World Travel with Bob: Greece

Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts

Friday, September 30, 2022

Katakolo, Corfu and Kotor - September 2022

Katakolo, Greece is a small seaside town in Greece, overlooking the Ionian Sea. We visited this town on a Sunday and found several shops were closed. The primary tourist destination from this port is the ancient site of Olympia. We opted to avoid the excursions from the Viking Sky and, instead, walked around the port town. We purchased a few gifts and then walked back to the ship for lunch.

Corfu, Greece was our next port stop. We took a morning ship-hosted walking excursion through the old town. It was pretty crowded but we enjoyed strolling through Spianada Square and the many narrow paths through the old town. There were quite a few shops selling leather goods, shoes, clothing and, of course, souvenirs. We opted for food - a local cumquat cake and almond cookies. Once we left the old town area, the port was quite heavy with auto traffic and we returned back to the Viking Sky by 1pm.

Kotor, Montenegro was our third port stop. We took a seven hour bus excursion at this location to Cetinje, the former royal capital of Montenegro. The bus took a scenic route via Njegusi through 25 hairpin turns. This two-lane road shortly turned into a one-lane road. It was interesting when on-coming vehicles had to back up to a wider spot so that the tour buses could continue. We stopped for a brief snack of local ham and cheese at Njeguska sijela, in Njegusi and then reboarded the bus to Cetinje.

We toured the former royal palace in Cetinje and our bus returned to Kotor. Once we arrived in Kotor, we took a short guided walking tour of the old port town. The Viking Sky remained in port into the late evening, so we had an opportunity to enjoy walking around in Kotor with much fewer tourists. Throughout our many port stops, we were surprised at the large crowds of tourists in September.

The Viking Sky is in the Foreground

Njeguska sijela

Royal Palace

Royal Tomb

Athens - September 2022

We typically arrange our own international flights but this time relied on the cruise company (Viking Ocean) to handle all flight details. As a result, we had little choice in the flight selection and ended up with three flights to get from San Francisco to Athens, with a five hour layover between the second and third flights. First, a United SFO to Newark domestic flight, next a 90 minute international flight from Newark to Montreal and, finally, a long non-stop AirCanada international flight from Montreal to Athens. On the positive side, we had lie-flat business class seats on the first and third flights and we also had airline lounge access in San Francisco, Newark and Montreal.

After settling into our Athens Marriott hotel room ($300/night), we took COVID tests using a moderated eMed service. Documentation (QR code) indicating a negative COVID test was required for us to board the Viking Sky vessel in Athens. This ship would take us to Katakolo, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Venice, Silbenik, Bari, Crotone, Messina, Naples and Civitavecchia. At the embarkation pier, staff actually reviewed and confirmed our negative test paperwork.

As we've been to Athens a couple of times, we limited our pre-cruise Athens visit to only one full day. We pre-purchased tickets to the Acropolis Museum. This archeological museum opened in 2009 and contains over 4,200 artifacts from the Acropolis of Athens. The museum has three floors with many displays to draw your attention. Our pre-purchased tickets were for 10am and it is recommended to start early to avoid the crowds that continue to build as the day progresses. We focused on viewing selected items, including:

First Floor

Karyatids
Head of statue of Alexander the Great

Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes

Loutrophorus Vase and other ceramics

Parthenon Gallery

Pandrosos and Kekps
South Metrope 1
West Frieze Block

Archaic Acropolis Gallery

Kritos Boy
Antenon Kore
Calf Bearer
Persian/Scythian Rider

If you're visiting this museum, be sure to save some time to visit the excavation of an ancient Athenian neighborhood (7th to 9th century AD) directly under the Acropolis Museum. There is a great video in the excavation area showing how the Acropolis Museum was constructed over the recovered ruins while also protecting the ruins.

The museum has a cafe on the ground floor. The cafe offers salads, sandwiches and hot and cold beverages. We opted to visit the cafe for a light lunch. There is also a more full-service restaurant on the second floor that provides great views of the Acropolis and surrounding hillside.

We wanted to avoid dealing with transportation to dinner as we were still tired from the international travel. A short walking distance from the Athens Marriott is Arsenis Taverna, a small family run restaurant. It had very good dining reviews in TripAdvisor and very reasonable prices for traditional Greek dishes. Our dinner consisted of toasted bread with Tzatziki dip, grilled snapper, moussaka and baklava, all accompanied by local beer.

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

The Athens Marriott is a good pre-cruise hotel location. A taxi from the hotel to the Acropolis is about 10 Euro. From the hotel to the cruise terminal at the port of Piraeus runs about 20 Euro. The hotel is used by several airlines for crew lodging and Viking Ocean for cruise guests.

As we were waiting for a mid-morning taxi to the pier, we walked across the street from the Marriott, into the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Park and Cultural Center. The Center is a recreational, arts and and education complex and home of the Greek National Opera.

Sunday, July 24, 2022

UPDATED: Preventing Lost or Delayed Luggage for Summer 2022 - July 2022

I suspect that few travelers have failed to notice that air travel during summer 2022 presents a good chance that their checked-in luggage will not greet them at their airport destination. Adding one or two layovers, delays and possible flight changes almost guarantees your luggage will be delayed or, worse, lost in transit.

Delayed Luggage at Heathrow, 2022

Our upcoming international travel will cover about a month. After several days in Athens, we'll board a Viking Ocean ship to tour the Mediterranean and then continue on a land-based journey. Once onboard, the chance of meeting up with delayed luggage becomes extremely difficult if not impossible. While limiting our clothes to just carry-on is possible for my shorter wife, this is a challenge when clothes and shoes are for a person that is six feet tall.

Because of these issues, we're trying a luggage delivery service. LUGGAGEFORWARD is the service we selected for our upcoming trip. LuggageForward supports both international and domestic travel. The service will pick up our luggage from our Northern California residence and deliver it to our Athens hotel ten days later. LuggageForward will handle Customs inspections.

This service will cost us about $380 for a 50 pound luggage piece that does not exceed a combined total of 62 inches. While certainly not inexpensive, buying replacement clothes overseas in a single afternoon is something we prefer not to do. We’ll pack most our clothes in one duffel and anything else will be within our two carry-on bags. We have three flights to reach Greece and, should any flight be rescheduled, we shouldn't have to be concerned about any checked-in luggage being transferred to a new flight.

There are some rules for using LuggageForward. We were informed that our luggage must not include items such as pressurized canisters (e.g., shaving cream), alcohol (including hand sanitizer), batteries, jewelry, medication and currency. If electronics are packed in your luggage, the available insurance coverage is waived. Finally, your luggage must not be locked, even with "zip" ties.

We'll see how this service performs and, with this experience, consider the pros and cons of using luggage delivery for our 2023 Antarctica trip.

UPDATE:

The luggage was picked up from my house in California by FedEx. The driver expected to see the duffel on the front porch and, as I was concerned about porch pirates, he had to ring the house doorbell. LUGGAGEFORWARD gave me a guaranteed hotel delivery date that was ten days after the pick-up date. The duffel was actually delivered to my Greece hotel four days after pick-up. I contacted the hotel to remind them that I would not be arriving for another week. I also had hotel staff confirm that the luggage was in its possession.

When we arrived at our Greek hotel, we checked in and our duffel was rolled out by the receptionist. Once in our room, it did not appear that the unlocked duffel was ever opened and inspected during transit. Each packing cube was wrapped in an oversized plastic bag for protection from possible weather. Each bag had no visual evidence of being opened. If you’re wondering why the wrapping, on a previous trip, our duffels were left on the tarmac on a luggage cart during an airport thunderstorm. All of our clothes were damp when we inspected the duffel contents at our destination hotel. We ended up hanging all our clothes throughout our hotel room to dry.

On the drive into the city, our driver told us the airport basement is filled with ‘lost’ luggage. As some luggage contained food that has since rotted, he said the smell in the basement is terrible. If pressed, a traveler can request basement entry for a bag search, but the experience is not one to be desired.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Greece, Croatia and Italy - Fall 2022

After returning from Cairo to the US in February 2022, along with a mild case of COVID, we're getting ready for more international travel in Fall 2022. This trip was originally scheduled for 2020 and 2021 but was rescheduled due to the pandemic.

Our trip will start with a few days in Athens, transition to a Mediterranean cruise and end with apartment stays in Florence and Rome.

While in Athens, we have tickets for a visit to the Acropolis Museum. This museum opened in 2009 and replaced the first Acropolis Museum. The first museum was constructed in 1874 and located on the Acropolis. In 2009, the new Acropolis Museum was opened. It is located on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis hill. The museum extends over 226,000 square feet of interior space and the collection has over 4,200 pieces.

From Athens, we board a moderate sized cruise ship (less than 1,000 guests) and start our daily stops at Corfu, Kotor and Katakolo, We then move onto Croatia for port visits to Dubrovnik, Split and Sibenik. The ship makes several port stops in Italy before a disembarkation in Civitavecchia, Italy.

From this Italian port city, we board a train to Rome, connecting to Florence. This will be our first Italian rail experience and it looks fairly straight forward. From Civitavecchia, we board a train to Rome and, from Rome, it's a direct rail trip to Florence. The train trip will take about three hours to complete.

Once in Florence, we've planned several museum visits. Besides the Uffizi, we hoping to get tickets to walk the Vasari Corridor. This enclosed elevated pathway was built in 1565 to carry carriages. The half-mile passageway runs between the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government at the time, and the residential Palazzo Pitti, crossing over the River Arno at Ponte Vecchio. The walkway was used by the de'Medici family in 1565 and allowed family members to move unnoticed and safely between the two residences. The walkway has been closed for 18 months for safety improvements. Reopening of the Vasari Corridor is scheduled to open at the end of May 2022.

We're also looking into a Vespa tour of Tuscany. We had this scooter tour planned for 2021, before the trip was cancelled.

When we return to Rome, we have tickets to visit the Mausoleum Augustus. This large circular tomb was built by Emperor Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, in 28 BC. The mausoleum was unmaintained for many years and fell into disrepair. It has been closed to the public for the last 14 years. After comprehensive restoration work, the site reopened in March 2021. Entry is limited to ten visitors at a time and a visit takes about an hour. So, advance tickets are a must.

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Still Working on Our Travel Plans - July 2021

Hawaii Cruise

Things are looking up for our 15 day cruise to Hawaii at the end of the year. Of course, this presumes Princess Cruises restarts its California port departures to Hawaii in November and Hawaii travel remains open to mainland vaccinated visitors without testing and/or quarantine requirements after early July. This will be our first post-pandemic trip out of California. However with the threat of COVID-19 variants, I'm not sure if we're really in a "post-pandemic" time period. I guess we'll bring a supply of face masks and sanitizers just in case.

Currently, Princess requires cruise guests be vaccinated, as well as crew members. Thus, the need for face coverings and social distancing while on-board should be limited. The risk of a COVID-19 infection while transiting the Pacific Ocean is not zero but, hopefully, should be managed to a healthful level.

Once at the Hawaiian ports, we should be able to tour on our own and avoid being limited to ship-sponsored excursions. I'm currently working on car rental reservations, which recently has been challenging due to rental car shortages in Hawaii.

Israel - Egypt - Jordan

This trip is still scheduled for early 2022. We won't know if this trip will go forward or be cancelled until January 2022.

Nonetheless, we recently purchased our outbound and returning air flight tickets. Our US to Israel travel will be via a non-stop flight. Not having to transit through Heathrow or some other mid-way airport should result in less anxiety over airplane and airport changes. Unfortunately, we don't have frequent flier points for this airline and the cost of two business class tickets was rather high.

We were able to use our American frequent flier points for our return flight seats. We found a non-stop flight from Jordan to the US and then a short second domestic flight to our final destination airport in San Francisco. Once in San Francisco, we'll use a rental car to return to our residence.

We've prearranged for a private tour guide and driver in Israel. The remaining trip is organized by a major travel provider.

Mediterranean Ports and Italy

Later in fall 2022, we're scheduled to embark on a small-ship cruise from Athens. The cruise will take us to several ports that are new to us, including several small Greek Island ports and ports in Montenegro and Croatia. This cruise will disembark guests in Rome.

At the end of the cruise, we're renting an apartment in Florence and also in Rome to take advantage of our time in Italy. While in Rome, we're hoping to be able to visit the Mausoleum of Augustus, which reopened in April 2021. We've been to Florence previously, but were didn't have time (or advance tickets) to visit the Uffizi Galleries. A week in Florence should provide a relaxing tour of the city and the surrounding Tuscany area.

This trip was rescheduled from 2020. We might rebook a Vespa tour of Tuscany that we planned to take in 2020.

Travel Insurance

With travel uncertainties for "post-pandemic" travel, our international trips have some type of travel insurance. The Israel-Egypt-Jordan trip has "cancel for any reason" travel insurance. This type of insurance coverage is more expensive to purchase and often does not reimburse 100 percent of your travel costs. Even with a 75 percent ceiling on expense reimbursement under our "cancel for any reason" policy, we thought this insurance a prudent measure. The high cost of this trip and the strong possibility that a COVID-19 or conflict situation could interfere with this trip led us to purchase the additional coverage.

If we're traveling to an area that temporarily experiences an active COVID-19 outbreak, travel insurance will help to cover any additional expenses related to unplanned quarantine requirements and/or medical services. The expense of hotel stays and meals over a ten-day quarantine and rescheduled air travel can quickly add up to a substantial amount.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Photos from the Celebrity Reflection

Capri, Italy

Our final port stop was in Naples. Our plan was to spend most of our time on the island of Capri. The only way to visit Capri from Naples is to board a ferry from the Naples port. The three roundtrip tickets cost us about 40 Euro each. Anticipating a full boat in both directions, we decided to take the 8:35am hydrofoil to Capri and pre-purchase our 1:40pm return boat tickets. The transit time in either direction was about 60 minutes.

Once arriving at the port of Capri, we were aware that the central town is actually high atop a hill. The typical way to reach the city is to ride the port funicular. However, the line to purchase tickets and board a funicular car was very long. Given our limited time to visit the island, we grabbed a 20 Euro taxi to the city. Once arriving in the town, we walked around the shopping, restaurant and hotel area. The Capri boutiques were very high-end (expensive) and any shopping we did was limited to the smaller gift stores and bakery shops. In retrospect, we could have used our time more effectively - such as taking a taxi to the nearby town of Anacapri. I later learned that Anacapri has less designer boutiques and more local shops. Instead, we noticed that a four hour visit provided almost too much time to wander just in Capri. Betty and I walked to the Augustus garden to view the flowers and island views of the coast. We stopped for lemon granitas and a margherita pizza break and then continued our wandering back to our starting point in town.

There was essentially no line for the funicular ride back to the port at 12:20pm, so we boarded a funicular car for the short ride down the hill. The fare was only 1.75 Euro for each ticket.

After browsing in the port for another hour, we caught the return hydrofoil back to Naples. Once back in the port of Naples, we browsed in the mall at the cruise terminal. We returned to the Reflection for refreshments and showers. With our cruise just about over, we also needed to start packing for our disembarcation on Monday.