May 14- Athens Acroplois and Ouzo

We pulled into a very large port or collection of ports I guess filled with hundreds of ships large and small. ferries, tugs, oil tankers cruise ships of many sizes. yachts and power boats. the City itself from the ship looked like a concrete  jungle, not the fancy stonework we had come to expect. Not the colours of Italy on the coast. rather drab really. But the jacaranda were in bloom and they were lovely!

We had our breakfast and went to the galaxy of the stars to get our excursion number. 4 again. onto the waiting buses after the obligatory lineup and check out. our tour guide was a lovely lady who told us the entire history of greece and gave us lessons on the origins of words. She really went on and on. At first it was interesting but after a while it was 'Oh my God could you just use coles notes or something. We are never going to remember all this. 'but she just went on and on. we learned about gymnasium which means to be healthy and naked. so working out naked to be healthy is a gym.

Athens is a very large city. We were doing the Acropolis at leisure tour and were on the most popular tour that day again. Our first stop was at the olympic stadium where our tour guide told us we could use the washrooms and wander around for 20 minutes. Very interesting. I could just imagine all the runners coming in. We could not actually go into the stadium it was all roped and fenced off.

over to one side of the stadium was a young man and women in costume so we went over there to see what was going on. for a donation they would pose with us as spartans and we could take photos. Fun! so we did. and when we gave them a donation they gave us a little charm or pendant of a greek coin. lovely.

Back on the bus and off to the Acropolis. our history and etymology lesson continued. Once we got to the Acropolis site we were given instructions to meet at a certain road and not to be late, then we proceeded up the side of the hill.

There were many steps but it was not unmanageable. The temperature was increasing but we stopped often enough that we were not over stressed. As you walk up the hill you cannot see the Acropolis. there are lots of little trees along the path up.,and cats. I like cats so that is fine.

When you get to the top there is a long line of people to get in and so you amuse yourself by looking at the temples at the bottom of the hill. Our tour guide called us all together at one place and gave us instructions again about when to meet at the bottom of the hill.

the area that she got us together at the top just before going in was really not very large and there was no hand rail to keep one from falling off the marble step and there were lots of people going past us so I really did not feel safe stopping there but she seemed comfortable enough. we then proceeded through the large entry into the Acropolis. It was marvellous. It was impressive.

Our tour guide then called us together again and proceeded to warn us about the marble which can be very slippery especially when wet. the history lesson continued but Margie and I slipped out the back of the group and proceeded to wander around and actually see the parthenon and the other temples and exhibits that were there. the tour guide talked a lot, too much really. the entire history of Greece  it seemed.

It was grand! We saw temples to old gods that I had never even heard of. pathways between the temples or where they had been and all that was left was the stone outlines on the ground. We ran into a few others from our tour who also slipped away from our chatterbox tour guide because they, like us, wanted to see the acropolis not just hear about it.

We wandered around for about 30 minutes taking lots of pictures of the view from the top of the hill, of the stacks of pieces of columns and statues and of each other. We were in Greece at the Parthenon!

We then wound our way back to the path down the hill and strolled down which was very much easier than walking up. We gathered at the bottom of the hill where our guide had instructed us to wait. there were several others from our group already there and we waited. and waited. and finally our guide came and said we were in the wrong place????? she said we should have gone to the bus as they were all waiting for us!! WHAT? we were exactly where she told us to be! We went down and got onto the bus and had to wait for one couple who were not there. they finally showed up and the lady had hurt her leg so then there was 20 minutes of first aid to bandage her scratched leg.

When we finally left the acropolis our free time had been decreased by about 30 minutes which we thought would still leave us lots of time to have lunch and shop at the place, the old area of Athens. we drove around the acropolis through crazy traffic and then found out that where they wanted to drop us off was not available so we would have to be dropped off about 6 blocks from there and then walk in. OK, the trails and tribulations of excursions in Athens. but what the hey, we were in Athens!

iI was an interesting walk. Our guide telling us all about the architecture of the area, the old and the new. By the time we got to the restaurant for our leisurely lunch we only had 45 minutes to eat and shop.
The food was very good, a greek salad and Ouzo to drink. yummy. the family sitting next to us wanted to go shoe shopping and they were going to try to accomplish this in 30 minutes. No pressure there. we went into two shops and bought souvenirs like crazy. So much for the leisure part of the tour. We did manage to find some fun things.

 Back up the street and onto the bus and back to the boat.
for a leisurely evening.
We sprinkled Mom and Dad in the bay in Athens and watched the sunset. All in all, it was a lovely day.

very exciting.