May 11, 2013 Athens, Greece 6:00a to 5:45p

This our second visit to Athens and last time we toured with Spiros Taxi which was a wonderful day exploring the sites and a lovely scenic drive down the coast to Sounion. The highlight of that drive was lunch where the kitchen was across the street  from the restaurant that had a view of the ocean. It was funny watching the waiter carrying the trays of food across the street dodging traffic.

Today we opted to use the HOHO bus to go back to the Acropolis, Parthenon, Ancient Agora and the Plaka.

We toured on our own, but started the day with Jeff & Julie and Bonnie & Dennis. We got off at the Acropolis first. Compared to last time we had great weather with perfect visibility. We climbed about 80 steps through the Propylaea. We walked around there and took in the views of the city and took photos of the amphitheater, the Parthenon, Erectheion and the Porch of the Carytids. They are still renovating and scaffolding is still prominent. We continued on to see the Theater of Dionysus.

 

 

 



We then walked to the new Acropolis Museum. It used to be a crowded and hot little place up near the Parthenon, but they built a beautiful new one across the street at the bottom. We stopped for a cold soda and had a snack of crusty bread and olives and we toured the museum. After that we walked to Temple of Olympian  Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch. Then we continued on to see the guards at the House of Parliament. We saw the changing of the guards on our last visit.



After that we went in search of lunch at the Plaka. The Plaka is a 19^th century shopping district at the foot of the Acropolis. There are markets, cafes, shops, boutiques, jewelry shops and tavernas. We found a nice little spot and ate al fresco. We had fried cheese, garlic spread with crusty bread. We had Moussaka and lamb and potatoes. When the waiter brought our check he also brought a plate of strawberries and sugar. YUM!



Then, we got back on the HOHO and got off at Ancient Agora, which we didn’t have time to see last time. Lots of cafes here and almost like a swap meet with people selling personal things, some antiques, and other things. We viewed the ruins and museum here and then had a cold drink and waited for the next bus. We took it back to the Plaka where we had some gelato before catching the bus back to the port.



It was an enjoyable day. I think I enjoyed it more this time than last. Perhaps it was how pretty the day was. As we were on the bus waiting to go back to the port we looked back at the city and it just sparkled.

We had seen a couple of tortoises at the ruins and later we saw an interesting bird with a weird thing on its’ head that we will need to look up.

We got back on the ship in time to get ready for dinner and the show. The show was a comedian named John Martin. The crowd seemed to like him, but I found his jokes a bit tired. There were a few funny ones……

We have one sea day before Kotor and then one sea day before we disembark in Venice. I can’t believe this adventure is almost over. We’ll get some packing done tomorrow. UGH!