Athens

We landed in Athens about 9:30am… Immigration was easy… just outside in the terminal we found an ATM and got some Euros… then across the street and upstairs to the train and metro station.   We purchased a ticket from a live agent… (signs said the fare was 8 Euros, but we ended up with a group ticket for 2 for 14 Euros)  

We went downstairs to  the platform…  the signs are a bit confusing for non greek speakers, with two trains, one the metro, the other the suburban train both going towards Athens.   We figured it out, found seats near the luggage rack (yes, luggage racks on a subway) and headed into town.

Our hotel was about 4 blocks from the metro station, but matching maps and finding signs was a bit difficult (that Greek language thing again) we asked a couple of police men who directed up “the Souvlaki street”…  It turns out the first block or two of Mitrpoeos street is now a pedestrian mall lined with Souvlaki restaurants and that is how they recongnize it.  We found our hotel (the Plaka, very nice) checked in, sent a couple of emails to tell folks we had arrived, then headed over to the historic sites…  Walking out of the hotel door, the Acropolis and Parthenon is above to the right… right there…   You know you are in Athens.

We found the Ancient Agora first, bought tickets which work at most of the historic sites, then started working our way upward through the Agora to the Acropolis.

The sheer number of sites, and the layers of ruin upon ruin is a bit overwhelming.  The litter of marble column caps and blocks is amazing.  You climb to the top, amid a press of humanity from all over the world.   It’s a steep climb, frequently on stairs, frequently covered by crowds, sitting and resting, or gathered around their guide.  The groups are effective traffic barriers, blocking everything while they pause as a group along narrow walkways.  

Both of us had been here before, but not for many years.  Since, the crowds have apparently grown, and more of the top is roped off.  Restoration seems to be ongoing… signs spoke of projects completed in 2004, but  based on the equipment, the 2004 date referred to only one phase of a many phase ongoing project.   Who knew there was a narrow gauge railroad on top of the Acropolis (its a tramway used to move blocks for restoration about.  They have crane-ways suitable for a good size ship yard as well.  It appears that as projects end, the cranes remain… to be used for the next restoration effort.  I suspect there will not be a time in my lifetime that there won’t be cranes on top of the Acropolis or around and even within the Parthenon.

Having seen much, we worked our way back down, this time down the back side of the Acropolis, to the new Acropolis museum.  All the guidebooks said it is amazing… and it is… Built on piers with exposed ruins underneath (much of the floor is glass allowing you to see them) it is a modern building… with modern displays of rich collection of artifacts.  So many artifacts that at first it is overwhelming and seems chaotic, but as you work through the displays it starts to make wonderful sense.  One side of the 2^nd floor is about how the white marble statues were not white, but painted, with original stature next to modern reproduction painted as they believe it was… in one case they offered two replicas, one painted by a German museum, the other by local archeologists… suggesting that while similar, they still were studying the issue… there were staff archeologists wandering to answer questions…  all in all the museum exceeded our (high) expectations.  

The top floor is dedicated to the Parthenon and its decorations.  The outside gallery surrounds a inner building the same dimensions as the Parthenon, and the hold a mix of fragments of the original marbles, with casts of some held elsewhere, as well as models of what they think might have been in each location.  Throughout the ancient sites there are lots of comments about the Elgin Marbles held in the British Museum…  the Brits believing they were saved while the Greeks believe they were looted.  My take is the Brits saved them by looting them, but its time to return them… The Greeks are now able to house, display and protect them…

We ate lunch at the café in the museum…  on the terrace looking up at the acropolis and Parthenon.  Salads, with wine and beer…

Afterward we walked around the acropolis through the Anafiotika  neighborhood… small crooked streets, island style houses, settled by people from the island of Anafi… . Back to the Plaka, back to our hotel… then off exploring through the flea market, looping back to dinner at one of the Sovilaki places as recommended by Rick Steves, then back to the hotel to sit on the roof top garden and bar to watch the sunset and the acropolis as they turn the lights on…  pictures were taken… but as we watched, eyelids got heavy and after 28 hours without seeing a bed, the bed called…  We have seen much, but there is much still to see…  the unseen may have to wait…

The next morning…

I got up early (Tina didn’t) showered and went for a walk in search of the Central  Market…  I arrived as they were setting up for the day… the butchers cutting and chopping… the fish mongers laying out catches… across the street the vegetable venders were unloading and setting up their stalls for the day…

I returned to the room to find Tina still asleep and wanting to continue to sleep, so I checked email and posted the blog post about the flight and the lines, and packed…  I discovered I didn’t bring a camera cable, normally not an issue but one chip won’t read in the computer, but will read through the camera, and I don’t have a cable to connect the camera, so the early photos of the trip are likely trapped until we return… Tina eventually rose, we went to breakfast (spectacular, Greek salad for breakfast along with cappuccino and fruit and bacon and all things needed for breakfast including beans for our fellow English travelers)

We checked out, made our way to the metro station and took the train to Piraeus, then a cab to the ship…

Eventually we rendezvoused with the rest of the party…  yesterday one brother lost his wallet to a pickpocket on the metro, today the other lost his to a pickpocket on a bus…  One sister’s luggage is still in New York… the airline says it will forward it to Istanbul, but for now she lacking baggage…  Such is the uncertainty of travel.

Now, after sail away and dinner, and a walk about the promenade deck we are getting ready for bed…   We are tired and ready to sleep… tomorrow we are mostly at sea, but late, about 4:00 arrive at Istanbul and the next adventure.

Randy