Nov 1 – Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Odeon at the Acropolis

we missed virtually all of it!

Weather – 18º, periods of heavy rain (not
when we were outside!), also sun

Steps – 8,713

Other than cruise day #1, today is the second-best day on a cruise – the turnaround day. That’s the day most of the passengers disembark and others embark. Turnaround day is the second-best day when you are staying on for the

next leg. No suitcases out last night, no flights today, no up early and stressed that you aren’t making it to the airport…that can wait another week for us.

Caryatids 

me at the Acropolis

Often on turnaround days, Regent will arrange a tour the remaining guests. We are welcome to stay on the ship, but there is also a tour. We were told there needed to be a minimum of 20 participants and today there were 24…were supposed to be 24. 4 decided to stay on the ship despite signing up for the tour. This is a danger of offering included excursions – people blow them off and don’t tell anyone.

From the port of Piraeus (the port for Athens) to the Acropolis is a 20 min drive. Technically, 2 separate cities, but they blend into each other.

temple of Hephaestus

We spend about 2 hours at the Acropolis with a guide. We were here last in 2008 – the Acropolis infrastructure is more developed than it was then. Today was

Chris at the Acropolis

busy. I’m not sure how busy it is compared to other October or November days, but today as it is the first day of the month…entrance is free. 

Of the 20 people on the tour, only 15 stuck with the guide until the end of the time at the Acropolis. It is steep climb, but more arduous are the uneven footing. Much of it is marble steps, which is also a

Athens modern Olympic monument

reason to be thankful we didn’t get rained on…slippery steps. The pathways are also chucks of ancient marble, worn very smooth.

There were weather warnings for Athens today…heavy rainfall. We missed being

Dromeas (The Runner)

rained on, other than a bit getting from the ship to the bus. It also rained when we were driving. We were extremely lucky.

On the way back to the ship from the Acropolis, we had about an hour of a panoramic tour of Athens – panoramic tours are done entirely from the bus.

lots of photos!

Athens struck me as more of a regular big city and not particularly tourist heavy. There were lots of tourists of course around the Acropolis, but on the regular streets, there seemed like mostly regular citizens.

We drove past the parliment, a monument to the modern Olympics, a cool sculpture made with thousands of pieces of jagged glass, and The Academy of Athens among other things. Although my favourite

Socrates & Plato at the Academy

excursions are walking tours, panoramic tours let you see many thngs quickly. like ours did today.