September 29, 2014

The ship was docked when we got up, looking out the porthole we were in the passenger ship harbour which had six ferries and more than eight passenger ships; among the names - Hellenic Seaways, Louis Cruises, Minoan Lines, Ventouris Sea Lines, Korais, and Cunard.  After breakfast in the dining room, we went to the Celebrity Theater to wait for our excursion of sightseeing Athens and visiting the Acropolis. The group was shuttled to the passenger terminal which we walked through to the parking lot full of buses. Our guide was Katarina, who spoke very good English, dispensed radios with earplugs to each passenger so that we could follow her commentary when we arrived at the Acropolis. 

The bus was on the road by 8:30 a.m. for a drive through Piraeus and its three harbours on the way to the Athens City Center.  Along the way, we passed three of the 2004 Olympics stadiums for soccer, basketball and wrestling and a Greek Orthodox Church as well as many bustling streets.  We learned that the Greek city states have been invaded by other Greek city states and other civilizations over the centuries - Roman, Persian and the Turks of the Ottoman times and more recently by Nazi Germany.

The bus was unloading at Acropolis before 9.  We had an 80 minute walk with commentary from Katarina as we walked up the Acropolis hill within the walled fortress, to the Parthenon. Acropolis comes from Greek words: Acro = heights and polis = the city.  The first temple of Athena built on Acropolis hill was destroyed by Persians in 480 B.C.   Parthenon means House of the Virgin.  Athena was a virgin goddess.  The Parthenon was also the Athens treasury.

At the Acropolis, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, we climbed the winding pathway including approximately100 steps that lead to the top of the Propylaea Entrance, on the west side. It was erected between 437 and 432 B.C.  Looking to the east on the south side is an area of rock where is ancient times democracy arrived with the Athenians voting on issued there.  Those people that did not vote were given the name, “idiot”.  Facing the Propylaea Entrance again, on the left, is the small Temple of Athena Nike built in 420 B.C. with its columns in the Ionic style. The wind was very strong, blowing dust into your eyes and making it hard to stand still to take a photo.  You really had to hold on to your hat. Through the entrance, the scaffolding on the Parthenon can be seen and other temple ruins including the agora central open area, the Erechtheum which housed the statue of Athena that was made of wood and had the fabric gown replaced at the Athenian annual festivals as well as other female statues.  The Parthenon is a Doric peristyle white marble structure which was constructed between 447 and 439 BC then decorated between 439 and 432 BC with marble sculptures and also paintings high on the friezes. The statue of Athena in the Parthenon was 40 feet high and made of gold and ivory.  The Parthenon was badly damaged in 1687 when the Turks were using it as a storehouse for gunpowder and it was attached, by Venetians whose cannons shot at the building and the gunpowder exploded inside the building, making restoration efforts very difficult over the past 30 or so years.  Also Lord Elgin’s looting of many Parthenon sculptures and columns caused more damage in the early 1800s.

The new Acropolis Museum is now open, but there was no time in our schedule for a look inside.

Leaving the Parthenon, after two hours of taking in its history, we had a short stop at a reasonably priced souvenir store, then drove past other Athenian landmarks including Hadrian's Arch; the Temple of Olympian Zeus; Panathenaic Stadium, the white marble 58,000 seat site of the first modern Olympic Games held in 1896, which was reconstructed from the remains of the ancient Greek stadium; as well as the former and present parliament buildings.  Stadium comes from the Greek word, Stade = meaning a measure of 600 feet. Then we drove back to the Piraeus dock and passed the Theater of Piraeus. There were no line ups to pass through the terminal to get to the shuttle buses that took a 5 minute route to take us back to the ship.

We went to the Oceanview café on deck 10, after dropping off our hats and backpack in the stateroom (another 143 stairs), then went up to desks 11 and 12 for a few laps around the decks and to take some photos from the ship.  Then taking a break to read and write the blog for a few hours before getting changed for dinner then going for an Iglu cold drink at the Café Al Bacio on deck 5.  We were even able to dance a few dances in the Rendez-vous Lounge before dinner.

Our choices for dinner tonight were Shrimp and Scallops Creviche with lime & avocado for the appetizer, then a Caesar Salad or Wild Mushroom & Barley soup, followed by the entrée choice of Red Snapper or Seafood platter of mussels, clams and scallops.  The dessert choices were a Blueberry Pavlova or Ricotta Cheesecake.   After dinner we danced in the Rendez-vous Lounge and the band even ended the set with a Tango and there were four couples on the dance floor, some evening there have been up to 15 couples when a waltz has been played. The evening show singer is Peter Grant, billed as Britain’s Michael Bublé. Even a visit to the Casino was fit in.