Post #20: Piraeus and Athens

Parthenon at Acropolis
Typical tourists...been around for centuries (especially Rich)
Athens seems to go on forever (had a touch of the LA haze)Different angle
Temple of Zeus

The Acropolis from Zeus

Outside the Olympic stadium
Changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (very impressive)

The Plaka for a little shopping

The Tower of the Winds

Our lunch restaurant (we waited outside for it to open but ate inside)

Lunch is served

Above: Hill of Lycabetous (tallest point in Athens)

Below: Climbing the final stretch to the 'summit'

Above: The view from the top

Below: The Archeological museum.

Impressive displays of all kinds. Wonderful museum.
One of the Agouras...
One of the best preserved...all columns intact.

View up to the Acropolis from the Agoura

Janna, our driver Jimmie, and Lynn
Sunset from our balcony
Our table mates:

Pulled into port (Piraeus) while dark, got up to take pictures
Alarm at 6:30am…double yuk!
JB in shower
More pictures, waiting for room service
Good meal. Handy to have in cabin to ‘eat on the run’
Met Rich and Lynn at 7:30 and headed to dock
Sign up today about NOT bringing beer/wine back on-board (drat!)
Jimmie (our taxi driver) was waiting as planned (love it when a plan comes together)
Had set up tour with Paul of Athens Taxi…Jimmie is his son
He gave us a running narrative of history and local interest between each site
We started out by going to the Acropolis to beat the crowds.
Amazing, amazing, amazing…The Parthenon, oh my.
Many many pictures, and why not!
Good light, great angles, no people…wonderful
Doing refurbishment, so scaffolding in several places
Busses and crowds arriving as we left…sorry for them
Went by the President’s house…he was about to arrive, waited a while, then left
Parliament Building and the Tomb of Unknown Soldier for changing of the guards
That was fun to watch. The President’s guard is VERY impressive
I got yelled at (of course) “No pictures from behind!”
McDonalds so I could use the ‘facilities’…very busy place!
Temple of Zeus…what a place it must have been!
Olympic stadium…built in 1863…wide open from the street
Plaka (a fun shopping area) Bought a pin and colorful tile.
Hill of Lycabetous…highest point in Athens…nice hike and GREAT panoramic views
Greek and Roman Agouras…amazing
National Archaeological Museum…beautiful
Tower of the Winds…interesting for its design and function (look it up)
And, as an added benefit, all the ‘paid sites’ were FREE today.
This hardly ever happens, but we were there when it did.
Due to this we saved several Euro almost everywhere we went.
And in the middle of that had a great lunch.
We had a choice, touristy place, or ‘local’ place
We chose local…GREAT choice!
All the food prepared (like) buffet so can be seen as you enter
No English menu so the waitress took us up and explained each dish
We picked what we wanted and then selected our salad type.
Everything was wonderful!
We split their largest size of white wine…
Then the waitress brought us a ½ liter ‘on her’ (THAT helped the tip!)
Fresh red and green grapes arrived…we were stuffed (just like our eggplant)
Only 48Euro…OMG! Thanks Jimmie!
Jimmie was napping in cab out front (in case police came to ask him to leave)
He took us next door to a bakery for some baklava,
Didn’t know there were different ‘flavors’. VERY tasty.
This was an “I love it when a plan comes together” day,
As you don’t know exactly what you are going to get booking on your own
My arm hurts…from patting myself on the back!
Back to the ship for nap time and happy hour,
And then meet for drinks before dinner (Hey, someone’s got to do it!)
Pretty pink rose in bathroom on return…nice touch.
Comments about Athens…it is a HUGE modern City.
Very much like other very large cities.
Subway, electric ‘Muni-type’ buses, many taxis, trucks, cars…and tourists.
Lots of traffic EVERYWHERE…but it was fun none-the-less.
Within the city there are historical jewels…very lovely jewels indeed!
We didn’t get to know Greece, but I think we got to know Athens.
Jimmy dropped us back at the ship
We relaxed with a ‘happy hour’ during ‘sail away’ from Piraeus
Then joined ‘the gang’ for another fun dinner
and another anniversary cake as promised
Quite a day!