As morning arrived today, Melauna and I walked out onto the veranda to witness our arrival into the port of Piraeus, Greece. As the sun had not quite come up yet, we were speculating on which barely visible hill was the one that the Parthenon sat atop of. As it turned out, whichever one we finally decided upon was ultimately the wrong choice but still fun anyhow. After breakfast, we met up with Lyn to make our way off the ship to meet our guide from Athens By Taxi for our tour of this great city. Mom has been to Athens twice already and had early on opted to skip this tour deciding rather to spend the day relaxing on the ship.
We were able to leave the ship at about 7:45 and immediately found Dimitrius, our driver for the day waiting for us and ready to go. He got us settled into his yellow Mercedes taxi and off we went for a full-day tour. As mentioned, the port that the ship docks in is Piraeus which in practicality is just a coastal extension of Athens itself which is an enormously sprawling city of four million people. Athens is bound on the east, north and west by mountains, and the Aegean Sea to the south. As we drove away from Piraeus and into Athens proper, Dimitrius gave us a lot of interesting information on the port of Piraeus which is one of the busiest shipping ports in the world and in fact the primary revenue generator for the country, with tourism coming in second. Our first stop in Athens was the Acropolis. Dimitrius filled us in on important dates, events and people as they related to the Acropolis prior to dropping us off. The tourism department does not allow unlicensed tour guide to enter the Acropolis and we didn’t think that it was necessary to hire one prior to entering, so armed with the information Dimitrius had given us we proceeded to the gates of the ancient city center. We spent roughly and hour and a half wandering around the 4th century B.C. Propylaea, Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike and Erechtheion. It is really amazing to be standing in front of these famous structures that we have seen so many times in books, TV and movies. There really is no comparison to being there and imagining all of those historic figures walking the same path that you are walking. Amazing! After making our way back down from the Acropolis, we found Dimitrius waiting for us. I will say here that Dimitrius could not have been better. He spoke very good English, was very knowledgeable about the history of all of the sights we were visiting and allowed us any amount of time we wanted at each and every stop. Never once did he try to hurry us along and was completely accommodating to every request that we had. I could not recommend highly enough.
After leaving the Acropolis, our next stop was the Temple of Zeus. Unlike the acropolis with its multitude of structures, the Temple of Zeus sat by itself save some surrounding ruins of Roman bath houses and ancient private homes. Afterward, we drove by the Modern Olympic Stadium built in 1863 and used for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 the up to Lycabettys hill which gave a commanding view of the sprawling Athens below. Afterward, we had timed it such that we could see the changing of the guards in front of the Parliament building. This is done on the hour, every hour but fortunately we arrived at about five minutes until 11:00 so didn’t have to wait long at all. After watching the formality of the guard change Melauna and I each had our picture taken with the stoic guard. By now, we were all ready for lunch, so Dimitirus drove us to the Agora and pointed out a restaurant that he recommended for an authentic Greek meal, Γυριστρθύλα, where we enjoyed Γυρος χοιρινός, Πτομάτες γεμιστές, a couple of Χωριάτικη as well as Φετα ψητή Π.Ο.Π. Everything was delicious and our waiter was fantastic. I don’t know about everyone else, but I was ready for a Greek nap after all of that. Instead, we made our way down the path to the Agora, passing some tables set up by local folks selling old Greek currency, antique watches and pendants, books, etc. We all found a little something here to pick up. In the Agora, we wandered the gravel pathway in and around the Stoa, the temple of Hephaestus, the Byzantine church and other various statues and ruins from this Roman era center. After finishing up at the Agora, we headed out to the Plaka, which was really just a series of narrow streets lined with souvenir type shops that if I were to do it all over, would skip over. On our way to our final stop of the day at the New Acropolis Museum, we stopped briefly at the Roman Agora and its most notable ruin, the Tower of the Winds. At the New Acropolis Museum which houses some of the most incredible pieces uncovered from the area, most notable were the five of six original Caryatids that supported the roof of the tomb of Kekrops, the mythical founder of the city. They were absolutely beautiful and the level of detail in the sculpting just incredible.
After meeting back up with Dimitrius, we headed back to the ship and said our goodbyes. All aboard was set for 4:30 and we stepped onto the ship right at that time. What a fantastic day and again, I cannot say enough of the wonderful job that Dimitrius did in showing us his magnificent city.
After back on board, there was a little time to sit out on the balcony and watch the ships departure from the port of Piraeus before heading to dinner that evening. We had our full compliment of four tonight for dinner and good food and conversation was had by all. After dinner, we all met up for the night’s entertainment, Richard Burr and Josette, Five Time Guinness World Record Holders and World renowned masters of Magic and Illusion. Another great show…I am now three for three in after dinner show enjoyment, a personal best for me!
After the show, Melauna decided to call it a night…wiped out from the day. I headed down to the casino to see if I could win back my catastrophic loss from the first trip down to the craps table…and what do you know…I am back in the black baby! It was a slow start with me the only player at the table for about the first hour, but it started to pick up around 10:00 and by 11:00 I was walking away ahead for the trip.
We were able to leave the ship at about 7:45 and immediately found Dimitrius, our driver for the day waiting for us and ready to go. He got us settled into his yellow Mercedes taxi and off we went for a full-day tour. As mentioned, the port that the ship docks in is Piraeus which in practicality is just a coastal extension of Athens itself which is an enormously sprawling city of four million people. Athens is bound on the east, north and west by mountains, and the Aegean Sea to the south. As we drove away from Piraeus and into Athens proper, Dimitrius gave us a lot of interesting information on the port of Piraeus which is one of the busiest shipping ports in the world and in fact the primary revenue generator for the country, with tourism coming in second. Our first stop in Athens was the Acropolis. Dimitrius filled us in on important dates, events and people as they related to the Acropolis prior to dropping us off. The tourism department does not allow unlicensed tour guide to enter the Acropolis and we didn’t think that it was necessary to hire one prior to entering, so armed with the information Dimitrius had given us we proceeded to the gates of the ancient city center. We spent roughly and hour and a half wandering around the 4th century B.C. Propylaea, Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike and Erechtheion. It is really amazing to be standing in front of these famous structures that we have seen so many times in books, TV and movies. There really is no comparison to being there and imagining all of those historic figures walking the same path that you are walking. Amazing! After making our way back down from the Acropolis, we found Dimitrius waiting for us. I will say here that Dimitrius could not have been better. He spoke very good English, was very knowledgeable about the history of all of the sights we were visiting and allowed us any amount of time we wanted at each and every stop. Never once did he try to hurry us along and was completely accommodating to every request that we had. I could not recommend highly enough.
After leaving the Acropolis, our next stop was the Temple of Zeus. Unlike the acropolis with its multitude of structures, the Temple of Zeus sat by itself save some surrounding ruins of Roman bath houses and ancient private homes. Afterward, we drove by the Modern Olympic Stadium built in 1863 and used for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 the up to Lycabettys hill which gave a commanding view of the sprawling Athens below. Afterward, we had timed it such that we could see the changing of the guards in front of the Parliament building. This is done on the hour, every hour but fortunately we arrived at about five minutes until 11:00 so didn’t have to wait long at all. After watching the formality of the guard change Melauna and I each had our picture taken with the stoic guard. By now, we were all ready for lunch, so Dimitirus drove us to the Agora and pointed out a restaurant that he recommended for an authentic Greek meal, Γυριστρθύλα, where we enjoyed Γυρος χοιρινός, Πτομάτες γεμιστές, a couple of Χωριάτικη as well as Φετα ψητή Π.Ο.Π. Everything was delicious and our waiter was fantastic. I don’t know about everyone else, but I was ready for a Greek nap after all of that. Instead, we made our way down the path to the Agora, passing some tables set up by local folks selling old Greek currency, antique watches and pendants, books, etc. We all found a little something here to pick up. In the Agora, we wandered the gravel pathway in and around the Stoa, the temple of Hephaestus, the Byzantine church and other various statues and ruins from this Roman era center. After finishing up at the Agora, we headed out to the Plaka, which was really just a series of narrow streets lined with souvenir type shops that if I were to do it all over, would skip over. On our way to our final stop of the day at the New Acropolis Museum, we stopped briefly at the Roman Agora and its most notable ruin, the Tower of the Winds. At the New Acropolis Museum which houses some of the most incredible pieces uncovered from the area, most notable were the five of six original Caryatids that supported the roof of the tomb of Kekrops, the mythical founder of the city. They were absolutely beautiful and the level of detail in the sculpting just incredible.
After meeting back up with Dimitrius, we headed back to the ship and said our goodbyes. All aboard was set for 4:30 and we stepped onto the ship right at that time. What a fantastic day and again, I cannot say enough of the wonderful job that Dimitrius did in showing us his magnificent city.
After back on board, there was a little time to sit out on the balcony and watch the ships departure from the port of Piraeus before heading to dinner that evening. We had our full compliment of four tonight for dinner and good food and conversation was had by all. After dinner, we all met up for the night’s entertainment, Richard Burr and Josette, Five Time Guinness World Record Holders and World renowned masters of Magic and Illusion. Another great show…I am now three for three in after dinner show enjoyment, a personal best for me!
After the show, Melauna decided to call it a night…wiped out from the day. I headed down to the casino to see if I could win back my catastrophic loss from the first trip down to the craps table…and what do you know…I am back in the black baby! It was a slow start with me the only player at the table for about the first hour, but it started to pick up around 10:00 and by 11:00 I was walking away ahead for the trip.
Another great day in the books and on our way to Istanbul. We are set to arrive in port at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow.
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