Greece 2012: All Inclusive, Except My Itinerary

Everything is already arranged. A hotel in Halkidiki, excursions, a bus to the airport, a flight back to Ukraine. My first trip abroad. Apparently, all I have to do is eat on time, relax and not get lost somewhere between the two.

And then a small problem emerges: I want to decide for myself where to go.

The hotel is good. Greece is beautiful. I don't even have any complaints about the excursions. But I do have a few questions about my itinerary. Especially the part where I'm supposed to go home.

A Package Tourist with Ideas of His Own

In Halkidiki, everything is set up for a relaxing holiday. All inclusive. Sleep, eat, go somewhere, come back to the hotel. We go to Thessaloniki and visit other places too. You don't have to organise a thing: someone has already done it for you.

For a while, I make diligent use of all the benefits. And then I get bored.

Not because I'm having a bad time. Quite the opposite. I just want to do more than choose which ready-made excursion to take. I want to decide what to do next in the first place. On my very first holiday abroad, a little tour operator of my own has unexpectedly woken up inside me. And he's no longer entirely on board with the programme.

But first, the things I'm very grateful to that programme for.

Meteora: Monasteries with a Good View

On 29 July, we leave the hotel for a day trip to Meteora.

Enormous pillars of rock, greenery between them, a valley far below. And monasteries standing on top of the cliffs. You look at the rock, then at the buildings up there, then back at the rock. How does anyone even choose a place like that?

They certainly got the view right.

One cliff after another rises above the valley. Against them, the monasteries look quite small. The rock has clearly been given the leading role here; architecture gets the highest points. And they look so beautiful together.

I sit on a white parapet and we take photographs. Behind me are cliffs and a monastery, with a green valley below. I'm wearing a blue striped T-shirt and looking thoroughly pleased. And why wouldn't I? With a backdrop like this, you hardly have to make an effort. Just try not to block all of Meteora with yourself :)

I absolutely love it here. The place looks unreal. You can spend ages talking about beautiful cliffs somewhere, but here they've put monasteries on top of them too. And it's all right in front of you, not a picture in someone else's story.

After that, it feels almost rude to complain about the package holiday. The package has done its job brilliantly. My issue is with something else entirely.

Athos from the Deck

On 31 July, we sail along Athos on a wooden boat. It has that pleasant old-world charm: wood, ropes, a deck. I don't know how historic the boat itself is, but it looks just right for this kind of outing.

I'm holding a rope with one hand and shading my eyes from the sun with the other. There's a Greek flag beside me and blue water all around. The photograph looks almost captain-like. Good thing I don't have to steer the boat for it.

There's a monastery on the shore. The buildings descend towards the sea, with steep green slopes rising above them. We look at it all from the water. I don't go ashore; my introduction to Athos takes place on deck.

Athos occupies the easternmost of Halkidiki's three peninsulas. Its monastic tradition goes back more than a thousand years: the first charter was signed in 972, and twenty monasteries form a self-governing community.

It's a very important place for our culture. And seeing it like this, from the sea, feels wonderful. A wooden boat, water, monasteries on the slopes. Here, you want to study the shore, not look for something to keep yourself occupied.

So there we are: wonderful excursions, a good hotel. Everything included. Except my willingness to go home on schedule.

A Return Ticket, but No Desire to Use It

The plan is to take me to the airport, and from there I'm supposed to fly to Ukraine. Everything is ready. All that's left is to agree with my own ticket.

Instead, I cancel the planned return and fly to Athens.

Now that feels completely different. We decide for ourselves where to go, how to get there and what comes next. You can have no idea where you'll be tomorrow and not rush to fix the situation. I like the situation.

Now we'll have to organise everything ourselves. Nobody has planned the next part of the trip for us. But we can make it whatever we want. And even change our minds if we want something else.

My first holiday abroad is clearly outgrowing the package. The package can be considered used up. Not me, though.

Athens without Much of an Agenda

On 3–4 August, we walk around Athens. No grand plan: see the city, make our way to the famous places, take photographs. After deciding not to go home, even the walk itself feels different. We're here because we chose to come.

Outside parliament, we watch the changing of the guard. I stand beside a guard for a photograph. He's in uniform; I'm in my blue striped T-shirt again. We each have our own dress code, and so far mine is more convenient for travelling.

We climb up to the Acropolis. Columns, blocks of stone, blue sky. By the Erechtheion, I look at the building and have my photograph taken among the stones. There's plenty to see both up close and from a distance: step back a little and you have a completely different angle.

Beyond the stone theatre, with its semicircular rows and arches, you can see modern Athens. The city is densely built, with houses stretching far into the distance. Ancient structures in the foreground, ordinary present-day life behind them. You don't have to make a separate journey to move from one to the other.

I look at the tall ancient columns against the sky. You can take a lot of photographs of these columns, the stones and the city below. Which is exactly what we do. The architecture is patient. It's not going anywhere.

We reach the Panathenaic Stadium. This is where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896. I'm standing beside the marble stands. For my introduction to the stadium, getting here and having a photograph taken is enough for now. I'm not attempting any Olympic qualifying standards today.

And then there's a hotel with lovely views, a pool, evenings with Greek music, Greek salads. After walking among all that stone, you can lean against the edge of the pool and simply be a happy holidaymaker. Having your own itinerary doesn't oblige you to give up comfort.

It's all very pleasant. Especially knowing that, under the original plan, this part of the trip wasn't supposed to happen at all. I was meant to be flying home. Instead, I'm walking around Athens, listening to Greek music and thinking about where else to go.

A Day on Aegina

On the morning of 5 August, we cross from Athens to Aegina by boat. An island, the sea, another little adventure. We hire a local driver and ask him to show us some beautiful places. That's quite enough of a plan for the day.

We drive around the island, taking it in. From up high, you can see trees, houses and the sea beyond. It turns out to be exactly the sort of place we wanted to leave the city for.

Aegina has a substantial biography of its own. In antiquity, it was an important city-state, and in 1828 the island became the temporary capital of the new Greek state. Ioannis Kapodistrias's government was based here. A respectable amount of history for a little day trip.

But right now, what I like most is the sea view.

We stop among the rocks, beside a stone table, and spend two or three hours here. Greenery and houses below, water beyond them. Pure Mediterranean beauty. A very romantic place, where you don't feel like inventing a busier programme for yourself.

In Halkidiki, a quiet holiday wasn't enough for me. Here, I can spend several hours in no hurry to go anywhere, and I'm perfectly happy. It turns out the point isn't to be constantly running somewhere.

Then we head back. One outing, one island, a few hours with a beautiful view. That's enough.

A Good Option and My Option

Halkidiki was good. A good hotel, peace and quiet, everything organised. Meteora was wonderful, and I really liked Athos too. I wasn't escaping a bad holiday.

And that's exactly why choosing my own way isn't so obvious. If everything had been terrible, the decision would have been easier. But here, one option is good, convenient and already arranged. The other still has to be imagined and organised by me.

I wanted the second one.

Athens, music, salads, walks without much of an agenda, Aegina with its sea and stone table. All of it becomes my reward for deciding to do things my own way. More organising, but more enjoyment too.

This time, I didn't fly home on schedule.

Barcelona is next on the itinerary. It looks as though the schedule will have to shift a little further :)