Blogs from Attica, Greece, Europe - page 16

The ship is docked at Pireus, the port of Athens, Greece. It is another spectacular day; nothing but blue skies. We are on a bus heading for Athens with our guide Joanne. Her English sounds Australian; turns out her language teachers were all Ozzies. Our first stop in Athens is the site of the first modern Olympic Games back in 1896. The facility was completely rebuilt for the 2004 games. Trying to entice visitors to have a photo taken with them are soldiers in Ancient Greek battle dress and goddesses in traditional white Greek dresses. Back on the bus. As we drive along, the Acropolis, and specifically the Parthenon, is visible perched high on the rocky craig in the centre of Athens. In fact, no matter where you go in Athens, you can likely still see ... read more

Apologies for taking so long to write this. It is now Tuesday night (actually, now Thursday night), the first part of my flights home left Athens at 4.20pm on Thursday, after a wait of around four hours at Dubai we left at about 2am Friday morning, landing at Kuala Lumpar at about 1pm and landing at Melbourne at 1am Saturday (local times used). Having an awesome daughter who insisted on picking me up from the airport regardless of the time of my landing, I decided to book a room at the Parkroyal at Tullamarine Airport (with super comfy beds). Last Thursday turned out quite interesting. Another Greek breaky of ham and cheese on buttered bread, this time with full confidence (all the awkward peering under lids to inspect the contends having been done the morning before). ... read more

After having breakfast at the hotel, I packed up and headed off for another look around the Port of Piraeus. Having had more sleep, I was a little more focussed on crossing roads in a safe manner….. that is truly a challenge here in Greece. While packing up, I watched the Greek morning show…. Wow, I have never seen a weather report quite like it….. very animated and energetic you could say. In this adventure, I found a lot of the shops hidden in narrow roads almost by mistake. I also took time to sit and watch the world from Greece’s oldest port. In an absolutely hectic and seemingly random city, the luxury yachts had a certain order about them. The hotel bus took me and some fellow cruisers to the ship, which I have to ... read more

Town and around on an Athens city tour and a trip up to the Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus and the temple of Poseidon. Then back to the Corinth canal for lunch but different from the other day. Athens is so big it's mind boggling. It is such a shame it is in such a mess. Perhaps it's a leftover from the the immigrants, don't know. We watched a movie on the way back to Patras and the ship. It was hilarious because it was about a tour guide in Greece and we understood a lot of the language difficulties And recognised where it was filmed. Back on a better faster ship for the trip back to Italy, quicker voyage than the first one. Nice cabins. Drinkies again on the ship, in bed at midnight. ... read more

Geo: 37.9795, 23.7162Left mid to late morning on our stroll, later departures are becoming usual for us as we are taking it rather easier than last year. However, about a hour later around Hadrian's Arch, the Rain God frowned upon us, and we beat a hasty retreat back to the apt. Couple of hours later the clouds lost the battle to the blue sky and away we went. Began in fairly comfortable temperatures, but toward the later afternoon as began our trek home (of course largely uphill) the temp rose and perspiration flowed. Arriving back home we rung out our shirts, enjoyed the cool, and HP (along with pacman) saved the entire planet from the ghosts.Unfortunately the air heads must depart Athens in the morning for Barcelona. We scheduled way too little time here, wonderful place ... read more