5 days in Piraeus (Athens)

After our Atlantic crossing on the Viking Jupiter, we flew to Athens and waited five days until Holland America's Zuiderdam came into port. This was the last leg of the 2025 World Cruise back to Ft. Lauderdale. Dean had found a hotel for us that was only three blocks from the docks, so when we cleared customs at the airport, we took the train to Piraeus and dragged our bags to the hotel. We'd been to Pireaus in 2016, 2015, & 2012, so go to those pages to see what we did then. But this time, with 5 days, we were able to do much more exploring.

The train from the airport was crowded.

 
Our hotel and the view from our room highlights how the traditional & modern buildings merge together.

This was our local grocery store. There was a small refrigerator in our room, so we fixed most of our own meals.

Street art on our block

A clever "water" animation in the subway station for a local spa ...

This church was not far from our hotel and near the port area for the cruise ships.

The lion looks out to the sea.

A dandelion makes a statement in the midst of the bunching grasses.

 
A helpful kid helped us find a bus stop and then he also got on and rode with us. He lives there with his mother. He speaks Russian, Ukranian, Greek, and English. A modern apartment building has been converted into a monastery.

Here's the shoreline we wanted to explore.

Plants have settled inbetween the large rocks.

 
These Eucalyptus trees had been growing there for a long time.

A fig tree had been cut back, but...

it had recently been grafted, which seemed really odd because it was growing in such a public place.

Black locust blooms.

This street art was near our hotel..

a mermaid with tatoos, and weeds growing from her forehead.

 
A young naval officer waiting for a bus.

The next day we took a bus to this botanic garden in Athens.

A cat knew its way through the razor wire coils.

 
This arch leads to a restoration site.

It was an old church.

We followed a trail to a famous cave here. It was gentle at first...

 
We stopped to observe bugs & blooms...

The trail to the cave had become steep and rough with lots of loose rocks & gravel.

Finally, the Pan's Cave near the top of the mountain.

 
Back in the lower elevations of the garden, people had transplanted some very old olive trees into the garden: this one was 1100 years old. Dean checked out some tall fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), which is native to the Mediterranean region.

Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda)

Red poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are native all around the Mediterranean.

 
Dean's new best friend

 
Branched asphodel (Asphodelus ramosus) and Mediterranean hartwort (Tordylium apulum).

A memorial in the garden includes this ancient gravestone with what looks like a flat, curved stone laid on top of it.

 
There is a limit of 300 people in the garden--there were 6 of us. The ranger checked the bus schedule for us.

The next day we went to a different waterfront area.

 
A small chapel on the rocks and a large, metal cross.

Lots of religious art & imagery inside

with flags, flower boxes, plantings and wires from every direction.

3 Cormorants on a seaweed-covered rock

Then we took a tram out to a resort area where there was a garden on the map.

It was pretty early in the day, but dock-front restaurants were ready for the crowds.

We were underwhelmed by the garden, but there was some interesting sculpture nearby.

This was a Friday, our last full day in Piraeus. We set out early.

Loved the beautiful flowers this woman carried on the tram.

Our goal was a hilltop park, but at the very top of the hill was this church.

This double-headed emblem was on the marble floor in front of the church.

 
A mass was in session.

A view from the top of that hill.

There was a playground and a space for adult exercise.

We walked around the whole park that circled around this hill.

We took the bus down to a lower elevation and visited this colorful market place.

 
As is typical of Mediterranean markets, there were many type of olives available.

 
I stopped to say hello to the bees in a hawthorne as we walked back to the hotel one last time.