Greece Travel Guide/Testimonial Index/Athens Survival Guide
Travelers Reviews
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Travelers Reviews
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Matt has a very special way of making you feel as though he is
taking you by the hand, walking with you through Greece, telling
you about the places he has found. Whenever I read his
pages, I sense I am there with a friend. The photos help
also, giving you a visual picture of the places you are
"visiting." I enjoy the site because he is imparting
knowledge he has learned over the years -- and in the end, helping
you have a better time while there. I used his Athens guide
and found it extremely helpful while in Greece last year Dear Matt, thanks for all your valuable info on
Greece. No one should travel to Greece without first reading
all the wonderful material you provide. Thanks to you
I was able to find my way around in Athens without fustrations.
Just returned and wish I had seen your web page before my trip
rather than Dear Mr Barrett, I would like to thank you for your excellent web site with its wealth of information on Greece, where my wife and I go frequently for holidays. In particular, we were very grateful to obtain details of the taxi driver George Kokkotos. We took some friends to Athens recently for a long weekend and e-mailed George in advance to pick us up and return us to the airport, and also to take us out for a day in the Peloponnese. We had been to Athens a couple of times before, but our friends had not, so I wanted everything to run smoothly for them. I need not have worried everything turned out just like George says on his web site. So I shall be able to recommend him to our friends in England (and to one who lives in Athens - Kifissia!) and Ive passed on his details too to our local Travel Agency.
Yours sincerely, As a Greek American married to a fellow from Athens, and having traveled to Athens many times, I find your site fabulous. It can help a newcomer as well as one acquainted with Athens. Keep up the good work! Anyone going to the Olympics must see this site!!!!!!! H i Matt Hi there I am a big Athens fan, many people dont like this heavy trafficated and smoggy city, but I think that Athens is the city in europe with most charm and life. First time I saw Athens from the air I was overwelmed, so perfect, so beautiful. I didnt want to go home after my first trip and after this I have been going back many times. And I never get the feeling of being in a big city, it seems so small to be so big :)) If you know what I mean. I have already planned to move to Athens in august this year, I am currently looking for a job and a place to live :) This way I can stay forever in this wonderful city! Your page is really great! I could not stop reading and looking :) I saw all the places I love and remember, thank you for making my day so nice by looking at your page!
Christina Lervik, Norway Hi Matt, I just wanted to write to you and thank you for your wonderful website. I just got back from a week in Greece, with two days in Athens and the rest of the time spent on Santorini. I booked my own flight, but went through your recommendation of Fantasy Travel for the hotel and airport transportation. They got me a great deal on the hotels and the transportation being pre-paid and taken care of made things really easy. I also used your Athens guide and had both dinners at your restaurant reccomendations which were both fabulous (and I'm a bit of a gourmet food snob, so that's a huge compliment coming from me!) Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to post the wealth of information on Greece, very helpful tips and make some recommendations that I wouldn't have found anywhere else. I'll definitly reccomend it to anyone else I know that's going to Greece. Your the best! Sincerely, Rasa Matt thank you so much for your help and your website. My friend and I stayed at the Attalos Hotel the hotel, the staff, everything was perfect. The location is wonderful we had a great time. We (with help from the staff) went on the Athens City tour the 1 day cruise to Aegina, Poros and Hydra and the Delphi tour. I used the taxi service you recommended and it was great I got my back after going through customs and there was the driver holding a sign with my name on it. After traveling what seemed like 24 hours it was nice not to have to think about things. Thanks for your help. Athens and the Greek people are beyond wonderful. Thanks for all the hard work you did on your website it helped us prepare. If you need a reference or a testimonial let me know. Thanks again. Sue Dear Matt,
I came across your site while looking for some information on Athens,
Greece. We were taking a tour of Greece with Overseas Adventure Travel,
but we were not going to have any time in Athens, so 6 of us decided to arrive a
couple of days early in Greece and tour Athens on our own before meeting up with
our tour group. Per your recommendation, I emailed Fantasy travel about a
half day tour of Athens and and a half day tour of Cape Sounion. I worked
with Dina Kastrinaki of Fantasy Travel and she did a fantastic job of setting up
our tours with a great guide. We changed our Cape Sounion tour to a later
afternoon tour in order to take in the sunset at Cape Sounion, which was
fantastic and we would all recommend to anyone going to Cape Sounion to go see
the sunset. Dina was very professional and very prompt. We would
recommend her and Fantasy Travel to anyone wanting to do Athens our their
own.
We also took your recommendation on George's taxi service and he had a very
nice van their to meet us at the airport and transfer the 6 of us to the Hera
Hotel where we were staying. It had not had anyone smoking in the van,
which was great and was very clean.
We would also recommend the Hera Hotel to anyone that wants a great
location to the old town of Athens. We were in walking distance to many
things.
Thank you again for the great web site.
Sally Burrell
Idaho Falls, ID
Greetings Matt Barrett-We want to thank you again for your informative Dear Matt, My name is Eithan and I just returned from a 5 days trip to Athens with my wife. We had 5 amazing days and we wish to thank you for your site, which served us in so many ways to make the best out of Athens. It is already the second time that I go to Athens with you, and it was the occasion for me to check out the lovely neighbourhoods of Kipsely and Thissio. Following your recommendations, we did not hesitate to go there during Christmas, and boy, what a big surprise: coming out of the metro in Syntagma station on a sunny afternoon of the 24 December, right in to the big street party. Athens is beautiful and alive during the holydays, unlike, must I say, other European cities, such as Paris, where I live, which is certainly spectacular around Christmas, but absolutely dead during the days of the 25 and the 26 of December. I went to the records shops near the market, and came back with a nice set of music, almost completed my collection of Dimitra Galani (my favourite), and they were very pleased to know that I come shopping after visiting your site. I also paid a visit to Kostas, the famous suvlaky in 116 Adrianou st., which is still one of the best, even under the hands of his son (or grandson, I think..?). You are very right about Pireus, but out of curiosity I decided to go there anyway, the Zea is nice, but should be visited in summer. What can I say, your site is great, and thank you for helping us make the best trip. I wish you all the best, Chronia Polla, and keep on with your great writing, Eithan and Noa p.s. Why not publish a hard copy of your guide? Dear Matt, Dear Matt, Mr Barrett, Hi Matt My wife and I had a short trip to Athens recently (21/3 - 23/3) and despite first impressions, the closure of the National Museum and overcast weather, we had a great time. As background, we are a couple of Malaysian Chinese currently working in Scotland and had never been to Greece before. We read a few negative reports about Athens and were apprehensive about the trip. However we read your site (and our daughter loved your daughter's site). We must say that Athens is all that you shown in your site and more! The people are very friendly (not pushy - can be cheeky which is great but also quite personable) and the food really good. We felt safe at all times - there was only one time when a drunk tried to ask for money. We were fascinated by the flea market - quite different from the other flea markets we seen (eg Paris). We wish we had more time. One of the things you did not deal in your site are the sweets or desserts. We loved those Greek sweets and found at least 3 around Plaka, including the K Kotsolis at Adrianou street which is also a caf้. We are still eating the lot we brought back. It is great city and I am sure it will get better.
Regards Dear Matt, I found your Athens Guide several months ago and I wanted you to know just how helpful it has been. My husband and I have been to Athens several times but there had been a ten-year gap since the last time we'd been there and, while we were going to be in Athens for the Olympics and had our accommodations arranged, we wanted to take a quick trip to Samos and from there to Ephesus. The information on travel agents, specifically Fantasy Travel, was invaluable. They (Nadia) did a fantastic job - we felt we really had a friend working for us in Athens. I have made this site one of my "favorites" and will continue to enjoy using it. I appreciate the fact that you do update it regularly - I wonder if there is a way for you to indicate the dates of your updates -- that's one thing that I miss as I read through the vast amount of material you make available. Again, many thanks for this site -- it is a real labor of love. Judith Kebic WOW WOW you have the most amazing website - and the only one with
a You're too good to be mayor. You are a levendis, a pallikari and rebetis and a mangas. What mayor can be all that? Dear Matt Barrett, Hi Matt, I visited your web site, the Athens survival guide. I am a Greek
Regards from Athens Hi Matt My wife and I have just returned from a fantastic 10 days in Greece. Celebrating 20 years of wedded bliss, we spent 3 days in Athens, 5 days in the islands and a final night in Athens before flying home. We used your guide before we left and printed out a bunch of pages to use while we in Athens. Domigos at Brettos liquor store says hi. We ate to our hearts content at many of your recommendations including Psaras Fish Taverna (very romantic but I fell off my chair), The Plaka Restaurant (fun and lively), Domigos (cod fish is now not one of our favorites) as well as Thespidos and Byzantino (our two favorites).
My wife enjoyed
Byzantino Jewelry Store
more than I had hoped and
the Cine Paris was a grand diversion. (Thank You)
Sincerely Hi Matt! Wasn't sure how to add a post to your site but
wanted to say MANY THANKS! We visited Greece in September
and found every service you recommended exactly as you said we
would - wonderful and worthwhile. Travel Phone - we bought one and could not have done without it. Unfortunately we were in Greece when the 9/11 event occurred. We received a call from our families within 15 minutes of the bombings. We were able to call our families and they us when others couldn't get through on hotel lines or other land lines. We loaned our phone to 3 other families and it worked out wonderfully. I also had lost luggage and a few other glitches and the phone was perfect. Truly the best money we spent!!!!!!! We visited Byzantino and left some money there as well. Laura was wonderful. I bought a bracelet for my husband and should have taken a picture of Laura as well! He would have like that even better! Again, our thanks Matt - keep up the great work! Melissa DeLisio and Mary Carroll, Columbus, Ohio Dear Matt, You must get hundreds of emails like this - I returned last night
from a long weekend in Athens with my wife and I just wanted to
say how much the information on your website contributed to making
our stay really memorable and enjoyable. It is always strange at first being in a new country for the first time - but with the information from your site we were able to find our feet immediately and do far more than I could have hoped to achieve in a weekend, from finding that ideal gift to a taxi tour with George and Spiro. Many grateful thanks for helping make our weekend so great. Ef -cha-ri-sto (or something like that!) Ed Dawes - Birmingham England I have spent two days checking out everything I didn't know about Athens. My neighbor is taking a trip to Athens in April or May and wanted me to get her some information. I stumbled upon your website and was overwhelmed by all the information you are providing. You are truly remarkable to have put all that information together along with photos. I don't know when I've had a better vacation!!! I called my neighbor and told her I want to go to Athens with her (of course she would have to pay - I work for the local city government and they don't pay that good). Anyway, I really want to thank you for showing me a place outside the USA that if I should ever win the Lottery, that's the place I want to go first. Sincerely, Joanna Huestis (Gulf Breeze, Florida) Dear Blueking,
PS. I have been surfing the net for 5 years, and it is WOW! Matt! You are terrific! My cousin just
guided me to your Athens Matt-
I just wanted to tell you how incredibly helpful your guide
has been. I'm Christine Parsons Many THanks for your survival guide!!! I was up to all hours
looking for Cape Town, South Africa, 8 February, 2001 Dear Matt Yia Sou Matt Barrett !
Your website on my home city is fantastic ! I've just looked
at the
Kalo fthinoporo..... Dear Matt My recent (and second) trip to Athens (I got back to the UK very late Tuesday night) was made so much better by your excellent web site. Basically, we went on the Matt Barrett trail and, in the three days we were there tried to sample the delights that you recommended. We stayed at the Adams Hotel. A very interesting place. We stayed on the third floor and had a whole suite to ourselves (although we just paid for a room). Great balcony with tremendous view of the Acropolis. Rather cold due to the freak weather conditions where London was at least 2 degrees warmer than Athens but we do understand that the Athenians aren't really geared up to this sort of weather - and we come from England so we survived! We felt sorry for the poor guys in the lobby with their respective portable heating arrangements and woolly hats! We went to the Plaka Taverna ( I assume this is the same place as the Plaka restaurant that you described) and had a very cheese orientated lunch at the Platia Iroon (we had our last lunch there - they remembered us and we got kisses from the lady in charge and had a good chat with the young waiter). Only thing is - after two delicious meals at this place, I've had a bit of a cheese overdose and am trying to have a break from it right now! We were going to go to Aegina on Monday, but Sunday night in Brettos put paid to that. 7 rather large brandies later we had a bit of trouble getting up in the morning. However, I was impressed that even though I felt a little tired and emotional there was no headache. It was full of tourists and seems to be quite a meeting place for everyone. As you suggested I bought a few bits and pieces and got some excellent presents for people. Damigos was good - weirdly nice to have fried fish in batter (as you know very popular as part of fish and chips in UK) with garlic sauce - we'll be back there again. The meat markets (both in Piraeus and Athens) were a revelation. Not for sensitive souls - my husband loved it! To me it was an area of blood, sheeps' heads and testosterone! English kids, who think meat grows in a shrink wrapped polystyrene container, would get a real education from this - then again, it could harm them for life!!!!! I know one thing - you would have a whole generation of vegetarians! Visiting places like this, to me, is so much better than endless museums and tourist attractions. We found Vassilenas in Piraeus. It was lunchtime (we didn't realise that he did not open for lunch), but because we had so obviously come to seek him out, he opened just for us. The food was sublime. What a place. Of course, we gave him a good tip! I'd love to think that we sat at the same table as Melina Mercouri - is that possible? We're going back again in April as we are going to Paros for a few days - staying at the apartment of Martina and Sakis (in Naoussa). We found it on the internet on their own website: www.paros-online.com . As it was out of season, it was very reasonable - 44Euros per night for five of us. We'll let you know what its like and we'll try to take some digital photos. I have communicated with Martina and she seems like a very nice lady. She also runs a cat sanctuary from her apartments and is involved in PAWS (Paros Animal Welfare). The apartments have kitchen, balcony or terrace and are fully maid-serviced. Thank you again Matt for all your help. Your website is amazing - who needs guide books? I hope that you get some reward for what you do- you ought to. Kindest regards Davina
Matt,
In other words...... You see we covered it "all" thanks to
your excellent guide.
Best regards Thank you for sending the newsletter. I stumbled across you a few
days ago and have been reading everything in
'athensguide.com' ..........I absolutely love it; it is so
informative, casual, earthy, readable, not the normal 'touristy'
information. Browsing through your site I could hardly tell the difference
whether Hello!!!
Congratulations !!!!!! Dear Matt,
My wife and I went to greece this summer and used your guide
extensivley.
Jim Gale I've lived in Greece off and on for nearly 30 years now, and I
think that
Regards, I found your site a couple weeks ago. I got the opportunity to meet my niece in Greece at the last minute and had no clue where to go and what to do. I printed off your Survival Guide and that's all I needed to know...except Greek and with three weeks to plan I didn't have time to learn. Your information was invaluable to us, and the Attalos Hotel is the perfect place to stay if you're on a budget and want to be right in the middle of things. Thanks again for your effort in putting all this info in one place. Dear Matt,
Being a first time traveller, having picked my first
backpacking stop as
I came across your Athens Survival Guide quite by accident,
whilst looking
Thanx again And your guide was wonderful and a big help. We met another
American couple that also had your guide, and referred to you
often. I was SOOOOO surprised at how safe we felt in Athens,
even at night; much better than our cities here. We hit snow at Delphi and didn't venture the trip to Meteora . . . and we are so glad. One of the tour buses jack-knived and no one else was making it around that bus, up the mountain. Will heartily recommend your site to all that are contemplating a trip to Greece. Thanks again!
Anita Hi! Just wanted to say that I just landed from a week in athens and it was everything you said it would be and more!! I found your guide very helpful, but I found that the Athenians to be even more gracious and freindly than I could have ever imagined. I love it, I will be going back!!
Rich
I am a college student at Loyola University Chicago and just
read a Dear Mr. Barrett,
I just want to let you know that my wife and I visited Athens
for a few days
We enjoyed Athens, admired not only Akropolis and the Agora
but also the Thank you for all your assistance on the computer screen! Best regards, Hans Danelius Matt, I have been going to write this since 10/1 when we got back from the trip. The hotel was great, absolutely great! We stayed at the Atalos. It is a C class hotel, so I had great reservations about your judgment concerning it. When we pulled up on the street, I had greater reservations! The hotel has very little street presence not much more than the door and it is sandwiched in between two hardware stores. Boy did I think I had made a mistake! But from the time we went through that door my concerns were over and I was glad we made reservations for it. The room was excellent and the breakfast really good. There is a little dirty blond with very dark eyes that appears to manage the breakfast area and besides being very helpful, she has a very pretty smile. The front desk was also helpful and very friendly. I asked them how many guests they got off the internet like me. They said that 80% of the guests were American. Well, the time I spent there that did not seem correct. All the people I met were Canadian. J Now on to Georges Taxi Service and Guide Service. All I have to say is that they must make a lot more money than do I as the Mercedes they all drive are newer than my Ford Taurus! As a guide we had a gentleman named Spiros. He was worth every cent of the cost. I am a student of the Bible and have taken some Greek. I wanted to see Corinth he took us there and also through a large part of the Pelopenesis (sp?). Well, did I find that my Greek was deficient? Dont ask, my face is still red. Spiros is a walking history book. He was both entertaining and informative. Thanks for recommending Georges Taxi. Well Matt, bravo to you. Yes, bravo! Our time in Greece far outshined the time we spent in some other places such as Cairo. I might even come back to Greece. I got to say that what you told us all turned out to be true. You are straight arrow! Tell Spirio my wife and I say hy! Larry Ball Matt, we got so much information from your site before going to
Greece this summer, it was amazing how much easier it made our
trip. From staying at the Attalos to having George's taxi
service take us all around, etc. Hi Matt, I hope this message reaches you ok.
My name is Ian Boulton, and I have just enjoyed a week in
Athens with my
We are from England, and took a week off to chill out after
having two of
We have been to the Pelopennese before, but never
to Athens, so we sought
We used all the info in your guide to make the most of our
eight day visit,
Firstly, we stayed at the Adams Hotel, which was perfect for
what we wanted
We tried a number of your recommended restaurants, and agree
with you about
We also followed your recommendation to try the bakaliaro
underneath
I thought you might be interested in a few other things that
we found, and
Restaurants. We also tried Braxos in Adrianou, it is a
bit expensive, but
The Taverna next to Sigalas is also good...the work on the
metro extension
The best place we found of all was not in Athens however. One
day it was so
The other thing I will mention is the changing of the guard at
the tomb of
Well, I hope these bits of information are of some use to
you. I'd like to
Maybe one day we might bump into each other at breakfast in
the Adams Best wishes, Ian Boulton Dear Matt
I really enjoyed your Greece Travel Guide on the web,
especially
I'm really impressed by the friendly tone and the chatty style
- so
We were only in Greece for two weeks, going out to our boat
which has been
So thank you again and well done on a brilliant web site. Can
I post you
John Roslington
(I teach in a school, www.ksw.org.uk, in Worcester, UK and
went to Greece Hi Matt, Hope all is well. Just printed out your fabulous web-site addition on Christmas in Athens! Were spending 16 days in Athens for the holidays. This will be my 3rd trip to Greece and I cant wait! Just wanted to let you know that I think if you created a book with all of the incredible information & pictures from your website you would have a best-seller on your hands!! Thanks for all the wonderful advice! Everything you say is always right-on! J Shannon Hadjis
Matt, THANKS so much for the info that you forwarded to me with reference to Greece!! (The check is in the mail.....actually my CHEAP husband said it would be well worth the $10.00). We made our trip from October 6 to October 19. We had a fun, informative and VERY interesting trip, thanks in large part to your information. As we have elderly parents, (mine is in a nursing home in Asheville, NC where are you located???) my husband and I were down to the wire deciding to head overseas for two weeks. However, we finally decided to take the chance to visit a county where we had NEVER been and with limited info that we had personally located. I normally read extensively on the area we are visiting and make a day-to-day outline of what, when, where and how. This time, you did the job for me AND it worked!! We did make the mistake of staying in Ilisia because we were accustomed to staying in some very nice Best Westerns (better than US standards) in other European location, i.e. Venice, Lucern, etc., NOT in Athens!! Yeah, we goofed! BUT, we learned the hard way that you CAN walk from the Plaka (actually the Acropolis) to Ilisia and on to Likavitos and tell the tale!! (It's about those Taxis that don't stop if you are on the WRONG side of the road, GRRRRRR!!) Oh yeah, we're 52 and NOT in great shape; but, we've traveled in Europe before and learned to just "Deal with Whatever"!!! My opinions of Athens run from dirty, WAY overcrowded with insane traffice to some very nice and friendly shop owners with fun shopping, REALLY good Greek Salad (and other food, BUT we loved the Greek Salad....every day!!) and, of course, the unique experience of visiting the Acropolis. This time, fortunately, we listened to your advice and arrived prior to 11:00 and were definitely glad!! It was amazing how quickly you could go from fresh and clean to gross and "yucky"!!
We bought the Ouzo at the appropriate place as well as a gold
bracelet from your suggested location. However, the
sandal guy was GREAT!! We almost didn't find him!!
What happened to cheap carpets???? Not where we
went!! Well, is that enough to explain that we REALLY enjoyed and benefited from your 30+ pages (that we carried over.....some people laughed as they saw us reading it....they knew what we were doing!!!) THANKS!!! (I'll tell my husband to WRITE THE CHECK!!)
Linda Vestal Hi Matt, Myself and my girlfriend spent a week in greece last december and had a wonderfull time. we used your guide which was excellent and made our trip even more enjoyable. We went to see Bretto on numerous occations and brought back a various selection of his bottles. The problem is they have run out and I was wondering if there would be any way in getting in contact with Bretto to see if he could send me some more drinks in his metal canisters. If you could help me it would make an excellent surprise and christmas present for my Girlfriend. Many thanks Richard Bullock. For what it's worth, I used the information on your page to
contact
We were met promptly at our hotel by a man named Christos who
told us
Upon returning to Athens on the day long excursion, Christos
showed us
On the second day, Christos was again prompt and conducted a
four hour
He did an exceptional job and we'd highly recommend his
services. Phone Hope this was helpful.
I also used the information on your page and found it to be an
excellent Hello!
Just to let you know, my wife and I just returned from Athens
for the
We had Brooklyn Pizza deliver to our hotel AND ate there the
next day. Happy 2000!
Jay Baxter Matt, My company is sending me to Athens next week and I thought I'd surf the web for info on the place, since I've never been there. Having traveled to England, France, and Spain, I'm comfortable with some European travel. However, there's the usual nervousness in traveling to a new place. I'd like to thank you for all the valuable information your web site has provided. I feel I'll have a more enjoyable experience from simply checking out all the info you provided. Thanks again and best regards, A. Griffith Dear Matt, It was purely by chance that I decided that I wanted to go away and sample some Greek culture and life after I came across your 'Guide to Athens' on the web last year. Well, I had a fantastic week, meet so many friendly and interesting people and saw virtually all of Athens! Now I am planning to go to Lesvos during June. It seems like such a fantastic island I can't wait! I just wanted to say a very BIG thankyou. Your guides are so well written. Down to earth advice, interesting stories, tips on the best places to go and the people of Greece. I hope that you manage to gut your guides into print becuase they are one of the best, if not the best information sources on Greece!
Regards, Matt,
Sincerely yours, Dear Mr. Barrett, I have e-mailed you about three or so weeks ago concerning a vase we bought in Athens , but, failed to receive. With your advise, and Mr. Tom Mazarakis' help, we have received the "most beautiful" piece on 4-10-00. We would like to express our deepest thanks for your advice and contact in Athens. As we have in the past, we will continue, fervently, to pass on your website to our friends at our Greek Orthodox church and others interested in travel to Greece. Again, thank you so much and God bless. Jon and Donna Kramer Hi
Well thanks again talk to you later. Hi Matt
Just wanted to thank you so much for all the terrific info
provided on your website.
We stopped to see Mr. Bretto and gave him your regards. What a
delightful gent.
We also stopped to see Laura at Byzantino and left about
$1,000 lighter. Beth
When asking for directions for the Byzantino Restaurant we
were told it burned down. We had lunch next door at Plaka
Teverna. Hit a few other spots including I guess we'll just have to go back to see more of the stuff we missed. Thanks again, Matt, for making our trip more enjoyable.
Jack & Beth Mannion We arrived back late last night having taken the Theofilos out of
Mytilene
Regards Peter Wallace Hi Matt, Well, back to my work. Thank you so much for your solid research and enthusiasm in presenting your material to frequent and first-time visitors. I hope I will be hearing from you in the near future.
Adio for now, Just returned from Greece. 1 week in the Dodacanese Islands sailing, and 1 week on the mainland, including Athens. I just wanted to let you know how helpful your web page and your Survival Guide were for us. We used Dolphin-Hellas (Kassiani) for all of our reservations in the islands and in Athens. She did a fabulous job. Everything was done perfectly. In Athens we used your guide to finding great places to eat, and to get around. One thing you may want to let people know is that Platanos is closed on Sunday evening for dinner. We were quite disapointed, but then found a wonderful place around the corner, so not to worry. Bought jewerly at Byzantino, which as you say, is wonderful and the people were great. I just thought you'd want to know how great your help was. I 'll be sending you a donation soon. Thanks. Janet Niles Dear Matt; brian & shelagh kirkland. Matt, Just wanted to thank you for absolutely making our Athens trip.
My husband went on business, and I spent a whole week just exploring Athens via
metro and coastal tram and mostly by foot. You never failed me, and
sometimes I found a place I thought was terrific only to discover later that it
was featured by you, so quality shows!
In Psiri, which I wouldn't have explored except for you section on it, we
ate twice--once at the Odos Aisxylos (I'm a sucker for lots of white lights and
someone eating there gave us a thumbs up as we passed), which was so honest that
when our neighboring dining companions (who were also staying at the Attalos on
your recommendation) had a full packet of cigarettes whisked away by an
over-eager waiter, they sent another out to buy the exact brand to replace it
immediately). I'm from Louisiana and it reminded me a bit of the French
Quarter...the older, not-too-slick part. The second place I don't remember
the name of, but it was in the center of the square and their fish dish was
excellent. Our only complaint was our before dinner beer down another
street--should have known when they said they didn't have Mythos that we were in
the wrong place.
In the Plaka, I had already chosen a place for lunch and sat down, lured by
the shade and the charm of the "maitre d' " then pulled out your guide and
saw that I was indeed at the Byzantine (Vizantine on their sign), where I had a
large Greek salad, bread and water. When I left, I told the "maitre
d' " the he was indeed an artist in finding me the perfect table, and he kissed
my hand.
Wandering farther, I chanced onto a great looking place up a side street to
the top, made note of it for the evening, and when I got back to my hotel,
looked again at the guide and discovered that I had chosen Psarras. It was
all it was said to be--charming, cool, romantic, good food, and we made friends
with the couple on the lower step who came there every time they were in
Athens.
The rest of Athens, I wandered and explored and got on and off metros and
coastal tram (to Glyfada, an old memory) and went into places I maybe shouldn't
have been (weaseled my way onto the grounds of the National Observatory on the
Hill of the Nymphs and stood in awe as an amateur astronomer in front of the
ornate entrance). Hadn't been to Athens in 37 years, so everything was new
to me.
So, this is just a note of gratitude for the detail in your guide, and I
will always consult it any time I go back to Greece.
Lynne Olson
Having just come back from 2 weeks in Greece I feel like I know you since it was your guide that helped make this one of our best vacations ever. First of all there was George the Taxi Driver. He was outstanding and I hope you will pass this on to him. We spent 3 days with George one in the Peloponnese and 2 in Delphi and Meteora. By the end of 3 days I felt like I was saying goodbye to a member of my own family. He was very knowledgeable and gave us an insight into the Greek culture that you just can't get from tour books and huge bus tours. Plus he knows the best place to stay in Meteora!! Not some chain hotel in town but a wonderful spic n' span clean inn in the mountains called Arsenis. When I walked out onto our balcony the mountain view was so beautiful I wanted to sing out a chorus from the Sound of Music! By the way, no one should go to Greece without Meteora on their tour. In all our travels I have never experienced any natural beauty like it not to mention the spiritual aspect. Back in the Plaka we did walk with your guide in hand which made us feel well oriented within a day. O Plantanos Taverna was a gem quiet and filled with locals. Can't say the same about Byzantino too noisy and crowed. Socrates Tavern was empty on the 2 nights we walked by so don't know if they've changed hands or cooks but we passed it up for Strofi which was good with a beautiful view of the Acropolis. And if someone wants to splurge as we did on our last night in Athens, Daphne's inside courtyard is the place. The food service and ambience were top notch and the bill for 2 with 3 courses including wine...$110. Brettos is a beautiful store and was going strong the night we were there. Byzantine Jewelers does have beautiful unique pieces and so does their neighbor Angelo's. Our second week was spent with Viking Cruises on the Aegean Lady II. I'll forward you my e-mail to them since this was a perfect unstructured way to see the islands as opposed to the oversized cruise ships. And the intimacy of sailing with only 20 other people was wonderful. Thanks again for all your recommendations! We cannot wait till we return to Greece with all its beauty, history and warm and friendly people!!
Yassu, Dear Matt,
My family and I traveled to Greece in summer of 98. Your
quide was
The night before the first day of really sightseeing, we got
out George's
As we were walking by the Grande Bretagne a man called to us
to see if we
We used his services that night as he drove my husband, me and
our 2 small
He is a godsend in a city of smokers!!! As with all the
people we met, he
We thank you for all your incredible tid bits of
information. It made our We thank you!
Heidi Evans Hi Matt:
So now that I have made my excuses, let me just SHOUT:
Thank you for all the And YES, I did vote. Best of luck to you in the year 2000 and beyond. Efkaristo poli Lois E
P.S. If you want to use this letter, just take my name
out, please!!!! Dear Matt, Andrea & Amarandi,
Anyway, just wanted to tell you that your page is helping me
SO MUCH because Just wanted to drop you a line to say how helpful your web page
and newsletter were during our recent trip to Greece. We had
George pick us up from the airport and take us on a day tour to
Delphi. He was loads of fun and we will recommend him to our
friends who plan to travel to Greece next May. We stayed at
the Adams Hotel while in Athens and found it friendly,
comfortable, and clean. We took you up on your newsletter
recommendations for shopping and restaurants and were very pleased
with the results. Debbie & John McKinley Dear Mr. Barrett!
Next time youดre in Athens, be sure to visit a caf้ called
Zeppelin. It is Again, thank you a lot.
Sincerely yours, Hi Matt, I was feeling bored, and decided to have a look at the net - no special destination. And I "fell" on your guide on "my" city = Athens. And I don't mean Athens, Georgia (or something like that), but "Atheena". Veeeeeeery amusing!! And you really astonished me with all that info you have. You know -- you seem to be so patient, so humorous, so understanding that you would have liked any place. Good for you. Oh, first let me introduced myself: My name is Alexandra Tsakona and I am an Athenian who loves her city (not necessarily the city's inhabitants). I've been thinking to ask you: did you know that there is an "internet cafe" at the Megaron Mousikees =Athens Concert Hall across the US Embassy? Although the internet cafe you suggest (corner Boulis & Ermou or something like that) is much more practical due to its location, I thought just in case somebody is around the US Embassy, one could be interested in that, too. Should you be interested, the "Megaron" has a site: www.megaron.gr . This contains info on the internet cafe there. As you might see on my e-mail address, I work at the "Megaron", but have nothing to do with the internet cafe. Well, I have to go back to work. Before I leave you, I want to tell you a BIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGG "euharisto" (efharisto), i.e. thank you, for what you say about my city!
Wish you best, ...and I never saw a nicer travel site before! Congratulations!
And not
I run into your guide accidentally surfing in th net trying to
plan this Eri Leftherioti I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed your page. I
was stationed in Hello, I just returned from a 2 week trip to Greece (my first
time) and it was amazing. Just wanted to thank you for all
of your helpful information -- I practically memorized your
website. Just a quick word of caution -- we stayed at the
Hotel Avra b/c all other places around Athens seemed to be full
and it was very nice and comfortable. However, none of the
taxi drivers seemed to know where it was. It was very
helpful to carry around their business card and memorize the names
of the larger streets surrounding the hotel. Again, thanks for the great website. Can't wait to go back to Greece! Regards, To all the people who have made this site
I just want to thank-you for making this site so enjoyable. My husband and I spent our 10th anniversary trip in Greece and found your website very entertaining and made our visit much more fullfilling. We only had 2 days in Athens but we did visit Oinos cafe, Brettos (bought lots of ouzo) and we bought each other a 10th anniversary wedding band at Byzantino's, and of course, the Acropolis. Again congratulations for such a wonderful site. I still visit it from time to time to reflect on such a magical place.
Thanks Jen and Darcy Printed off about 30 pages of your guide and had the pages with me
as I explored Athens. Walked into Bratano's showed him his
picture and was immediately made welcome. An English speaker
and reader was present translated your work and all enjoyed a
laugh about the magazine kiosk and the behavior of the
owner. He is now aware of your comments so beware.
Every cafe and bar wanted to read about themselves and had to show
me where pictures were taken. In fact by the end of three days all the pages had disappeared. Great guide myself my companion and all the inhabitants of your guide thank you for the enjoyment. Russ Addiss I am Greek living in Chicago and usually when I meet people they
ask me Dear Mr Matt Barrett, Last year this time, I was browsing thru the net for want of info on Greece and I slipped into your site during my search. Your pages on Athens Survival Guide is one of the BEST TRAVEL GUIDE ever. It had all the info one needs and more. I'd printed all your pages and planned my trip on those lines. My Hubby and myself made a trip to Athens and Kos Island. We are from India, South India to be precise. whole of our trip, we've been thinking / thanking you cause while walking on the streets we came across everything that you'd mentioned and it made our trip so very simpler and enjoyable. It was a no fuss, no mess travel experience. Having your guide was like holding a GPS in hand, guiding us all thru. I even picked up the body butter, olive oil soaps, etc. that you'd mentioned. the entire trip went so smooth and without any problem thanks to your travel guide and this THANK YOU NOTE HAS BEEN LONG, LONG, LONG PENDING. This year we are planning to visit north of Italy and while discussing on our trip I couldn't stop thinking about your pages. Wish I could find a travel guide like yours on Italy tooo. I'm sure you must be receiving thank you notes from all over the world cause your pages are the BEST. Keep up the good work. Really wish you'd come up with more travel guides in future. THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH. Regards, Meena Dear Matt, I think you do a superb job on your
website.Anybody who wants to visit Greece should be informed
by it. I also want you to know,that I appriciate the attention you
gave to my critisism of the side walks of Athens. Hello Matt Barrett, Richard and Alice Altman hey im studying about Athens in my 8TH grade calass it realy intresting to learn differnt stuff evrery day.i hope one day i get a chance to go Athens one day just to see how life is in Athens.
your fan.......... Hi there, just thought I'd drop you a line. I used your guides and
info extensively on my recent trip to Greece and Athens. I wished
I'd booked the Attalos hotel in advance as it was full when we
arrived there, but used the Cecil instead. There rate stared off
at 32000 drc but we got it down to 24000. that was for 4 of us
although it was impossible to sleep on the fourth bed. After 3
weeks in the Islands and reading your warning several time
about the soulaki sandwich I thought we could not get caught out
but we did. In exactly the restaurants that you said.After
questioning the waiter insisted that a gyro pitta was indeed this
platter at the grand price of 1500 drc, as it did not have any
zatziki on we asked for some and that cost us another 600 drc for
a spoonful.That was the one and only bad experience of the whole
trip, so not too bad. I won't be caught again. Thanks very much
for your guide.Keep up the good work. Hi Matt
We returned from our trip to Greece and I would like you to
know that we
Also, we bought some Breetos ouzo, it really is great! But we
really Greek salads are so great I could never get enough of them! Ate at Eden (we had eaten there three years ago), still good. Ate at Platanos - fish, should have tried other things as well!
Went into Byzantino Jewellery store but didn't really want
any
Monastiriki flea market, shortly after noon on the Sunday! A
fantastic
We were only in Athens for three days and being in a centrally
located
We were on a tour with a tour company and I so wish I had
taken your
I took some vitamin B tablets. It probably did some good and
we sure
We were on a 3-night cruise to Mykonis, Kusadasi, Rhodes,
Crete. Four
Thanks again for your good suggestions. My husband and I would
have done Maybe some other islands sometime. Sincerely Noeline Martin Hey Matt , I just wanted to let you know that I had a great time
surfing
Cheers Hello Matt, I've had this link to your web site for a while now, and I've just noticed you have updated it. Many thanks for your excellent information on Athens, I've been quite a few times and read all the guide books - but yours is by far the best! My wife was born in London like me, and her parents are both Greek. Hence the connection to Souvlaki, a pseudonym I once used on a world-wide hit. Oh, and I love the real souvlaki's too of course, with lots of tzatziki (or houmus). Best regards,
Mark Summers Just wanted to write and thank you for your information/advice on your web-site. We just returned from 10 days in Greece, and your comments were very helpful. We especially enjoyed the Athens subway system, and used it to return to the airport and get around the city. Thank you! Marcia Mr. Barrett, it is my pleasure to visit your website, and thank you for your quick reply ! I wish you the best of luck on your run for minister of tourism, I hope you make it ! If those greeks know anything, they should realize that you are probably more concerned about their country then they are. My parents have a home on the island of Salaminas and they are there six months out of the year. My mother has lived in America for many years now, and she says that Greece is not like it used to be when she grew up. Everything you mention in your website is so true, I've heard it all from my mother. I have told my parents of your website, and I'm sure they would be very proud to see the ideas you have about changes come to life ! Again, good luck and God Bless ! Hello,
my name is Paola, I'm 26 and I'm from Italy.
Thanks for considering my mail Dear Matt Barret I have just found you site Athen's Survival Guide and I would like to say thank you very much. You did a great job.
I went to Athen for the first time in January I spent there
only four days. I brought with me some guides in German (I
live in Germany but I am Brazilian, half Spanish). I am writing a book about the trip. I am doing it for myself (I don't expect so much that I will publish it one day) and your information are going to help. I promise I will tell everybody about this Athen's Survival Guide and I wish you could carry on doing other useful city guides like this one. Thank you very much again and congratulations. Yours faithfully,
Ronaldo Navarro Hello Matt, I have enjoyed visting your site over the last couple of years and have the found the information both insightful and informative. I especially want to thank you for helping me discover Brettos. I have on several trips to Athens walked past the tiny colorful shop and never gave much notice to it. After reading about it on your website I decided to go in and sample the ouzo. I agree - it is the best ouzo I have ever had in Greece. Since then I am hooked and would not think of going to Athens without stopping in. This all leads to a question that I hope you can answer. Currently my plan is to be in Athens on a Sunday and I am hoping that the store will be open late in the evening - after 6 PM at least. Do you think the store is likely to open at this time? The exact date I will be in Athens is May 13th.
Again thanks for all the great info. I would like to tell you that I went to Athens and I really
enjoyed myself
Thanks for considering my mail hi is Vasso again I found the pages on street people excellent!Once again you presented Greece with realism.And to to tell you the truth until now I hadn 't realised that some of those people are very good musicians.Propably because we see them every day and because we have no time to stop and pay anttention on them.Sad maby, but true. In your next trip maby you could take a few pictures of the gipsy tellers fortune that you can find them in monastyraki.One of the them stoped me one day, she was very old and she read my palm.We sat on the street and people were passing by but she was so friendly and she looked very wise.I don 't believe in those things but I believe that they are part of monastiraki and plaka 's world. Also it would be interesting for the ''naive american viewers" :)) ,to take some pictures of gamblers in the street,if you find them, in the same areas again.They usally play a game called ''papas'' if you know it.They have three cards, one of them is a king, and the change their position on the table very fast and then you must find where is the king.These guys are real ''rebetes'' they are part of the underground world. I don 't know your two friends who work in antenna.I am working in the antenna internet department and they must work in the antenna tv which is in another building.Anyway it 's a small world.You never know.... Once again congratulations for the good work.
Vasso Your page is THE BEST i've ever seen on internet,even Dear Matt, Just wanted to add that your Travel Newsletter was great, but then I went to the Athens survival guide!! It is fantastic! Chock full of information! EPHARISTO, GRACIAS, DANKE, ! Matt - Thank you for having such a wonderful web site. I have been
to Athens Again, thank you for your most informative information on Greece.
We didn't make the sandalmaker, but we did make just about
everybody else in your Plaka shopping guide. My wife enjoyed
Byzantino's and did buy. We never could make out if Kosta was the
owner and what was the connection with Olympico, where my wife
also bought. Did try Byzantinio's on more than one occasion as we
were in the area. Very good. Saw them actually shoo some itinerent
musicians away. Visited Brettos and my wife bought much at 107
Adarianou. Hello Matt.
We've just come back from Athens where we spent a really nice
weekend thanks to your guide. All your enormous writings about Athens
on athensguide.com were really helpful for us, because your advices
matched our desires. We not only discovered a wonderful greek history,
but also could have a lot of pleasure.
One hour after landing in Athens, we could check that "Matt" is a
magic word... We arrived at Paradosiako, met Dimitri who first shook
his head to say no when he guessed that we wanted a table, because the
terrace was full, but I just had to say the magic word and Dimitri
found 3 small tables inside just beside the fridge. And then we had one
of our best moments in Athens, eating so fresh fish and Greek salads,
and trying our first Greek words with Dimitri.
We also enjoyed so much the Taverna Tou Psiri and To Cafeneon. The
magic word also worked with Angelo the King when we searched for good
ouzo...
Really thank you for all that work you've made on athensguide.com.
Kind regards.
Patrice GIRRES
France
PS: I would be interested in how you can live with your passion, if you're OK to explain me.
Hi there, My name is Ann-Marie and I just wanted to say that I think that you Athensguide site is EXCELLENT, you make it all so easy to read and understand, I have been searching the web for details on shopping etc in Athens and nothing compares to this, I jsut happen to stumble across this site (isn't it always the way - when you are looking for something you can't find it, then when you least expect it, it appears before your eyes?) I have really enjoyed reading this and love the way you have set it all out, I have even had a little chuckle here and there. Thank-you for making my trip to Athens that much easier and more interesting. Ann-Marie Dear Matt, I am one of the visitors of your web page (http://www.athensguide.com/) and I am really glad of what you are writing in those pages, since I am a Greek and I know how accurate are whatever you write in there. Please accept my congratulations, for the quality of your web page and the honest way you are describing everything in there. It seems that you have worked very hard to create this web page and I totally appreciate your hard work! I have been surfing in your web site for only 30 minutes and I felt that I wanted to express you how much I am enjoying it, so I decided to write you this note. "BRAVO" again for the GREAT work! I hope you keep working in this page and let American people (and not only) know more about Athens/Greece. With great appreciation, Vangelis Mitrousis I am thoroughly enjoying your Athens guide. Printing like crazy. Would like all the info I can receive before Oct 23rd when I leave Los Angeles for Greece and the Islands. Thanks, Kit Matt, I wanted to thank you for your web site. I have visited Greece once before in 1999, but I just returned from a wedding in Greece for my girlfriend. We went through Athens to Santorini. We took advantage of George the taxi driver because we only had one full day in Athens and it was a marvelous experience. I printed out all of your descriptions and pronunciations for food, and that was incredibly advantagous. Thank you for all of your work and information. Your help made our trip incredibly easy, safe and much more enjoyable. Thanks, M. I happened upon your site last month, just before going to
Athens. I have HI Matt,I have just spent 4 glorious days in Athens.Weather for mid March 17 to 25 celsius.Tried several eateries you recomend,all good. I would add though that there are many more that would more than pass. We had several student marches ,none of which caused many problems. The only downside were the heavily coated women at the archealogical sites,very aggresive and dictatorial. Your webb site more than helpful a great aid to anyone touring Athens. Bill Alexander. Matt-
Come upon your web site as part of my research for my
honeymoon. It was the
In particular, we bought some jewelry from Laura at
Byzantino and used your
The only critique I can provide is that the Armonia Hotel was
very Best regards and thanks- Will and Laurie Moselle Hi Matt, Hello Matt: We just returned from Greece and found your
guides very helpful. I downloaded your guide to the Plaka
and found it very useful. We took it with us and followed your
guide and found all the places you recommended. We bought liquor
at your friends store. There were 6 of us so we spent quite a bit.
The guys said the brandy was the best they had ever had and wished
they could have gone back for more. Also your guides to the
islands was very helpful. The only thing that I would
recommend that you put on your web sight is a caution about the
cabs. Most are very honest, but my sister and her husband were
ripped off by a very dishonest and scary cabbie. He was taking
them from the Parthanon to our hotel in Vouliegmeni. We knew that
it was more expensive and we were told to set the price
first, which they did at 7000 drachmas,but the cab driver would
not let them out of the cab until they had paid him over $200.00
He then let them out in the middle of nowhere. If it hadn't been
for the very helpful bus drivers they might still be wandering
around Athens. We recommended to everyone that they take down the
cabs drivers licence before they got in. Because they had not they
could not identify him and the police could do nothing. Other than
that incident every thing else was wonderful. Thankyou again for
your insight into Greece, it made for a wonderful holiday. Loved this guide. Top quality - keep up the good work!
David Fair Matt: I had contacted George for taxi service - but again, the Greek company arranged to pick us up at the airport. Again, I should have followed your advise and called on George to take me around to some of the neighborhoods - it would have saved me so much time!! I have so many thanks you's to you for your wonderful web site and your recommendations. Since I don't speak Greek (yet), the thought of trying to figure out which neighborhood we would like was a daunting task. So, my first stop was Tommy at his rug shop in the Plaka!! He spent about an hour with me while we talked about locations and modes of travel (for my husband who will be working at the Athens Tower near American Embassy). He gave me some wonderful insight into different neighborhoods and things to look for in housing. All in all, a wonderful man and a source of valuable information. He even walked me across the street to the Skynet Cafe to make sure I got the help I needed in connecting to the internet while there. I had my laptop with me, but had not been able to log on at the hotel - found out from the helpful folks at Skynet it's probably my modem not recognizing the dial tone!! On our last day, Saturday, we finally had time to visit some of your other recommendations in the Plaka. We found Brettos, sampled his Ouzo, bought 2 to bring home - and toasted you with a drink. Mr. Brettos is a gracious gentleman and we enjoyed our visit with him and his wonderful shop. Next on MY list was BYZANTINO's where we were greeted by "Jimmy". Laura, Kostas and George were off Saturday so we missed meeting them. But Jimmy was a wonderful host for the 2 hours of our visit!! He treated us with a special drink and I was treated with my Christmas present!!! I'm attaching a picture of the absolutely beautiful necklace and earrings my husband bought for me. It's a work of art - I hope your wife enjoys seeing the picture. They are everything you said they would be - a lovely shop and wonderful people. I sent them an email this morning thanking them and received a wonderful note back from Laura! For your information and possibly your web site, I located a relocation service in Athens. Maria Shuman of Cendant Mobility Globalnet (shumanm@hellasnet.gr) is a Greek-American living in Glyfada and provides a full service relocation service. I talked with her several times and she was wonderful! Since my job was neighborhood locations not only for us (2 adults) but three other families, one with school age children, she was a life saver. For anyone visiting your web site who need this type of service for a move, they would find her extremely helpful. She takes care of everything! Now, my one question - which language learning tapes do you recommend? The one by Dr. Balanis or Helen Dumas? Matt, sorry for this long email - but I wanted to let you know what a help your web site has been and what wonderful people we met through you. Please feel free to edit any portion of this for your testimonials.
Thanks again, I'll keep in touch and please add me to your
newsletter list. hello Hi Matt- Dear Matt Barrett, Hi Matt, I just want to thank you for an excellent guide on I am a British student taking a degree in Classical Civilisation,
and i fell i must write in response to the comment on the Elgin
marbles (or parthenon sculptures). although there is certainly a
point to be made about the marbles being returned to Greece, you
offer such a one-sided and biased argument that i feel it is
rather unacceptable to demand to everybody that they shoud sign
the petition to have them returned. Hello Mr Matt Barrett, Dear Matt Barrett, Hello Matt, I thought I'd just let you know we went to Athens for New Year. It was really fabulous. We can't wait to go back. I think it was great to go at a quiet time, we visited the Acropolis on New Years Eve (jolly cold) and there was only a handful of people, so we were able to really linger even though we were freezing. New Years day was blue skies and warm and we walked across the City and spent a couple of hours enjoying the truly breathtaking views from Lykavittos. Anyway, great website, thanks for sharing. Meg, London. Hello Matt, I may be a Brit but i found your site very helpful for my first
visit to Athens last week. Hi, Matt: Just wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed your
Athens guide. What an amazing amount of work and care you've put
into it! I found the link on jeeves two weeks ago while I was
feeling jealous and nostalgic - two dear friends spent their
honeymoon on Rhodes and asked my advice about things to do in
Athens. Hi Matt, Mr. Barrett: Hi Matt! Matt... Hi Matt, Top site! Matt, Matt, Matt, First Cemetery/Kavafy
That was absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, and
all the work that you have put into your guide. I don't
believe I have ever seen a site so dedicated, and so original,
to any city such as this one. Especially a city that
guidebooks, at times, tend to downplay. Matt You were right on the money on nearly all topics. Matt-I used several suggestions that you made and I feel it made
our trip go much smoother. I would like to make a contribution to
your favorite place which I think you mentioned in your
information, but I can not seem to find it now. Just to tell you that I read many Internet guides to Athens and
yours is Have just stumbled on your website by accident through a search on
Athens. Am off to Rafina next weekend and visiting friends of many
years but this time taking somebody very special. Usually we stay
in Rafina and only occasionally go into Athens. This trip we are
planning to spend time in the city and your site has given me
loads of ideas. Simply the most useful and interesting site that I
have visited for a long time. The jewellry is beautiful. Thanks for raising my level of appreciation for the musicians and
other
Dear Matt: Hi Matt, Hi there, After going on holiday to Greece since 1991 (about 20 times), we made our first trip to Athene from 26/12/2002 until 30/12/2002. Thanks to your "Athens Survival Guide" and thanks to some guidelines a few Greek friends gave us, we have had a wonderfull time in Athens and we are already certain to go back in the near future. Your "Athens Survival Guide" has been a great help to us, although we could have managed by ourselves as we have a great deal of experience concerning Greece and its inhabitants and their mentality. That is one of the most obvious reasons why we go to Greece two or three times a year. We even went to evening school for 5 years to learn the language. I even teach Greek now in one of them. Nobody in Athens was able to detect the fact that we were foreigners, this maybe has advantages, but could as well have disadvantages. We are very greatfull for the restaurants and the caf้'s that you recommend on your site: we had lovely evenings at the Byzantino restaurant and at the Kouklis ouzeri, we had splendid coffees at the Oionos Caf้ and we even bought ouzo and raki at the Brettos Store. In four days we managed to see quite a lot of the center of Athens: the Plaka, Anafiotika, the Actropolis and its museum, Monastiraki, Thission, Psiri, the Meat Market, Omonia, Kolonaki, the Lykavittos, Syntagma, the National Gardens, the Zappio, the Ancient Stadium, the Benaki Museum, the changing of the guards in front of the Parlaiment Building, a.s.o. (we even made a trip with the metro to Pireas). This would not have been possible if we had not had the splendid blue sky and the sunshine, we o,ly had rain for 3 or 4 hours. We got back home, very tired (I had the feeling I had walked 100 miles), but incredibly satisfied and incredibly enthousiastic about the number 1 town of our beloved Greece. Thanks again for all the information we could find on your site and keep up the good work. In fact, if one has read the "Athens Survival Guide", one does not at all need other (expensive) guidebooks. We will mention your site to all our filellines that go to Greece every year. Have a splendid 2003 ! ! ! ! ! Patrick NIVETTE Happy New Year! We are back in the UK now having experience a marvellous NY holiday in Athens. From your website we contacted Dolphin Hellas who were very good at making a booking for the hotel and arranged a taxi to collect us from the airport on the 29th. On the 30th, we took your advice on the Platia Iroon Ouzerie. Good food and excellent music. We had visited Platia Iroon during the day reconnoitre and it is obviously still part of "real Athens" as we witnessed sheep carcases hanging from a clothes rail being sold to passers by. Very alfresco! Platia Iroon is also the centre of the universe because as we disgorged from the taxi in the evening, 2 friends who live a mile away from our house walked past heading for a restaurant called Zenophon. Small World. New Year's Eve was spent in the dining room of our hotel, the St George Lycabettus. very pricey but what a view of the city and of the midnight fireworks. And the bands played on until 0600 apparently. We were in bed before that. Some of our friends reported being woken by a 21 gun salute at 0730. We never heard a thing! The evening was worth every Euro. We then went on to Crete to for 2 days to stop with our friend Nicos Terzakis who owns the aparthotel Mia Hara, just outside the small resort of Sissi. Even if we are biased, we can highly recommend it. There is a website. Nicos also breeds pedigree Labradors - see website "Lasithi Labradors". Only 3 puppies left as of last Friday. These are English stock - top quality. And no snow - 18/65 degrees. We got home to 30F and snow.
Cheers and good
luck. The most heartwarming pictures I've
seen in years. I visit your survival guide daily. Just
dreaming of late April -early May this year; praying that nothing
happens to block my trip to Greece. Hello Matt! Matt, Great site about Athens. I you do not mind, I'd like to include it on our church's link for our Greekfest.
Robert Andrews last time i went to athens (it hapends twice per year) i checked
out Matt, Dear Matt. I travel a lot and have recently just got back from
Morocco(February) and Prague (March...my 10th time). Since I
often travel alone, I would make quite a research on the places I
have charted for that year and Athens is one of the places I plan
to visit this year. Hi there, Matt! I feel I know you quite well after trawling through your website. My husband, Alan & myself returned from Athens two days ago. We found, what we thought was, a nice taverna so thought I'd write to you about it. It is called Hermion and it's at 15 Pandrossou St, Plaka. We liked the place - O.K. so we're not 21 anymore so that probably means we incline to something that looks somewhat sanitised by comparison to other places. The food was good - it was actually hot - & there was a really good choice. They have live music and the service we had was good and the prices were reasonable.What more can you ask for? It was well patronised by the locals (always a good sign). Don't advise anyone with a guilty conscience to go there as there were quite a few priests eating there too!! Well, I suggest you look at their website.I can't believe you don't know the place but, just in case............ I have been looking through your photo album today - I don't know why I bothered taking a camera with me! They're great!! Thank you for all the useful information that I have gained from your site much of which I printed out & took with me. We are off to Barcelona next month & I hope we can find a fraction of the information. Kind regards, Edna Nichols Yah sas Matt Barrett!! My friend and I are at the internet cafe in Syndagma right now and decided to mail you. We both found your web site very helpful for all of our Greek information. We have been studying at the Athens Centre for two months and will be here for two more weeks. If you happen to be in Athens in that time we would love to meet up and have some slouvaki or something. Thanks again for all the help. -Mia Alkire and Olivia Corr. Hi - - I lived in Greece for three years (Papagos area) until
1976, Hello Matt, Your website on Athens is the most comprehensive free on-line site I have ever found. I have traveled to Greece several times and your information is quite accurate and easy to use. Thanks for continuing to provide this service. Larry Mumphrey Hi Matt, hi there, just wanted to say what a great web site. I only found it today so haven't had time to read much you are a life saver. I love athens but haven't been since i split with my greek boyfriend who gave me the info i required to get around. I was really worried about going again without him but wow the gods sent me your page so I don't need to give up Athens.LOL Going to Symi on saturday but when I get back I will plan my next trip to the city of my heart!! thank you very much keep up the good work. kylethalassa I wanted to tell you that I first visited your site in 2000, when we first visited Greece. I printed out a lot of your pages, and tips for the Plaka, and I brought it along on the plane with me, and it got passed around and read by a lot of folks. We hired George to take us on a day trip to Delphi, and it was FABULOUS. I think if we book this cruise, we will hire George again to go to Mycenae. (Not sure if I spelled that right). We also sought out that Ouzo store you told us about, and went in and bought 2 bottles from the owner, and told him we had read about him on your website. Your advice was very helpful and I appreciated it. Thanks again for answering my Olympics question! Judy Anderson Hi Matt!!! Just returned from a wonderful trip to summy (and HOT) Athens. I've been studying Greek history aat school and with a little help from your survirval guide these days in Athens have been the best so far in my life. One thing I thought about; reading your homepage doesn't inform that a lot of sights are closed due to renovation before the Olympic next year. We went there to go to The National Arch. Museum and the Kerameikos as some of the main reasons for travelling... Without knowing they were both closed for public. You have such a wonderful and amazing homepage - wouldn't it be possible to tell the visitors about this??? I guess a lot of people would like to know. Greetings from Denmark,' Kristina Rasmussen PS; Have you been to Athens this summer? Isn't it amazing a mess all this rebuilding makes??? Thank you so much for this excellent site and all your advice! We had an amazing time in Greece. We stayed at the Attalos and everyone was so wonderful there, that was a great recommendation. They also helped us get a rental car and we found a nice hotel in Delphi. We also went down to the bay of Corinth from Delphi and had lunch. The weather wasn't the best but compared to Germany where we live now it was amazing. We followed a lot of your tips but still went out and adventured on our own and had a great time. We only had time for Athens and Delphi partly because a lot of the sites were closed on Christmas and the day after. We felt like we did not have enough time to see it all! Next year we plan on seeing some of the islands and staying longer. It was a wonderful trip and we thank you for helping give us some hints to make it great! -Alison and Aaron :) Yasou Mattias Hope I got that right, I'm just a beginner with Greek. Anyway greetings from Australia. I had a brief correspondence with you last year prior to my first trip to Greece. We had ten days sailing and then about 14 days to meteora, delphi and the peloponesses. Certainly Athens itself was one of our highlights. Loved the view at sunset from the roof bar at the Attalos and spending a day at the Archaelogical museum (not enough). Pylos, down in the far south west of pel is an undiscovered gem. Definitely recommend the Twelve Gods for accomodation We are planning to make a return journey next September after the Olympics. We want to spend a week at least back on the pel then a few days in Athens and maybe a week on Kea. Or maybe up at Volos and the Pelion peninsula (for the mezedes and tsipouro). Anyway plenty of time. Have you been in Greece this summer? How is the Omonia square work going? Do you think they will be ready for the Olympics Please put me down for your newsletter and Kind Regards John Connolly Hi Matt, I got back from Greece a couple of weeks ago and just wanted to thank you for your web pages. My friend Nancy (who's already written to you) downloaded a bunch of them and they really proved helpful, particularly the sections on Plaka and Psiri. We found the little place that distils the ouzo and raki (and I have a large metal canister sitting on the shelf waiting for a cold evening in December when I can open it and remember beautiful warm Greek summer evenings). We also tried the restaurant (Platia Iroon) in Psiri that you recommended, the one owned by the musical Leonard Cohen fan. He said to tell you that he gets lots of customers through your website. We also found a wonderful restaurant in Argostoli, which you probably won't have heard of as it has only been open two months.I can't remember the name but I'll mail you later. Thanks again for helping to make a very memorable holiday Yours, Nigel Urry I have dreamed of going to greece since I was a child, after reading wonderfoul myths and stories from greek hystory. that dream came true few years ago, when I was on excursion with school - we were in athens but also traveled and seen some other important places in greece, such as epidaurus, sounion, mikena..... but athens was something special. those 5 days were so special, the town itself is more than beautifoul, the sent of culture and tradition in the air was amazing.... I personally felt like I was ment to be there, to absorb that something which is the soul of the city.... tonite I lokeed to my 'favorites' and saw 'athens survival guide':) I can see that the page is even better now than when I visited it last time, and I want to thank you for it. all those pictures bring me back to the time of total happines when I was walking down the beautifoul streets with so many cute guys arond.... so I can't wait to go there again!!! and, who knows - maybe I meet you there some day:) all the best, vanja from novi sad, serbia & montenegro Just returned from Greece once again...and your
site was helpful as always..the unification project is
incredible!! no one could tell me if vasilissas olgas avenue
was going to be pedestrian in time for the olympics....read an
article in usa today which state that over 10 miles was to be
pedestrian in time for 2004...do you have any info on this.....and
do you know anything about the new museum..so many conflicting
stories Hi Matt, You probably don't remember me, but I had written you back in 1998/99 time frame. I was going to Greece for my first time to meet my family there. Since then we have all grown close, with lots of phone calls, E-mails and frequent visits. I have to thank you for your web site, as it has been very helpful in giving me many ideas about where to go and what to do everywhere I go. The question that I have for you concerns marriage. I have read your section on getting married in Greece, but I still have some questions. I have been seeing a Greek Woman who lives in Brazil. Her parents immigrated from Greece to Brazil. She has dual citizenship with Brazil and Greece. She has two degrees. One in mechanical engineering, and the other in law. We want to get married in Greece next summer/ fall...after the Olympics in my families village of Kimi on Evia. I need to know what is the best way to proceed with this. I would like to have a church wedding, as we are both orthodox. I also would like to know if , once we are married in Greece, this would allow her to come to the U.S as my wife. I know that the U.S. Government is wary of foreigners getting married only to move to the U.S. This is not a reason, as we have been seeing each other and communicating for two years or more. Any information you could give me would be very helpful. I have to say thank you again for your web site. If I was a tour director, I believe that I could direct many successful tours, just by using your site. I hope to hear from you soon. Oh, and by the way, the last time I was in Athens, I stopped by Brettos ouzouira, and had some of the best ouzo I have ever had. I asked the old man behind the counter if he knew you and he said "Oh yes" and we had quite a conversation. It seems like your as well known in Greece as in the U.S. Write soon, as any arrangements to be made must be made soon I fear. Thanks again for your help. Yassou..................... Yanni Angelis......... Not sure where I am supposed to send this, so I used this
address. Matt, Dear Matt: Hi Matt. My name is Brittney and I live in Ontario, Canada. I just
wanted to say thanks for your webpage! A little while ago I had a
school assignment to plan a trip (our teacher wanted us to learn
how to book flights,etc, although we wouldn't actually Matt We downloaded all your pages re Athens and the Plaka before this years holiday. It was our second on the mainland, i.e peloponese. WE stayed in tolon but alsobooked for Athens for two days and did it all via public transport!!!! The arrangements in Athens were something else but we wouldn't hyave missed it for the world!!!. Have some of Mr Brettos Ouzo and look forward to Christmas day!!! Thanks for the guidance it was brilliant for novices to Athens!!! I've always wanted to see it and now I have Thanks Penny& Kevin Smith Hi, Matt! Mabuhay! I am Paolo, 25 years old from Manila, Philippines. I visited your website and let me tell you how happy I am to be reunited, once again, with my old friend (i.e. Athens). Its been seven years since I last set foot to athens, but I feel like I was strolling yesterday around Pandrossou Street and Omonia, eating Algida and buying "eisiteria" in a "periptero", and most of all listening to the music of...I forgot the name of the instrument played on the streets. Its like a piano but it is played by a pedal-like thing. Gosh, I was surprised to see the Syntagma Station! 7 years ago, I was passing at an old, dark station with no escalators. Honestly, i was really surprised with the big transformation of the Station. Two thumbs up for your site, Matt! Keep it up.
Regards, Matt, I came across your web site (very extensive!) before we traveled to Greece.....It helped us "break out" of the tourist mode a bit. One thing I decided I wanted to see was the central market after you wrote about finding good olives there.....After lots of walking throughout the Plaka and then into the market area, we "stolled" through all the hanging meat (and walked through animal parts of all types on the floor) along with the "fragrant" fish market. Found the olives----but the market wasn't the "farmers market" of Pennsylvania I had envisioned (stalls of vegs, baked goods, cheeses, meats, other products) but it was something a lot of tourists probably don't seek out and see! I think exploring your site more now that we are home from Greece will help us remember what we saw and bring back memories of a great trip throughout the land and islands. Thanks. Kim Dear Matt Barrett, Hi Matt I will be going to Athens, Greece in January for several weeks to
help Dear Matt Barrett: Dear Mr. Barrett, Dear Matt, Matt, thanks so much for all the
time and effort you've put into your web sites. I returned
from Greece Nov. 11, 2003. I had a fantastic trip.
Your Guide was very very useful. Currently I'm
organizing my 100+ pictures together and your site was again the
place to go to get proper names and spellings. One day I
will return. I made some interesting
friends. Dear Matt, Just got back from my first ever trip to Greece.
(Basically Athens for six days.) Though I had purchased
several touring books, printouts from your site quickly became my
"bible" for our trip. Walked our legs off around the city
and made a Metro\Ferry trip to Aegina on our own (with your
guidance). Matt, Matt, Thank you so much for such an informative and helpful guide. Even though we booked a tour vacation to Greece, we used your guide for most of our travels. Laura (you need a new picture of her, my wife and I were arguing if that was her or not) from Byzantino was fantastic (yes we bought), George was a gem that is one of a kind and is an asset to his country. The whole vacation was just wonderful thanks in part to your web page! If we could buy that distillery (Brettos), we would. And yes we brought back some liquor. I think the tourist information place moved again though. We found the one you said moved and it was an empty building with a little sign on it, but no one was home. L Thanks to the generosity of the people and your web site it was still no trouble to find anything. Thank you again, Jason and Elizabeth Kiersh Matt, I just wanted to thank you for all of your references. We had a great week in Greece. The people at the Attalos Hotel were wonderful. The taxi service was great. And, I'm drinking an ouzo from Brettos as I'm sitting here in San Diego writing you right now. Thanks again. Keep doing a great job for all of us. Ken Franklin Hello Matt, Dear Matt - i'm writing you from Skopje, Macedonia - My wife is
posted here I am TOTALLY impressed by your informative, enthusiastic and candid website on Athens. It sums up everything I feel about my favourite city. I have lived here for 10 years and still can't eloquently put into words exactly what it is that I love about this place, but whatever it is, you obviously feel it also. I have an American artist friend who's visiting from an island for a few days and although she's been in Greece for several years, can rarely be dragged away from her painting and her mountain village and knows very little about Athens. She's skeptical, but I've told her to look through your website before she comes. I think that might just do the trick. I'll send a donation to your cause. Keep up the good work. Erika Kenyon (ex-England) Hi, we are two Italian tourists and we just came back from Athens. It was the first time there and thanks to your suggestions we had wonderful meals, we had fun and this mail is just to say to you: many thanks! We will tell to all friends about the site J We also tried to find by ourselves a nice place to go and finally found one: Budos tel. 2103211966 ( Plaka ) with live Greek music, not expensive food, friendly atmosphere in a brand new restaurant do you already know it? Greetings from Italy!!! Barbara and Massimo Dear Matt Just returned from our second Xmas trip to Athens and wanted to say how much we appreciated your website. On both occasions we have had several meals at one of your recommended restaurants called the Diros and have really enjoyed them. This year we had a meal at another place quite close called the Fidias which I would like like to warn you about. The food was great however we were astonished to find that the bill was much more than we had anticipated and we had been overcharged by two meals and we had paid 8 euros for french fries for my grandson which worked out to about 30 cents per chip. On complaining to the manager the bill was reduced by the two meals we had not received but the prices in this place are very high and we certainly will not be eating there again. Once again many thanks for your brilliant site and also a big thanks to your daughter from my grandsons. Beverley Pembridge Dear Matt, I'm sure I wont be saying anything that hasn't already been said and I know my story is a little postponed but here goes. I went to Athens a year ago to build a planetarium dome for the Eugenides foundation.Thats right,I build planetarium domes.You know..the place you take kids to see movies about the stars or constellations or just plain movies on a big round dome that totally surrounds you.(I'm sure you always wondered who built those things).I was there for about 2 1/2 months and luckily I found your website before I went.I cannot stress enough to anyone who has never been there that your site is not only the best step by step city travel site I've ever seen for ANY city but that if you dont read Matts site and heed what it says you might just find yourself in deep trouble.By trouble I mean spending alot of money needlessly,dealing with some unsavory characters i.e. the malaka cab drivers or even having an actual boring time.Just read Matts site and if you dont follow it at least keep some of the things you read on the site in your mind.It is really a great help.Thanks Matt,and if you get a chance take your family and see a show at the planetarium, kids usually love it. Thanks again, Ian Carper International Planetarium Dome Installation Supervisor Dear Matt Ive just returned from a few days in Athens as a surprise birthday present for my wife. Weve had family holidays on Corfu, Rhodes, Kos , and Zakynthos but this was our first visit to Athens, and the first time to Greece without our children (thanks to the Grandparents!). I discovered your guide a couple of weeks before departure so had plenty of time to absorb your advice, and it was time well spent many thanks for an excellent web site! We were bowled over by the hospitality shown at places such as Ouzeri Kouklis , Plaka restaurant, and (although we didnt even buy anything) the lady at Byzantino jewelers helped us from getting lost on our first day. I should add that we have had the rare pleasure of experiencing Athens in the snow indeed our flight in on Saturday 14 th was delayed because of snow-blocked runways. Unfortunately that meant that George the Famous Taxi driver missed picking us up, his wife and George both phoned the airport to be told that the flight from the UK was cancelled, so he was very apologetic when I phoned him from the airport when we arrived. It was not a good idea for George to venture out into the snow drifts to fetch us (we didnt expect him to) so we never got the chance to meet him. Apart from Sunday (bright but snowy I can email photos if of interest) the weather was pretty cold and grey, but we still had a great time. We were booked into the Acropolis Select hotel on Falirou but due to the snow our room was still occupied by stranded passengers so were were upgraded to the Divani Acropolis on Parthenonos St instead. A bit of a typical upper standard business class hotel so not very atmospheric, but high standard and lovely staff the guys serving cocktails in the Pericles bar were great, and the basement souvenir shop actually was pretty good value for money, undercutting the Plaka shops for official Athens 2004 Olympics merchandise. On that theme, we took a ride on the Metro to see the construction site Ill be amazed and impressed if our Greek friends really have it all finished in time! Only regret was not up early enough to go to the English language service you mention on Sunday morning, though on Tuesday I noticed that there was a Greek Evangelical church on Amalias near Hadrians Arch that proclaimed simultaneous English translation according to the board outside. Thanks once again, Steve & Anne Mr. Barrett, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for some great recommendations I took from your Athens Guide website. The Attalos Hotel inAthenswas exactly what we were looking for. The Platia Iroon was superb; we went back for more our second night inAthens. I showed them the page of your guide where you talked about their restaurant and they were ecstatic. Your walking guide of the Acropolis had me and my two traveling companions chuckling all the way. So thank you very much for taking the time to share your insight onAthens. We also spent a few days in Santorini and I want to plug our hotel and the best meal we had while we were in Greece . Uranos Traditional Houses in Imerovigli was the perfect place for us to stay. At a mere 70 euros a night we had what I believe to be the best apartment, the best view, and the best hostess (Dora rocks!) in all of Santorini. Our meal at the Katina Fish Tavern in Amoudi was also out of this world. The immense sea bass we ordered fed the 6 of us to capacity, and there was plenty left over, and all of the other goodies they served us were equally tasty. When we hesitated ordering the fish because we though it was a bit expensive the owner said we could all drink for free (I dont think he realized what he was getting himself into, but he never complained once). Anyway, suffice to say it was a meal for the books. OK, thats all for now. It was a short trip toGreece (we live in Saudi so it was a close jaunt) and my first, but I will certainly be back. Thanks again for your tips. Alexa G Matt,
Don't know whether or not I'll
find my way to Athens ... am looking at possible theatre
work there ... but regardless your site is a gift ...
thank you! Hi Matt! I'm Vandana from London... At the moment I'm completing a piece of databases coursework for my degree - making a booking system for tourists, it's based completely on Athens. I've found your site a brilliant resource, and I did not have get any more information from a multitude of sites as there were on your one site!! Thanks again! Kind regards, Vandana Sood Greetings friend, im a greek canadian and am happy to Hello, I have been perusing your Greece site, and I love it. I did click on the Cemetary photos, and the poetry that went along with it was quite moving. I would think that this would be interesting to see. Thanks for the great Greece tips, i'll need it, i am hoping to get there in August as an Olympic volunteer from Canada. Lynn Waller~Cookie Diva I just want to say thankyou for your site if it wasn't for your site, i wouldn't have had a lot of help for my school project on Athens [Greece] your site had a lot of useful info and everything i need! i just wanted you to know i appreciated your site and keep doing what you do! good luck for the future -courtney Dear Matt, I have just returned from my first week in Athens (not Greece, went to Corfu several times in the 70's having read 'My Family and other Animals' at school!) Thankyou for a wonderful website I am suffering from post-Athens cold-turkey and can look at it from time to time to keep me going until the next visit. Spent Easter there so it was amazingly quiet for much of the week, stayed in the Herodion Hotel (nicknamed Heroin by my teenage, slightly dyslexic, son) after a surprise upgrade due to ours being full, so felt we were really near some of the best bits. Couldn't keep away from the 'blue and white village' under the Acrop. My reaction to the street people is similar to yours, and the dogs and cats, live and let live. Without them Athens would not be what it is. The Plaka photgrapher is now on my kitchen wall, having seen him several times during the week I now feel sad that we didn't use his services. Where does he live? He look like a retired teacher. Have you seen the man outside the Acropolis who gives impromtu history lessons to anyone who will listen, in what seems to be any language? I imagined that he was a failed university lecturer! He carries a blue plastic bag full of baguette and hugs the people he has talked to when they leave him. He has a sun-drenched face and is not very old. If you see him why not put him on the web-site. Funnily enough I met a man just like him in Prague, not so sun-drenched obviously! Thanks again, keep up the good work. Penny (primary school teacher in the wilds of Suffolk, England) Omygod! What a great site! And I'm not even going to Athens. My brother and his wife and son and son's girlfriend are - next week. I'm going to email them and tell them they have to check out your website. Love your recommendations and humor. Right up their alley. Thanks! suzi Thank you for your reply, I have come back from Greece, it is a fantastic place, I had a really good time there, and came across many friends there. Based on your information, I am really feel ease there, thank your for all your effort and good luck!
Sincerely Shirley My daughter, a crew member of Hola Airlines, Pilar Goffa, stayed at the Hotel Armonia in Athens, and was very pleased in all ways regarding the Hotel. The very efficient staff, the delicious food, very clean. A privilege site. I also like to thank you very much for helping me get the e.mail address from Hotel Armonia, I have been able to send mails to my daughter instead of the very expensive phone calls. Many kind regards from Aline and Pilar Dear Matt, Kalimera:
Just wanted to send a note of thanks for sharing the wealth and insight of your travels. We toured the streets of Plaka, visited the Byzantino Jewelry Store, and stopped off at numerous coffee shops and restaurants as recommended in your guide. I'm into scavenging on a tight schedule with two nights and three days in Athens the pages I downloaded from your site accompanied us as we wandered the streets. The English speaking tour guide at the Acropolis made our experience unforgettable. As first timers to Athens we did all right thanks to research and guidance from an experienced traveler... best regards, LLD Matt- Your online guide to Athens is mind blowingly awesome! It has been far more helpful than the stack of travel books on my night stand. Where have you been for my entire travel life? Do you have any other sites on other locations? -Jenn in Redlands, California Hi Matt, We used your site three years ago to plan a ten day trip to Mykonos and Athens with our newborn son. We loved our trip so much, more than anything because of all the wonderful tips we got from your site, that we are scrambling to organize another last minute trip this August. I just thought you would like to know how much we appreciate all your hard work, and that you made hellophiles out of one American and one Italian. Everyone is always so surprised when we name Athens as one of our favorite cities, but with your wonderful guide to the Plaka we spent a fabulous four days there. We had a hotel problem, but the lady (Wanda?) over at the travel agency (was it Dolphin?, I can't remember) came down personally to the hotel and, after much shouting and gesticulating, a room magically appeared for us. It was great. This time we are hoping to use the sailing company you recommend. Rebecca Just reading through, and dont want to stop! Im making the trip in September to watch my husband compete in the Paralympic games. Keep up the wonderful writing, research and sharing of your passion for this wonderful place! My favorite thing so far is the list of gifts to buy for all the people back home WONDERFUL! Im so excited for this trip, youre an angel! Thx! Kim Rasmussen Hi Matt, Back during Greek Easter my husband, aunt and I spent two weeks in Greece, one in Athens and the other on a cruise to surrounding islands. You gave me some good recommendations for restaurants and for George the Taxi Driver. I wanted to thank you for answering my questions and for providing such a great service with your site. There were several things, such as going to the top of Mt. Lykavittos, I probably would not have done. I enjoyed my trip IMMENSELY and hope to return in the near future. Thanks so much again! Andrea D'Aria Hi Matt, I cannot tell you how great your website has been, and I cant wait go go to Greece at the end of the month. I was wondering is it possible to take the new " metro" from the airport to say the Glyfada area of athens and grab a taxi from there? or would you just reccomend taking a taxi from the airport to our destination . Thanks you so much for you time and the Amazing web site, if has been more useful than all 3 travel books I have purchased. Gretchen Kalogeras I am one of the many excited fans of these Olympics and I enjoyed reading your site I found it very easy to read with a lot of information (history, facts etc). Congratulations on providing a clear picture of how when and what is expected from an interested traveler. My wish is that the hope we are all looking for will come out from these Olympics and bring the world together again in these scary times that we are living in. Please keep up the good work, An Olympic fan. Matt, As a fellow Rebeti -in-Exile, I am writing to say how much I enjoy your Athens Survival Guide webpage. Great Job! You really know Athens better than my relative there! Regards, Tom Matt - Your website for Greece is amazing! I love it. I think I read or have printed almost every page! I leave for Greece for the Olympics in a week and a half, and I know this will be helpful information. Thanks! Janet Dear Matt Matt, Hi my family and i are from new zealand and we leave for greece tommorrow. My husband is in the olympic's. Just want to say a very big thank you for your wonderful survival guide. It has helped us with alot of information and has put i know my mind at ease. I'm taking my son and i feel alot more comfortable knowing that there will be great food and activities and many other things that will help his trip be better. Thanks again. Really appreciate all your advice and tips. I'm even more excited now and am looking forward to an excellent trip. Thank you T. Winitana I'd like to thank you for providing an absolutely fantastic guide. I will be in Athens for three days only for the Olympics and wanted to get the most out of those three days.
I have now planned my trip down the to finest detail,
thanks mainly to your wonderful site. I'll let you know
how I get on! Hello Mr. Matt Barett, I just wanted to personally thank you, along with all the various online information presenters associated with you and others, for all the time and effort you put into your online travel guides. Thanks to your guides my time in the Athens area went smoothly and was much more predictible. Thank you once, again, i read most of your guide before i visited Greece and was glad that i did!!
Yours,
Hello just got back from 4 days in Athens. We used your
guide and found it really helpfull. When we visited the
Plaka Restaurant they saw the guide and the picture from
it, The owner was very pleased and insisted that he would
decide what we would eat and promptly took away the menu,
his choice was absolutely delicious, the best meal of our
time away, thanks again. Dear Matt, Sent an email last nite, continued reading your website and decided winter maybe Christmas was the time for me to go....had great laughs at your Christmas that wasn't story. You had me chuckling mightily cuz' that's my feeling about air travel exactly. Thoughts of impending doom every time I get on a plane. Sat down this morning with coffee in hand to read my latest copy of Harpers and went to the classified section and what did I find but your ad in the travel & tourism section. Now, I think that is what I would call serendipity and thought I would again contact you about Greece travel for sure. Live in Prescott, Arizona weather is spectacular this year couldn't find a better place but need a real, real change of perspective and again want to find my roots. As I mentioned in my first email... father was Harry George Eliades his father Polycrates and my grandmother was originally Mary Tragedis from Bournabout(sp?) Turkey. I will no doubt be travelling alone. Thanks for your articles so interesting and exceptionally ( pardon the expression, almost anally complete)! Nanci H (aka Eliades) Hi Matt, I came across your website whilst looking for information for my son's school project on Athens. IT IS FANTASTIC!!! I showed my husband, we spent a long time looking at everything on this site and WOW, we now are saving to go for a trip to Athens, thank you. Your dedication to this site and your love for Greece and Athens is so obvious. WELL DONE!!! I think every travel agent here in Australia needs to know about this site. Thank you again, Karen G Hello Mr. Barrett, Dear Mr. Barret: I find your information very useful. I wished I have read this information before my first trip to Athens on April 2004. I am reading all the valuable information about Athens.Congratulations what a magnificent work you have done..Have you published this information on a book-guide travel to Athens?. I would like to know about it. Again let me congratulate you and wish you a lot of
success on your future. I will transfer this infomation to
my friends who want to travel to Athens. My name is Adrijana and I am from Croatia, I just want to say how much I like your site and that it is very interesting an helpfull !!
Greece is my love, two days ago I have returned from Athens, that was my fourth time that I was visiting Greece (started in 2003).
I hope that one day I will also have chance to live in Greece.... I really hope....
I wish you to continue with this site!!! Hi again Matt Dear Matt, You help me keep my sanity as I sit in Montana and yearn to return to Greece. I visit your site at least once a week. And we're just completing the renovation of our kitchen into a taverna -- blue, white, a poster print of my best shot of the Acropolis from the Hill of the Muses, and one print my son took of his pizza at the Byzantino. We were there in March 2004 during the Olympic preparations. Although we were aware of the skepticism over the completion, after meeting the Hellenes we had no doubt it would be done and be fabulous. Thanks for your Olympics page. I'd been wanting an insider's view. Bonnie BZ Every time I read your guide information about Athens I find more interesting places that i wished visit them when I was there for only a week on my trip to Athens..I am recommending this "website" to all my friends who are going to visit Athens. CONGRATULATIONS..You have made an EXCELLENT WORK. Sara M Thank you for your wonderful website of Athens. I found it while taking a break from work well, a really long break. You gave an excellent tour of the city through the pictures and humorous and informational comments. Ive only spent an hour and a half on the site so far but I felt like I had to write and tell you how much Ive enjoyed it so far. I should go back to work now, but I will be coming back for more tours later. Alec my boyfriend is in athens (destined for corfu) and i miss him terribly, but i came across your awesome site and now i have a much better picture of where he is, what he's seeing, and i can now picture him in the markets and plazas and cafes. thanks so much and good luck with the site! best, shannon Matt: I literally stumbled across your website this afternoon and love it. I lived in Greece for a year in the late 1970s (taught at Athens College in Psychiko immediately after graduating from college) and traveled extensively throughout the country, in the days when a young American could still do so on $10 a day, pretty comfortably. It was a life-transforming experience, and I think I had something of the same kind of "hard landing" when I returned to the states after living in Greece -- it took me a number of years to re-acculturate. After the experience of immersion in Greek life, I'm still not happy about a lot of the American values we take for granted. I'm delighted to see pictures of Athens on your page that show a city much improved from a quarter-century ago. At the time (this was 4-5 years after the fall of the Colonels) I found it really took a lot of work to enjoy it. I will certainly go back to your site frequently to enjoy it, and hope to return to visit the country (the last time was 1980 I'm sorry to say, although I keep up my Greek a bit on a monthly basis with my barber). In the meantime I would love to be on e-mail distribution for your newsletter and will keep an eye out for your guidebook. I also read wistfully in the Athens News column of your prescriptions for the city if you were mayor -- your ideas are right on. Sto kalo
John H Hi Matt, Hello. My wife and just returned from 8 days in Greece, 3 on
Mykonos, I am flying to greece in 6 days... staying for 3 weeks and found your site to be VERY VERY informative and helpful. WOW! A great resource... added it to my "favorites" to read through more in the next 6 days! thanks for all the info -val Dear Matt, Your website rocks and we think your daughter and your stories are adorable. We are a bunch of confused, lost, and poor college students visiting Greece and trying to get to Aegina. We didn't have much time to plan so detailed sites such as your's helped tremedously(and we don't feel so stupid). Thanks so much. Students from University of California Dear Matt, Hello Vicky; This is Maritza Avendano. My daughter Melissa and I wanted to thank you for the package that you prepared for us when we were there last month (the 4 of Oct) I am sorry we took this long to thank you but we want you to know that we enjoyed our trip very much. We will come to see you again next time we are in Greece.
Thanks again , My whirlwind trip to Athens was great. Thanks so much for your suggestion about the Attalos Hotel and George the Famous Taxi Driver. Nancy E
Hi
Shalom! Somewhere in the Athens Survival Guide, ( proven to be the most helpful of all pages I read prior to traveling), you mentioned an old man from Plaka who would not be photographed. Well, I got him, sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarrette. The photo has not been developed yet, but it will this week. If you are interested, I will be glad to furnish it to you for publication, just give me the credit that I took it. Let me know. And, I am not sure if you mention a restaurant in Plaka named Taverna Byzantina...OUtstanding food for very cheap price. Best wine, plenty of food, lots of choice and taste so wonderful you hated to finish your dinner. Thanks Matt. Frank A Miami, Florida Matt I am going to Chania, Crete in March after spending New Year in Athens - I will then be going back to Athens to teach and be with my boyfriend Thanasis who is from Chalkida, Evia. I looked at your pictures of Athens to give me a feel of what the place is like - they are incredible and I loved looking at them - I have since been back to your sight a few times and have gone through them whilst on a quiet night shift - Well done, I think the web sight is excellent .
Aimee G Hello Matt, My husband and I just returned from a trip to Athens and wanted to tell you that your survival guide was great! We printed out many of the pages and carried them with us as we explored the city. We spent so much time on your website that Athens felt familiar to us. I've got a great pair of sandals - thanks to your note about Melissinos moving from 89 Pondrossou we found it without difficulty and we were treated like family at Plaka Tavern when they spotted the print out I was carrying from your website. (I think they owe you a fruit plate!) You were absolutely right about the ouzo at Brettos, too. We came home with three of the metal containers and now are sorry we didn't get more. Thank you so much for helping to make this a great trip. We can't wait to go back! Gail Where on earth are you from? Why did I just find you alien? Your site is superb. Iam an Australian Greek now living in Greece and your site has been so helpfull, you do not understand. You need to get this to become the offical tourist site of Greece, but getting things done here - forget it. Great siet and info. Thanks Kerry K Hi Matt. My name is Oscar Montes from Mexico. I got a schlarship to study in France lst year and had the chance to wander around in Europe. I do consider myself a lucky man since not everyone in Mexico has this opportunity that often. I visited many places in France and other countries such as England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and of course, Greece. I must say Athens stole my heart. Maybe because it reminded me a little of home, maybe because I fell infatuated with it, don't know yet. I really loved you r site since it shows the real Athens, the real people who live and dwell there. I loved the metro pictures and those of people. I am working on my website now, would be glad if you could visit it someday. Take care and congratulations. I amplanning to go back to Athens or other city in Greece (just visited small cities around Athens) to stay there for a while and learn the language. Good luck. I recently took a trip to Greece with my mother and daughter and, luckily for us, found your "Athens Guide" site a couple of weeks before we took off. Kudos for the great information presented in a down-to-earth easy to read format. We managed to find the Byzantino Restaurant in the Plaka and had a fabulous meal per your recommendation. We also contacted George the Taxi Driver for a day trip to Delphi. We didn't get to meet George, but our driver, Christos, was kind, easy-going and very helpful - what a wonderful day (and a very comfortable taxi ride)! We travel quite a bit (Africa, London and now Greece in one year), and I wish there were more sites out there like yours to pave the way. Again, thank you for the great information and if you'd like to view the web site I made of our trip, you can find it at http://home.earthlink.net/~ashleyfogarty/. I've also put in a few links to your "Athens Guide" web site. Feel free to add any of this information to your testimonials and Thanks Again! Sandra J. Dear Matt, I would like to thank you for the invaluable information you gave on your website. My wife and I followed it to a T. Your advice of restaurant 'Thanasis' and 'Ihogram 'for music was fantastic. I bought an album of Haris Alexiou for 16:95 euros which cost 27:95 in other places. and the sheer range was unbelievable. Who would believe that a shop tucked away in a side street could have such a wide range of Greek music. I made it a point to tell the staff that you had recommended the shop. Thanks once again. I would advise all travellers to Athens to first take a look at this website before doing anything else.
Regards, Dear Matt Barret Matt, HI, We just got back from our trip to Athens. Thank you so much for your Athens survival guide. I spent many hours looking at your site and found the information so useful. Now that we are home, it is such fun to look at the photos and remember all the wonderful things we saw and did while we were there. I am going to keep your site bookmarked on my computer so I can go back and look at it whenever I feel lonely for Athens. Sincerely Laura M Hi Matt, my husband, Richard, and I have just returned from a long
weekend Hi Matt, Dear Matt, Iuliana Hey Matt ....... My wife and I just got back from Greece (our first time there). I got a real kick out of your "survival guide" website and printed off a pile of interesting stuff, ie: sites to see, places to eat, what to eat and how to say it. and lots of other stuff about 1/2" thick. Fortunately I had an opportunity to read through it on the 7hr first leg from Toronto to Frankfurt. I say fortunately as we misplaced it in the Frankfurt airport. I thought it would be a real kick if you heard from someone who may have found it and was able to use it as I was some upset that I had misplaced it. Anyway... not much time tonight but had a great time, stayed in Athens, went to Hydra and went for a quick dip down from the Sunset rsetaraunt then drove and ferried to Porosnd ate some Octopuss YUCK!, had numerous meals at the Plaka area (great fun) and caught that great Greek meat restaraunt that you refered to on the way to the airport, can't remember the name but had a great time and took in most of the popular sightseeing places. Took a few days to warm up to the place, then did'nt want to leave. Would like to go back sometime soon but take the kids next time.
I really like the Ouzo
too! Merv I have been traveling to Greece nearly every year since 1976. I was just researching info for a colleague...and found your site. All I can say is "wow!" What an incredible resource for visitors! I found things I'd never know, places I want to see...on just about every page! P.S. My favorite Souvlaki stand is on Mitropolis...on the right side, immediately as you head up from the Metro station. It has 2-level seating...plus outdoor seating. I never did know the name of it. I like the souvlaki plates vs. the sandwiches! Shirley Hi Matt, I just got back from Greece. Stayed mainly in Athens no time for the islands unfortunately. Had a nice time despite Delta losing our luggage and everything being closed due to the Easter holiday. The car service you recommended was very nice (met little George on my departing trip). Also stopped off at Byzantine. Bought a ring directly from Kostas who was very amicable and gave us a great deal (even though he grumbled a bit about taking such a huge profit cut what can I say? My boyfriend is a great negotiator!). - Karin i loved this page, after living in athens for 12 years[now back home]. it brought alot of happy memories back. thanks Dear Mr Barrett Matt, Thanks for the advice. I would like to take you and your wife to lunch Just got back from a few days in Athens and a week on Kefalonia-all absolutely amazing! Because we had only 3 days in Athens, I searched the net fanatically, trying to plan as much as I could in those days. We used your guide so much, and were thrilled that we did! The best tips were Byzantino restaurant, Brettos, and especially Cine Paris. In the first place, I would never have thought to go to the movies on vacation, and from the front, it looks like the movies are either in French or Greek. We went in anyway, solely based on your review, and couldn't believe what a great experience it was! To sit above the Plaka in the open air, watch a great movie (in English-we saw "The Island") have a cocktail, and look to our left occasionally at the Acropolis, was a unique and wonderful experience we will never forget. Your have our eternal gratitude! Lisa & Martin Hello,
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