Journey to Athens, Thira and Sorrento

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Dear Friends and Family,

We arrived in Piraeus the following morning, a couple kilometres from Athens, Greece. The cruise ship charged $60 each for a transfer to the city but we walked 20 minutes from the terminal and found a metro for less than $3. A half hour later, we arrived in the middle of Athens at Monastiraki station, just a couple metres from the Roman Agora. We viewed the remains of Hadrian’s Library and the Tower of the Winds as we headed up the hill to the Acropolis. We managed to beat most of the tourists to the top of the Acropolis and had a rather unimpeded view of the Parthenon, Erechtheum, the entrance Propylaea and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. As we were on our way down, the hordes descended and we barely escaped before the pathways became blocked with tourists. We decided to walk around the outside of the Acropolis and visit the various sacred caves, some being more accessible than others. We also saw the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus and many remains of columns and statues. After a full circuit, we ended up back on the north side and made our way down to the Ancient Agora. Our Parthenon ticket gave us free entrance to both the Ancient and Roman Agoras. We had next to no euros left so headed into the city streets to find a money exchange or bank machine. It took us a while and we passed the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens and the Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea on the way. We finally found money, and hence food at the Syntagma Square (where the Greeks hold all their protests about paying their debts – interesting what the northern Europeans had to say about that) and were just in time for a funny rendition of the changing of the guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We passed by the National Gardens of Athens, visited Hadrian’s Arch and the remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We finally sat down in the Plaka district (= tourist district) for a full meal.

We decided to skip the new Acropolis Museum and got on a Metro to take us to Omonoia Square. From there we walked about eight blocks to the National Archaeological Museum through some fairly run down streets. We had heard a lot of good things about the museum, but except for a couple highlights, we were mostly disappointed. There was a cool exhibit on a navigational tool (Antikythera mechanism) that had been discovered which was centuries more advanced than expected. Highlights included the mask of Agamemnon, several statues including a statue of Zeus poised to throw a lightning bolt, and the Santorial Frescos. We were starting to get tired so caught the metro back to Piraeus and boarded our ship.

We had been lucky so far in out shore excursions as we had docked at each of the ports. The volcanic islands of Santorini (rumoured to be the fabled Atlantis) were the first test of the cruise tendering system. I woke up at 6am to be second in line for the tenders. We boarded the first boat at 7am and took the first set of cable cars up the steep cliffs to the town of Fira on the island of Thira (main island of Santorini). We waited for the next cable car for Tony and Lisa to join us. Lisa had found out about a hiking path from Fira to Oia along the cliff tops. We set off through town heading north along the winding streets. There was no obvious path and we took one or two wrong turns but were enjoying the lovely vista of white buildings and pools clinging to the cliffs overlooking the bay and volcanic islands in the middle.

Ann liked the blue domed roofs that occasionally adorned the buildings. At one point on the trail, we climbed to the very top of the island and looked out 360 degrees. Every time we thought we were almost there, the trail took another turn. It took us around three hours for the full trek. We rested once we got to Oia and had a snack at the first café we came across. We walked out to the furthest outcropping and the ruins of a long forgotten outpost. Our friends were a bit tired afterwards so we caught a bus back to Fira, only for Ann and I to immediately catch another bus to the south of the island. We got out at the earliest known ruins of the Minoan Akrotiri. While there was not a great deal to see, it was humbling to stand within buildings that were 4000 to 5000 years old. We walked downhill towards the beaches we had heard about – were they really red, white and black? We didn’t have enough time to explore on foot so caught a water taxi which took us to each of the beaches in turn – and yes, they really were as colourful as promised – volcanic black, limestone white and iron red rocks. We were lucky to see them all from the ferry and arrive back in time for the next local bus back to Fira. We ran from the station back to the cable car station as we had been warned there would be a line. We made it back down to the harbour to catch the last tender back to the ship. As we pulled away from the dock, we saw Shawn and Richane running to the dock with another couple. Fortunately the ships’ crew were still packing up so they got a ride back but at least one couple didn’t make it back on the cruise and had to find their own way home.

The next stop for us was the port of Naples. We stepped off the ship with Mike and Sherry and immediately caught a ferry to Sorrento. It was a rainy and miserable day and the ferry tossed us up and down so we were very happy to make it to shore in a half hour (versus an hour and a half on the express train). Even in the rain we really enjoyed Sorrento, finding lush hidden grottos, lemon tree groves, city walls with art galleries inside and the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria on the cliff top. We found a great restaurant for traditional Italian pizza. We really meant to drive the Amalfi Coast but the weather was so horrible that we gave up on the idea. We caught the train back north, bypassed the Pompeii ruins and instead chose to get off at Herculaneum. We really enjoyed these ruins that were much more intact than Pompeii. They covered a smaller area but many mosaics and remains of the common man’s tools. We could also look down into the city from above to see the streets layout. We saw the ancient style food centres, the remains of food items in pots, and carbonised wooden remains of stairs and doorways. We ran to catch the train the rest of the way to Naples and could see Mount Vesuvius behind the clouds. Mike and Sherry headed back to the ship while we wandered the back alleys to the city centre. This city is in rough shape. You can really see the effects of the recession here. We saw the Castel Nuovo, seat of the medieval kings of Naples, The Piazza del Plebiscito,where an impromptu football game was underway, and the Royal Palace of Naples next to the Galleria Umberto. Then it was a quick trip back to the cruise ship to head back to Civitavecchia and Rome.

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