Day 22 First Day in Athens, Greece

So… I don’t have many photos to show for this day. That one’s on me. I managed to screw up the time/date stamp on my phone when I set the clock ahead an hour—and in the process pushed the day ahead too. I fixed some of it, but honestly, the metadata is just messed up. It happens.

The first day in Athens turned out to be somewhat predictably disappointing. The included tour was titled “Panoramic Athens & Archaeological Museum”—a four-hour experience. Translation: bring your QuietVox (QV)… or as one guide cleverly renamed it, the “Whisper Box.”

In general, we are learning to really dislike the included tours. Sometimes dislike drifts into irritation. Occasionally it veers into full-on hate and anger.

“Panoramic Athens” turned out to mean a slow bus ride through a massive city in Monday morning traffic. We crawled past the Athens Olympic Stadium, unable to stop because traffic—and the ever-present police escort—made sure we kept moving. The guide pointed out hotels we were passing by… whose names were clearly written in large letters on the sides of the buildings. Duh. Then came the parade of various government administrative buildings. Do I really need to know this?

Eventually, we made our way to the National Archaeological Museum. Tickets were handed out. People immediately scattered to the WC. Everyone else waited. Add to that the recurring frustration of watching people who can manage the bus stairs choose not to take the handful at the front door, slowing everything down just a bit more.

Inside the museum, our guide slowly led us to the first exhibit… and talked… and talked… and talked. Please shoot me. Then the next exhibit. Same thing. At one point, I looked down and noticed what appeared to be a tour group of snails making their way through the museum at a much faster pace than we were. Donna and I briefly figured out what QuietVox channel they were on and followed them—being careful not to step on anyone. Okay, slight exaggeration. But not by much.

We quickly broke away and went off on our own. We knew most tour groups were limiting themselves to the first floor, so we headed straight to the second. A small handful of experienced travelers clearly had the same idea.

Other than a few small (and not-so-quiet) school groups on field trips, the second floor was the place to be. When Donna and I do museums, we have a rhythm: split up, regroup, split again. If one of us finds something interesting, we signal the other. Donna reads far more signage than I do—though I’m getting better. Traveler’s tip: if something catches your eye, take a photo of the object and the description. Otherwise, you’ll forget what it was, who made it, or—if you’re in a zoo—what animal you were looking at.

By the time we finished upstairs, the first floor had mostly cleared out. We hit the WC, wandered through the gift shop, and made it back to the bus a few minutes before the scheduled time. A small win.

Overall, the museum itself is remarkable. An amazing collection of antiquities. I’ll be honest—I’m not naturally drawn to clay pots, arrowheads, and necklaces. But some pieces demand appreciation whether you’re inclined or not. There were tiny animal figures that looked like they could’ve been made by grade-school kids… except they were created 4,000 years ago. What really stops you is the realization that people were living full, complete lives thousands of years before Christ—and what we see today is only a tiny fraction of what once existed.

I do hope that future generations inherit not only our dual-density, dual-sided 5¼-inch floppy disks—but also the technology to read them. And please, don’t throw out all the VHS players. How else will future historians learn about the wildly popular ThighMaster?

We made it back to the ship around 1:00 p.m. for lunch, followed by a nap, and then dinner with Pam and Joel.

Spoiler alert: tomorrow is AMAZING.

⸻

#Athens #FirstDayInAthens #NationalArchaeologicalMuseum #MediterraneanCruise #VikingCruise #TravelReflections #IncludedTours #MuseumLife #SeeingTooMuch #ExperiencedTravelers #QuietVox #WhisperBox #HistoryPerspective #Antiquities #StillGrateful #FindPenguins #TravelBlog #LifeAtSeaRead more