No words can describe our food adventure with Yannis Ninos! He knows so much about Greek culture, food & history! We tasted so many delicious greek foods! He is personable, funny & smart! The food is amazing! The tour of the shops &
Markets very interesting & everyone knew & loved him! I recommend!
Not only did George guide us through the most amazing food tour with savory delicacies and local favorites of his, he also educated us on great tips on selecting olive oils, best places for food, sweets, etc. but also great cooking tips since he was a chef and came in handy since my husband loves to cook. Better than we expected and had the best guide!
We booked private 4 hour tour to get an immersive look at history and temples atop Acropolis. Our guide Zakia met us at 9 am and we spent 2 hours exploring the architecture and the temples of the Acropolis before moving onto the superb museum where the ancient artifacts are laid out really well and just fascinating. Zakia was friendly individual really passionate and knowledgeable about different periods of ancient Greek history, architecture, art, culture, gods and myths. We spent just over 4 hours all together but came away with a really tremendous view of ancient Athens and its place and role in western thought and history. Expensive but worth it particularly as our guide Zakia made it so interesting.
We are so grateful we were assigned as our tour guide Nota, a brilliant, young, engaging, friendly, extremely erudite archeologist who speaks English, French and of course Greek. Our heads are still spinning (in a positive way) from the amount of knowledge she imparted during our family’s private day tour of the Acropolis, it’s museum (could have spent a whole day there), the Agora, a walk through the Plaka and a quick but fun car ride in the city. Really, this woman knows so much about every period of Ancient Greece — it’s architecture; politics; culture; family life; gods; art, etc etc. The tour wasn’t inexpensive, but because of Nota it was well worth it.
My family spent 5 hours with George and he delivered an authentic and educational tour of Athens from a chef's perspective. Trained as a biologist and from a medical family, George decided he wanted to become a chef and now he is loving life. Think of a young and handsome Greek Anthony Bourdain - he teaches you about the food through the history and culture of Athens. We were six people including a child with Celiac disease. When we did the olive oil tasting with fresh Greek bread, he brought my daughter six little spoons so she could have the whole experience with the rest of us. He is fluent in English and knows the entire history of Greece from ancient times to modern days. You won't get the romantic version, he is brutally honest and his frank honesty is refreshing in a politically correct world. One important point - he does not make a commission from the proprietors on the places he takes you. You're seeing the best of Athens. He doesn't stick to a planned tour. He will take you on detours based on what you are interested in - like for us buying high end olive oils and other Greek culinary delights. He made our local dinner reservations, wrote down wines to order at dinner, and warned us about all the tourist traps in Athens. This is a MUST DO activity for your vacation in Athens. Ask for George!
