Trip to Athens-Delphi-Nafplion

This article of reflection is on my latest trip to one of the most beautiful sites in the world, Athens, and Delphi. The tour consisted of four days, from Thursday the 1st of June to Sunday the 4th of June, and it was like the sky, like all the good times. The trip was planned and well-managed. At 7:30 am sharp the morning on Thursday, we were told to meet at the departure point along with our luggage and accessories. We got a little late and hit the departure point at 7:40 a.m., so it was a good thing that all the passengers had a half-hour rest period and we left at 8:00 a.m. The buses were extremely comfortable and relaxing. Because of the soothing seating and fresh morning time, we had a fantastic start of the trip. Everyone was happy, chill and gossiping with each other. Time passed unnoticeably, and we stopped at a rest point around 10:30 am. Most of the people got off the bus for the usage of restrooms, refreshment and to buy snacks to eat. We all bought coffee and some snacks. Within 10-15 minutes, we were on the road again.The start of the trip was better than expected and everyone was enjoying beautiful mesmerizing views along with the ride. We again stopped for refreshment at around 12:30 pm but this time fewer people got off for the use of restrooms and snacks and most of the people were those who missed the lunch time earlier. Rest of us got off for taking pictures and enjoying the view. Finally, at around 02:30 pm we arrived at our first destination at the Oracle of Delphi. Delphi is known as the geographical center of the world, and it is also famous because of the oracle of the Delphi. It is a prehistoric Greek sanctuary significant in the history of god Apollo. At the temple of Apollo, Pythia was one of the Highest Priestess who gained importance because of his increased knowledge, and he was reported to be consulted for the major decisions and judgment during the time of the ancient classical world.Pythia is commonly known and regarded as Oracle of Delphi. After arriving at the Oracle, we received a guided tour to the archeological museum as well as of the site around it. It was impressive and exciting to visit such ancient places with great history. Delphi is also significant and famous because it is built at the exact point where the two eagles which were released by Zeus met and the same point is considered as the center of the world. After visiting Oracle of Delphi, we went to the town of Delphi to spend some free time and have lunch. After refreshing and resting a little bit, we started our journey to Athens. We reached Athens around 9:00 pm in the night. We stopped at the booked hotel for our night stay. The hotel name was Titania Hotel, and we enjoyed all of its services. Soon after we checked in, we rushed to our rooms to sleep because it had been incredibly exciting but tiring day and we wanted to sleep well so that we would be fresh the next day.Next day, on Friday, June 2, the breakfast was opened at sharp 8:00 am for all of us and its time was extended till 9:15 am so that everyone could eat well. It was a fresh and healthy start of the day. We arrived at the hotel lobby with all our belongings at 8:30 am and enjoyed breakfast, took a short tour of the hotel ground floor and clicked pictures till 9:15 am. After that all of us, as instructed, gathered at the hotel lobby, loaded the bus with luggage and started our journey for the beautiful, thrilling and electrifying tour of Athens.We had an experienced, well-entertaining guide and this thing added more colors to that memorable time. We went to different historical places including Acropolis museum and related site. Athens being the largest as well as the capital city of the Greece is famous globally for its beauty, unique and ancient historical places and other unique specifications. We went to visit Acropolis of Athens which is an archeological museum (the type of archives storing the preserves of antiquity’ people to study and analyze their culture and history) located on a relatively high place in the city of Athens. It contains remains of various prehistoric people and the most famous among them include Parthenon. The reason behind the name of this museum is that word ‘Acropolis’ means ‘highest place or extremity.'Except for Parthenon, other monuments of Erechtheion and Propylaia, as well as Ancient Agora ( a well-known and very famous example of Greek Agora), are also a part of this museum. After visiting Acropolis of Athens, we went to Monastiraki, another area in the city of Athens. Reasons of eminence of Athens also include its art, business, media and communication, and marketing. Monastiraki is a commercial area of the city and contains a huge flea market in it which is nearby to many leading and central shopping places and districts of the city. We spent our free time there, had lunch, photographed its beauty and attractiveness and then came back to our hotel.On the next day that was the third day of our trip, June 3, breakfast started at 8:00 am sharp like the day before, and we were advised to reach lobby with our belongings till 9:00 am. At almost 9:15 am, we departed from the Titania hotel, saying goodbye to the mesmerizing, attractive and lovely city of Athens. I must say that Athens is such a place that has the capability to leave its unforgettable impact on people who visit it, even for a small amount of time as we did. I adored its beauty, purity, ancient history and markets.After the ride of almost two and half hours, we arrived at the first and former capital of Greece, Nafplion. This place is a seaport town in the kingdom of Greece that has prolonged its extension up to the hillsides which are located near the northern end of the Argolic Gulf. In the start, it was the first capital of the Kingdom of Greece from 1821 to 1834, but now it is only the capital of Argolis’ regional unity. After reaching Nafplion, we started our tour at that place by visiting the Fortress of Palamidi. The Fortress of Palamidi is located in the east of Acronauplia in the central city of Nafplion.This beautiful historic fortress was built by Venetians during their second occupation of that place which happened from 1686 to 1715. One of the amazing facts about this fortress is that despite it being a massive and great project, the construction period of the fort was relatively small consisting of only three years, from 1711 to 1714. It is the finest sample of Venetian work and fortification in Greece as it is well-maintained and preserved in all its integrity and originality. Visiting a place with such a great and inspiring history was indeed exciting and thrilling.We toured the entire fortress for multiple hours and finally returned to our bus which was ready to take us to our hotel. In Nafplion, we stayed at the hotel named ‘Rex Hotel.' We checked in around 1:00 pm. We rested a little bit, and then we went out in the supervision of Dr. Kyriakidou, one of most genuine people I have met. We explored the city and its different places till 5:00 pm and then we came back to the hotel. Being tired and exhausted from the field trip, we all went to our rooms quite earlier. After some rest and having a nap, we enjoyed ourselves while wandering in the hotel and exploring all its portions and areas. Rex Hotel was built quite nice, and we stayed on its top floor. We visited most of its parts, took pictures of each other and enjoyed greatly.The next day was the last day of our trip. Everything until now had been so great and amazing that all of us felt a little sad at the starting of that day. Though we felt happy that we visited great places and had a great time because of the fact that it was about to end and thought of going back home made all of us unexpectedly nostalgic and sad. However, the routine was quite same like the Hotel Titania as in this hotel; the breakfast opened at sharp 8:00 am, and we had received notification to come to the lobby at 9:00 pm.The breakfast was delicious and unusual. I consider it the best meal of the trip. It may be because I was famished because I did not have dinner last night. But the breakfast and all of its contents were scrumptious and yummy. After breakfast, we departed for our destination named Mykines. It is regarded as one of the gem places in Greece and is located 7.5 degrees in the west which efficiently makes it location in the UTC-1 region. Mykines is one of the 18 main islands of Faroe Archipelago. We reach at Mykines around 10:00 am, and it took only a few seconds to fall in love with that beautiful place.Mykines is the main center of the civilization of Mycenae and its period lies between 1600BC to 1100 BC. Like this place, its history is also great as it is believed to be inhabited since Neolithic times. Because of the royalty and uniqueness of its inhabitants, Mykines was thrived and developed into a fortified city. It is recorded to be ruled at one time by one of the famous kings of time named ‘King Agamemnon.' We stayed in Mykines for over two hours, and I enjoyed this last visiting place of that trip.After that, we geared up to depart for Thessaloniki at around 12:30 pm. It is a long way of almost 8-9 hours from Mykines to Thessaloniki that is why we left early from Mykines. Thessaloniki also was known as Salonika is known as the second largest city in Greece and is also the capital part of the Greek Macedonia. Like other great places we visited that had inspiring historical and archeological background, Thessaloniki is also well known for its historical uniqueness and importance. Because of the same reason, Thessaloniki is also called “co-capital or co-reigning city” of the Empire of Eastern Rome.During the way to Thessaloniki, we stopped for the sake of using restrooms or snacks at around 2:30 pm. I bought water and some anti-peristaltic medicines as I felt a little nauseous at that time. After having the medication, I took a short nap and was up by 3:30 pm. Though people were mostly satisfied with this amazingly managed lovely trip to beautiful places, most of us were tired and exhausted because of we had been on the road for four straight days. We stopped again around 4:30 for refreshment or use of restrooms. I had some snacks during that last stop as I was feeling quite hungry and my nausea was completely fixed. After that, we did not stay at any place and went straight to our drop off location of Thessaloniki. We reached Thessaloniki at almost 8:00 p.m.Before the trip, we were provided with all the estimated timing and schedule of our journey, and I do not remember if we went late or missed something. The trip to Athens-Delphi-Nafplion was one of the most amazing trips of my life. I enjoyed it more than a lot and everything during those four days was better than expected. Though it is anticipated that such private trips must be well-managed, there is always a suspected room for blunders and mismanaged events. Luckily, there was not any blunder or mismanaged game during our journey, and we made absolute long-lasting memories during these four days. If I have to rate this trip among all my journey experiences, I will rate it as the best one.