Itinerary

Day 1

PRIVATE DAY TOURS FOR FAMILIES AND GROUPS
DESIGNED FOR YOUR SCHEDULE AND YOUR NEEDS For one to eight people

General Information

Duration:

1 Days

Location Start:

Your hotel or vacation home

Location Finish:

your hotel or vacation home

Payment Types:

Credit/Debit Cards, Paypal, Cheque, Travellers Cheque, Payment Transfer

We Speak:

English, Greek

Extra Information

Extras -

SXINIAS TOURS

PRIVATE DAY TOURS FOR FAMILIES AND GROUPS DESIGNED FOR YOUR SCHEDULE AND YOUR NEEDS

Our tours are unique. We will design your tour to fit your desires taking you where you wish to go whether you want to ride a whirlwind trying to see Greece in one day or more leisurely paced excursions of a couple of days or more.

Our tours are convenient. Forget about the need to take a taxi or an early morning rendezvous trying to find us. We will pick you up at your hotel or vacation rental home and return you there when the tour is completed.

Our tours are enjoyable. Our driver is most pleasant and courteous and speaks excellent English as well as Greek. Our van is new and comfortable; clean and smoke free. Smokers, don’t worry, we can stop for your smoke breaks.

Our tours are private. They are for your family or group alone. You have no need to worry about some stranger’s unruly behavior, quirks, or lack of courtesy. We can divert from our schedule if you wish. We can stop when and where you want to stop, scheduled or not. After all, it is your private tour.

Our tours are reasonable. Whether you are one person or a group of eight (including all children and infants), our rate is €250 for a private day tour customized for your needs; an exceptional bargain considering the major tour companies charge €800 or more for similar services. It includes the driver, vehicle, gasoline, and tolls. It does not include the cost of refreshments, meals, or admission tickets
Typical day tours.

The following tours are a sample of the services we can offer to you.

ATHENS, day or night at your leisure. We will take you around Athens and its surrounding area; stopping where you want to stop and leaving when you want to leave. No trip to Greece is complete without seeing the Acropolis with the Parthenon, the ancient Agora, Plaka, National Museum, Cape Sounion, Hadrian's Arch, the Evzones, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the Olympic Stadium built in antiquity and still in use today. The view of Athens Lights at Night from atop Mount Pendeli is a sight to remember. After your exploration of the Athens of old, you will appreciate and admire the boldness and tenacity of the ancient Athenians who gave birth to our western culture; our civilization and democracy.

DELPHI and the oracles of old await you. Our journey to the mystical mountain has three ways we can go. We can head north to Thermopylae made famous by the Spartans heroic stand where we can stop and bathe in its steaming thermal mineral waters before continuing on. Another path is the route of the ancient Athenians - unchanged since the days of Oedipus;starting at Elefsina, the last station on the Athenians ancient "Sacred Way." Next we can stop at Eleutheral, a 4th century BC fort and Thebes, if you wish, to tour its interesting and excellent museum. Our last choice is to drive directly to Delphi and use the time saved for a trek through the country side of central Greece then cross the Gulf of Corinth at the new Rio Bridge over to the Peloponnesus on our return from Delphi. Regardless of our route, as we make our climb up the mountains to Delphi in the air conditioned comfort of our van, we wonder in amazement at the ancients who did the trip on foot. Delphi is an ancient marvel. We wonder just how its lovely temples, stadium, theaters, and treasuries were built so high in the mountains and all by hand. At Delphi if your psyche is attuned with nature, you may sense the presence of the oracles, long ignored, waiting for their place in our modern times.

ARGOS and the story of Troy are waiting for you, truly deserving two or three days of your time. However, in the summer we can take a one-day, whirlwind tour. On our drive along the coast from Athens we pass by the straits of Salamina where the Athenian fleet defeated the Persians after Sparta’s stand at Thermopylae. Soon we arrive at Corinth where we visit the ruins of ancient Corinth. Next is Nemea with its Doric Temple and “wine country road” where we can stop and you can sample some of Greece’s finest fruit of the vine. At Mycenae with its lion’s gate and Tiryns with walls built by the Cyclops,we relive the epic story of the Greece’s effort to free Helen from Troy. We venture further south for lunch at the scenic city of Nafplio with its castles of old. From Nafplio, we head eastward to Epidavros with its ancient theater still in use today and, the answer is yes, you truly can hear a pin dropped at its center from the seats high above. But Epidavros we learn is more than a theater; having stadiums, temples and forums. Now a scenic ride along the Aegean coastline back to Corinth where we will stop for a stretch at the Isthmus Canal before returning to your vacation rental.

EVIA ISLAND is Greece’s second largest island. We leave your vacation rental and go north crossing a bridge to the island of Evia. Our first stop is Chalkida, the largest city on the island. There we will rest at one of the many coffee shops that line its beautiful board walk. From Chalkida we go south. We will visit the monastery of Saint Nicholas and stop at the ancient city of Eretria for its small but excellent museum. We then cross the island to Kimis for lunch. We continue our journey southward to the island port of Nea Stira and its ancient “dragon houses.” At Nea Stira we stop and walk about its typical island water front before taking the ferry to Saint Marina on the mainland. The ferry voyage is pleasant, passing many smaller islands, and is the perfect ending for the tour. NOTE: Not available on summer weekends or on holidays; up to a 150 euro surcharge for ferry tickets dependent upon group size.

GREEK MOUNTAIN VILLAGES are very unique. We leave your vacation rental for a leisurely trip and journey toward to the Peloponnesus mountains. Along the way, we visit Elefsina, the last station on the ancient "Sacred Way" that starts at the Acropolis. At Corinth, we stop for a rest and a view of the Isthmus canal. From there we visit ancient Sikyon with its Roman Bath Museum. We then head inland to tour rural Greece. Our first village stop is Evrostina with its crystal mountain streams and tragic past. We eat our noon day meal at a quaint mountain side Greek Taverna with its local wine where foreigners seldom venture. Next is a brief rest stop at Steno with its artesian waters flowing from an ancient Sycamore in the village square. A short drive away is Lake Doxa and a visit to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint George secluded high in the mountain forest. Our mountain trek now takes us to Lake Stimfalia where Hercules defeated the birds with the beaks of iron. On our return, we stop at Saint Paul's Greek Orthodox Church in Corinth, the church that actually received the letters from Saint Paul to the Corinthians. Notable is the marble plaque listing the name of the church’s head priest unbroken from the time of Paul until today