Greece – Northtrotter

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Times visited: 3 (1 week in 2011, 1 week in 2014 & 9 days in 2018)
Cities visited: Chania, Athens, Thessaloniki
Villages visited: Platanias, Delphi, Piraeus, Aegina, Meteora, Kalampaka, Vergina, Pella, Chalkidona, Dion, Sesklo, Dimini, Orchomenos, Ancient Corinth, Mycenae, Lerna, Tiryns, Marathonas, Thorikos, Sounion
UNESCO sites visited: Acropolis, Athens, Archaeological Site of Delphi, Archaeological Site of Aigai (modern name Vergina), Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns (both), Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika and Meteora

Greece is arguably one of the most beautiful and interesting countries in the world – especially for an archaeologist. And the food is the second-best in the world in my opinion (after Israel!). I’ve had the pleasure of eating my way through Greece three times.
My first meeting with Greece was the island of Crete, where I spent a week with my family on one of our first ever package holidays. And I hated it. Not the destination, but the concept. I soon learned that laying by the pool (or worse – the beach) all day is not for me. Thankfully, we did spend a few days sightseeing and I especially loved the day we rented a car and drove around in the mountains.
My next visit to Greece was on a field trip to Athens. I studied Latin and Ancient Greek in high school and was lucky to go on field trips to both Italy and Greece! We spent a week exploring Athens and going on day trips to Delphi and Aegina. This trip made me fall head over heels in love with Greece.
Four years went by and I started to really miss Greece. Luckily, my uni lecturer announced that we were going to Greece for our nine-day field trip! I was over the moon and I only got more excited when I read the itinerary. We roadtripped through mainland Greece and Peloponnese, visiting places like Delphi, Meteora (a dream come true!), Thessaloniki, Sesklo, Ancient Corinth and Mycenae along the way. At the end of the trip, we spent two days in Athens, a city I’d missed dearly.