Maria Synodinou meticulously plans all of the Voyages in Greece and leads many of them herself. Born and raised in Athens, she obtained a B.A in Archaeology from the University of Ioannina in 1993 then completed her post-graduate studies in Restoration of Ancient buildings and marble works of art at the Architecture department of NTUA. She participated in a number of archaeological excavations mostly of prehistoric sites in Epirus and W Peloponnese, while at the same time she worked as an Ancient Greek History and Modern Greek literature teacher. Since 1997 and after graduating the Athens School of Tour Guides in Athens, she entered the tourism sector as a freelance lecturer guide and a travel director. From 2002 to 2005 she also worked as a consultant at the "Child and Family Foundation" and participated in the organization of fundraising cultural events.

All these 21 years of experience as tourism professional gave her much insight into what visitors were looking for in a vacation. She discovered that for some of them the ordinary touristic product fell short of their expectations. To correct this "crime", she planned her first Voyages in Greece tour back in 2006 to introduce visitors to the true beauty of Greece and cultural aspects which are generally neglected. The experiment was more than successful. Since that day, many of our Voyages loyal travelers became good friends who came back to Greece several times, bringing along and introducing us to their friends and family, their colleagues and university alumni.

And this is how our story begins and the basic idea behind our Voyages in Greece: we wouldn’t take you anywhere we wouldn’t take our best friends. Come join us.

Since 1986 Caterina runs her family business that was originally founded in Athens back in the early ‘70s, with love and devotion.

She is our Voyages tour agent: not just because she always uses all her experience and credibility to book the best, handpicked accommodation, transportation services, wineries and restaurants for our Voyages travelers but also because many times during these past few years, she has a solution to every problem making possible the impossible! Is it because of her positive vibes or is she just making magic? No one has figured that out yet!

“My wife Dolores and I, travelers to Greece since 1971, have now worked with Maria Synodinou on three separate tours, two involving university faculty and alumni (2006, 2011), and one with undergraduate students (2013). She was masterful and inspiring with both groups for one simple reason: Her work is grounded in her passionate love for her country—its history, its sites and artifacts, its contemporary culture. She interweaves her professional training as an archeologist—be sure and ask about her Mycenaean dig—with an energy and charisma empowered by this love. At the same time she’s flexible, ready to adapt her work to the interests and experience of the group she’s with; she’s comfortable sharing the microphone with a professor of classics or taking the lead when it’s right for her travelers. As for practical matters, her English is completely fluent, and she’s terrific at organizing the details and daily timing of a tour, something you don’t find in every academically trained leader. She’s visited and revisited the sites, and carefully scouted the hotels and restaurants, for each of her tours; she knows where to go and when to go there. I wouldn’t want to travel in Greece with anyone else.”

PERFECT ... nothing to change!!! Through her education/experience as an archeologist and training as an historian, Maria can address everything there is to know about Greece. Her delivery is spontaneous and tailored to each client--no question left unanswered. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our day in Athens and seven days on the road through the interior of Greece. She planned each day to provide maximum exposure to Greek culture and life. Pantelis, our driver, was accommodating and very safe.
Maria is likely the very best guide we have ever had ... in any country!!! She ensured that we saw every possible facet of each site, while paying particular attention to accommodate our needs and limitations. Never once during the seven days that we traveled with Maria were we bored or incur anything less than complete cordiality and friendliness.

Maria deserves the highest rating possible. Warm, considerate, articulate and extremely knowledgeable of the historical and archeological context of the sights and places being viewed, we only wish that the wonderful day we thoroughly enjoyed could have been long extended.

“Maria has guided two of my alumni association's tours through Greece.My school loved her so much after our first trip that we refused to travel with anyone else when we returned. She is absolutely the best person to craft and guide an in-depth experience of this amazing country. Maria is an expert at sharing the best, most interesting information in ways that are logical, accessible, and engaging. This is not a skill shared by all tour guides, as it takes a keen sense of understanding the best ways to communicate, educate, and connect with people from all walks of life. She is wonderfully friendly, generous, kind, and easy to get along with, and is able to work with groups with a variety of interests and of course, personalities. Throughout my school's two trips with her, she was always respectful of others views and perspectives, honoring the things they wanted to share, experience and learn. She welcomed ALL our questions, about anything, generously sharing her own experience in her country with us and always making us feel like we belonged. She was able to guide our group through some of the lesser traveled places in the country with grace and ease, and we always felt safe and taken care of. There was nothing we as passengers had to worry about, other than learning and connecting with this incredible country and its past. Maria is an expert at balancing the academic and historical information with a sense of being in the place. Her ability to foster your connection with her country truly makes history, art, and archaeology come to life. She has a deep love for her county and its past, and is an ideal partner in crafting an experience for you to experience Greece's past and present.”

“When it comes to taking a private tour with a local expert guide, in addition to professional knowledge, we place importance on personality, social skills, enthusiasm and positive energy of the guide. Maria delivers the complete package. It is a joy to discover Athens with her. Strongest recommendation.”

“My husband and I have twice had the pleasure of traveling with Maria Synodinou in Greece, first with a group of university alumni on a tour organized by one of my colleagues at the University of Redlands and subsequently with my own students for a ten-day excursion focusing on sites relevant to the classical Greek literature we were studying, a tour that Maria and I planned together. Maria tailored my students’ tour specifically to the literature we were reading—and she was so very thoughtful in augmenting and improving upon my initial ideas. I must say, working with Maria also relieved me of any challenges or apprehensions in the booking of transport and hotels while simultaneously assuring remarkable value. Students were overwhelmed with the luxury of accommodations so perfectly chosen for access to historical sites, and yet each hotel was distinct and became a “site” in itself. On the road, Maria’s experience proved ever valuable when timing visits to monuments and museums, securing necessary tickets, booking restaurants, and suggesting options for free time. In short, she is a detail-person with a command of all the requisite connections to make a tour run smoothly. Maria’s organizational expertise is matched by her wide knowledge of Greek culture, history, art, and literature from prehistoric times to the present, and she conveyed this knowledge with contagious enthusiasm, whether in the bus, in museums, or on site. She consistently chose stories, artifacts, and details to help our group focus on our investigations. Throughout, Maria captivated us with her charm and good cheer, and she seems to have an intuitive sense of how a particular group is faring, of what they might need more of or less of at any given time. Passionate about Greece, she is also droll and, well, simply fun to be with. We hope to be so lucky to travel with her again.”

Maria is a knowledgeable and very pleasant guide. I found her explanations and descriptions to be clear, accurate and enjoyable. She also gave us a number of outstanding restaurant recommendations, as well as good shopping recommendations. I would definitely hire Maria again.

“Superb tour. Maria is very knowledgeable and engaging. We began in the museum and she brought the artifacts and history to "life" ... and then we visited the monuments and sites. The time flew by - a much more immersed experience than trotting off on our own. We highly recommend the tour.”

We had an excellent tour of Argolis with Maria. Besides having a deep knowledge of Greek history and being an archaeologist herself, she has some of the rare qualities that make all the difference to having a nice tour. She is patient and considerate, never rushed to finish the tour at the appointed time. She makes the adjustments needed to suit your preferences. She is cordial and respectful. She is dignified, not seeking gratuities. Overall, a genuinely nice and pleasant person. Thank you Maria!

Maria is an excellent tour guide. In a word, her tour was fascinating. She blended the history of ancient Greece with the history of the surrounding world, with bits and pieces of more current events, Greek culture and food. She recommended an excellent restaurant for dinner which my family loved. We never would have found it on our own. We highly recommend Maria if you want to learn about Greek history along with the antiquities you will see on her tour.