This spring break I am traveling to Greece with a school trip hosted by ACIS. This is my first time chaperoning a student group tour so I’m pretty nervous but I’m not the teacher in charge soooo it can’t be that bad. lol. Plus the trip is free. #winning
Get a glimpse of our itinerary:
Thursday
Overnight flight from Orlando to Frankfurt
Read more: Traveling Over Spring Break?
Friday
Arrive in Frankfurt for a short layover & arrive in Athens in the mid-afternoon. Meet our Tour Manager, check into our hotel, eat dinner as a group (no meat for me, it’s Lent), and enjoy an evening stroll.
Read more: Catholic Culture: Traveling during Lent
Saturday
This is the “mega” day in Athens! Visit the Acropolis (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to visit the iconic Parthenon & other gorgeous Greek temples and then pop into the Acropolis Museum (it has all the stuff they took off the Acropolis that other European countries didn’t “steal” – so much art history here! Our afternoon is free so we’ll see what trouble adventures I get into. 🙂
The afternoon another chaperone and I took a walk & funicular up Mount Lycabettus for gorgeous views of Athens, an adorable Orthodox chapel, and a drink.
In the evening we are doing a “typical” Greek cultural evening (cue slight eye roll here). I am trying to reserve judgement (very hard for me to do!) but I really have a difficult time with the “idyllic cultural evenings” set up for tourists. This evening’s plans include: tasting freshly pressed olive oil, watching a tzatziki making demonstration, dining on ‘authentic’ taverna cuisine, dancing and listening to traditional music.
Sunday
Sunday is a FREE day for us so my plan so far entails going to Sunday mass, I found on Google maps that our hotel is only a block or two from the Catholic Cathedral of Athens (crazy, huh!?), and then to pop into the National Archaeological Museum. I needed like another hour in this museum but I also wanted to fit in a visit to the Agora.
Read more: #27. Anavysos Kouros
Monday
Monday we board our cruise ship for a few days in the Aegean Sea. We sail off in the late morning for an afternoon in Mykonos. There isn’t anything planned besides wandering, getting lost among the picturesque blue & white buildings and hopefully slowing down.
Tuesday
The cruise heads to Turkey for a morning in Ephesus where we tour the ancient archeological site. Then in the afternoon we’re stopping off in Patmos (the island where St. John the Evangelist spent time in exile writing the book Revelations). I am REALLY looking forward to the religiosity of Patmos. This day seems SUPER busy though!
P.S. both of them of are UNESCO World Heritage Site
Wednesday
We’re spending the entire day on the island of Rhodes. Exploring the medieval city of Rhodes (where the colossus supposedly stood & a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and traveling to the city of Lindos for their acropolis, mansions, and Byzantine churches.
Read more: UNESCO: Medieval City of Rhodes
Thursday
This morning is spent on the famous islands of Crete and Santorini. Both homes of the Minoan Civilization. While on Crete we are touring the Palace at Knossos and we have free time to wander while in Santorini.
Read more: Travel Tips: How to Plan a Balanced Trip
Friday
We dock back in Athens and directly get on a bus to head to Delphi (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for the famous oracle of Apollo. We return to Athens for the evening to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s long travel day.
**FYI it’s a no meat day for me today…Lent
Read more: Travel Style: Greece
Saturday
Departing Greece is our only agenda item today. I’m happy we get back Saturday evening though so I have time to recuperate before work on the following Monday. Plus my parents will be in town for a few days so I can spend quality time with them. 🙂
JMF
