If you are considering a tour company for a visit to Greece, we highly recommend Athens Insider. They arranged five activities for us, and we enjoyed every one of them. They took excellent care of us, both in preparing for the trip and during the different excursions.
The day trip from Athens to Delphi was excellent. Our driver Yannis was outstanding — we had him as our driver for three days, and we enjoyed our time with him as much as the sites themselves. He was a careful driver, very considerate of us and everyone on the road around us. He helped us to get to know Greece and appreciate the warmth and hospitality of its people. He added a number of little touches to our trip that made it feel very personal to us.
Delphi is simply amazing. Set halfway up Mt. Parnassus, with stunning views into the valley that have changed little in centuries, Delphi was to the Greeks the center of the world, and has layer upon layer of mythology, art, architecture and history. Our guide Penny helped us make sense of all of it, first taking us through the museum, then showing us the site. That helped us interpret what we were seeing. Penny knew the site intimately, and knew how to put it in context for us, connecting what we saw to history and culture, and making sense of it for us without over simplifying or just giving us a set of “greatest hits” highlights.
We also strongly recommend visiting Greece in November. We were fortunate to enjoy a week with no rain, mild temperatures, and virtually no crowds. To be able to stand in the ampitheater, looking down on the temple of Apollo and off into the distance, with not a sound and barely another person to be seen, made the visit so much more rewarding.
