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Both Piraeus and Athens are picturesque in so many ways...
We bought tickets to the Hop-on Hop-off sightseeing bus to get
to the various sites in both cities.
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Our first stop is the iconic Parthenon, but who knew that is would
be surrounded by wildflowers and blooming redbud trees? Or that
there'd be a cave-prison where Socrates was held for a time?
 
The Parthenon and its surrounding structures sit atop a high hill
and overlook the whole city. Forty or so years ago when Dean was
here, restoration work was being done and it's still being done
today. Kind of sad to see all the scaffolding, but of course, it's
good that someone cares enough to do so.
The rock walkways are slick with wear because sooo many people
have trod around this area for so many years.
The views far and wide from this perch are breathtaking. Note the
bedrock emerging in the middle of the old Athens neighborhood next
to the mountain.
After a while we continued to the next site, Hadrian's Arch, a
double-decker construct and Zeus' Temple next to it.
 
 
Some active archeology sites below the Zeus' Temple site. We
walked from there toward the botanical gardens and on the way we
stopped to admire the impressive Zappeion Expo Center.
We stopped at the stadium used during the 2004 summer games.
The Parthenon is within view from the stadium.
We finally got to the national gardens. This bronze torso sat atop a tree
trunk.
 
These turtles look very much like Florida's cooters--maybe they
are.
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The parliament building is around the corner from the gardens. Some
kids are on a tour at the side door.
And the guards in front of the hall, and next to the tomb of the
unknown soldier, go through their drill.
 
Dean and the pigeons watch from the fence. At the end of the exercise, the superior officer approaches each
guard with uniform adjustments and we assume verbal feedback on
their performances.
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Our walking tour continued through various neighborhoods with their
interesting cafés, houses and churches.
 
Some churches had their own antiquities sites.
 
Even in "nice," well-cared-for
sections of the city, graffiti mars the scenery. Eventually we worked our way back up to the old neighborhood just
under the Parthenon.
 
 
 
 
A Roman agora (market) antiquities site caught our attention. The
fee we paid for the Parthenon is good for eight different antiquities
sites including this one.
 
 
We worked our way back down into the more modern areas and our luck
with the weather also went downhill...
 
As we walked through the rainy market square, a boy played
a flute for money.
 
We hopped onto our bus and headed back to the boat for the evening.
We also have most of tomorrow to explore as well.
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We start early the next morning with a stop at Lion's Gate in our
port town, Piraeus. At
various times, Piraeus had names relating to lions. This church
is located just behind the lion. We did not go over to Athens today,
but the two towns have merged together over time.
 
We'd noticed yesterday that the bus had a stop on the other side of the
hill in Piraeus, so we got off this time and explored the neighborhood. One of our
goals was to visit the park or garden at the top of the hill--it was on
our map.
 
In addition to the less commercialized harbor and the tops of people's
houses with their fireplaces and exterior living spaces, we could see
another modern Olympic stadium on this side of the mountain.
 
With signs like this, we asked around for directions. There were
various workmen around working on rehabbing houses up here, but none
had heard about the park. This sign, they told us, pointed toward a
head of land.
 
Some houses have had a lot of work done, others await their
chance. We continued heading upward.
 
Finally we found the park, which had not seen any maintenance in a
long time, and also a well-cared for church atop the hill.
 
A painter gave us directions to these stairs that provide a shortcut
back to our side of the city.
 
 
 
Colorful awnings protect against the morning sun in the more urban
neighborhoods lower down in the city. A yellow church contrasted with
its surrounding neighbors in this large plaza. Both this church and
the one on top of the hill had wrapped their main pillars in purple
for Holy Week.
 
 
Across from the plaza is a new theater. Its exterior design is based on
old plans for Hadrian's Library and using traditional materials. It appears to be almost done, put it's not open for
business or viewing yet.
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After two days of Athens and Piraeus we were quite tired, but
tomorrow is another stop in Greece, Katakolon, which is not too far
from Olympia, another antiquities site where the first Olympics were
held.
It's a beautiful day in this lovely little port town, just waking
up to get ready for the onslaught of visitors,
not only from
our ship, but another one as well.
This fish in a restaurant's aquarium will probably be someone's lunch in a few short hours.
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Our plan for the day is to just walk around this charming port town and
to have an easy day.
 
So what did we do? We climbed the hill behind the port town and found
ourselves in the olive groves. Very calm and peaceful. We saw only one
guy in a truck up here, but we did find other living things to admire.
 
Plato the dog, a herd of sheep and goats, bumble bees and honey bees.
The buzzing was actually pretty loud.
We do not really know what the border collie's name was, but Plato seemed
appropriate.
The bees flew in and out of this hive ignoring their dead sibling. There
were many more hives up here.
 
We'd seen shotgun shells on the ground and once we saw the Rock Partridge, we knew what people had been shooting at.
We followed our noses and found a road that gradually descended the
slope and then turned back toward town.
The yellow irises bloom near an abandoned boat. Many people have
severely pruned back what appear to to poplar trees.
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We came across these topiaried trees and then the trimmer himself, a
retired seaman who showed us his tomatoes. It was not an easy
conversation since we don't speak Greek and he didn't speak
English, but he and Dean figured out how to communicate. Then it was a
walk along the beach toward the tender dock. By now the second cruise
ship is also at anchor here.
Not
far from the beach we saw a cute railway station. After Dean talked to
the agent, we waited for twenty minutes and then boarded the train to Olympia!
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It was about a ten-minute walk over to the museum and then another five
minutes to the site itself, but you can rent a horse-driven carriage to
take you. We did not go into the museum since our time was limited and
from what we'd heard, there was a lot to see outside.
Appropriately, a lovely garden filled with Mediterranean herbs scented
the air outside the museum.
 
The redbuds were in bloom and provided a lovely backdrop for the
antiquities here.
This is the walkway and arch out to the ancient stadium.
 
 
 
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