Ladee's Travels

We pulled in to Athens on an overcast day with mild temperatures. Perfect for touring!   The port of Piraeus is a very short distance from Athens. The port not only holds the cruise ships but the smaller fishing boats as well. This is my first view of the Acropolis after we entered Athens.    The Athens temple. The marble Olympic Stadium was built in 1895.   Totally made from local marble, a relatively inexpensive building material! Syntagma or Constitution Square is an elegant space in front of the Parliament.   This is the gathering place of protesters.   It was originally built as a home for the Greek kings, and also hosts the monument to the Uknown Soldier. We stopped for a coffee break at a palace-now-hotel.   We liked the coffee and snacks, especially the pistachio cookies. A typical street in Athens.   You used to be able to see the Acropolis from every where in the city until the housing boom set i...

5/21/2012  The visit was yet another delightful sampling of a piece of culture that I have not explored. I liked Greece and will keep Athens on my list of places to visit because I would like to spend more time exploring the Acropolis. I'd like to see it lit at night, and I'd like to sit on a patio of one of the hotels and have dinner in sight of the Acropolis.  All in due time.  Here is our cute little tug boat, ready to help us depart.

5/21/2012 - It has been a long day and we certainly have seen a lot of beautiful, new, and amazing sights. Some things were the same, some things were different.  All in all, well worth the trip.

5/21/2012 - I think that would be easy to move around Athens and see all of the sights on your own.  I talked about this with my friend Lisa F. and she agreed.  She has spent a few days in Athens on her own while waiting to connect with friends. She said that she was never concerned for her safety and was able to get to the museums and spots that she wanted to see easily. The ground level trams zip around throughout the city.

5/21/2012 - This mini-stores, kiosks, on the streets always intrigue me and I strain to see what they are selling.

The tour continued to show us the sights of Athens.  The department stores lined the street and looked much like the stores seen in a city in the States. 

Our mid-tour snack took us to Hotel Grande Bretagne.  I was surprised to see the elegance but shouldn't have been because Princess has selected grand places for our lunches and snacks on all tours so far.  This post is fairly long because I have a lot of photographs from inside the hotel that I want to show you and I didn't want to break this into multiple posts.  

5/21/2012 The bus was returning to the ship, zipping through the city streets. I had been taken photos of the general area, like the ones shown in the previous post.  What a surprise when we suddenly came upon this very colorful outdoor street market.  It looks like you could buy anything here, from large pots for the kitchen, to clothes, and more.  Take your time on these and click on the photos to make them larger.

5/21/2012 The bus tour continued through Athens.  What a pleasant surprise!  Read on...

In honor of the Olympics, I am posting my photos from the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. The remains of the ancient Greek stadium, it was refurbished in time for the 1896 Olympics and hosted the first of the modern day Olympic games.

5/21/2012 - We drove past, or through (not really sure as my photos are so blurry I can't display them here) the National Gardens of Athens.  It is a huge park in the middle of the city.  It is the green backdrop to most photos in the Athens posts.  At the northwest corner of the gardens stands a royal building.

5/21/2012 We are finally on our way to get a closer view of the Acropolis.

5/21/2012 We drove to an area of town that appeared to be a lower rent district.  The buildings were slightly disheveled.

5/21/2012 - We continued the drive through the city.  This length shows the city in what looks like an average suburban area.  The small cars seem to squeeze into that last tight space before the curb ends.  The gas station looks typical.  A construction crew is at work, but there are not a lot of people out and about today.  There are some deteriorating buildings, and sidewalks.  I did spot one man and I don't know if he is waiting to cross the street, for a bus, or to sell something.

5/21/2012 The bus left Pireas and drove a direct route in to Athens.  I am very excited to see some of the great sights in Athens.  My eyes were constantly scanning the surrounding areas for my first site of the Acropolis.

5/21/2012 - We left Kusadasi, Turkey and sailed across the Aegean Sea, through a few islands, and docked at Pireas, Greece, the port for Athens.  The coastline is lined with docks for large cruise ships, ferries to other islands, and huge shipping vessels.  Of course, the sleepy Greek fishing village (little) portion is my favorite view.

5/18/2012 I wanted to take a few more photographs of Mykonos as the ferry approached the dock.  The return trip gave us a chance to see the seaside homes since the full day was taken with the trip to Delos.  Enjoy the views!

5/18/2012 There was a nice cafe next to the museum and there was enough time to stop and have some Greek coffee and a snack.

5/18/2012 The original Naxian Lions have a happy home, safe inside of the museum.  See the post on the outside location.. .click here.

5/18/2012 This pathway looks very authentic...I can imagine that this is the way that things looked throughout the years.