Luxury Greece & Turkey Vacation Review: Istanbul, Athens, Meteora, Santorini, Crete, Hiking, Kayaking, Catamaran Trip

Review by traveler

Tricia B.

6.13.2022

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Turkey

Greece

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

It was such a pleasure to work with Irene and her team at our travel agency! She did an amazing job of listening to our needs, wants and desires for designing a very special family trip with two adult children to celebrate recent college graduations and an upcoming milestone birthday. Irene designed a trip to match our family's personality and travel style. It included tours, activities and unique dining experiences complete with some special surprises along the way. She was patient, professional and accommodating as we weighed itinerary options and made revisions. She was able to most vividly create a picture in our minds of what our trip would look like with her itinerary planner. The reality did not disappoint and not only met but surpassed expectation! Our dream trip to Istanbul and Greece became a reality with the guidance and assistance of our travel agency. Their attention to detail, responsiveness, and assistance as needed was hugely appreciated and completely put our minds at ease. We felt like we had friends in the country to help if and when needed. The result was a special unforgettable trip with many cherished memories made along the way. We would not hesitate to work with this travel company in the future and certainly encourage others to do so; one of the best decisions we made.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

It's really hard to identify the most enjoyable or memorable parts of our trip; collectively, it was everything we wanted and hoped for. We were happy with the tours we did and found most of the guides very informative and nice to spend time with. It was definitely nice not to worry about driving!! We were especially happy with the activities worked into our itinerary: bicycling, hiking, kayaking, atv and catamaran trips. Probably the most unexpectedly lovely experiences were some of the unique dining experiences arranged for us: dinners at the highest point in Athens and Irene's cousin's taverna and lunches after kayaking and hiking. The surprises of birthday cakes was also a very thoughtful and unexpected inclusion. The service at the hotel in Istanbul, the hotel in Santorini and the hotel in Crete was exceptional. We loved the view from the hotel in Meteora.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

If we were to take this trip again or recommend it to others these are the things we would consider revising:
1. The first day of touring in Istanbul was very very full: perhaps consider saving something for the next day. However, the Blue Mosque is being renovated so we didn't actually visit the inside so that addressed the timing issue for us. Looking back on the itinerary I don't think we actually visited the 3 neighborhoods and the Rumeli fortress. Or, we did and were too jet lagged to be cognizant of it?!
2. The second day in Istanbul our guide started with the grand bazaar, then the spice market followed by a trip to the asian side and Kadikoy market. It would have been better to visit the Kadikoy market at lunch time to better appreciate the area and food options. Sadly, we think my bout of food poisoning stemmed from mussels eaten from a street vendor but that's certainly hard to predict. We did, however, visit another mosque which was appreciated.
3. We loved our hike in Meteora and would have enjoyed doing more! The tour of the monasteries was good in that we learned about the layout of the church but would have enjoyed learning more about monastic life, etc.
4. While Galadaxi is beautiful and we appreciated our view from the hotel we think we would opt for staying somewhere like Arachova which would be in the direction of Athens and involve less driving.
5. The hotel in Crete was so lovely we ended up spending the day on the property and rented a boat for a couple of hours to see the area. We might opt for an additional night there to have more time to then explore Agios Nikolaos which we didn't have time for due to late arrival first night and then tired from the sun and wanting to enjoy all the amenities of the resort.
6. I think we would have enjoyed more time in Chania old town.

Luxury Greece & Turkey Vacation Review: Istanbul, Athens, Meteora, Santorini, Crete, Hiking, Kayaking, Catamaran Trip

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

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