A Free Day in Athens

I ended up not getting to bed until after midnight, so I didn't get up until 7:30 and didn't get down to breakfast until a bit after 8 am.  As I was heading to the restaurant, I saw an open door and a glimpse of the Acropolis. When I got seated I had a nice view from my table. 

Breakfast was a buffet where they serve you.  I learned later that I can order of of the menu of I want.  Breakfast for me was plain nonfat yogurt, fruit and a little bit of scrambled eggs.  I had coffee and grapefruit juice as my beverages. 

We got a free extra day in Athens from Tauck (called a "Gift of Time") so we were seeing some sights that aren't on the agenda for our days in Athens.

John got up a little after I got back from breakfast.  We decided to visit the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.  The museum offered a Senior rate, which was nice. They had three exhibits. One on machines and automation, one on musical instruments and one on armor.  It is a small museum, but very interesting.  We spent close to 2 hours there.   Then we stopped at a little taverna and John got a ham and cheese hand pie and I got a sausage roll. 

After our lunch we headed to the Benaki Museum.  The museum has pottery, silver, and Greek regional costumes.  The exhibits were arranged from restless to more current (like 18th century).  There was also a section on Christian art.  Most of the Christian art they had on display was from the Byzantine and Cretan areas and painters between the 13th century to the 17th century.  What "stopped me in my tracks" with the paintings was that all the subjects (Mary, Baby Jesus, adult Jesus and all the disciples) had dark skin.  I had never seen Christian paintings where the subjects were not all white.  I am still struggling to find a word to describe how I felt, but good will have to do.

Then we headed back to the hotel to get dressed (Resort Casual) for our Welcome Reception and dinner.   While John was getting ready, someone buzzed or room.  At the door was a hotel staff person with a china tray with two small glasses and a small bottle of what turned out to be a distilled alcohol called Mastic Liqueur.  We haven't tried it, yet.  But we do intend to. 

At the Welcome Reception we got to know two other couples and learn something about the Tauck trips they had taken in the past. Most of the people on this tour had been on at least 3 tours and some as many as 10. For dinner we had a choice of Moussaka or sea bass.  John chose the Moussaka and I chose the sea bass.  Both were very good. We got the guest list and Tauck pins to wear when we are on tour.  It supposedly helps the people on the ship and at the tour locations we visit know we are with Tauck.  We also got our bag tags for the ship; the list of excursions we can choose from; and some useful and polite Greek phrases.  We also got the "official" notification that we probably will not be going to Ephesus (for political issues between the two countries. - not because of COVID-19).  It is a bit of a bummer, but I am looking forward to all the places I will see.  And I still get to go to Patmos. Also, the sailing ship can hold up to 140 guests.  Our Tauck group has 26 people.  But there will only be 68 guests total on the ship. The other 42 are with other tour groups, I guess.

Tomorrow we go to the Acropolis and to the Acropolis Museum and then we will have free time.  I am sure we will use some of that time to repack so Tauck can get our bags and take them to the ship tomorrow.

Now it is off to bed. The bus leaves at 8 am so everyone needs to be ready to go before 8 am.Read more