Thanks, she takes after her mother .

I only just realised I never finished this TR! Long story short, we changed plans mid-trip and flew home in Y on KL via AMS. Unremarkable, but solid.

To briefly recap our time in Greece...

Our eight days in Greece were simply wonderful. We visited Greece with clenched teeth, sort of expecting tourist hell. What we got was an incredible experience and zero tourist hassle. If you don't mind cool (and sometimes COLD) weather, Christmas and New Year is a great time to go.

We rented from Europcar using the KL Flying Dutchman Platinum discount code (no, that's not a misprint) which gave us a six-day, one-way, unlimited kilometre rental for under €190.

We had quite a range of weather in Greece, ranging from this:


to this:


We spent our first two nights in Paralia Katerinis (Παραλία Κατερίνης), south of Thessaloniki. We visited Vergina (Βεργίνα) and toured around the area in our hire car.

We then drove to Metéora (Μετέωρα) where we had a further two nights. We stayed in the Metéora Hotel where the view from our room was astounding.



We spent our time going around the monasteries perched atop the pinnacles and took a drive up into the mountains.



We then drove something like 600 km to Nafplion (Ναύπλιο). This drive flew by, as I am a bit lead-footed and fit in well with the Greek drivers, and was fantastically scenic. I always knew Greece was mountainous, but never understood the extent of it. Especially striking were the A3 motorway near Thermopylae (Θερμοπύλαι)—the Gulf of Malia with snowcapped peaks on either side was like Norway in the Mediterranean—and the citrus groves near Argos.

I am not exaggerating when I say these were the best-tasting citrus fruits of any type that I've ever had:



Okay, I didn't these particular ones, but we bought a bag of oranges (well, I think they were satsumas) from a roadside stall.



We stayed another two nights in Nafplion, and it was gorgeous, except that I had a bad cold and had to spend an afternoon in bed. Nafplion was beautiful and quite charming out of season (though it was probably the most in-season place we went).









We then drove up to Athens (Αθήνα). On the way we visited the Amphitheatre at Epidaurus (Ἐπίδαυρος) and the Corinth Canal.





We turned the car in at a town-centre location in Athens.

Our hotel was in the Plaka district, with the Akropolis looming above. We spent the next day and a half walking around Athens, seeing all the requisite sights. I have to say again that this is the time to visit Athens. Weather was cool but comfortable in long sleeves, people were about but not hordes of tourists, and even touristy places were pretty laid back. There were protests going on while we were there, remnants of the riots that made international press, but they weren't too bothersome and we certainly didn't feel unsafe, even with our baby and pushchair.

Acropolis


Presidential Guard


Panathinaiko Stadium


One of our bright and unexpected spots was a visit to Brettos, which makes various liqueurs but is famous for its Ouzo. It was a real treat to spend an hour tasting their different varieties and infusions.





On our final day, we took a taxi to the airport. I don't really remember much about the flights home, as they were KL flights and I've taken so many they all bleed together. Nothing remarkable happened, other than lounge access at Athens.

KL and AF use a local contracted lounge, even though there's an Alitalia lounge down the hall. The contracted lounge was fine; there were fruits, sandwiches, free wifi and booze to pour.

In the interest of science, I tried to visit the AZ lounge, but we were turned away despite me trying to tell them this was in contravention of Skyteam policy.

In short, Greece was wonderful. We visited there almost out of duty ("well, you have to see it, don't you?") and were really impressed and left with a real desire to come for another visit. I think visiting out of season was key; we don't like crowds and the tourist track. Everywhere we went, the prices were reasonable and we often felt like we were the only ones visiting the country. Although the weather was cold in the north (snow on the ground), it never rained or snowed and everything was open. All four hotels were of a high standard and modestly priced. Also, the people were very warm and friendly; it was quite easy to strike up conversations with just about anybody. Having a baby in tow probably didn't hurt on this front.

A final note: I splurged and purchased the Greek map add-on for my Tom Tom. It was worth every penny. Especially when it came time to drive to the Europcar agency in Athens. From our hotel, it was less than 1 km to walk but, due to road configuration and one-way systems, it was a 3 km drive with numerous twists and turns.

If I get around to it, and my insomnia persists, I'll take a stab at some hotel reviews.

Thanks for reading and to aSiAnRiCk and mjcewl1284 for resurrecting this thread!