Mother/daughter trip to Greece Recommendations

Hello all, I'll be going on a trip to Athens in the last two weeks of July with my mom for a friends wedding. The wedding will be in the middle of the trip, leaving me 6 days before the wedding and 4 days after the wedding to travel. We plan to spend at least 2-3 days in Athens visiting the Acropolis (and Museum), etc.
We're not into beaches or nightlife. We're looking for recommendations/suggestions/ideas if anyone has any!

We love food, and visiting historical sites and hiking/walking around.

Would anyone have any recommendations for places/islands that are fairly easy to go to/from Athens? We would prefer not spending too many hours traveling as our trip is short.

We would love to find somewhere with great food and history.

I've read Rhodes or Crete might have some nice historical sites, but I'm open to all suggestions!

As you can tell, I only have loosely formed thoughts, so any and all suggestions are welcome.
Thanks so much!

in GreeceTravelby kindastupid101

100%

10d

NoChampion6187

10d

If you're not into beaches then why go to an island? You can just stick to the mainland loads of things to see there as well. Check out Delphi and Nafplio, both super close to Athens. Nafplio is stunning, great food and you can take day trips to loads of historical sites (ancient theater of Epidavros, ancient Olympia, ancient Messinia etc)

For the islands you mentioned unless you fly to them from Athens you're looking at 8-12 hour boats to get to them

Sea-Artichoke-9288

10d

Yup, this is the answer. Islands are mostly full of beachgoers at this time. You can see some amazing areas on the mainland with a car.

6 days before the wedding: Peloponnese (Monemvasia, Kyparissi, Mt. Parnon, the Mani (middle leg, i.e. Areopoli and old villages), Mystras, hiking around Lousios Gorge / Menalon trail in Arkadia, Olympia) and possibly add Delphi.

4 days after: Drive to Meteora, stay one night, then go to Zagori for hiking, it will be stunning, a bit cooler, and nice and empty. beautiful villages, great views.

kindastupid101

You've made my planning so much easier! Thanks so much for all the recommendations!

NoChampion6187

10d

Also Mycanae in the peloponese as well since you like history.

kindastupid101

Sweet! Thank you both so much for the recommendations!
I really appreciate your help :)

Sea-Artichoke-9288

Yes, I stupidly forgot to mention the sites around Nafplio that u/NoChampion6187 did. See which of these places appeals to you and feel free to ask for more guidance.

rachelgolm

I'm going to Greece with my mom in a month. We are doing Crete and Milos with a quick 5 hour lunch layover in santorini between ferries. We're going to hike the samaria gorge in Crete but other than that its mostly beaches and boat days as that's what the islands are all about IMO.