Day 38 Athens

Day 38 – Athens – Friday 22/6/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny 23C - 32C

Sunrise – 6.04am

Sunset – 8.52pm

Time difference - minus 7 hours ex Sydney

At 4.45am this morning the Piraeus harbour pilot got aboard. We then altered course to starboard passing through the breakwaters. We continued to the swinging basin turning to come alongside the berth portside.

Today we elected to catch a Princess bus into the city of Athens, and do our own thing. We left the port nice and early, by about 7.30am, and had a scenic tour of Piraeus coastline. There were a few bucks worth of yachts and pleasure crafts there, very noice. We went past a few of the stadiums they used for various sports during the Olympic Games, some of which are still used, others which have sadly not been maintained.

We were dropped off in the Plaka area, not far from the Acropolis site. We met some friends, and as a group we wandered past various sites, that had not yet opened, such as the Museum, and the Parthenon.

We climbed up Areopagus Hill which gave us spectacular views across Athens, as well as great views of the Parthenon above us, Ancient Agora, and Arios Pagos below us. We then had a key decision to make, either return to the drop off point and wait for the Hop on Hop Off bus, which was the original intent, or wander through the back streets, and work our way up to the Parliament of the Hellenes. We chose the latter, as we had got a bit of an overview on the way in, and we really wanted to get into the side streets with the locals, and we really only had a few hours here.

Bob and Wendy joined us as we meandered our way through the back streets below the Acropolis, which was just marvellous. We came across a few taverners (pubs), cafes and souvenir shops, as well as the Hellenic Childrens Museum, the Frissiras Museum and Museum of Greek Folk art.

We continued to stroll around purposefully until we arrived at the Hellenic Parliament. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is guarded here around the clock by the Evzones of the Presidential Guard, is located in the formal forecourt of the building.

We waited for the changing of the Guard, which occurs on the hour, every hour, and took the obligatory photos. Whilst waiting for the guards to change we took the opportunity to call home to Sarah, Robert and Kimberley. We had spoken to Kerrie and Nathan whilst in Istanbul the other day, so we have spoken to them all this week, which was good.

We had been told it would be worth a visit to the underground railway subways station, so we did. Very clean, with some interesting shops. Donna and Wendy bought some candied peanuts and almonds..yum. We then took a rest break at Cafe for a refreshment. I had the obligatory Frape, and we took advantage of the free wi-fi to upload photos onto the blog, catch up on Facebook, download emails, check the phone account amount and check the bank account. There is still a few bucks left in the bank, so we can continue on with our holiday for a bit yet :)

We still had about 90 minutes left before we had to be back on the bus, so we walked our way back to the 'tourist area' of Plaka, where our meeting point was. Here Donna and Wendy got into a bit of serious shopping time, whilst Bob and I guarded the wallets – not from pickpockets, but from Donna and Wendy !!!! :)

Back on the bus for our short return journey back to port. We had 15mins to spare before the boarding deadline, so a last minute use of the free wifi in the terminal building and we were on board.

We departed the berth on time at about 2pm and retraced our courses out of the port, and once outside Sun Princess steered a south westerly course through the Greek Islands.

At 9.45pm this evening we passed Tainaro Point on our starboard side, and then altered course to the north west continuing towards our next port of call, Venice.