October 21, 2009 – Wednesday 6:50 pm
I’m sitting on the balcony off our stateroom catching us up on the blog. You can’t know how hard it is for Mike and me to realize that we are really here! We are cruising away from Athens, leaving it in the glow of a beautiful sunset. The lights are coming on and the city is beautiful, sprawled along the coastline.
So, to go back to the beginning of the day….., we got up very early as we needed to get cleaned up, dressed, packed, checked out and breakfast eaten before 8:00 am as that is when our tour for today began. We were picked up at the hotel and drove around Athens looking at several interesting and historic sites. We stopped at the huge Olympic stadium. Then we stopped at the Temple of Zeus which is actually quite close to our hotel. They have built a park around it and it also has Hadrian’s arch as an entrance to the area. After touring that, we drove past several spectacular buildings, including the Parliament building that Mike and I saw yesterday. We didn’t stop again, however, until we got to the Acropolis. The Acropolis and Parthenon were really the reason we took the tour in the first place. Anything else we saw was just a bonus. This was a real test of Mike’s endurance and the new brace and walking shoes that he got to help his stability. This climb would be a test of anyone’s strength so for Mike and me both, (old, out of shape people) it was amazing that we did it. It is certainly worth it. To stand on that ancient site and contemplate the history and appreciate the accomplishment of the structure is one thing; but to then see the incredible view from that vantage point lends a whole new element of wonder.
I don’t think any pictures that we took would begin to do it justice so I just plopped down the 1 Euro for a string of postcards. Much better pictures!
After hiking back down (which is another amazing feat since the marble is so slick to walk on) we went back to the Plaka area and explored several streets we hadn’t been on before. We ate lunch at another outdoor cafe but took no pictures this time as I told Mike that it was beginning to look like all we did was eat! Since there is no picture, I will just have to blog the fact that we both had the stuffed peppers for lunch. So far, I have not found any Greek food that I haven’t liked!
We were so exhausted after walking back to the hotel that we just collapsed on the couch in the lobby and stared blankly out the window waiting for our taxi to take us to the ship. He arrived right on time and off we went to meet up with the Norwegian Jade. We have only been gone from home since Sunday and this whole thing was originally just about the cruise so the days spent in Athens are just a bonus!
No problems getting to the ship and getting on board. Norwegian Cruise Lines is a well oiled machine and they processed us through and got us and our luggage to our cabin in very good time. We are all unpacked and have spent time sitting on our balcony watching the coastline recede.
8:35 pm We are back in our room after going up to the top deck to enjoy the departure party and accompanying barbeque buffet. We really did want anything on that buffet so went to get something to eat in another restaurant. I stopped by the internet café on the way back to the room and was going to pop for a ‘plan.’ 250 minutes for $100! That seemed really high but I thought at least I could blog everyday and stay in touch. Then I found out it is dial up speed!! I just rolled my eyes and said ‘no way!’ I’ll go back to hunting down hotspots and just hope I have better luck. There may be a dry spell before you see several days’ worth of entries.
I’m typing away listening to the ocean through the open door of the balcony. Time to pay more attention to the night sky!
I’m sitting on the balcony off our stateroom catching us up on the blog. You can’t know how hard it is for Mike and me to realize that we are really here! We are cruising away from Athens, leaving it in the glow of a beautiful sunset. The lights are coming on and the city is beautiful, sprawled along the coastline.
So, to go back to the beginning of the day….., we got up very early as we needed to get cleaned up, dressed, packed, checked out and breakfast eaten before 8:00 am as that is when our tour for today began. We were picked up at the hotel and drove around Athens looking at several interesting and historic sites. We stopped at the huge Olympic stadium. Then we stopped at the Temple of Zeus which is actually quite close to our hotel. They have built a park around it and it also has Hadrian’s arch as an entrance to the area. After touring that, we drove past several spectacular buildings, including the Parliament building that Mike and I saw yesterday. We didn’t stop again, however, until we got to the Acropolis. The Acropolis and Parthenon were really the reason we took the tour in the first place. Anything else we saw was just a bonus. This was a real test of Mike’s endurance and the new brace and walking shoes that he got to help his stability. This climb would be a test of anyone’s strength so for Mike and me both, (old, out of shape people) it was amazing that we did it. It is certainly worth it. To stand on that ancient site and contemplate the history and appreciate the accomplishment of the structure is one thing; but to then see the incredible view from that vantage point lends a whole new element of wonder.
I don’t think any pictures that we took would begin to do it justice so I just plopped down the 1 Euro for a string of postcards. Much better pictures!
After hiking back down (which is another amazing feat since the marble is so slick to walk on) we went back to the Plaka area and explored several streets we hadn’t been on before. We ate lunch at another outdoor cafe but took no pictures this time as I told Mike that it was beginning to look like all we did was eat! Since there is no picture, I will just have to blog the fact that we both had the stuffed peppers for lunch. So far, I have not found any Greek food that I haven’t liked!
We were so exhausted after walking back to the hotel that we just collapsed on the couch in the lobby and stared blankly out the window waiting for our taxi to take us to the ship. He arrived right on time and off we went to meet up with the Norwegian Jade. We have only been gone from home since Sunday and this whole thing was originally just about the cruise so the days spent in Athens are just a bonus!
No problems getting to the ship and getting on board. Norwegian Cruise Lines is a well oiled machine and they processed us through and got us and our luggage to our cabin in very good time. We are all unpacked and have spent time sitting on our balcony watching the coastline recede.
8:35 pm We are back in our room after going up to the top deck to enjoy the departure party and accompanying barbeque buffet. We really did want anything on that buffet so went to get something to eat in another restaurant. I stopped by the internet café on the way back to the room and was going to pop for a ‘plan.’ 250 minutes for $100! That seemed really high but I thought at least I could blog everyday and stay in touch. Then I found out it is dial up speed!! I just rolled my eyes and said ‘no way!’ I’ll go back to hunting down hotspots and just hope I have better luck. There may be a dry spell before you see several days’ worth of entries.
I’m typing away listening to the ocean through the open door of the balcony. Time to pay more attention to the night sky!
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