Lots of ferries sailing between Piraeus and Crete and various Italian ports...
Welcome! Jim was here in 2011, but I was sick that day and didn't get off the ship. His version of the day is here. It cracked me up when I went back and read it, and it said "his version will have just the facts...and no cat pictures." Apparently, I've been taking cat pictures for a long time.
Our guide met us and we were off on our tour. St. Nicholas church in Piraeus...it was built in the 1840s, which would be new by their standards.
The Peace and Friendship stadium is an indoor stadium, which was built in 1985. It reminded me of the Saddledome in Calgary.
The Panathenaic Stadium is located on the site of an ancient stadium, and for many centuries hosted games in which nude male athletes competed in track events.
It is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble.
The view from this hill was incredible, but very smoggy.
The street to the right of centre was the original location of the mansions of wealthy people. They were bought by real estate developers and replaced by high rises and commercial buildings.
Lykavittos is the highest hill in Athens, and is visible from all over the city. I have no idea what the story is on that truck!
Ha! We colour coordinated that day...
The Changing of the Guard in Athens, Greece: every Sunday morning at 11 am, people gather in Syntagma Square to watch the official changing of the guards, the military unit whose members stand proudly in perfect stillness in front of the Hellenic Parliament. Just like the soldiers in Russia, they are required to be 1.8 m tall and have "good" faces.
This takes great timing...and balance!
And then it was over and time for us to move on...
Our guide, Dina, was waiting for us to get back in the van. She was very knowledgeable, but later it would get annoying when she kept plying us with too much information. Know your audience!
The national library...
The Monument of National Reconciliation was unveiled in 1989 following the vote to end the civil war...
Statue of Kolokotronis, who is considered to be the greatest hero of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman empire...
And then it was on to the Acropolis. Our driver was able to drop us off near the entrance rather than making the trek along the cobblestone path...
Our meeting place for after our tour...those who chose not to climb the Acropolis visited the shops or found a shady spot to sit.
Making our way to the top...the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It was completed in 161 AD and renovated in 1950. The steps did look to be in pretty good shape for being almost 2000 years old! It was built by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife, and was used as a music venue seating 5000 people. It remained intact until it was destroyed in 267 AD.
Lots of steps! Dina would pause every few steps and tell us some stories or details of architecture.
What a view...
The impressive building with the dark dome on the right is an early observatory that has been replaced by the light coloured dome building on the left.
We had made it a few more flights, and were now having our next history lesson.
Huh! This is what the walls are made of...
My first look at the Parthenon...
The temple was built from 447-438 BC and was dedicated to the goddess, Athena. Right about now, I had had enough of Dina's explanations. We were totally on information overload, and it was far too much detail. And because she had talked so much, we only had 20 minutes before we had to meet everyone back at the bottom of the hill. It would take almost that long to walk down! I was not a happy camper.
Describing some of the restoration work...
Erechtheion is an ancient temple built between 421-406 BC. That's crazy! The entire temple is on a slope, so the west and north sides are about 9 feet lower than the south and east sides.
Finally, we were on our own to explore. Don't we look happy? I was pretty annoyed at having come to the Acropolis, to only have 20 minutes there.
I scuttled around to the side of the temple, but knew I didn't have enough time to go down to the entrance.
That view! Look at Lykavittos on the right, the highest hill in Athens, where we had been in the morning.
Why didn't Dina tell us what this was instead of every aspect of a column? You can tell I was still cranky. It is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the head of the Olympian gods. The temple fell into disuse after being pillaged during a barbarian invasion in 267 AD, just about a century after its completion.
I was moving pretty fast now, trying to see the Parthenon from all angles.
Look at the detail. They were amazing architects and builders.
A boneyard of column parts...
Starting down the path...I knew we were late.
Goodbye, beautiful Goddesses!
Back through the gate...
We practically ran down the hill...yes, we were those people on the tour, the ones who arrive late at the meeting point. Sorry, peeps!
Dina redeemed herself by taking us to this great place for lunch. We were all pretty hungry. When the meal came out, we gobbled it up, only to find out that was the appetizer, and there were about four courses to follow. It was sooo good, but we didn't do any of the courses justice after filling up on the first one.
On our way back to meet our van and driver...
Lots of pretty paintings...admire and move on!
A pretty modest church...
Love the streets, although they must be pretty slippery in the rain.
A cat! He was all over me talking to him...
Until he wasn't...
And then he was...how regal!
Pinochhio in Greece? Why not!
These mirrors as decoration were really pretty and added to the ambiance of the alleys...
Back in the van...we drove by this statue of Melina Mercouri, a Greek actress who received an Oscar nomination for her work in the 1960 film Never on Sunday. She was an early activist and was elected to parliament in 1977.
Our last stop was at Hadrian's Arch. This arch led from the old city to the new section and was built in 131-132 AD by the Athenians in honour of Emperor Hadrian.
And here is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which we had seen from the Acropolis.
Greek would be a hard language to learn!
Back at the ship...our heads were full of information and sights.
It had been a memorable day. Sometimes frustrating, but so mind boggling.
Tomorrow, we are in Santorini...
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