We awoke too early to the voice of the cruise director informing us that due to a recent strike at Pireaus, the port for Athens, our docking would be delayed. It was 7:15 am and apparently we were due to dock at 7:00 but now we would be late. Given that we had NO plans that required us to be off the ship at this ungodly hour, we didn’t really appreciate the early morning wake up call but I’m sure others who were antsy to run ashore and join the tourist throngs appreciated the update.
Since we were so rudely awakened, we decided to get up and prepare for the day. We dressed and went down to breakfast where I had preordered eggs Benedict! Woo hoo! I never get that and I enjoyed it immensely. We eventually were cleared to dock and the captain extended our time on shore by an hour – I suspect it was due to the number of shore excursions that were affected by the delay and not out of the goodness of his heart but that’s the cynic in me that doesn’t’ take a vacation!
We had prebooked a taxi to take us from the port to the Acropolis and he picked us up a few minutes before arranged time of 9:30 – I’m on vacation and I’m not getting up before 7am for no tourist attraction! He was a very nice young guy who was happy to do a little side hustle and drive us around a few of the sites. Then it was time to battle the crowds at the Acropolis. With our prebooked tickets, we skirted at least one of the lines and then spent the next two hours standing in a dozen more lines. I had read that it was best to arrive before 10 am to avoid the crowd but that would have required an alarm clock and missing eggs benedict and that wasn’t happening. The price we paid was milling around with all of humanity on the top of a large rock where selfie sticks captured sweaty, smiling faces in front of antiquities that the subject rarely understood.
Travel tip #9: Have the patience of a saint when touring the “must see” sights of the world.
While we were able to marvel at the accomplishments of our ancestors, I was a bit ashamed of my contemporaries. First, bad bathroom line etiquette. Because it was a day that ends in Y, there was a queue for the ladies toilet. While standing in said queue, a gentleman came out of the men’s toilet and tried to convince us to use that. The few ladies in front of me declined and he proceeded to collect several female companions and bring them straight to the gents. By this time, the men’s room was fully occupied and a small fracas ensued with both women and men battling for the stalls in the men’s room while the women stood by and proceeded to the ladies in an orderly fashion.
The second time where civility died at the birthplace of civilization was in the process of trying to exit. Because the flow of people in both directions is directed through the narrow entry way that is part of the Propylaea, there is quite a crush getting through. Site officials shouted at people not to stop and take pictures but you can guess how that was received. We were standing in yet another line getting ready to go through the gates when a tour guide in front of us got fed up with people by passing the crowd waiting to leave and tried to head straight to the front. In Britain, this is jumping the queue and is punishable by death. Here, there was one woman who took it upon herself to herd the masses of tourist cats and send people back to the end of the line, arguing with various people about her right to do so in the processes. While that chaos was ensuing, several individuals started having a showing match about who-knows-what but it involved a black woman and a white man slinging insults at each other. All of these vocalizations were in English although it wasn’t clear that it was anyone’s native tounge.
Finally cleared of the crowd and the crowing, we headed out to explore other ancient sites including the Roman Market, the Tower of the Winds, and the Ancient Agora. This involved negotiating unnamed streets when Google maps couldn’t find us and fending off a small gang of Gambian peaceniks who just wanted to give us bracelets to show their devotion for peace and harmony but could we spare a few coins for their effort?
Historied out, we headed to the Plaka, an area in the shadow of the Acropolis full of shops and cafes. I’d liken it to the Latin Quarter in Paris crossed with Canal Street in NYC. And there we lunched. I’d like to claim we were dining with the locals but I know everyone in the place was a tourist. But they understood gluten free, walked me through the menu to show what I could have and served a very respectable house white wine so the lack of Greek speakers in the place didn’t worry me. Lunch was delicious and apprpriatly fueled, we headed out into the streets to contribute to Greek GDP.
Travel tip #10: do what you want to do regardless of what the guide books say.
We could (should?) have gone to the Acropolis Museum where the artifacts recovered from the Acropolis were housed. But we didn’t’. It’s supposed to be one of the best museums in Europe but we just didn’t feel like doing a museum today. So we didn’t. Instead we wandered the rabbit warren streets that were still wider and less crowded than Santorini yesterday. We made several purchases including shirts for Frank, jewelry for me, an olive wood backgammon board which we can’t wait to break in, and a football jersey from the local Athens club for my nephew for Christmas. Yup, I started my Christmas shopping today.
Our ride home met us on time and took us back to the ship where we had plenty of time to change into swimsuits and hit the hot tub before dinner. Tonight was to be one of the specialty dining room experiences and we had reservations at the steakhouse on board for 9pm. That meant that we could enjoy drinks on the balcony and watch the sunset as the ship slowly pulled out of the harbor.
We got seated early for our dinner at the steakhouse which was nice. This was one of the “freebies” we got when booking this cruise more than 18 months ago: 4 premium meals at the specialty restaurants. Dinner tonight would be the first of those meals. And it was nice. Not worth the amount that we would have paid without the package but very palatable. Frank had ribeye and I had lamb chops with all the trimmings. We left stuffed to the gills and ready for a good nights sleep. We are due to dock in Mykonos at 8am which probably means we’ll be awakened by important announcements long before that. {sigh}
Today’s (semi-trustworthy) iPhone data: 20,082 steps (7.2 miles) covering 34 floors. Apparently the Acropolis isn’t as high as the caldera on Santorini.
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