Athens

Today we were in Athens for one day. It was a leisurely start as we were not scheduled to be cleared to go ashore until 9:30am.

Around 7:00am we approached the berth, and were greeted by firstly a pilot boat and secondly a tug boat to help us in. We were also greeted by a small group of ship-spotters.

We have visited Athens before, last time we had two days here in the height of summer, which was very hot. Today it was a pleasant 19 degrees and slightly overcast. Last time, we saw most sights but didn't go up to the Acropolis. Today we intended to go up, it was cheaper to book the hop-on hop-off bus than get a taxi so that's what we did. By the end of the day, that would work out to be a wise move.

We got off the bus at the main parking are for the Acropolis. The signs are heavily vandalised, which is very common across Athens, same as last time we were here.

We walked up the hill to the ticket office, where we met huge queues and even larger crowds to walk up the hill. Also it was expensive so we decided to give it a miss. Instead, I walked up another hill which gave a great view of the city and the acropolis to get some photos, then I returned to Helen who was waiting patiently.

Near the ticket office, a German couple on motorcycles rode up and parked, immediately followed by police on motorcycles who came to ticket them. It was all very friendly and when done the couple had photos with the police also! I suggested they should charge the police for photos and everyone laughed.

Next we walked down and around the hill, seeing many old buildings and also much graffiti. Also there are wild poppies growing here.

Athens is in an even worse state than when we were here about five years ago. There is clearly very little money for building and road maintenance.

The traffic here is crazy, so busy, every lane blocked with cars and there are scooters and motorcycles everywhere. They all lane split and toot their horns, and cut each other off, and make their own lanes between the cars. Even the police do it! Athens has a lawless feel to it, with many people on scooters and motorcycles not wearing helmets, riding along footpaths, and other crazy stunts. We saw many near misses between scooters and cars on our travels.

We managed to see a few of the main sites again, on the bus route.

We walked slightly off the tourist route, and found a nice place for lunch which was a combined deli and restaurant. The food we ate was authentic Greek, just beautiful and I wish I could buy a few items from the deli and take them home to cook.

We continued walking around on foot, did a little bit of shopping along the way, taking in some sights, and continued to marvel at the crazy traffic among it all.

Here's something interesting, armed policeman outside the police station.

We made it back to ship in good time, needing to stop by another cruise ship terminal first to get a Customs stamp for a VAT refund on Helen's new sewing machine. Oddly the Customs officer is in another terminal, a few kilometres from our ship, where there is no cruise ship in port today. And at our terminal the Customs office is closed.

Today was the first chance we had to see the ship up close from the wharf. Even with my super-wide 10mm lens, I could not fit the entire ship in. It is just huge.

From now on, we have a few days at sea as head down through Suez canal. We may find internet more difficult to find down through the Middle East and India, so the blog may become less regular. Thanks for reading so far.