Athens

The port city of Piraeus is contiguous with the city of Athens. Our tour took us through Piraeus and past many of the venues that were constructed for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Kathie and I were both struck with how dingy and dirty the cities felt to us. Cars were covered with film and dirt (we were told it was not settling ash from the volcano in Iceland), there was quite a bit of litter everywhere, and again the graffiti appeared. Maybe what we saw was a sad statement about the condition of Greece’s economy. Others of our traveling companions commented about it too and told us that they had always seen Athens as such a beautiful city on their prior visits. In fact, it is a beautiful city if you don’t have to look too close. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour, but we felt disappointed about some of the look and feel. Maybe they just need a good rain.

Our first stop was at the stadium built for the first modern Olympic Games. The ancient Olympics, about which we learned much several ports ago at Olympia, had been stopped around 390 AD. The resumption of the games in 1896 led to the creation of this very large stone stadium, where Olympic flags and symbols are constantly displayed. Prior to the opening of every modern set of games, the Olympic flame begins its journey in Olympia at the ruins of the ancient games and then travels to this stadium before continuing on its way to the city currently hosting the games.

We had already seen the Acropolis and the Parthenon above us while at the stadium and from several spots along our drive through the city. This is in itself a breathtaking scene. I had not imagined the Acropolis being surrounded by Athens, but the high, granite, relatively flat-topped mountain that is the Acropolis sits exactly there. Below it and in other protected areas nearby are other ruins, including a Temple of Zeus, the Arch of Hedron and an agora and a nearby, nearly-intact temple. (I hope I have these details right. Sometimes the information flies by faster than one can absorb it all. I’ll have to do some reading when I get home.)

The hike up to the top of the Acropolis involves lots of steps but is not too difficult. There were hundreds and hundreds of others there too—I cannot imagine how crowded it must be in the summer. Some were from cruise ships (both our ship and the Ms Prinsendam were in port), but there were many, many groups of school children there as well, and they tended to be less quiet than the rest of us.

There is an ancient open-air arena and stage area part way up, and it is still used for performances. At the top of the Acropolis are four buildings, one being essentially a grand entrance to the area, two others being smaller temples, and the fourth being the Parthenon. The architecture is incredible, of course. There are some replica statues and friezes in place along with some authentic ones. Quite a bit of restoration or corrections of prior restoration attempts continues over the years. Frankly, I hope they do not “over-restore” it, since some of the charm is in seeing it as it is. The history of the site is very complex, with many having occupied it at different times and for different reasons. One conquering group (sorry, can’t remember which right now—perhaps the Byzantines) had the gall to store munitions there. A subsequent explosion was a main reason for the collapse of much of the Parthenon. Most of us have seen photographs of the Parthenon in our school days and studies of history. To see it in person is truly an honor.

We walked down from the site into an old town area, which was much cleaner and better kept than the other areas of Athens we saw earlier. Interesting little shops were all around and catered to tourists, of course. We had an excellent Greek meal there (mousaka, spanikopita, a cheese pie, salad, and beef with a Greek version of risotto).

Next we spent an hour in the Greek Archaeological Museum before returning to our ship. It was filled with fascinating collections of statues, jewelry, vases, friezes, and other artifacts of Greek, Roman, Mycenaean, and other cultures.