2011 Med Cruise – Day 4 – Athens
I didn’t post anything for yesterday (July 31) because we were at sea and didn’t do much of anything. How bizarre is that? This almost never happens. Andy ran his 13 miles (marathon training), but otherwise, we sat out on Deck 3 on deck chairs and read our books. We stopped for lunch, of course. Last night was also the first “Formal” night, so we were all dressed up. After dinner we visited the piano bar – it was “Rat Pack Name That Tune”. We teamed up with a couple from Las Vegas (though originally from NY/NJ) and we won! It was pretty weird that we did better than the "Beatles Name That Tune".
This morning we were up and ready to board the buses for our all day excursion, “The Best Of Athens” by 8:20. The ship actually ports in Pireaus, which is about a half hour from Athens.
Our tour guide’s name was Rula – her English was very good, and she knew her stuff. We drove directly to the Acropolis. One thing we learned first thing is that the word "acropolis" means "high city", and that there are lots of acropolises (acropolii?) all over Greece. The description of the climb up to the Parthenon stressed that it would be “strenuous” (a big "YOU MUST BE PHYSICALLY FIT FOR THIS EXCURSION" printed on the ticket), so I was anticipating a steep and difficult climb up to the top of the hill. Fortunately, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as many of the climbs we did last year in Sicily and France. There were lots of steps – and they were slippery marble – but otherwise the steps were not high or steep, so it was quite doable.
First thing that became obvious – every cruise ship in Athens had busloads of excursions at the Acropolis today. There was serious competition for what little shade there was. Rula delivered her detailed explanation of the various different ruined edifices – it was tough remembering them all and keeping them straight. We did pick up a free map at the entrance, plus we bought a small “Greece” book on board the bus. I did my best to label the photos with the correct names. I hope I got it all correct.
The ruins were amazing - all in various states of restoration. During our free time, we wandered all over and took lots of photos. Rula had warned us that coming down would take longer than going up, simply due to the volume of people. And she was right – once we started walking down, we felt like we were on the D-train at rush hour. There was no movement for minutes at a time, and the temperature was sky rocketing. However, we still made it back in time with no problem.
By 10:30 a.m., the temperatures were well into the 90’s The humidity didn’t seem too bad, but it was still hot, and the sun incredibly strong. I now have an amazingly stupid patchy sunburn on my legs, despite all efforts to constantly slob on sunscreen. For Athens, I was determined to not let the situation any worse - I'm using the higher SPF sunscreen, and re-applying more often.
After the Acropolis, we got back on the bus and noted that the air conditioning doesn't work all that well. The drive to the next stop wasn't long enough to really let it kick in.
We stopped for a few minutes in front of the stadium that was built for the first of the modern Olympics in 1896. It’s still used today, with a holding capacity of 65,000 people. It's a beautiful stadium - especially considering it's over 100 years old.
Next came lunch, which was better than we’ve usually experienced on these all day excursions – beef on orzo with spinach “pies” and cheese “pies” (they looked like finger food), followed by fresh watermelon and honey dew. I just wish they had kep the water flowing a bit more freely than the wine – the restaurant was not air conditioned, and we were all still recuperating from the morning’s walk up and down the Acropolis.
After lunch, we walked into the Plaka, which is a shopping area in the oldest part of Athens. We had about an hour to ourselves to roam about. We bought a refrigerator magnet for our friend Shirley (she had asked me to get her one before we left) and the first elephant purchase of the trip – a tiny wall hanging with elephants dangling at the bottom.
The Plaka was more interesting than what we saw in Split, but we didn’t have enough time to roam through the whole thing. Plus it was even hotter. We made our way to the meeting spot and sat on a bench – and was immediately approached by a beggar (all we had was an American dollar – no Euro change on us), and ladies trying to sell us tablecloths. We noticed that across from us on another bench was a woman who seemed to be really struggling with the heat. Andy went and got her a cup of cold water and a bag of ice from the restaurant in the plaza. She was with Holland America group – but not ours – and soon the tour guide came over to figure out how to help her.
At 2:30 we walked back to the bus, and drove over to the National Archeological Museum. Rula walked us through at an accelerated pace, picking out the highlights including the Mask of Agamemnon and the Zeus/Poseiden (nobody is 100% sure which one it is).
After the museum, it was time to get back to the boat. The air conditioning in the museum was also kinda weak –by then we couldn’t wait to get back on board ship to real air conditioning.
So now it’s after dinner, and we’re killing time till 9:00 for the piano guy to start. His name is Jimmy, and he’s a lot of fun.
We enter the straights of Dardanelle at about 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. Tom the Tour Guide will be narrating as of 7:00 a.m. Not sure either one of us will be listening…
Tomorrow afternoon – Istanbul!
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