I know I said just last night that I was not a fan of Athens, and I guess I’m still not (like Rome, I consider my maximum tolerance of the city to be one day), but, wow, what a great time we had there today. It helped a great deal that the weather could not have been better. It was sunny and warm (not hot) with low humidity. Perfect!
But this was not an alarm clock day; we decided we would sleep until we woke up naturally. For me that was around 7:30am and I went down to breakfast in the Windows dining room. G slept in a little later, so I sat with him in Raffles Buffet while he had his breakfast. It was after 10am when we finally walked off the ship, thinking we might take the HOHO bus today that we had taken last time. But instead of a city tour, we really just wanted to climb the Acropolis and tour the Parthenon. The last time we were in Athens, there were protests taking place and our day was cut considerably short as they wanted all cruise passengers out of the city before they started. Though we had climbed Mars Hill next to the Acropolis, the site where the apostle Paul had preached to Athenians, we did not have time to climb the Acropolis. Today was the day.
In the interest of time, we hired a taxi to take us from the port city of Piraeus to Athens, about 30 minutes away. Though it was a Sunday, the good weather had everyone out and traffic was fierce. Our driver Nikolas (he said to ask for Nik the Greek if we got separated, like that would really narrow it down) stopped at a couple of overlooks on the way. We saw the basketball venue from the 2004 Olympics (I texted a pic to the boys) and the swimming/karate and soccer venues.
When we arrived at the Acropolis, we discovered that, because it was the first Sunday of the month, it was a free day, saving us the €15 admission. The good news is it was a free day. The bad news is it was a free day. First we had to navigate through a race around the bottom of the Acropolis promoting breastfeeding (I wondered why everyone there was pushing a stroller or wearing a baby) just to get to the ticket booths for the Acropolis. Once we had these free tickets, we had to pass through visual security only and start the climb to the top. The place was packed. It’s a bit tricky climbing up- the marble steps are polished to a slippery sheen by centuries of foot traffic, and the rest of the path is very rocky and uneven- but if someone fell they would be propped up by the people all around them.
We first saw the Theater of Dionysus, offering expansive views of Athens and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.
Theater of Dionysus where Sophocles’ plays were performed.
We continued to climb higher, and the mass of people increased. As we climbed the steps up to the Propylaea, it was rough going until we were near the top, where wooden steps with handrails had been constructed over the original marble steps. The Prophlaea was built around 430BC, just after the Parthenon was finished and served as a grand entrance gate to the Acropolis. It was after we passed through this point and had our first up close view of the Parthenon that I experienced one of those ‘OMG I can’t believe I’m actually here!’ moments like I had when I first saw the moai at the quarry of Rano Raraku on Easter Island or Mt. Opunohu on Bora Bora or, frankly, every time I see Sydney Harbour. These are the places that take my breath away (and not because I had just finished climbing up that mountain!).
The Parthenon, 2500 years old and the largest temple of the ancient world. 
The crowds on the Acropolis
We circled around the Parthenon to see another major ruin of the Acropolis, the Erechtheion. Legend says this was the spot where Athena and Poseidon fought for naming rights to the city (guess who won!). Attached to the Erechtheion is the Porch of the Caryatids, where six statues of ladies based on models from Karyes, known for their upright posture, support the roof.
The Erechtheion, a temple for the veneration of ancient gods. 
The Porch of the Caryatids. Five of these are reconstructions; the originals are in the Acropolis Museum.
We took some time to read the signage boards about the Parthenon restoration project that had been started in 1976 and was still ongoing. All around the Parthenon were pieces of it that had been deconstructed and cataloged to be re-assembled eventually like a jigsaw puzzle. Most pieces will be re-used, but some are being replaced by marble mined from the same quarry used 2500 years ago (!!) to build the Parthenon.
We joked that the builders didn’t follow the instruction manual and had extra parts left over, but these are actually cataloged pieces that are part of the Parthenon’s renovation, started in 1976. Like pieces of a puzzle, they will eventually be put back in their correct positions. It was time to make our way back down the Acropolis, and I wasn’t looking forward to this at all. Those steps are slippery and uneven and the crowds made them even more of a caution. But while we had faced people climbing down all the way on our ascent, we passed almost no one on our descent, allowing the crowd to fill the entire width of the steps. Once we reached the bottom, we saw why. The line at the bottom was hours long now, as people were being held there until the congestion at the top had abated.
Squeezing through the Propylaea Gate on the way down
I’m so glad I made the climb. I don’t need to make it again. If we ever return, we will spend the day at the new Acropolis Museum to gain a greater appreciation for what we saw with substantially less effort.
Nik the Greek swung us by the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch on the way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the changing of the guard. The crowds were huge there, too, but we had a front row view the last time we were here and gotten great photos then (click on the Athens link in my blog to see them). Today we just wanted a few photos of the Evzone and got them after the crowd dispersed a little.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Inspection time at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Parliament. 
Every part of the Greek Evzone guard uniform has historical significance. For example, there are exactly 400 pleats in the kilt (fustanella) representing the 400 years the Greek endured under Ottoman rule. We were sightseeinged-out then, and returned to the port. I sat with G while he had a beer in the terminal, which had barely decent enough WiFi that I could upload a few photos to this post…at least until my battery pooped out. Once back on the ship, we showered and were at dinner in the Windows dining room when it opened at 5:30pm. The Norwegian Spirit is continuing to impress us. Some of the food items that are available every night are Most Traveled Guest luncheon quality on Princess. The service is incredible and friendly. Wait until you see the menus (which I won’t likely post until we are in Hawaii). It’s nearly impossible to choose, and our waiter Rico often brings us two different things when we can’t.
Another thing I keep forgetting to mention…we have live music accompanying every dinner. It’s been either a guitarist or pianist playing quiet background music every night. I haven’t seen that since we were on Celebrity years ago. Again, I don’t know if these things are unique to this ship or are fleetwide on NCL, but we are soooo happy we booked this cruise on a whim and it’s turning out to be the high point of our season.
The major entertainment tonight was The Voice UK finalist vocalist Leanne Jarvis performing in the Stardust Theater. We sat on the upper level in the ‘just in case’ seats, but she was fantastic. The sound quality is much better up there, and, though it wouldn’t be my first choice of seating area for a production show (side views), it’s perfect for a vocalist.
We followed our habit of stopping in the Raffles Buffet afterward for G to get ice cream and me to get a crepe. I’m addicted to those things (I had strawberry tonight). There is a big toga party tonight, but we have to skip it. We still have over a week of port days in a row facing us, and we need to get our sleep.