Our ship arrived in Piraeus, Athens early this morning to grey skies and rain. We kept a very British level of optimism throughout breakfast and left our raincoats in the cabin – gambling that the sun would break through at some point. One other member of our group appeared to be making the same gamble – wearing much the same outfit as me; combats, running shoes, and a t-shirt.
I got a sense of the way the day might go within moments of getting on the bus, when a middle-aged man that got on the transfer coach ahead of us remarked to anybody that might listen that he was worn out already after the mile walk from the ship (it was about 200 yards).
The coach took us on a tour of down-town Piraeus and Athens before delivering us to the foot of the Acropolis – and the guide “Nicolas” was brilliant. We wondered afterwards if he had been a teacher or university lecturer in the past.
The tour became a wonderful history, language and geography lesson – breaking down the greek language, and explaining where many of our modern words come from. Even though I already knew most of the headline stories of the Greek gods, his cross-referencing them with their Roman counterparts – and the story of why and how – was endlessly fascinating.
After arriving at the foot of the Acropolis, perhaps two thirds of the tour party trooped off to use the toilet – after being on the coach for an hour. Don’t even start. An hour and a half on-site became less than an hour because of them. It gets funnier. Several of the party didn’t make it all the way up the hill to the Parthenon, and at least one refused point blank because they were scared of heights.
Who in their right mind travels half-the way round the world to visit one of the most important and inspiring sites without knowing it’s several hundred feet above Athens? Have they never read a book, or seen a TV show about it?
Thankfully – after agreeing a meeting point, we were allowed to explore on our own, and raced to the top of the Acropolis – or rather, shuffled along with several thousand other tourists.
One of the gods must have been smiling on us – because the clouds finally broke as we reached the top – flooding the towering marble columns of the Parthenon with sunshine and transforming it into quite the majestic spectacle.
I probably shouldn’t say this, but I was more impressed with a small building on the far side of the Acropolis called the Erechtheion. Each of the columns on its south side resemble women – the Caryatids.
Don’t get me wrong – the Parthenon is spectacularly huge and imposing, but the row of women looking out over Athens has something about it that the Parthenon doesn’t have.
After using our remaining hour on the hill wisely (read: running between puddles taking hundreds of photos), we returned to the meeting point and climbed back aboard the coach.
Or rather most of us did.
It turned out both coaches that left the ship for the Acropolis ended up with two missing passengers – meaning we were half an hour late leaving the Acropolis, and therefore lost half an hour in central Athens.
To be honest, it didn’t really matter – we still had several hours to wander the city streets near Hadrian’s gate, buy souvenirs (my other half bought our granddaughter more clothes), and find somewhere for lunch.
We lucked out on a wonderful street cafe/restaurant serving traditional Greek food – I ordered a salad and ended up with a mountain of the most wonderful fresh tomatoes, chillis, olives, rocket, carrots, lettuce and capers – drenched in olive oil and accompanied by a large glass of white wine.
We both agreed that Athens was the best destination so far – despite the weather – and would make a perfect city break at some point in the future – to properly explore the museums, historic sites, and galleries.
After Nicolas took us on a further narrated tour of the city back towards Piraeus, we left with smiles and shook his hand while thanking him for being by far the best tour guide we have ever encountered over the years – not that we’ve done many tours. We typically find our own way when visiting places – and will in the future, given recent experience. It’s funny how quickly forget why you don’t do certain things.
We would have left the bus quite quickly, but as soon as it stopped a herd of “people of a certain age” moved more quickly than they had all day – not affording us the chance to even get out of our seats. The same thing had happened in the morning – we were among the last off – finally escaping when a couple made pointed remarks about manners that almost certainly fell on deaf ears all around us. We thanked them, and shook our heads towards each other in quiet disbelief.
Anyway!
We are back on the ship now – killing time before dinner – and waiting for the boarding ramps to be raised. I will admit to smiling while boarding when I went through the security checks with no issues – and heard the alarms going off for those carrying inordinate quantities of duty-free alcohol and cigarettes behind us.
I do wonder what happened to the members of the tour party that were left behind though – we heard they had been found – I expect they would have had to get a taxi back? At least they’ll have something to complain about over dinner though – which will probably cheer them up no end.
Let’s finish with one more picture of the Parthenon – because it is amazing:
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