Third Port of Call - Athens

After another "at Sea Day" we arrived at Piraeus, the port city associated with Athens. During our "at Sea Day" we transited the Messina Straits with Sicily on the right and Italy on the left. The straits are pretty narrow so we had to have a pilot come on board and steer us through them. Also, since there isn't much to do during an at sea day unless you like shopping, gambling or art auctions, Walt went up to the bridge viewing area to take photos of the bridge - kinda looks like the USS Enterprise. Photos of the Strait of Messina are shown here.

We talked to one of the ship's crew about how impressed we were with how they can maneuver these large cruise ships without help from tugs. He told as to watch for Piraeus, the port to Athens. He said it was an extremely busy port but were we in for a surprise. Not only is it very busy but we went deep inside the harbor. The captain then turned us on a dime to fit into a slip. We were sure there was not more than 50 feet between the stern and a dock on the other side of the harbor. But they did have tugs cruising around just in case. Photos really don't do justice to the maneuverability of these ships but here are some photos attempting to capture this.

Piraeus and Athens were pretty close together so we didn't get to see the countryside until after visiting Athens when we drove for about 45 minutes along the Greek Coast to the Temple of Poseidon located on the Cape of Sounion. We were in Athens on 1 April and it was our fourth day of the cruise.

As we did in each port, we took photos of what typical streets in the city looked like as well as some of the other interesting sites as we toured on the bus. Photos of Athens and some other interesting sites are given here. Note that the price of gas is higher than in Italy.

Of course, the main attraction in Athens is the Acropolis. We spent quite a bit of time here as there is so much to see. Some of the many photos we took are shown here. Many of the pieces of the ruins are lying on the ground, as you can see, waiting for proper cataloging and replacement during the restoration process. In some of the photos, if you look closely, you will see that some of the marble is much whiter than others. This is where they have taken new marble and carved it to fit perfectly in place of a missing piece.

After spending a good amount of time at the Acropolis we went out for authentic Greek food for lunch and then off to Cape Sounion that contains the Temple of Poseidon. This gave us an opportunity to see the countryside. Photos of Cape Sounion and some of the countryside are shown here.

Next Port of Call Izmir, the modern city of Smyrna, and Ephesus in Turkey.