I don't have a place to recommend (can't remember the name of the hotel where we stayed in Athens), but I'd suggest getting away to the islands for a few days. They'll probably around this time of the year, but they're amazing. Athens, on the other hand, kind of sucks. Once you've seen the amazing treasures of antiquity, all that's left is a crowded, dirty, characterless European city. The islands, on the other hand, are sublime.
Athens sucks. Everytime I land in Greece, I just hop in a cab, go to Pireaus, and hop a boat to an island. If I do happen to go to Greece in August, no shot of me staying in the capital. Especially with the Olympics. The traffic is already hell, and its too crowded.
Well I plan to stay away from Athens. My plan is to Land in Thesaloniki and island hop in between games. If I do go to the soccer final in Athens it will be a day trip. But while in Greece I plan to stay in hostels.
thanks for the input.... I am an ID passenger. I got 90% off for my plane ticket, but I have to stand by on every flights. It will tough flying into Athens during the Olympics because of heavy loading and extra security. All the flights may be full. I might spend up to few days in the airport to get into a flight. Because I will not be a listed passeneger, they will also give me extra security check due to Olympics. There are remote possiblity that they will dump me off a flight because of security reason. It will never happen because the people in charge are also ID passengers too. This is usually normal for them. They are usually nicer to ID passengers. But this is the Olympics.... I will be flying in airline that I am not familiar with or airline that are not familiar with me. They might not have my name on their computer file. They might dump me off a flight for that reason. I do not want to risk sitting in Paris or Rome with Olympic tickets in hand. I have basically given up on heading for the Olympics.
me too. I fly standby. If all else fails I'll take a ferry from italy then a train. i don't expect Thessaloniki to be as bad as Athens
just a word to the wise. the train from patras to athens will be utter hell. i speak from experience... have fun in athens M9.
Our two days in Athens were anything but awe inspiring. It's not a city I'd recommend. We stayed at the Plaka Hotel and had a room with a view of the Acropolis. We dined at a restaurant named 48. The service and food were good. However, after two days we were glad to be heading out to the Greek Isles in the Aegean Sea.