As we dock in Piraeus, the port of Athens, now connected to that city by a half-hour Metro ride, we are among five other large cruise ships—so much for quiet, off-season travel. There are lots of crowds and the temperature is quite warm, but nothing can spoil the excitement of being in Athens on a beautiful day.
The Plaká
Today’s tour is supposed to begin at the Akropolis, so that we can walk the steps and stand on the hill in the cool morning. But this is Greece, and there is an economic crisis, and all the guards at public monuments are on strike—but only until noon. So we will spend our morning time in the Plaká, the oldest part of the city, with small streets lined by two- and three-story buildings with shops, bars, and restaurants, the Cathedral (deconsecrated and closed due to recent earthquake damage) and several small, much older brick chapels and churches. There are extraordinary views of the Akropolis, with the Parthenon clearly visible in the sunlight. The best part of the morning is an early lunch at a tavern, under cool shade trees. We share a tomato, cucumber platter in olive oil and local herbs (why can’t we get tomatoes like that in Arizona? I guess I know why!). Will has a large casserole of moussaka and I have chicken and peppers souvlaki.
The Akropolis
After lunch we return to the main square for the trip to and trek up the Akropolis. The bus can only take us so far and then it's marble steps the rest of the way. Our tour guide today—the only one we can complain about—keeps us standing in the sun while she drones on with facts and figures that we’ve already read in the guide books and that we won’t remember anyway, while all we want to do is be in the presence of the monuments ourselves. So we escape her clutches, climb the remaining treacherous steps and finally reach the breathtaking sights of the Parthenon and the Ereictheon shining in the bright afternoon light. Unfortunately, we don’t have time today for the new Akropolis museum, opened just last year, but we can see the building on the hillside below us, along with the Odeon of Apollo, and a series of Roman-Syrian pillars across the way behind Hadrian’s Arch. On the other side of the hill, in the near distance, are the restored Agora and several other original temples. It really is wonderful to be here, even among the crowds, but we kind of long for the peace and quiet of the Greek temples in Agrigento, Sicily, which are much larger and more completely preserved (I’ll stop quibbling now).
Dinner and Goodnight
As the Queen Victoria sails out of Piraeus in the early evening we are treated to a spectacular show of thunder and lightning. The rain continues most of the night as we sail to Kotolokon, but the ship is securely built—and very quiet—and we hardly feel the sea at all. For dinner we finally have an offering of escargot, but the rest of the meal, like most of the food, is adequate but not very interesting. At least our servers, Jane and Merwin, from the Philippines, are very good and make the meals pleasant.
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