Athens — the motherland

Do you speak Greek? That was the question of the day during our visit to Athens. They check out my credit card, see the Panos name, and then the question is asked. My answer — “no, but I love Greek food.”

Of all the ports we visited, Athens wins “Last Place”. Congested, extra hot, dirty, and lacking any form of urban planning — we didn’t enjoy the hometown of Grandpa Tom the way we thought we might.  What it lacks in looks and charm, it makes up in Greek ruins and food. Plus, it was the last chance to sample the delicious Mythos beer — which we learned to love in the Greek Isles.

This ancient theatre at the foot of the Acropolis is still used for concerts today

Maybe we should have gone earlier...

We were bummed to learn the Parthenon was under reconstruction, until we learned that it has been this way since 1983. My speedy Greek brothers.

The urban sprawl of Athens -- millions of four story apartment buildings. With all of those beautiful Greek islands, would you choose to live here?

The was more room for a family photo on the back side of the Parthenon

The dual temple of Athena and Poseidon on the Acropolis

The doric temple of Hephaestus, the best preserved classical temple in Greece

The Temple of Zeus, 16 columns remaining out of the original 104

Yummm, traditional Greek gyros in the Plaka neighborhood of Athens

One extra bit of excitement was the attempted pickpocketing on the Athens metro.  We were crowded in a metro car and the guy standing next to me looks down and picks up a blue cruise ship wallet from the floor — he pulls out the first card and it’s Kayla’s cruise pass. Turns out that somebody had unsnapped the left thigh pocket of my shorts, pulled out this card carrying wallet the cruise line gives you, then dropped it when they realized it wasn’t worth anything. Well, it was worth something to us — it would have been a hassle getting back on board without it.  But the real blessing is that he didn’t try the right pocket — that was where my wallet was (where I thought it was safe and sound behind the two snaps on the short pocket.)

We’ve been a bit rough on our review of Athens here — but don’t get us wrong, it was still a great stop and something we wouldn’t want to have missed. But compared to the beauty of virtually everywhere else that we’ve been on this trip, Athens came up just a bit short.  At this point in the cruise, we head for our third day at sea — which we always enjoy — and then the final stop in Naples / Amalfi coast.