Mediterranean Cruise: Athens

Our second port on the cruise, we visited the Athens, Greece. We did not get our luggage until that afternoon so I was sporting the only dress in my size in from the ship's store and dressy sandals. Not ideal for walking around ancient ruins but we made it work.

The port we docked in was Piraeus, one of the largest shipping terminals in the world. The port was very busy with shipping ships, personal boats and fishing vessels.

The city of Athens is about an hour bus ride from the port. We took an excursion through Celebrity to tour the Acropolis of Athens and then the city of Athens. The word acropolis comes from the Greek words edge and city. There are many other acropoleis in Greece. Due to the popularity of the Acropolis of Athens  it is usually just called the Acropolis.

The Acropolis was inhabited as far back as the fourth millennium BC. Pericles built the majority of  the buildings including in the fifth century BC. The size of the cite was breathtaking.The detail on each column was exquisite. The cite contains the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion, the Theater of Dionysus and the temple of Athena Nike. Many of the buildings were damaged during wars and they are currently working to restore as much as possible of the main buildings. A large part of the Parthenon is under construction currently but you can get a good view of it from the back.

Theater of Dionysus

  

The Propylaia 

The Pantheon 

The Erechtheion  

 After our tour of the Acropolis, we took a bust tour around Athens where we visited the tomb of the unknown solider which was guarded by the Presidential Guard. They are known for their flamboyant uniforms and stand guard 24 hours a day.

We also visited Panathinaiko Stadium which was the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896. It was reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium and is built entirely of white marble. Interesting to the runner in me, this was the end site of the first Olympic marathon where the runners ran from Marathon, Greece to Athens, Greece.

After our tour, we had free time in the city of Athens where we walked to the temple of Zeus and explored the shops downtown. We took the free time to grab a bite of traditional Greek fare for lunch.

Hadrian's Arch

We also enjoyed the not so traditional Greek frozen yogurt while here. The flavors were so fresh and put all of the local frozen yogurt shops we have in NC to shame.

That night we returned to the ship to find our luggage safe in our stateroom. This day was our three year wedding anniversary so we happily changed into clean clothes and enjoyed live music at the sunset bar at sail away. We also enjoyed formal dinner at the main dining room. I slid on the dress I wore to our rehearsal dinner.  

After dinner, we were surprised with strawberries and wine at our stateroom. It was a perfect way to end the night.