2022-07-28: Athens

It was another early morning today. We woke up at 6:00am and got everyone showered and dressed. While we were getting cleaned up, the ship pulled into Athens. We headed up to the Windjammer Market for some breakfast before going to Two70 to check in for our tour today. We booked a tour to see the Acropolis, then the National Archeological Museum, followed by lunch and some shopping in the Plaka district. We checked in for the tour at 7:30am. We waited, and waited, and waited some more. The port authority decided to take it’s time clearing the ship this morning. There were a few announcements on the intercom that we were still waiting for the ship to be cleared. We could tell the Captain was getting frustrated. At about 8:15, they finally cleared the ship. Only 45 minutes later than originally planned. As soon as the ship was cleared, we were ushered off the ship to start our tour.

We boarded a bus and, shortly afterwards, were headed to the Acropolis. We were dropped off at the Acropolis and started walking towards the entrance. We quickly realized this was going to be a busy place. There were a lot of buses in the parking lot and a bunch of tour groups heading to the entrance alongside us. You have to walk up a hill to get to the entrance of the Acropolis. We walked part of the way up and then stopped for a bathroom break and so our guide could grab our entrance tickets.

We continued on climbing the hill to the Acropolis entrance. There were fences set up to form a queue to go through the entrance. All I can say is that it was chaos. Our guide tried to keep our group together but there were other groups cutting in front and trying to bypass the line as best they could. It was painful trying to keep the group together. Various tour guides were yelling at each other and other groups who were trying to cut in line. We finally made it through the entrance and we re-grouped once everyone was through. We continued the climb to the top of the hill but the situation didn’t get any better. There are several choke points along the path where everyone is funneled through a small corridor. At these choke points, the same thing happened with people trying to cut in and get ahead. It was ridiculous. Our guide ended up far enough ahead that our headsets stopped picking up her signal which made Michael rather upset.

We finally made it to the top of the hill and we re-grouped again. It was much better once we were on top of the hill. There was room to move around and keep the groups together. Our guide apologized for the chaos and began showing us around the Acropolis. It was HOT. It was over 30 degrees out again today. She told us about the Parthenon and the Erechtheion. She performed a little skit with a few volunteers. One volunteer was the King, another was Athena, and the third was Poseidon. Michael was chosen to be Poseidon. The King wanted to build a temple for the Gods. Poseidon and Athena both wanted the temple to honor them. They offered gifts to the citizens of Athens to win their favor. Poseidon threw his trident and a spring of salt water appeared. Athena threw her spear and an olive tree appeared. The citizens voted and the olive tree was the preferred gift, so the temple was dedicated to Athena. The temples were built about 2500 years ago. Many of the statues/sculptures and columns are reproductions. The originals have been relocated to museums where they can be protected.

After exploring the area for a while, it was time to head back to the bus. That was another adventure. What should be a five minute walk at most took us the better part of 30 minutes. We had to go through the same choke points going down as we did coming up and people refused to just wait their turn. Trying to wade through the throngs of people while keeping track of the family was quite the challenge. By far the worst experience we’ve had on this trip thus far. But, we did finally make it down the hill and met up with our group. We loaded on the bus and headed to our next stop.

Our next stop was the National Archeological Museum. Along the way, we passed the Parliament and Presidential Mansion where there are ceremonial guards guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier. The changing of the guard happens every hour on the hour. We just happened to be driving by at 11:00am when the changing of the guard was happening. The bus isn’t allowed to stop in front, but there was some traffic in the area so we just happened to be stopped in front while this occurred. It was cool to see it happening. We continued on to the museum.

We arrived at the museum and our guide went inside to get us tickets and then we entered the museum for a quick bathroom break. We were feeling pretty parched after being in the heat at the Acropolis and there was a cafe beside the bathrooms so we were able to buy some water and drain the bottles before continuing on. Our guide took us through the prehistoric section of the museum which had artifacts found at the Acropolis and in the area of Troy. There were relics such as the mask of Agamemnon, clothing and weapons from the time, and clay tablets that had some of the earliest record of writing. There were also sections dedicated to sculptures and you can see the changes to the design as you progressed through the gallery to the newer sculptures. Most were marble but there were a few bronze sculptures. Apparently when Athens was occupied by the Romans, they took all the bronze statues to melt down into coins and replicated what they thought to be important ones with marble. The bronze sculptures in the museum were actually found in shipwrecks from ships destined for Rome. Our guide graduated from university with a degree in Archeology. She joked that it was cruel to have her guide us through the archeological museum, but only give her an hour to do so. She could spend hours telling us about the exhibits in the museum. She was disappointed that we were delayed getting off the ship which cut our time short in the museum.

After exploring the museum, we got back on the bus and headed to the Plaka area. Our bus let us off right in front of Hadrian’s Arch. Our tour included lunch in a local restaurant. We walked a couple of blocks to the Cave of Athens restaurant where they had a fixed menu meal provided to us. We had an appetizer of Greek salad, tzatziki, a cheese and a minty spinach pastry similar to spanakopita, and one other item that we couldn’t identify. It was all pretty tasty. The main course was braised lamb and orzo pasta in a tomato sauce followed by an orange/citrus cake for dessert. Before leaving the restaurant, Patrick asked about his Seapass card. He thought he had given it to Amanda but Amanda didn’t recall receiving it and it was nowhere to be found. He thought he gave it to her on the bus so we said we’d check the bus when we got back to it. Otherwise we may have some fun at the port. After lunch, we had some time to explore the shops of the Plaka. Both Patrick and Michael found a souvenir to bring home with them. We returned to Hadrian’s Arch and took a closer look at the arch and the columns of Neptune in the adjoining field before returning to the bus. We did a quick search of the seats we were using on the bus and found Patrick’s Seapass card stuck between the seats. Phew! We had to wait for one late family to make it back to the bus, but they eventually showed up and we headed back to the ship.

The process for getting through port security was much more pleasant today. There really wasn’t any line and we were on the ship within minutes. We returned to our room and got ourselves unpacked from the day. Then it was time to get ready for dinner. We headed to the main dining room and had an enjoyable dinner. After dinner, Michael was exhausted and had a meltdown so we sent him to bed. Amanda stayed in the room with Michael while Darrell and Patrick headed to the Royal Theatre to see an act called Gold Art Duo. They are a couple who do acrobatics, comedy, and a bit of magic. They have competed on America’s Got Talent and were semi-finalists on Ukraine’s Got Talent. They are now resident artists on Odyssey of the Seas. It was an enjoyable show. After the show, Darrell and Patrick returned to the room and everyone who was still awake went to bed.