Ruins, ruins everywhere

Our hotel in Athens was in the heart of what is called the Plaka district. You can’t even tell from the outside that it is a hotel. There is just a set of doors set amidst other store fronts. 

Our hotel entrance

Our hotel room

The Plaka district is in the shadow of the Acropolis, and has narrow cobblestone streets lined with stores, sidewalk cafes, coffee shops, etc. The streets are very narrow, and people walk in the streets (because the sidewalks are also narrow), but there is vehicular traffic occasionally. So you have to always be on the lookout for cars and especially motorcycles, who will run you down if you get in their way. (I think they are looking for a teacher!)

View from hotel window

Street view

We got an early start this morning and were out and about the streets of Athens by 7 a.m. It was still 

dark outside, and we were practically the only ones out walking around. It took us awhile, but we finally found a coffee shop that was open. 

After a light breakfast of coffee and pastries, we started out on a walking tour of Athens. On this tour, we saw three Greek Orthodox churches, including the Cathedral - known as the "Greek Vatican" - and considered to be the most important church in the Greek Orthodox world. We went inside and took pictures of the beautiful icons. Also, in one area of the church, there was a priest praying over a lady. The lady was kneeling in front of a mosaic, and she was wearing a veil, and the priest was praying over her, his hands continuously moving about like he was blessing her. This went on for awhile. Then when he was done, he removed the veil and she stood up. Not sure what was going on there, but it was very interesting.

After the churches, we walked to one of the many squares in the city, across from which stood the Parliament building, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of it. The tomb was guarded by soldiers dressed in traditional Greek garb.

 From there we walked through the National Garden, which offered beautifully manicured lawns, with many palm trees amidst green gardens and colorful flowers in full bloom. 

On the way to the next stop, we came across some ruins that were apparently discovered when they were digging for the metro. Needless to say, they did not disturb the ruins, and moved the location of the metro a couple of blocks away. Athens has lots of ruins - ruins, ruins, everywhere. You might say this place is ruined!

Our next stop was at the Temple of Zeus, where the only thing remaining are some large columns. Everything else in the temple area was - of course - ruins.

From there we proceeded to the Hadrian Arch or the Hadrian Gate, named after a Roman emperor.

After our walking tour, we returned to our hotel to get ready for our departure to the ship. The hotel had arranged for a taxi for us. As the hotel we were staying in was on a pedestrian only street (and crazy motorcycle drivers), we had to walk a block to catch the taxi. The hotel clerk took our bags and accompanied us. When he saw the taxi approaching - roaring down the street at a high rate of speed amidst the pedestrians, he said to me "He is crazy driver." I agree.

The taxi driver was not as fluent in English as most people, so Joe did not have an opportunity to enjoy as much conversation with him as the driver that had picked us up at the airport yesterday. He continued to be a "crazy driver" as he sped along the streets of Athens, but did get us to the port safely.

The boarding process went smoothly and soon we were enjoying lunch aboard the Viking Mars - our  home for the next 36 days. 

After lunch, the first thing we did was to go to guest services and try to arrange a change to one of our excursions in Israel. Our first choice of excursions was to see Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but when we booked the excursions, that was sold out. A Viking representative had recommended to us that once aboard ship, we could check to see if there were perhaps more openings. We were in luck. We were able to switch, and are really excited to see Jerusalem and Bethlehem in a few days.

We had planned to go back into Athens this afternoon, but once our stateroom was available we opted for more sleep. I slept for four hours this afternoon. For one who never naps during the day, it was an indication that I still have not recovered from the all-nighter when we flew in. Either that, or I'm still operating on Pittsburgh time!

Our home for the next 36 days

View of Athens port from our stateroom