Acropolis of Athens
-DAY 5, Athens, Greece-
9.9.16 Friday
Wow, up and at 'em early today! We met Sarah and Rachel at our breakfast hotspot, Windjammer Cafe, and then headed out for the day.
We were harassed by taxi drivers pretty heavily because they wanted to give us tours but both that talked to us were trying to rip us off, quoting 35€ and 25€ per person, telling us that the hop on hop off bus charged the same. The hop on hop off bus actually charged 22€ and gave it to us for 20€. We probably could've taken the city train but we didn't want to waste any time; the hop bus also had wifi and gave us a map.
Our ship was docked in Piraeus so we took the green line hop bus to Athens which happened to be the stop for the acropolis as well. It was 30€ to get in, Sarah got in for free with her EU (european union) student card, and we would've gotten a small discount with ours but we didn't think to bring them. Anyway, next we climbed up and around to see the sites including the Propylaea (the entrance), the Theatre of Dionysus, the Parthenon (aka the Temple of Athena Parthenos), the Temple of Athena Nike, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and the Erechtheum. It was truly incredible to be in the presence of these giant structures that were created way back in the BC era and are still standing. The graveyards of marble surrounding everything are almost as stunning.
It was a hot day and we were feeling it. After the climb we caught the hop bus to the next stop, the Temple of Zeus. This structure was also magnificent and we were able to view the acropolis from it as well. One of the last standing columns had fallen and you could only imagine what it would have been like to see or hear it fall. According to wikipedia it fell from a fierce wind in 1852.
Following that we headed through the city and got some spinach pie from a market area, it want as good as the one we had the day before. Then we strolled through some ruins of the ancient city that are in the city centre.
We got back on the ship thoroughly exhaustedso EP and I changed into dinner clothes and went up for trivia where our friends Andrew & David joined us. They had taken a Segway tour and while they didn't go up to the acropolis they did take the funicular railway up Mount Lycabettus for beautiful views of Athens. Trivia today was "celebrities" and we ended up with 10 out of 15. We had a few drinks together and then headed off to dinner, definitely feeling our beverages on empty stomachs. I may have poured my drink before the glass got to my mouth. The Schooner Bar bartender though is fun, his name is Danis (american "Dennis") and he's from Turkey. I tried a habanero grapefruit martini thingand he made EP a gin drink with St. Germaine in it (a French liquor he raved about).
Dinner was okay, we got Boston Cream Pie for dessert which was good but still not amazing. EP has been trying new things for dinner every day, mostly seafood, which is great to do on the cruise since it's included and you can always change it out if you don't like it. I've been getting all the vegetarian stuff which hasn't been bad.
Following dinner we ended up passed out in bed. I woke up at 145a and woke EP up with my stuffy nose. I was quite congested, probably because of all the marble dust in Athens or something. Darn allergies.
Until tomorrow!