We couldn’t sleep (after sleeping so much yesterday) and were awake to watch the ship dock in Athens. Very beautiful going along the coastline and seeing all the lights. Around 6:30 AM, we went to breakfast at the Garden Cafe. There we met others going on the free walking tour of Athens – Maria and Allen, Hein and Kim. Before we met for the free walking tour, we all wanted to go to the Acropolis as it wasn’t included in the tour.
After breakfast we met another young couple – “A” and his wife. We walked from the ship to the train station (about a mile) and took a train to the closest stop to the Acropolis. While on the train a lady kept trying to tell me something but I couldn’t understand her. From what Maria could gather (she understands a little), the lady was trying to warn us about pick pockets in our area. The walk and train ride was very interesting. I think Michael and I were both surprised at the amount of graffiti and litter in Athens.
We got off the train and walked to the Acropolis up a cute little cobblestone street. Along the sides of the street were vendors and/or a flea market with their tables full of different and unusual items.
We got to the Acropolis, got our tickets (12 Euro each) and walked up. Quite the hike up beautiful marble pathways and steps. Once inside we walked all around and explored everything we could. The view was breathtaking. When we got to the little lookout at one end of the Acropolis with the Greek flag flying, a young man got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend. So fun to see. We then made our husbands do the same but it just wasn’t the same. We all walked down to a little park type area at the bottom of the Acropolis. We were able to use our 12 Euro ticket from the Acropolis to get into this and see old and broken statues.
It was getting close to time to meet the Free Walking Tour of Athens (10:00 AM). Many more people had arrived for this tour. The tour guide’s name was Panos, and he spoke excellent English. He took us to (and please excuse the spelling) Hadrien’s Gate;Zeus temple; first Olympic stadium; Zappa building; the royal gardens; the Presidential Guards who were guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; the Orthodox cathedral; Monastriraki Square; Hadrien’s Library; plaka; agora; Mars hill; and so much more. He was very knowledgeable but I went into overload and couldn’t write down fast enough all that he was telling us.
My favorite part (other than the Acropolis) were the Presidential Guards who were guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They only pick the tall ones for this position. Panos (our guide) was pretty short and said they send all the short ones to the border. The Presidential Guards are trained not to react to anything. If sweat is running down their face, the third man in the green uniform will wipe it away but the Presidential Guard cannot. They also do what Panos called the rooster walk every hour or so – where they kick and stretch out their legs and do a little ceremony. I loved it. Very unusual.
During the tour Maria and Allen took off on their own – which left the six of us and we all decided to stick together to get back to the ship. We were debating whether we wanted to take the train again, or take a taxi. We were all pretty tired (and our feet hurt), so we opted to take a taxi (actually two taxis because they could not fit all six of us). We paid twenty Euro per taxi, which we felt was pretty good because we would have ended up paying about four Euro each to take the train and a bus, and would have had to walk. The taxi took us right up to the port entrance. We had to go through security and get back on the ship.
Once back on the ship, Michael and I went to our room to drop off the backpack and other things, then we headed up to the Blue Lagoon Restaurant for linner. While there we saw Holly and Roger, from the ride over from the Rome airport. Michael had chicken tenders and a chocolate brownie. I had meat loaf and mashed potatoes and a New York cheesecake. Must say, the food on the ship is excellent (in my humble opinion).
We are now back in our room and don’t want to walk anywhere for the rest of the evening – so no shows tonight. We did get a knock on our door around 7:30 PM and we received some little pastries from the Housekeeping staff. Nice. That was our day. Hope yours was great!