At the end of day 1, we went to Piareus to ask for the information to go to Delphi, but ended up with the decision of going to 3 islands: Poros, Hydra and Aegina for the next day.
Day 2 was the most expensive day in this trip because it was a one-day tour with a big ship. It was a nice experience, about not only traveling but also how travel agents did in their business. Here are the experiences:
Firstly, the announced price for the trip was €93 with lunch included. When we asked for a discount of going in a group of four, the first travel agent gave us the price of €90. Going a little bit further, we got a better deal of €85. Sounds nice, right? I don’t know if they would give you a discount if you go alone, but it won't hurt if you ask.
Secondly, they announced that the trip would be to 3 islands and nothing else. And after you got on the ship for one hour, they started announcing other information: basically, on the first two islands: Poros and Hydra, there were not many things to see. They would give tourists free time to explore the islands: 30 minutes in Poros and 90 minutes in Hydra. Then on the third island, Aegina, there are interesting places to see, but they are very far and can be only reached by bus. Here they started to offer 2 trips: the classical (€25) and the panoramic one (€22), you can choose to visit one but of course you have to pay more. I am feeling a bit annoyed right now writing this paragraph. What a trick they did to us! 90% of tourists at that time had no choice other than buying one of the two trips while the rest who didn’t want to spend anymore money could just spend time near the port for nearly 2 hours. Sadnan and I bought the classical trip while Mush and Yansen bought the panoramic one. After the trips, I myself concluded that it’s better to choose the classical one, because:
- with the classical one, you can visit the Temple of Aphaea, the most well-preserved temple in Greece and the Cathedral of Aegina. Although there wasn’t much time for tourists visiting these two places: 30 minutes for the Temple of Aphaea and 15 minutes for the Cathedral of Aegina (the other 50 minutes were just for traveling by bus), it’s worth.
- with the panoramic one, you can only visit the Cathedral of Agenia and then spend time in the market near the port. Oh, and you have a small meal, but it’s not worth, I must say.
From the information above, can we propose a nice trip yet less expensive? I think we can, but I haven’t tried yet. I will present my idea here and if you have a chance, try it and please give me the result. The main idea is to spend one day only in Aegina; to do that, you need to:
- buy a return ticket from Pirareus to Aegina. I don’t know if it’s possible or not, but it should be, and if yes, you will save a lot of money then.
- in Aegina, either buy the tour with the bus, or go by taxi to the places I mentioned above. Of course taxi is much better, since you have more time to enjoy the sightseeing. (We had a nice experience going by taxi on day 3 in Corinth ;-) especially in a group of four).
Oh, and they will pick you up from your hotel/hostel and also return you by bus (tourist bus, not the normal one). There are cultural shows on the ship, you can learn, enjoy and even take part in some Greek dances, but I myself had a feeling that this was somehow a trip for rich, old people who don’t care much about the money issues and are not able of walking a lot. We students, young and poor :P, can organize a cheaper, more active trip. And if you can drive a car, it will be much more interesting to explore Aegina by yourself.
Anyway, I didn’t regret because it was a nice experience, I visited the most well-preserved temple in Greece. I was just annoyed about the way they treated tourists, but it might be the general way that travel agents all over the world do :P and that’s my chance to learn it. You guys, after reading this entry, can have a cheaper trip, or at least know what will be going on in order not to be surprised :D
Now is the time for photos:
Started on a ship:
In Poros, there were not many things to see:
More in Hydra:
And finally in Aegina visiting the Temple of Aphaea and the Cathedral of Aegina:
And here are two Greek traditional dances that Yansen recorded:
In this clip, the man was wearing a traditional dress. If you look at our photo on day 1 in front of the Parliament, the guard was wearing exactly the same dress. Now, we know that not only Scottish men wear dresses but also Greek men do :D
Here are the same dancers, but already changed clothes.