(Port of Piraeus in Athens, Greece and fly to Tel Aviv, Israel)
Cathy was up at 4:45. I rolled out of bed closer to 5:30. The plan for the day is to arrive at the Port of Piraeus where we disembark our cruise and return to Athens for a city tour including the Acropolis, the Parthenon and Mars Hill. In the afternoon/evening we will have ‘day use’ of the hotel rooms and then around 10:45 pm we transfer to the airport with our Tour Guide (Wayne the Swede) for our flight to Tel Aviv.
Just a little before 6:00 we walked up two decks to the dining room and had our usual buffet breakfast. After breakfast, at 6:30, most of the people on the ship, as instructed, met in the Sirenes Lounge (on the 7th of 8 decks) to have our passports returned to us. Now is as good a time as any to tell you about the Sirenes Lounge. It’s one deck from the very top of the ship and throughout the cruise it has been the rendezvous point for English speaking passengers to gather before we disembarked for any of the sightseeing that we have done. I believe that the purpose for using the Sirenes Lounge as a gathering place before disembarking was to establish some order in that process. Typically, the cruise director would direct passengers to disembark according to the group you were traveling with. If you were the 1st group to disembark at a certain port of call, you would be the last at the next port of call. It seemed a fair way but it really didn’t stop the chaos of getting off the ship. If we were docked and could walk down the ramp, the narrowness of the ramp caused us to carefully take one step at a time – a very slow process and the exit line just got longer as the groups were released from the Sirenes Lounge. When we had to drop anchor and take the Tender Boats to shore, only 35-40 people could get on a boat. Since there were just a few Tender Boats, this was a much slower method to get people off the boat. I digress – let me get back to our passports.
A few minutes after 6:30, the Sirenes Lounge was full of people waiting to get their passports. The only hiccup here is that there are no ship personnel with our passports. The ladies will appreciate this next part. There was a 3’ X 8’ folding table with 3 folding chairs behind it at one end of the lounge and some guy assumed that would be the place where the ship’s personnel would sit when they returned our passports. That’s all it took – one guy to start a line and every guy in the lounge scurried into the line behind our ‘leader.’ Thirty-five minutes later the guys are still standing in line while the ladies have been sitting on comfortable chairs, talking with each other and discussing anything and everything about the trip so far. The cruise director and three staff members come in with the passports and I’m fairly excited because I’m about 8th in line and I know that I’ll be receiving our passports in mere moments. It is at this time that the cruise director informs the line of men that she will return our passports by group. L About 30 minutes later our group was called, we received our passports and left the ship.
Port of Piraeus, Athens
As we left RUBY we were met by our tour guide – Barbara. She guided us to the luggage retrieval area where we collected our luggage and then boarded our tour bus to begin our day tour of Athens. As I said earlier, the itinerary called for us to visit the Acropolis, the Parthenon and Areopagus (Mars Hill) and that is what we did. I noticed two things as we left the tour bus. The first is that it is now hot and the other is that Mars Hill and the Acropolis are near the top and on the top of this mountain, respectively – and it’s a long way up.
Mars Hill
The 1st stop was Mars Hill. Mars Hill is the bald limestone hill across from the entrance to the Acropolis. This limestone hill is situated in a prominent site located 140 ft below the Acropolis and in Apostle Paul's day was the meeting place of the main governing body of the city. While some think that Paul's appearance here indicates some sort of judicial proceeding, most see the reference as only the location of his preaching (Acts 17).
During our devotions, Pastor Rick explained that according to Luke, the Apostle Paul only paid one visit to this city. While Paul waited for Silas and
Timothy to join him at Athens, he traveled through the ancient city and was appalled by the high degree of paganism in the city. An ancient Proverb claimed that there were more gods in Athens than men, and wherever Paul looked he could see "that the city was given over to idols" (Acts 17:16). Paul then "reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there" (Acts 17:17). Finally, he had the opportunity to address the philosophers on Mars' Hill and there proclaimed to them "God, who made the world and everything in it" (Acts 17:24).
Acropolis
After our time on Mars Hill, we walked backed to the entry point of the Acropolis, passed through the gates and headed up to the mountain. As one would expect, we were in a long line of tourists heading up the mountain to get a close view of the excavated or still-standing remains of buildings that make up the Acropolis. Our tour guide – Barbara – explained that the Acropolis is known as the “Sacred Rock” of Athens. The temples of the Acropolis have become the some of most famous architectural landmarks of ancient and modern history. There are 21 buildings making up the Acropolis which date to the 6th century BC.
Without a doubt the Parthenon is the most impressive. The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon replaced an older temple of Athena, called the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin. After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque in the early 1460s. On September 28, 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian
bombardment. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. When you go to your next dinner party you can wow the others with these fun facts about the Parthenon.
Something we noticed since we arrived in Greece and was evident on the Acropolis is that the dogs run free and no one pays much attention to them. In the States, you expect to see dogs on leashes but not so much in Greece. The dogs appeared well fed and had absolutley no apparent interest in the tourists.
After viewing as much as we could within our allotted time, we headed back down the hill. Just outside the entrance gate we stopped and got bottled water and frozen lemonade. It was warm outside and the water and lemonade were so refreshing. The group all gathered at the appointed time at the rendevous point, we boarded the bus and continued the tour of Athens.
Athens City Tour
The remaining part of the city tour consisted mostly of sitting on the bus and driving by points of interest. We saw the Olympic Stadium, President’s Palace, and several distinct parts of town:
Syntagma Square - dominated by the old Royal Palace, Syntagma Square is the business district of Athens, complete with major hotels, banks, restaurants and airline offices
the Plaka - a charming historic district at the foot of the Acropolis, with its restored 19th century neoclassical homes, pedestrianized streets, shops and restaurants, and picturesque ruins from the city's Roman era
Monastiraki - very bohemian district increasingly popular with tourists, with stores selling a variety of items including antiques, cookware, souvenirs, arts and crafts, movie posters, punk culture, funky clothing, and pretty much anything you can think of
Kolonaki - upscale residential area with many cafes, boutiques and galleries
Thissio - picturesque, historic district with restored 19th-century neoclassical architecture -similar to Pláka- located next to the Ancient Agora, and housing many restaurants and cafes.
At about 2:00 in the afternoon our city tour of Athens ended. We returned to the same hotel that we used when we first arrived in Greece, the Park Hotel. We had ‘day use’ of the hotel, which meant that we had a hotel room at our disposal until we got ready to leave for Israel later that night. We received our room key and happily discovered that we had a suite for use - three beds, huge bathroom, couch, chairs and plenty of room for luggage. I believe us getting the use of a beautiful suite was a mistake but I was willing to overlook it. We had a late lunch in the hotel: Cathy and I had some sandwich that I won’t even talk about and Shannon had a burger with fries. After lunch we went up to the room and watched the only English speaking channel on TV – soon Cathy and Shannon were sleeping and I decided to do some much needed ironing. Yeah, I know – but let’s no go there.
At 7:45 we met for our last group dinner in Greece. We ate with Gail Randall, Veronica (Mom) and Brittany (Daughter). I don’t remember what we were served but I can almost assure you that it was tasty, had a funny name and looked odd. What I do remember is lots of talking and laughter. After dinner it was back to the rooms, pack (if you unpacked anything) and get ready to come back down and board the bus at 10:45.
Athens Airport
At 10:45 we boarded the bus and transferred to the airport with our Tour Guide (Wayne the Swede) for our flight to Tel Aviv. We arrived at the airport close to midnight for our 2:20 in the morning flight. We got our seat assignments, cruised the airport shops that were open, and eventually passed through the final security check point and boarded the plane.
Just a little before 6:00 we walked up two decks to the dining room and had our usual buffet breakfast. After breakfast, at 6:30, most of the people on the ship, as instructed, met in the Sirenes Lounge (on the 7th of 8 decks) to have our passports returned to us. Now is as good a time as any to tell you about the Sirenes Lounge. It’s one deck from the very top of the ship and throughout the cruise it has been the rendezvous point for English speaking passengers to gather before we disembarked for any of the sightseeing that we have done. I believe that the purpose for using the Sirenes Lounge as a gathering place before disembarking was to establish some order in that process. Typically, the cruise director would direct passengers to disembark according to the group you were traveling with. If you were the 1st group to disembark at a certain port of call, you would be the last at the next port of call. It seemed a fair way but it really didn’t stop the chaos of getting off the ship. If we were docked and could walk down the ramp, the narrowness of the ramp caused us to carefully take one step at a time – a very slow process and the exit line just got longer as the groups were released from the Sirenes Lounge. When we had to drop anchor and take the Tender Boats to shore, only 35-40 people could get on a boat. Since there were just a few Tender Boats, this was a much slower method to get people off the boat. I digress – let me get back to our passports.
A few minutes after 6:30, the Sirenes Lounge was full of people waiting to get their passports. The only hiccup here is that there are no ship personnel with our passports. The ladies will appreciate this next part. There was a 3’ X 8’ folding table with 3 folding chairs behind it at one end of the lounge and some guy assumed that would be the place where the ship’s personnel would sit when they returned our passports. That’s all it took – one guy to start a line and every guy in the lounge scurried into the line behind our ‘leader.’ Thirty-five minutes later the guys are still standing in line while the ladies have been sitting on comfortable chairs, talking with each other and discussing anything and everything about the trip so far. The cruise director and three staff members come in with the passports and I’m fairly excited because I’m about 8th in line and I know that I’ll be receiving our passports in mere moments. It is at this time that the cruise director informs the line of men that she will return our passports by group. L About 30 minutes later our group was called, we received our passports and left the ship.
Port of Piraeus, Athens
As we left RUBY we were met by our tour guide – Barbara. She guided us to the luggage retrieval area where we collected our luggage and then boarded our tour bus to begin our day tour of Athens. As I said earlier, the itinerary called for us to visit the Acropolis, the Parthenon and Areopagus (Mars Hill) and that is what we did. I noticed two things as we left the tour bus. The first is that it is now hot and the other is that Mars Hill and the Acropolis are near the top and on the top of this mountain, respectively – and it’s a long way up.
Mars Hill
The 1st stop was Mars Hill. Mars Hill is the bald limestone hill across from the entrance to the Acropolis. This limestone hill is situated in a prominent site located 140 ft below the Acropolis and in Apostle Paul's day was the meeting place of the main governing body of the city. While some think that Paul's appearance here indicates some sort of judicial proceeding, most see the reference as only the location of his preaching (Acts 17).During our devotions, Pastor Rick explained that according to Luke, the Apostle Paul only paid one visit to this city. While Paul waited for Silas and
Timothy to join him at Athens, he traveled through the ancient city and was appalled by the high degree of paganism in the city. An ancient Proverb claimed that there were more gods in Athens than men, and wherever Paul looked he could see "that the city was given over to idols" (Acts 17:16). Paul then "reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there" (Acts 17:17). Finally, he had the opportunity to address the philosophers on Mars' Hill and there proclaimed to them "God, who made the world and everything in it" (Acts 17:24).Acropolis
After our time on Mars Hill, we walked backed to the entry point of the Acropolis, passed through the gates and headed up to the mountain. As one would expect, we were in a long line of tourists heading up the mountain to get a close view of the excavated or still-standing remains of buildings that make up the Acropolis. Our tour guide – Barbara – explained that the Acropolis is known as the “Sacred Rock” of Athens. The temples of the Acropolis have become the some of most famous architectural landmarks of ancient and modern history. There are 21 buildings making up the Acropolis which date to the 6th century BC.
Without a doubt the Parthenon is the most impressive. The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon replaced an older temple of Athena, called the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin. After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque in the early 1460s. On September 28, 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian
bombardment. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. When you go to your next dinner party you can wow the others with these fun facts about the Parthenon.Something we noticed since we arrived in Greece and was evident on the Acropolis is that the dogs run free and no one pays much attention to them. In the States, you expect to see dogs on leashes but not so much in Greece. The dogs appeared well fed and had absolutley no apparent interest in the tourists.
After viewing as much as we could within our allotted time, we headed back down the hill. Just outside the entrance gate we stopped and got bottled water and frozen lemonade. It was warm outside and the water and lemonade were so refreshing. The group all gathered at the appointed time at the rendevous point, we boarded the bus and continued the tour of Athens.
Athens City Tour
The remaining part of the city tour consisted mostly of sitting on the bus and driving by points of interest. We saw the Olympic Stadium, President’s Palace, and several distinct parts of town:
Syntagma Square - dominated by the old Royal Palace, Syntagma Square is the business district of Athens, complete with major hotels, banks, restaurants and airline offices
the Plaka - a charming historic district at the foot of the Acropolis, with its restored 19th century neoclassical homes, pedestrianized streets, shops and restaurants, and picturesque ruins from the city's Roman era
Monastiraki - very bohemian district increasingly popular with tourists, with stores selling a variety of items including antiques, cookware, souvenirs, arts and crafts, movie posters, punk culture, funky clothing, and pretty much anything you can think of
Kolonaki - upscale residential area with many cafes, boutiques and galleries
Thissio - picturesque, historic district with restored 19th-century neoclassical architecture -similar to Pláka- located next to the Ancient Agora, and housing many restaurants and cafes.
At about 2:00 in the afternoon our city tour of Athens ended. We returned to the same hotel that we used when we first arrived in Greece, the Park Hotel. We had ‘day use’ of the hotel, which meant that we had a hotel room at our disposal until we got ready to leave for Israel later that night. We received our room key and happily discovered that we had a suite for use - three beds, huge bathroom, couch, chairs and plenty of room for luggage. I believe us getting the use of a beautiful suite was a mistake but I was willing to overlook it. We had a late lunch in the hotel: Cathy and I had some sandwich that I won’t even talk about and Shannon had a burger with fries. After lunch we went up to the room and watched the only English speaking channel on TV – soon Cathy and Shannon were sleeping and I decided to do some much needed ironing. Yeah, I know – but let’s no go there.
At 7:45 we met for our last group dinner in Greece. We ate with Gail Randall, Veronica (Mom) and Brittany (Daughter). I don’t remember what we were served but I can almost assure you that it was tasty, had a funny name and looked odd. What I do remember is lots of talking and laughter. After dinner it was back to the rooms, pack (if you unpacked anything) and get ready to come back down and board the bus at 10:45.
Athens Airport
At 10:45 we boarded the bus and transferred to the airport with our Tour Guide (Wayne the Swede) for our flight to Tel Aviv. We arrived at the airport close to midnight for our 2:20 in the morning flight. We got our seat assignments, cruised the airport shops that were open, and eventually passed through the final security check point and boarded the plane.
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