The crown jewel of our trip...and the main reason we wanted to come to Greece is ATHENS.
We were very worried about making this port. With all the unrest and strikes, you never know if your ship will be able to dock or not. We even had some friends that got redirected to Turkey because of a strike in Athens, so they didn't even make it that trip and had to come again. Luckily for them, their second trip the strike occurred the day after their ship docked. So they saw Athens that time. So, I was very nervous, we didn't have time for a second trip to Greece, it had to be now! Luckily the Cruise magic was working and Athens was as calm as can be. We docked in Piraeus and then headed 6 miles to Athens. Lots of people pay for the excursions. Matt and I felt comfortable enough, after a year of traveling through Europe under our belts, to just do it on our own. We walked to the metro stop (which is a very long walk from the Cruise concourse. On the way back we discovered there is a bus that runs from the cruise concourses to the metro basically Bus 843, and it is covered with your metro ticket.) and hoped on the metro to Athens. From there it is just a walk up the hills to the ruins. We entered the back way at the gate for the Theater of Dionysos. There was no line at all, we paid and walked right in. Later, as we got to the main entrance for the Acropolis, the line was huge to get in. They should have gone in the back way...and skipped all the lines!
Here the girls are. Sitting on the ancient Greek ruin of the Theater Dionysos.
It was need to see seating carved out of stone, with backs and everything!
Some say this is where Greek theater was born...whose to say if that is accurate though.
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The second amphitheater you pass is the famous is the Odeum of Herodes Atticus.
I think I spelled that right?!
This theater (unlike the one previous is still in use today for concerts and events. In fact, this is the theater where Yanni performed his "live at the Acropolis" concert. That is one of our favorite C.D.'s as a family, so it was fun to see where it was performed. Luciano Pavortti, performed here as well!
Here is the front of the Theater. What you would see as you entered if you were coming here for a concert or something. It would be a mighty majestic setting for a concert, that is for sure!
Now we face the mad crush of people as we head up the steps leading to the Acropolis...
But first we will take in the view.
Below is the Temple of Hephaestus. This is located in the Ancient Angora regions of Athens. One of the places where the Prophet Paul walked and preached.
At last!
What we came to Athen's to see!
The Parthenon and Acropolis (which is the whole area)
There were cranes and workers everywhere.
I guess they are always working to keep the structure in tact and sound so people can keep on visiting
Poor Jack, doing the head flop.
He wanted to nap so bad!
Erechtheion
Amazing!
Parthenon
Amazing Again!
Cora likes to practice "balancing" on anything she can find.
Figuring out what's next, among all these ancient treasures.
We decided to walk back down the hill, paid for super expensive frozen lemonades! Made a quick stop inside the Museum of the Acropolis, and then walked the tourist street and bought some souvenirs All this led us to HERE.
The Arch of Hadrian.
This guy has been all over. We had already seen remnants of his reign in Rome, and England, and now we saw his Arch in Greece as he tried to combine the two great, ancient, empires.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus.
This place was massive, and it sits right in the middle of this deserted field with a view of the Acropolis behind it. Seeing all these grand architectural feats is truly inspiring!
After partaking of Ancient ruin greatness, we headed back up through the tourist section. Grabbed some fabulous (and I.mean.fabulous!) Greek food to go, and headed back to the metro. After arriving back in Piraeus we got smart and asked around. Found out about Bus 843 and saved our feet another mile walk back to our Cruise ship.
It was a truly amazing day, of a truly amazing Cruise.
We loved how worry free it was, the built in relax time and all the fun places we were able to see!
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