Precious Memories: Athens, Greece

Piraeus (Athens), Greece -- February 28, 2015

Got up early because I did not sleep well, probably because of the long nap I took the day before. Leah, the concierge, came by for a little chat and reminded us about the VIP cocktail that evening when we were having breakfast at Cagneys. We left the ship at 8:15 for our 9:00 bus tour with Katakolon Express. We met Maria, Stephen's wife, outside the terminal and boarded the bus that was already very full. ChC had to take the one seat all the way in the back of the bus. This bus was bilingual English and German.

Right next to our ship when docked at Piraeus.

It was cloudy but NO RAIN!

Looked like the sky would clear up.

The ride from port to Athens was about 20 minutes.

With the Wifi on board the bus, I was able to load some more soap opera on my ipad.

First stop, the Olympic Stadium

We were there only for 15 minutes for photos which was fine. The problem was that it took ChC a long time to get off the bus because he was all the way in the last row. He had to hurry and get a few pictures before getting back on again.

A view of the Acropolis from the Stadium.

Katakolon Express bus

For some reason someone did not come back to their seat next to ours, so ChC got to take that seat for the rest of the trip.

Next stop was the Temple of Zeus and we were told to get our combo tickets there because of the shorter line. Tickets were 12E pp for five or six sites but we will only use them for two. We spent about 20 minutes here before getting back on the bus.

Then we were dropped off at the Acropolis where we would spend 1 1/2 hour there.

We were lucky that it did not rain, otherwise it would not be easy to walk up to the top.

The amphitheater (Odeon of Herodes Atticus)

Parthenon

Looking down to the Temple of Zeus from the Acropolis.

Caryatids

Agora

Mars Hill (Areopagus), where Apostle Paul delivered the famous speech to the people who worshiped the unknown god.

"Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

Acts 17:22~31

Mars Hill at the bottom near the entrance of the Acropolis. We climbed up there in 2010 when I was five years younger. We did not attempt to go up there this time.

After meeting up with the bus at the parking lot we were taken to the parliament only for a glance with no stop. Here, the bus tried to make a tight turn onto this street.

When we were in Athens in 2010, we only had half a day to make up for the canceled port day here a week earlier due to the strike. We did not get to go to Plaka then, we were really looking forward to our visit here this time around.

(Our half-day tour of Athens in 2010)

ChC was looking for a famous Greek sandwich place but we found it closed, on a Saturday!

A cute little church

A very busy Saturday here at the square. I think the yellow building is the metro station.

ChC happened to find a restaurant near the square where they had the 3E souvlaki special. The cook held up the final product for us to take pictures of.

That was what we got the "Double Kebab Take Out"

...from here.

It was DELICIOUS! ChC went back and got a second one for himself.

We just sat here next to the fountain and enjoyed our souvlaki (sp?).

We walked around some more until it was time to go back to the bus.

It was really fun to check out the shops even though we had no intention of buying anything.

Church of the Metamorphosis

We got back to port at around 3:00PM. Security was very tight here at this port. We had to take off our jackets/coats when going through security and then one more check when we were boarding the ship.

We then went to Blue Lagoon for some snacks and then rested in the cabin.