Tours in Review

Tom Wolfe may have said, “You can’t go home again,” but regarding a return visit to Greece, we say you can — with OPA Tours Greece (137 Genoa St., Ste. B, Arcadia, CA 91006; 800/872-7155 or www.greecetravel.com/opa). Indeed, if you go once, you’ll want to repeat the pleasures of traveling with OPA’s dynamic duo who goes only to Greece.

Our first experience was in May 1994. The classical tour was perfectly managed by Joyce Helfand, art educator, and guided by Nanda Kontopoulos, archaeologist. Together, they created a memorable travel experience — small group (limit, 20), comfortable...

Our 12-day cruise/tour “Holland and Belgium in Springtime,” March 27-April 7, ’04, was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210; phone 800/221-2610 or visit www.gct.com) has many repeat travelers; we now understand why.

M.S. River Harmony was a clean, classy, well-maintained ship carrying 140 passengers in roomy outside cabins. Our meals were excellent on board, and wine was included with dinner. The entire crew went out of their way to make our stay a memorable one.

The three program directors who split us up and guided...

“Heart of Central Europe” from Exodus Travel (based in London; in the U.S., book through Adventure Center, 1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; phone 800/228-8747, e-mail exodus@adventurecenter.com or visit www.exodus.co.uk) featured lots of variety, lots of walking, beautiful scenery, caves and a few city driving tours. We always had clean rooms, centrally located hotels and hot showers.

We stayed in Kraków (two nights) and Zakopane, POLAND; Levoca, SLOVAKIA, and Eger (two nights) and Budapest, HUNGARY. Our guide knew the most about Poland but was very resourceful in...