Travel destination advice: Athens vs. Istanbul

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FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
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I'm taking a trip in 2 weeks or so. So fellas...friends...travel lovers....Athens or Istanbul?

Also: does anyone know if athens or greece is cheape now due to their financial difficulty earlier this year?
 
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gururu2

Senior member
Oct 14, 2007
686
1
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Athens was dirty, full of graffiti, and smelly. Everything was really expensive in spite of economy. Travel using the metro was great. Hotel was great (Hotel Centrotel). Food not so great and overpriced. Hard to find good places to eat. Parthenon was not impressive. Archaelogy museum was lacking. Very sad, hard to embrace the majesty that was once Greece.

Istanbul was clean and beautiful. Everything was incredibly cheap, about half the price of Athens. Everything is in walking distance, although metro is provided. Hotel was great, best service we ever experienced (Hotel Sapphire). Food was awesome everywhere. Archaelogy museum was like its own city...quite incredible. THe city provides ample evidence of its reign during the Ottoman empire.
 
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FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
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gururu2 said:
Athens was dirty, full of graffiti, and smelly. Everything was really expensive in spite of economy. Travel using the metro was great. Hotel was great (Hotel Centrotel). Food not so great and overpriced. Hard to find good places to eat. Parthenon was not impressive. Archaelogy museum was lacking. Very sad, hard to embrace the majesty that was once Greece.

Istanbul was clean and beautiful. Everything was incredibly cheap, about half the price of Athens. Everything is in walking distance, although metro is provided. Hotel was great, best service we ever experienced (Hotel Sapphire). Food was awesome everywhere. Archaelogy museum was like its own city...quite incredible. THe city provides ample evidence of its reign during the Ottoman empire.
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May I ask when you went?
 
IndyColtsFan

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
Good questions OP. I'm interested in going to both of these cities as well, and the first Athens review is a big 'Yikes!"
 
dfuze

dfuze

Lifer
Feb 15, 2006
11,953
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I'm shocked, would have thought Athens would be in better shape than that. For the sake of Athens, hope you're exaggerating because based on history I'd love to go there some day.
 
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DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
12,985
1
81
haven't been to istanbul, but i can tell you not to bother with athens. it is a sh1thole and a ghetto. greece is a developing country with developed world price. f that.
 
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davestar

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2001
1,787
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Istanbul over Athens, no contest. Throw in some Greek Isles and you've got your 2 weeks. This passed May I bounced from Athens to Santorini to Rhodes to Istanbul. If you want further advice about travel in the area, let me know.

Of the major Euro cities I've been to (London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Florence, Lisbon, Porto, Sevilla, Madrid, Bern, Prague, Budapest, Munich, etc), Athens is probably my least favorite. It's certainly better than sitting at home and I'm not completely discounting it, but there's a lot of places worth checking out before Athens.
 
S

Suspicious-Teach8788

Lifer
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
gururu2 said:
Athens was dirty, full of graffiti, and smelly. Everything was really expensive in spite of economy. Travel using the metro was great. Hotel was great (Hotel Centrotel). Food not so great and overpriced. Hard to find good places to eat. Parthenon was not impressive. Archaelogy museum was lacking. Very sad, hard to embrace the majesty that was once Greece.

Istanbul was clean and beautiful. Everything was incredibly cheap, about half the price of Athens. Everything is in walking distance, although metro is provided. Hotel was great, best service we ever experienced (Hotel Sapphire). Food was awesome everywhere. Archaelogy museum was like its own city...quite incredible. THe city provides ample evidence of its reign during the Ottoman empire.
Click to expand...

pretty much what my parents said to me when they went in May. Athens is dirty. Lots of crime too. A bunch of people in their group got pickpocketed
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,398
8,566
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athens can be done in a day. see the parthenon in the morning, go north across the agora to have souvlaki for lunch on mitropoleos street (runs east out of monistiraki square, and remember that the souvlaki sandwich is what you want, otherwise they'll bring the whole plate out and you'll spend a ton), then keep going north to the archeology museum.

istanbul takes 2 to 3 days itself, and should be much cheaper.

if you've got a week i'd do both, though.
 
pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
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Without knowing anything about what to expect in either place, I personally would choose Istanbul (not Constantinople) over Athens.
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,398
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pontifex said:
Without knowing anything about what to expect in either place, I personally would choose Istanbul (not Constantinople) over Athens.
Click to expand...

istanbul isn't a name change it's a thousand years of contraction
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
FearoftheNight said:
Are the greek islands expensive and touristy?
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Only Santorini and Mykonos...to some extent.

We stayed in a pretty nice place in Santorini a few weeks ago and it cost us 130 EUR/night. This being in the best town of the island (Oia) with a hotel that not only had a sea/sunset view but also a swimming pool.

Compare that to a smaller, less-touristy island, and there we pay 55 EUR/night for a place in the main town, right on the beach.
 
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bignateyk

Lifer
Apr 22, 2002
11,288
7
0
Athens was a dirty shithole. I've never been to Istanbul, but it has to be better than Athens.
 
Vonkhan

Vonkhan

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2003
8,198
0
71
Istanbul is beautiful, clean and friendly - the food & the people rock so do the prices.

Athens ... jeebus, u gotta hang onto your wallet while u try not to trip over garbage
 
MotionMan

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,124
12
81
I have been to both cities twice. I agree with Istanbul > Athens for the exact reasons stated above.

Athens was shockingly dirty.

The locals in Istanbul were shockingly nice (except the shopkeepers in the Grand Bazaar, of course).

MotionMan
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
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IndyColtsFan said:
That's the angle I'm trying to use to convince my wife to go to Greece.
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Aside from the Athens airport, it's not hard to bypass Athens.

We did that this year. We flew from Frankfurt to Athens and then a couple hours later took flight to Santorini. You can even fly to Santorini directly from certain European hubs like Hamburg, Vienna, etc. Same with Mykonos and Crete. And from those islands, take ferry boats to other, smaller islands.
 
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