been to Corinth.

Athens is a much more interesting city than most people give it credit for; not sure why this is so.

phart

What are some of the "must-sees" in Athens, other than Acropolis, that would make one not visit Delphi (on a Sat. FYI), which is far but seems beautiful. IE what to see on Day 2 in Athens? And how far is Poseidon's temple from Athens?
Thanks and keep up the info...great help!
-Pat

indytravel

I was just re-reading my post and realized I didn't give a drive time to the Temple of Poseidon. I'm guessing it's about an hour each way.

For things to do this is what I did with my time.

The 12euro combo ticket is good for two days with entrance to the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Keramikos Cemetery, Temple of Olympian Zeus and Theater of Dionysos included. It took one full day for me to see the first four items. I never made it to see the last two.

The Byzantine Museum was excellent.

Lykavittos Hill afforded some spectacular views over the city of Athens and the Acropolis. I was there at sunset taking in the views and visiting the little Orthodox Church at the top. You don't even have to climb up there. For 4.50 you can buy a roundtrip ticket on the funicular.

The Folk Art Museum has a very nice collection of traditional costumes.

The Modern Art Museum had a Jean Rustin exhibit. Screamin' art in a converted mansion that is a very pretty space. All the people Rustin paints, men & women seem to look a lot like him and not very attractively painted I might add.

Walked through the Monastiraki flea market near the Acropolis.

Watched the guards change in front of Parliament.

Blocks & Rocks were prevalent in the National Archeaological Museum. Lot's of stone work and old stuff. It's a huge collection and has a lot of classic Greek work.

Took the subway to Piraes for a lunch in the sun along the water. It was to help my jetlagged friend acclimate. It was also a scouting mission for catching the ferry to Santorini.


I did not make time but wanted to do these things:

Have a dinner with traditional Greek singing and dancing.
Make it to the top of Aeropagos hill where the legendary Amazons camped.
Benaki museum former residence now showcasing Greek and Oriental art
Numismatic museum if you're into coins.
Museum of Cycladic Art

Check out this web site. It lists dozens of museums, churches, sites, etc.

www.athens-today.gr/Sights/sights.html

Nikki

I loved Athens and found that I could have used another day or two there even after spending three days. However, Delphi was the highlight of my trip to Greece. Just a beautiful spot resonating with meaning. The many references to the oracle in literature, philosophy, history, and myth made it exceptionally significant for me personally, and having been there, I will always have it fixed in my mind when I encounter these references in the future.

phart

So it sounds like most agree it's better to give a second day to Athens rather than head to Delphi.
Thanks for the information. We'll see what we're up for when we get there.

Our desitnation after Athens is Naxos. Any thoughts on dining out? Night life? Great beaches?
Pat

phart

Another question: What about the construction at the Acropolis? Anyone been there recently who can speak to this? I understand The Temple of Athene is dismantled and there are cranes etc. all over the place.
What's up?
Pat

Matrexx

Pat, someone mentioned on another thread the other day that the construction is never ending and ongoing so there will be cranes and scaffolding while you are there. This won't impede your visit nor the grandeur of the site though. The construction is necessary for preservation of this amazing historical site.

polly229

Yes, I'd stay in Athens, too. We took a tour to Delphi and spent too much time en route. (Hated the tour thing, all the people. We didn't even have time to go down the hill to the Temple of Athena.) Had half a day free when we got to Athens and went to the Benaki Museum (which is excellent - and free on Thurs. and open till midnight - great in May when most of the other museums close at 2 or 3PM). I understand the Benaki restaurant is wonderful - but you need reservations for dinner and they fill early. Not sure about lunch.

After tours to Delphi and Argolis (same complaint, too crowded, too much time spent on a bus for the amount of time you have there) and time on Santorini and Crete, we returned to Athens for 3 days. Did the Sun. flea market, the Acropolis and stuff on the joint ticket on Mon. (and didn't finish it all, either), the archeology museum on Tues. morning. Some shopping in the Plaka, some wandering around. Museums closed early so we didn't see the Cycladic museum but I want to go. (And will next year.)

I was one of the people who responded to the question of cranes/scaffolding on the Acropolis. It's going to be that way always, I guess. That's life in the "Old Country". Two years ago Venice was full of scaffolding (though they do great scrims covering the scaffolding with paintings of how it was or will be) and a crane or three. I've been to the UK 5 times since '98 and wouldn't recognize the London skyline without cranes. But the Acropolis is still impressive. The only thing I never found was the Temple of Nike. You can see everything else. (And maybe the Temple of Nike too, and I was just too dumb to find a vantage point.) I wish we'd gone in the mid-afternoon because things started clearing out - most of the tours seemed to have left - about 2:30 or 3.

But if you want to see the best-preserved Doric temple, look out over the Ancient Agora from the Acropolis and see the Hephaistion, which I didn't even know existed. You can go over there later on the same ticket and get a close-up view of a pretty complete temple, no scaffolding and cranes.

Since I'd already done so much "homework" and we had to miss Rhodes last year because 2 wks. wasn't enough for 3 islands and Athens, my husband and I decided to go back to Greece on our annual "Delta mileage trip" next May. I have realized that I bought into the hype about the islands being the only worthwhile reason to go to Greece. At least one thing the unpleasant tours did for me was drop us at Nafplio for 15 min. Which will be our first stop next May, for about 24 hrs. Then we'll drive to Thessaly, see Meteora (our tour was cancelled this year), maybe go by Delphi again on our own, then fly to Rhodes. But we'll spend our last 3 days in Athens again and we'll catch some of the things we didn't get to this year because of lack of time or faulty planning. If I had a week to spend in Athens, I imagine I could find things to do.

Postal

Just another vote for spending another day in Athens. I really regret that I didn't have more time in the Plaka because the restaurants and clubs were wonderful. We spent a day in Delphi and it was nice but not worth the traveling.