Actually went to Crete in 2019 and I had a blast. +1 to Wookie’s impression that driving in Greece is fucking crazy. Also, there’s definitely an obvious catering to tourists and the fakeness that goes with that. I typically tried stay away from a few of the busier touristy attractions to avoid that.
Plaka Beach on the eastern side of the island not too long after sunrise on day 1
Balos Beach from the view on the hike down to it. It was prob a 2-3km hike down then back up at the end of the day. They do have a ferry that goes there, but we had a car and it’s more fun to explore on our own.
You’re saying exclusively in Athens for 16 days? That’s a long time.
I enjoyed a lot of the museums, history and food. Didn’t do any day trips from there though. Overall, you’ll have a good time but that’s a long time.
Guess I’ll go against the grain and say that I liked Crete. Not the kind of place where you enjoy the beach though. There are other islands that are way better for that.
I won’t be in Athens for 16 days. I’ll likely stay there a few days at the beginning, travel somewhere, and come back for a few days at the end, but am looking for other sites to see/islands to visit in that middle section of time.
I enjoyed Crete a lot as well. The food was really good imo, not like Michelin star good, but it was quality local ingredients that had great flavor for a cheap price + house wine. I actually thought it was a great place relax on the beach since there were tons of lesser known beaches that weren’t overrun with people, along with the overrun Balos example from above.
The regular seats on Spirit are tiny and the big front seats are a pretty big improvement. If it’s a 3.5-4hr cross country flight it’s probably worth it if they have any issues where being crammed into a smaller seat for that long would flare up.
I had 4 spirit flights this month of ~1 hour which is fine but 4 hours could be a disaster. If you have open seats next to you i don’t really care about seat size so it depends on how crowded you think the flight might be
Been in Sofia for less than two hours and have been asked by two people in unrelated situations to switch to Spanish from English.
Not saying it’d be easier to get around Bulgaria in Spanish compared to English but it wouldn’t be impossible in the major cities. I think Spanish might work as a backup in occasional spots
Unless you really like the beach, I recommend skipping on Varna or Burgas and sticking with Sofia and Plovdiv.
Plovdiv really surprised me. It might be close to Sofia but they are extremely different places. Totally different vibes but both cool in their own way.
Thing is that the best stuff tends to be far away from cities even if there’s plenty good in them. So you either need to rent a car, come with a group large enough to make a private tour guide cost-effective, or suck it up and go on packaged day trips. Would’ve enjoyed Bulgaria more if I had a driver’s license and didn’t travel alone.
Not sure I’d go out of my way to go to Bulgaria if I lived in America but if you want to hit up the Balkans beyond Greece, you can’t skip on either Sofia or Plovdiv.
Tomorrow, got a day trip and then I’m back to Prague.
I’ve been selfishly hoping that the CDC would change the requirement that all travelers entering the United States show a negative COVID test before I travel to Europe. It’s an order from January that hasn’t been updated since vaccination has become a thing. I guess I’m going to have to figure out how to get a COVID test in Barcelona. Any tips from those that have flown back to the US with this COVID test requirement? It seems like an at-home test isn’t good enough and that I’d have to telehealth someone to verify the result.
Just came back from CDMX. Rapid covid testing in the airport was $35 and came back in under an hour. Barcelona airport is very very likely to have this but double check. They required us to show the negative test to check into the flight.
Our airline ( LOL VivaAeroBus) had an entire webpage with step by step instructions. As always YMMV.
Also you could just do a rapid test anywhere in Barca within 3 days and save the stress. I presume any pharmacy there will likely have it or point you in the right direction.
Yah there will be plenty of places most likely. Flying back from Puerto Vallarta I found a couple clinics offering rapid testing specifically for USA guidelines for $25ish.
