October 11, 2016

The ship was docked by 6 a.m. in Pireaus, Greece.  The sky had clouds, the temperature was 19 C and not much wind.  There was a 40% chance of rain so we took our umbrellas as well as sunglasses which were not necessary.

We had breakfast and were out to the minibus by 8 a.m. with 13 other passengers.  As we left the busy port, there were about a dozen different ferries docked and four other cruise ships – MSC Opera (2679 passengers); Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas (2435 passengers); Costa Riviera (1258 passengers) and Carnival Vista (3936 passengers).  Just at the ship’s dock gate there is a replica statue of a lion.  The original was removed to Venice in the 17th century when the Port of Piraeus, was known as the Port of the Lion and dominated by Venetian merchants.  It took about 20 minutes to drive through morning traffic to enter Athens.  Half way into the trip the rain started to fall. 

The Port of Piraeus has been a port since the 4th century BC.  It is the third largest passenger port in the world.  There is a St. Nicolas church nearby in most Greek ports as he is the patron saint of sailors.  The name for Greece in Greek is Hellas, but the English name is derived from the Latin word for Greece used by the Romans.  In the ancient times after the Romans took over from the Greeks, Greek was the official language of the Roman Empire.  The New Testament was originally written in Greek. Many Greek people are named after saints.  Every calendar day is a saint day. The saint day of a person’s name is celebrated with more festivity than the person’s birthday.  Greece is the home of modern democracy, founded in the 5th century BC.  The height of the Athens city state was during the reign of Alexander the Great in 334 BC when its influence and language extended all the way to India. The Romans defeated the Greek in a final battle in Corinth in the second century BC.  In ancient times, even after the Romans took over from the Greeks, Greek was the official language of the Roman Empire. The apostle Paul arrived in Athens in 51 AD and also visited Corinth and Ephesus.  The emperor Hadrian lived in Athens and had a library and built an aqueduct for Athens.   In 131-132 AD, the people erected Hadrian’s Arch to honour him.  The inscription tells that one side faces old Athens and the other faces new Athens.

Christianity was consolidated as the religion of Roman Empire by Constantine.  He moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople (now Istanbul).  Following the Romans, the Byzantines ruled the area for 1,000 years. On April 6, 1941, the Nazis bombed the Port of Piraeus.  In port there was a British ship carrying explosives and a fire on the ship caused an explosion.  A similar event occurred in the Halifax, Canada explosion of December 1917 when a French cargo ship carrying high explosion collided with Norwegian ship in the harbour and the fire caused a devastating explosion.  The Piraeus exploding ship caused the destruction of ships, and the houses and building of most of Pireaus. However Athens was never bombed as the Nazis honoured the historical treasures and buildings there.

The temperature was 23 C when we arrived in Athens.  The light rain was beginning to get stronger.  The driver dropped the group off at Syntagma Square, near the city center.  We went to the shelter of the Syntagma Metro Station for a look at some archaeological displays showing the strata of earth for the different centuries and some artifacts found by the archeologists.  Coming back to street level, a quick detour to a kiosk selling umbrellas was made for those people who had neither raincoats nor umbrellas. Then a quick stop at a bakery, out of the rain and part of the walking tour, was made to sample Greek pretzels. These pretzels are ropes of bread made into 10 cm diameter circles and rolled in sesame seeds. We put them aside for snacking during the rest of the tour. We crossed the street to the House of Parliament where members of the Presidential Guard protect the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The guards are dressed in the traditional Greek uniform and had guard houses to use to stay out of the rain.  These guards need to be at least six feet two inches to qualify for the honour guard.  Next we walked through the National Garden, created in the mid 19th century as a Royal Garden adjacent to the palace. The garden contains 7,000 trees, even palm trees from California. There is a small “zoo”.  We walked by the enclosures for some birds, including peacocks, some goats and rabbits. The former palace is the home of the Greek Parliament since 1973 when Greek voters ended the monarchy in Greece.   Next, we walked along Herod Atticus Road past Maximos Mansion, the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) who also has the title of President of the Government. The current prime minister, Alexis Tsipras , as the Socialist Party leader, prefers to live in his own home in Athens. Next door is the former New Royal Palace, now the President's Mansion. It is guarded by Greek Presidential Guards.  The President of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) has ceremonial duties similar to Canada’s Governor General. All the time we had been walking, a part German Shepherd dog escorted us and only stayed behind when the group crossed a busy divided six lane road to view the Olympic Stadium, built in 1896, for the first modern Olympic Games in 1898.  From this stadium, after the Olympic flame is transported from Olympia, about three weeks before an Olympic Games, the mayor of the host city takes the Olympic Flame back to his/her city.

We re-crossed the street and the dog continued to stay with the group, as we walked to the Zappeion Exhibition Center which was completed 1888. There are Ionic and Corinthian style columns used in the construction of the building.  This was the location for the signing of the documents to accept Greece into the European Union in 1980.  It hosted fencing during the 1898 Olympic Games, then, for the 2004 Olympic Games, it was the Press Center.  The next stop was to view the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, which was larger than the Parthenon. The ruins are located between the Acropolis and Syntagma Square.  Construction started in the sixth century BC, by the King of Syria only to stop a few years later.  Then during the second century AD rule of Roman Emperor Hadrian, the temple was completed. Today only 15 columns of the original 104 columns still stand and one lays on the ground. Over the centuries, the marble from the temple has been used as building materials for the Athenian houses and churches. We walked onward to Mitropolos Square where  the 12th century Church of Theotokos Gorgoepihoos and Ayios Eleytherios or little cathedral stands dwarfed by the mid 19th century Cathedral of Athens. Components for ancient Byzantine churches were used in the construction of the Cathedral of Athens.  Here the walking tour ended and the group was given an hour of free time to explore the streets of the old Athens neighbourhood of Plaka.  In Plaka’s narrow streets, at the base of the Acropolis, can be found many shops selling souvenirs, electronics, shoes, handbags, jewelry and clothing.  Also many restaurants and cafés offer a variety of tempting food and beverages.  From Plaka we could see the slopes of the Acropolis and some large caves. In ancient times, these caves presented sanctuary for religious cults of important gods as well as shrines of some gods.

Everyone was back within the hour to meet the guide and the dog was waiting too.  As in Rome the police are present in the background.  It was about a 10 minute walk back to Syntagma Square to meet the minibus to return us to the ship.  We had walked over four miles on the walking tour.  Close to 1 p.m., we were dropped off at the ship in a drizzle.  Besides Seapass card checks, there were two security stations for X-raying bags and backpacks.  One check point was in the terminal, which did not have any duty free shops or cafés and then again, another, as we entered the ship, which is usual.    

We went to the stateroom to change to dry shoes and went to the Café al Bacio for some warm cappuccinos and a relaxing afternoon.

The MSC Opera left the harbour about 5:30 p.m. and as it passed, the Opera passengers were waving. Our ship sailed away a little after 6, as we were ordering our dinner.

The appetizer chosen was Panzanella Salad.  The entrées were Pasta Chimayo Linguini, with shrimp and red & green peppers and sautéed duck breast with sweet potato croquette.  The dessert selection was chocolate lava cake & vanilla ice cream and Pistachio & Butter Pecan ice cream.

Tonight’s show featured pianist, David Schofield, played movie theme tunes.

The clocks are moved back an hour to Central European time over night.

 Tomorrow is a Sea Day to cover the distance of 523 nautical miles, between Piraeus and the last port, Valetta, Malta.

 Total distance walked today was 7.21 miles.