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Yep, go to sleep in Turkey wake up in Greece.........way to go.
Just had an email from a couple we were with on the Scenic Tour who had been on the river cruise......they both ended up with whooping cough and ended up going home early, poor things!
Docked about 0600 at Piraeus, the port of Athens.
Tour today starts at the Acropolis, (wow along way up the hill) dedicated to the Godess ( a female for a change!) Athena......
Spectacular stuff......The Parthenon is huge. They are in the process (since 1989) of restoring sections of it with marble from the same quarry as the original stone was taken from.
For some reason there are heaps of dogs hanging about the area, all strays apparently but well fed by the staff.
Noticeably absent were the hawkers.....so much nicer to wander around without some pest shoving something in your face.....they certainly don't understand the 'personal space' concept.
Went on a tour of Athens - to the original Olympic Stadium of the modern Olympics (built for 1896 olympics).
To the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, the stadiums built for the 2004 Olympics, and so on.....
Greek lunch at a Restaurant with not so nice Greek Wines, however we had Folklore entertainment with great Greek music and dancers, even the most talented 'belly dancer' I have ever seen.....good stuff....plenty of 'plate' breaking to boot.
Miandered down through the narrow Athen's streets to the 19th-century 'Plaka', a flea market style shopping village, for a wander, very quaint.
A lot of the streets are lined with fruiting 'bitter orange' trees, very pretty.
Funny how the motor scooter drivers half the time ride on the footpaths!
Wouldn't say modern Athens is an attractive city, looks very tired, but the people are lovely and very hospitable.
Cruising out of the harbour at 1800 hrs, busy place, 3 other passenger liners all in port today also, no wonder it was crowded at Acropolis! Plenty of vehicular ferries here too.
All round very interesting day.....
Roger's added thoughts of the day.....
I can't work out how they got the stones up there to build the Parthenon, it is big man
I think there might be more dogs than people here.
Got driven around the city, went to a stupid music & dance show. They gave us some of the white stuff that Sarah makes, Tzatziki. All the other lunch was **** though, pastries and fatty stuff.
Athens seems a nice place, we got to walk around for a couple of hours checking out the shops and cafes. The people are nice and the place doesn't look broke, quite the contrary, 80% of the buildings are new, very clean.
Back in the ship.....it is funny, one day the sun is on the portside in the morning and the next day it is on the starboard, no wonder everyone gets lost.
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