Today we had a full day planned in Athens. The ship docks in Pireaus, which is a small suburb of Athens (approx. 20 min. drive). Once again, through the careful planning of my honey, he had booked us on a private tour with a tour guide who came highly recommended through several people on cruise critic. We got off the ship around 8:15, walked through the cruise terminal and there he was holding a card with our name on it! He was a very well dressed man named Nick Loukas who promptly lead us to this brand new BMW touring van. It sure looked like we were off to a good start. In order to beat the heat and the crowds he first drove us to the Acropolis. Navigating through the streets of Athens was no small feat – there are cars and mopeds everywhere. There are very few straight roads and you are driving up and down small alleyways - I’m sure glad he was driving! It was crazy.
First stop – the Acropolis….what an amazing sight. There it is high on the hill overlooking the entire city. We walked through the ruins on the Acropolis – the famous temple of Athena (about 50% of which is under scaffolding), the temple of Dionysus and the oldest theatre in the world. Luckily the weather wasn’t ridiculously hot – soon after we drove to the brand new National Archaeological Museum and toured through there. Athens is full of amazing artifacts dating back thousands of years. I continue to stand in awe of the ancients architectural and building skills. No blueprints, no electricity, no cranes… incredible. We visited many more sites around Athens, including the temples of Zeus and Hephestaeous, the official residence of the Prime Minister (where we saw the changing of the guard), the original Olympic stadium from the 1st modern Olympics in 1896 (which was actually used when the Olympics were in Athens in 2004), Plaka – an “old town” neighbourhood of shops and cafes and the Agora, the administrative centre of ancient Athens. We had a great Greek lunch in an outside café in Plaka.
Athens was a very pleasant surprise – its reputation as a crowded, polluted, dirty city was completely untrue – OK, except for the crowded part. I found myself wanting to go back some day and see more.
First stop – the Acropolis….what an amazing sight. There it is high on the hill overlooking the entire city. We walked through the ruins on the Acropolis – the famous temple of Athena (about 50% of which is under scaffolding), the temple of Dionysus and the oldest theatre in the world. Luckily the weather wasn’t ridiculously hot – soon after we drove to the brand new National Archaeological Museum and toured through there. Athens is full of amazing artifacts dating back thousands of years. I continue to stand in awe of the ancients architectural and building skills. No blueprints, no electricity, no cranes… incredible. We visited many more sites around Athens, including the temples of Zeus and Hephestaeous, the official residence of the Prime Minister (where we saw the changing of the guard), the original Olympic stadium from the 1st modern Olympics in 1896 (which was actually used when the Olympics were in Athens in 2004), Plaka – an “old town” neighbourhood of shops and cafes and the Agora, the administrative centre of ancient Athens. We had a great Greek lunch in an outside café in Plaka.
Athens was a very pleasant surprise – its reputation as a crowded, polluted, dirty city was completely untrue – OK, except for the crowded part. I found myself wanting to go back some day and see more.
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