Piraeus, Greece (Itinerary)

We'd stopped here on our 2012 world voyage, so check out that Greece page, because we did some less obvious sightseeing this time around.

 
We were on the gangplank at 7:30am waiting to get off as early as possible. We headed over to the train station about a mile away. The Greek Orthodox Churches were celebrating Good Friday on this day-a week after all the other Christians. We paused to take some church photos in the early morning light.

 
At a local market, we were surprised to see whole lambs, eyeballs and all, ready to sell. We learned later that many Greek families roast one for their Easter dinners.

 
Ooh, the aromas from this bake shop were fantastic, but we continued walking.

At the train station I took this photo for orientation. On this day, we started at the end of the Green line, got off at the first stop (A) to switch to the tram line along the coast, rode all the way to the end (B), and then took the spur into Athens (C) before returning to the ship via the Green line.

 
Fine art replicas are painted on the far side of the track.

 
We walked through a long tunnel under a highway to get to the tram station. It was decorated with a different art form.

When we emerged, we were at a defunct Oympic stadium next to the water. We walked the long way around the stadium before we finally found the trams.

We rode along the shoreline noting places we'd like to stop later, but we continued all the way to the end ((B) on the map) where we found a beach club that was probably great in the days of 1984 Olympics, but pretty forlorn now. The 2 managers let us in.

 
We went to a bus stop beyond the beach club thinking we'd go farther along the coast, but no bus came, probably because it was Good Friday, so we walked back to the tram. Rosemary hedges scented the air.

 
But first we crossed the street to get a closer look at this church.

 
We took the tram spur toward Athens. (C) on the map. We got off the tram when we spotted this church.

It was filled with worshippers. We noticed the sky-blue circles on the ceiling behind the arches.

From the tram...

 
We got off the tram when we saw a park. It was time for lunch, so we looked for a pleasant place to park ourselves for a while.

 
We found a bench where a guitar player was singing songs such as I Shot the Sheriff in English and some songs that Dean recognized as being Spanish. He was a marginal performer and Mother Nature must have had the same thought because she blew away all his sheet music. End of concert.

 
We walked back to the tram line under the redbud trees-not the same species as the ones we enjoy on the East Coast, but still very pretty. Balcony gardeners have been busy here making their city spaces green.

We continued our tram ride into Athens. The Parthenon on one hill and ...

a fortified church atop the next hill.

-
Even though we'd been to the gardens before, we decided to visit them again.

We were interested to see this honeybee nest in the base of a light post in the garden. Plenty of flowers for their honey, which no one would harvest.

 
And around the corner from the garden we watched the changing of the guard again at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We posted several more photos from previous visit in 2012 , so visit that Greece page.

 
Greek science tee shirts...

 
A dove nestled into the top of a street lamp.

 
Look at the size of that grape vine...

We were in the neighborhoods in the shadow of the Parthenon.

Want to purchase a really nice peeler and shredder?

We walked around the hill to see another view of Athens' most famous structure.

 
A woman gathering chamomile.

 
We admired the greening of the balconies down this street and then we boarded a graffitied train back to Piraeus.

 
After a shower, we were surprised that the whole Lido dining room, the informal buffet eatery on the top deck where we usually eat, had been turned into a Greek restaurant with fancy blue glassware and cut purple orchids submerged in large glass vases. A local Greek band with dancers was set up in one end of the dining room with their sound piped through the whole deck. What fun.

 
The next morning we were out early. Since our 24-hour metro passes were good until after 8am, we used them to take a bus over to the train station.

 
Herbal shops on the way to the train.

A truck farmer.

 
We took the train, crossed over to the tram, which was a much shorter trip now that we knew the way, and got off at one of the beach stops that looked interesting the day before. It was chilly and windy, but we saw a number of serious swimmers both this day and the day before with people changing in and out of their bathing suits right on the beach.

People were living here next to the sea wall and had built gardens in boats.

 
Olympic sculptures decorate the shoreline.

 
Some of the shoreline trees are decorated for Easter.

 
A fancy stone dock with wooden seats where you can remove your shoes before entering the water.

 
We got back on the tram and headed up the spur going toward Athens (C) on the map. We got off at yet another style of a Greek Orthodox church...

 
We got off the tram again when we saw this track-side market/flea market.