Delphi

Ruins at Delphi (Photo by Runner1928)

Given Greece's long history, I was truly surprised to find out how few ruins there are; I was expecting far more. So, even though we won't be finalizing our Greece itinerary for a few more months but I've already decided that a visit to see the ruins at Delphi is a must.

Olympia.

Temple of Zeus.

We all have Greece to thank for giving inspiration to what has become the world's most foremost sports competition, the Olympic Games.

The modern games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games which, according to historical records, were held in Olympia, Greece from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.

Meteora.

Moni Agias Varvaras Rousanou at Meteora (Photo from goista.com)

Kalambaka is a small town located about 350 kilometers from Athens.  The main reason for going to Kalambaka is to visit Meteora.  When I first saw images of Meterora, I thought it was a single monastery atop a freestanding boulder.  But in fact, it's a complex of monasteries located near Kalambaka and the neighboring town of Kastraki.

Nafplio.

Nafplio (Photo by Charissa Fay)

We had so much fun on our driving tour of the Baltics that I was curious whether or not self drive tours existed in Greece and of course, they do! I find quite a few tours online and started to look into the details. As with packaged tours, self drive tours generally cover going to the same places, with slight variations, and are similarly categorized e.g., "5 Day Classic Tour of Greece". So, it really wasn't hard to come up with a starting itinerary. Next, it was doing a rough check of accommodations and those weren't hard to find either. You can presume that if you are following the beaten tourist path, there will be places to spend the night. Factoring in the cost of renting a car and all the accommodations (very budget), I figured we could make our own way around for less than half of the price of an organized tour so we will be wandering about on our own.