ATHENS
10 May 2018 : Day 7 of travel ( from the Italy , Greece & Montenegro diary)
It was the evening of the 9th of May 2018. The mood on board the MSC MUSICA was ignited with fun, frolic, action, food, various entertainment programmes held at different venues on the ship. Parties, dramas, games backed with plenty of food and beverages kept everyone on their toes, practically the entire night. People dined and danced their blues away amongst their friends and family. Children enjoyed their own set of programmes. As much chaotic and happening it appeared on the inside, externally, it was the only ship sailing silently along the dark night, glittering with lights, through the mighty ocean under the darkest of skies, to reach us to our next destination PIRAEUS PORT ( Athens), the next morning.
The morning of the 10th of May 2018, greeted with with a golden sun shining away early hours through the balconies of our cabins. The cold atmosphere had now turned quite warm while we stood outside viewing this morning glory. Less than an hour before, we had spotted the Greek land of Athens far away, which now seemed more clearer and very. much in sight.
The ship was steadily approaching the PIRAEUS PORT - the gateway to Athens city. The shimmering golden streams of the sun rays seemed to cast itself on the entire city, giving it an unusual look.
As the sun grew brighter magnified views of Athens seemed completely different from what I had assumed it to be. It looked more crowded, the "Greek-ish" whites and blues were not that prominent, the city definitely had many buildings, like those seen in any asian country.
It was 7:30 am when the ship docked. We had our own private tour booking at 9 am. That gave us plenty of time to grab our much loved breakfast at the 'GLI-ARCHI' - a never ending buffet spread, with no dearth for vegetarian food. Hash#browns, croissants, baked beans, doughnuts, fruits, various breads, variety jams, cereals, nuts, hot beverages were just a few of our regular favourites. Must I describe the quality ? wow...
We had a long day coming up and hoped that we could do justice to this city of historical prominence. We booked a day tour with ATHENS TOURS, GREECE. They were prompt, safe and trust worthy and worth the price. I totally recommend using their services.
Much to our surprise , we had a super cool big van waiting just for us, outside the port. The driver and a guide welcomed us warmly with a "placard" displaying our name. We were on !!
"ATHENS", as the name clearly suggests, is a city named after goddess ATHENA- a goddess of courage, wisdom, inspiration and many other virtues.
We had a light itinerary for the day. It wasn't in any way promising to provide justice to such a place of HISTORICAL importance. Nevertheless, a taste of the city in the given time period, was something we cherish till date. The Huge , comfortable van was an icing on the cake. While on move, the continuous outpour of historical and current information on the city, by the kind guide, kept us thoroughly entertained. We were on our way to the ACROPOLIS. The Journey took us around half hour from the Piraeus Port. Strikingly the structure of the city was typical to Eastern European countries, say like Praha (Prague), from my experience. I could instantly draw a comparison, that the Western countries of Europe are less crowded as against the "Clustered buildings" set up on the Eastern side. It had a more Asian feel to it. The roads did run uphill in certain places. The traffic was equivalent to that in any Indian " Metro" city.
the ACROPOLIS venture
This is an ancient CITADEL overlooking Athens. A Citadel is a well defined, fortified area of a city (creating a separate world inside it). Therefore, as a small ancient world in itself, the Acropolis is proven to be inhabited as early as 400 BC, containing stone structures of Historical Significance. Clearly we could see, that ever since, there have been great efforts in its preservation and maintenance. It serves as an archeological site, even to the current day.
It oozes history from every stone here. The structures are massive , though in ruins now. Most of it is still being renovated in an effort to maintain the originality. A good story telling guide on this very ground can ensure that he/she takes you back in time.
We got off at the car park and made our way to get our entrance tickets. Our driver and guide helped our way around till here and thereafter, we were on our own.
We followed the pathway uphill to reach the foot of the entrance of this historic wonder.
A Sculpture found in the ticketing office of the ACROPOLIS
The ticket providing standard entrance to the ACROPOLIS costed us EUR20 per head ( a picture above). It is easy to buy them on spot. Just ensure to check timings of visit before you do so.
After a good walk on the stoned pathway, we soon approached a rugged path uphill that led us to the a steep drop on to our right hand side. It was an AMPHITHEATRE ! - the ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS.
THE ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS
Herodes Atticus was a Greek-Roman politician and he had this built in memory of his wife. The magnificence of this structure, kept us in awe and we found it difficult to push ourselves to move further upward. We found ourselves glued here clicking pictures, trying to get our best shot while avoiding crowds. It was really tough to get the best short in isolation.
As you can see this amphitheatre is strictly 'ROMAN' structured. It adorns the south west slope of the ACROPOLIS. The initial theatre is supposed to have had a wooden roof top, which was later destroyed. The back stage actually is split into 3 floors. Supposedly had a green room too ? Sadly we were not allowed to get down there to explore further.
The stone seating area built in semi-circular shape looked comfortable and would have surely ensured maximum view of the stage from any point . Thats the beauty of most Roman Architecture. We marvelled at the intelligence of ancient engineers and their work of art.
The entrance
As we curved our way up the rugged path to finally reach the top, we were dumbstruck at the sight of the entrance. Gigantic solid stone pillars, evidently touching the blue skies, welcomed us into this "once upon a time glorious world" inside this citadel.
The queue took a while to move ahead but we had absolutely no regrets waiting here. It was the only place where we could find some shade created by the shadows of these pillars. The sun was displaying its true nature completely. A few steep stone stairs, took a while to conquer. Slowly and steadily we reached the main gate.
As we moved inside the Citadel, we found open barren land , with ruins of enormous stoned structures laid out at irregular intervals. With scorching heat of the sun above our heads, we were clueless as to how to go around. There were tourists crowding all around. There were guides available for a few groups. Considering the amount of time we had on hand , we finally decided to go around without a guide. For those deeply interested in History, it is suggested that you take the help of a guide here. We made a mistake of not hiring one.
We moved around from one structure to another, studying the architecture and assimilating the simple fact that it was simply hundreds of years older than the time that we stood there. If only we had done a little bit of reading before we landed there, we would have appreciated what we saw before us much more than we did.
LAYOUT OF THE ACROPOLIS
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An hour flew past quickly. We tried our best to become good historians, finding out a little about the surroundings and structures. It was an unbelievable experience.
THE ACROPOLIS MUSEUM
Next in line of our visit was the ACROPOLIS museum. We walked downhill back to our van and were driven there. It is at a short distance from the Acropolis. We had wonderful views of the Acropolis from one of the halls of the museum.
The museum houses and protects all findings from the archeological site of the Acropolis. There is varied amount of information and articles available. The statues and monuments preserved here are priceless. Of course, that would hold good for any museum. The history behind the acropolis and the museum is so interesting and worth knowing. You can read about it HERE. The details regarding collections in the museum is also available on the same site.
Photography is strictly prohibited in most rooms of the museum. Therefore, we do not have pictures of all the collections here. We were just blown away by history in those 2 hours. A few pictures are available for memories.
The Acropolis as seen from the museum
We had a little time to walk around a street near the museum. We stopped for coffee and Ice cream. We wished we had stayed longer in the city . The vibes were just beginning to get to us.
The Panathenaic Stadium
Next up was the Panathenaic Stadium. It holds the prestigious title of being the ONLY MARBLE STADIUM in the world. It lies in the heart of Athens city. It is a multi-purpose stadium. We spent around half an hour in this area. The lighting of flame for the OLYMPICS takes place here.
The Changing of Guards Ceremony at the OLD ROYAL PALACE
The last of our visits was to the OLD ROYAL PALACE of Athens. We were fortunate to witness the changing of the guards ceremony here. It was a different experience from the one we had witnessed in front of Buckingham Palace. It was out in the open, instead of within the palace walls. The outfit of the soldiers. were different. The process however, seemed similar.
The square in front of the Palace was lively and breezy. It provided recourse to the otherwise hot weather. We walked around and enjoyed the moments a bit, before we boarded our van to make our way back to the port. With fond warm memories of this wonderful city embedded in our minds, we were welcomed yet again by MSC MUSICA. Goodbye Athens ! We will be back to explore more of you someday.