Athens

Day 14

GOOD MORNING GREECE 🇬🇷

Welcome to the great city of Athens Greece. We are sailing into the port of Piraeus. This is just outside of Athens. So this morning after breakfast it is on the bus and off to Plata a suburb of Athens for Rell and I to look around and have a relaxing day. Mum and Vicky will be doing the tourist thing in Athena. We will have to see how the day goes.

Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple. The Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewelry and more from Ancient Greece.

Acropolis, Athens
The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world. In the second half of the fifth century bc, Athens, following the victory against the Persians and the establishment of democracy, took a leading position amongst the other city-states of the ancient world. In the age that followed, as thought and art flourished, an exceptional group of artists put into effect the ambitious plans of Athenian statesman Pericles and, under the inspired guidance of the sculptor Pheidias, transformed the rocky hill into a unique monument of thought and the arts. The most important monuments were built during that time: the Parthenon, built by Ictinus, the Erechtheon, the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis, designed by Mnesicles and the small temple Athena Nike.

We went in by bus 🚌 to Plaka… the old town of Athens. We left around 9:30am, think we should have taken the Hop-on-hop-off bus for this one. Anyway got to the centre of town, things look a lot cleaner than they used too. We took a walk along the marble streets past the Acropolis… didn’t go in because we had been before, maybe we should have it’s been 23 years. After a few obligatory photos of doors we headed up the side streets of Plaka to check out the city and buy some stuff for the kids again. Sat in a small coffee shop.., Daphne’s for a nice coffee and apple tart. This was for a toilet stop as well. We continued on because we only had a short time to see what we wanted. Anyway the tart and the ice cream didn’t agree with Rell so we found a restaurant close to the pickup up point for a beer, sangria and soup. Also toilet stop. After that it was time for a few more photos before catching the bus back to the boat. Think we left one passenger behind, not sure how they got back. On the boat it was a bit of a chat with Vicki and mum on how their trip went and then relax until the show. Tonight Rell and I went to the early show “The Privateers” an Irish ☘️ folk song band. Not to bad. Then off to dinner. We had to go to the buffet because our dinner sitting was early. We have a new name for it now “The Pig Pen” because that is what it’s like. Don’t think we will do that again. Then we caught up with mum and watched the singers and dancing for awhile before heading off to bed. Another good day.

GOOD NIGHT GREECE 🇬🇷Read more