Eastern European Vacation Day 7

Wednesday November 3rd, 2010.
Today we really get to “check one off the list” with a visit to Athens. Due to poor weather during the night the ship was running late and did not dock until ~9:30AM; this meant that all of the official shore excursions ran about half an hour late. We had bought tickets for a bus ride into Athens and a tour of the city including; a stop at the Acropolis, National Museum, lunch and the Plaka (the old part of town).

We boarded the nice big coach with our friends Kat and Mike (and about 30 other people) and set off for town. The ship actually was docked in the port of Peraeus – it took about 40 minutes to get to Athens. First impressions; chaotic, big, densely populated, a million tv aerials, traffic jams and graffiti. Oh the graffiti – Athens must be the graffiti capital of the world; they have graffiti on graffiti on graffiti, not a single wall is left untouched (really).

Our tour guide Maria, a very proud Greek, was keen to point out all of the sites as we went along. We made a quick unplanned stop at the site of the original Olympic stadium; this stadium was actually renovated for the first modern games in 1896 and also featured in the recent 2004 games. The stadium is a gigantic U shape and completely open on one side; all 62,000 seats are marble. We were not able to enter the stadium but could still get a good view and pictures from the open side.

Maria announced a change in the itinerary; we would see all of the sites and then get lunch, followed by a quick stop at the Plaka before returning to the ship – this meant lunch would not occur until 2PM. I could not help thinking that most of the folks on the bus would be starting to show food withdrawal symptoms we if we went this long without eating (remember on a cruise you eat about every hour) – but on we ploughed.

Back on the bus we headed for the main event; the Acropolis – a big hill in the center of town. It’s amazing how the big bus was able to negotiate the narrow car-lined streets; our skillful driver managed to deposit us fairly close to the entrance of the Acropolis. Maria informed us that the timing of our visit was very good since almost all of the scaffolding from the renovations had recently been removed; some of it had been up for 25 years! It’s a bit of a hike from the car park up to the top of the hill – though most of it is on marble walkways and steps. The weather was also really great for a visit like this; overcast and slightly cool – doing this hike at the height of summer would be painful.

Curiously, the Acropolis has a resident population of “stray” dogs who seem to spend most of the time lying asleep, completely unperturbed by the throngs of people walking by. We learned from Maria that the dogs are actually all well looked after and have regular vet visits – all had collars.

Progressing up the hill reveals an ever improving view of the city below. Eventually we reached the top passing the temple of Athena Nike and through the gateway to see the famous Parthenon. Absolutely spectacular! I had to keep pinching myself; no this is not a movie, or Disney or Las Vegas – this is the real deal! Maria gave us the abridged history of the site and all of the buildings – including a plea to get the Elgin Marbles back from Britain.

Sandra and I set off and walked all the way around the Parthenon, taking about a million pictures. Though there were lots of people around we were assured that it was nothing compared to the peak season, and we were able to get most of the good picture without any damn tourists getting in the way. We headed back down the hill to meet up with the bus; all told we spent about one and a half hours at this site which seemed about right for a one day visit to Athens.

Next we headed for the National Museum; ah the traffic – what should have been about a 10 minute drive took about half an hour. But along the way Maria pointed out the Parliament building and many of the cities famous squares. The museum turned out to be a real treat, and even though we only had about an hour – Maria guided us to the most significant items. There is an outstanding collection of Mycenae gold burial face masks and the display of Greek marble and bronze statues is second to none (at least that I have seen). I especially liked the fantastically restored bronze Zeus and the jokey on a horse; these items were actually recovered from a sunken ancient Roman ship in the 1970s – apparently the Romans liked to go to Greece and pick up statues to put on their front lawns back in Rome.

Finally it was time for lunch; between the traffic and other delays we were running about an hour behind schedule – so yes, it was almost 3PM by the time we got to the lunch destination. The Ancient Tastes restaurant is a quirky place in Athens that purports to use only ancient recipes and serves the food the old fashioned way (no forks) – to be honest it was all a bit too touristy for me. The food was OK, though nothing was described – so the platter of cooked meat became “mystery meat” instantly putting it beyond Sandra’s comfort zone. Periodically a young lady, dressed in period costume, would appear and do a little dance – it was like the gypsy scene in “From Russia With Love” – only the SPECTRE baddies did not appear at the end and try to shoot everyone. Jugs of Greek wine were included so this helped to smooth out the rough edges.

Back on the bus we nosed through the traffic again and made it to our final stop; the Plaka. The old “quaint” part of Athens has been turned into a pedestrian area with lots of tourist shops, restaurants and bars. When I say “pedestrian” I mean it in a Greek kind of way; as Maria was introducing us to the area a car proceeded to pull off the road, onto the sidewalk and through the middle of our group – even Maria was surprised. We later saw other cars and lots of motorcycles riding merrily through the “pedestrian” area. We were only allotted 50 minutes for this stop, the tour being now hopelessly behind schedule. None of us felt like shopping, so we headed for the first available outdoor café and ordered Baklava and coffee; 3 of us were even brave enough to try the Greek coffee – this is very strong and comes in a tiny cup that includes a good deal of silt, apparently by design. Not an experience I’m likely to repeat.

We made it back to the ship and had not even returned to our cabin before the captain announced that he was now ready to sail – umm wonder if they were waiting for us.

Despite all the hiccups and quirks this was a great day; the sites of Athens are not to be missed.