14 Nov 2022
We booked with Exoticca for the last two weeks in October to visit Italy and Greece. Fantastic trip. There were no other "Exoticca" travelers on our Rome and Venise stops. We were able to use public transportation in Rome and the folks riding the bus were friendly and helpful. Conrad, our Rome guide, was very knowledgeable and we got to see and know about so many Roman highlights in an approx. 4 hour tour. Athens touring was equally wonderful, this time with many fellow travelers from the U.S.A., London, Ontario, Dublin, Ireland, and a few other places. George was our guide to Delphi and Kalambaka. He was again outstanding and cleverly used our youngest traveler as the ticket master. The monasteries at Meteora are well worth the time. The ferry trip was fast, with a large variety of venues to purchase food. The island of Peros was beautiful. Great hotel on the shore and safe walking and swimming. Santorini - Oia was outstanding. The last few days of expecting tourists yet the service was great. The people mover around the Venise channels stops at every station (~12) so leave early if you hope to connect with the walking tour organized by Exoticca. We missed the tour by 25 minutes and had to pay for our own - which was great. The boat trip to the volcano and hot spring was fun. Swam in the Mediterranean Sea a few times on this holiday. We chose "charming" as the category of hotels. For my daughter and I, we now think we would have chosen the higher category. Six hotels in 2 weeks so a little more luxury would have been better.