Weekend in Athens

Last Stop on the Trip -  Well, after7 wonderful days on the Ocean Princess, we left the ship on Saturday morning and spent two days in Athens.  It was an amazing two days filled with lots of history, good Greek food, and seeing more “ruins”.  We arrived at the Athens Ledra Marriott around 10:00 AM and were quickly settled in our room.  Off we went down the street for a quick lunch at a local restaurant before we were going to Hop-Off-and Hop-On around the city of Athens. Using the shuttle bus from the hotel we made our way to Syntagma Square to catch the sightseeing bus.  Now we thought we would stay on this bus throughout the tour (14 stops), but we were mistaken.  We were given a set of earphones and a box so that we could hear the commentary in our language (that was good, because neither one of us can speak Greek).  After about 6 stops, we were told to get off the bus and get on another one.  So off we went to find another seat and get ready to look and listen again.  We traveled along the streets of Athens looking at the historic sites when we were told to get off the bus again and get on another one.  We were beginning to think that they didn’t want us on their buses!  Finally all the stops were completed and we got off at the Plaka to get a few more souvenirs and to have dinner.  We stopped in for a bite at a sidewalk café which was quite charming.  While there the sisters we had met on the cruise came by  and joined us for dinner.  Back to the hotel for us and some rest time.  Later we ventured up to the roof top restaurant to have dessert and look at the Acropolis and Parthenon.  What a gorgeous sight with all of the lights on the buildings.  Simply Breathtaking……. More photos were made……

Bright and early Sunday morning we headed out for a City Tour and a visit to the Acropolis and the new Acropolis Museum.  Linda had booked our tours online and after being picked up by a bus and taken to the Key Tours office, we knew that the name was very fitting.  It was more like the Keystone Cops – very unorganized…….Finally we were off on another bus to tour the City of Athens with a very knowledgeable guide whose name was Tina.  We arrived at the Acropolis around 9:30 and spent the next two hours CLIMBING up to the top of this BIG HILL and then exploring the Parthenon.  I did CLIMB all the way up to the Parthenon, but I did not walk through the building because there were MORE steps to climb. Instead I sat on the steps of the Parthenon and chatted with a woman from Canada.  She also had artificial knees and did not feel comfortable walking on the uneven stones in the main building.

After walking back down the hill (that is much easier) we met Tina in the parking lot and strolled down the Pedestrian Walkway to the Acropolis Museum which was designed by an American and was opened in 2009.  All of artifacts in the museum were found in the Parthenon after it was excavated. At the museum excavating is still going up beneath the building and glass floors cover the area.  I was walking along on the floor, looking down into the ruins, and felt as if I was falling.  It was definitely a strange feeling!         

Browsing through the bookstore, Linda and I made a few purchases to help us remember this extraordinary place that we had visited,  so much history and so many details to try to remember.

We decided not to return to the hotel, but to have lunch at another one of the Greek sidewalk cafes in this area.  Great food again!  We had a cute waiter also as you will see in this photo. 

So today is Monday and we are flying home.  We left Athens about 11:45 am (their time- which is 7 hours ahead of the US).  We should arrive in Philly around 4:30 EST and then later onto Charlotte tonight.  It has been a wonderful time with lots of adventures and memories – another place to mark off of my bucket list.

Pictures will follow when I get home – some on Facebook and some on the blog.