Greece: Epic Road Trip
Author: LC | June 10, 2022
Epic Greek Road Trip
We debated how to plan the trip in Greece for weeks without any conclusion. We knew we would have a limited amount of time each day for activities as GS needed to handle his teaching and conference schedule while we are on the road. Island hopping didn't seem like the best plan because of the risk of getting stuck on a ferry during a planned teaching time was too great. We also couldn't decide on which island to base ourselves. Santorini seemed too commercialized and full of influencers, and Crete didn't seem to have the ruins I was imaging. However, once "city in the sky" landed on our search, the plan finally started to take shape!
Our Route
With very little time left to plan the trip, I started picking stops at ancient ruins. We started the trip at the Athens airport and drove first to Delphi (the naval of the earth), then headed to Meteora (the city in the sky), and onward to Mycenae (the city of Agamemnon, the son of Atreus) Corinth, and Cape Sounion for the Temple of Poseidon before finally heading back to Athens.
Driving in Greece
Driving in Greece was an amazing experiences. We drove through winding mountain roads, olive tree groves, winding coastal roads, through some of the longest tunnels we have ever been in, toll highways, and occasionally adventured onto unpaved small roads to see archaeologic sites.
The road conditions were surprisingly pleasant. It was well paved throughout without much traffic. On the toll highway, we were able to use a credit card to make payments by tapping thus avoiding the trouble of digging through my purse for the exact change.
One thing we found slightly difficult were the signs and "interesting" roundabouts on highways. We made a few mistakes taking the wrong exit at roundabouts and then going in the wrong direction. Once we had to drive about 20km before there was another exit and we could turn around! Outside of Athens even driving in the cities wasn't too bad and importantly, we were always able to fine free parking close to our destinations. All in all, it was straightforward enough to drive yourself around in Greece.
We made the decision early on that we wouldn't need the car in Athens, hence we can't really comment what the traffic is like in the city. We can say that driving into Athens to our AirBnB to drop off our luggage and then to return the car at a downtown rental agency was stress inducing because of lots of traffic, pretty crazy drivers, and some very narrow one way roads.
Overall the trip wouldn't have been the same without the car. It was the best way to see the astonishing landscapes of mainland Greece and having the freedom to roam wherever we wanted to.
More to come later on Greece...