Athens - Costas Varotsos - Dromeas aka "The Runner"

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

Athens - Panathenaic Stadium

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.

Athens (Greece) - Hellenic Parliament and Evzones

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.

Athens (Greece) – Acropolis of Athens

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

Athens (Greece) – Street Scenes on way to Acropolis

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

Athens (Greece) - Daily Street Scenes

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.

Athens (Greece) - Drive from Pireas to Athens

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.

Pireas (Greece) - Port City Views

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.

Kuşadası (Turkey) - Shopping on the Dock

Our bus returned to the ship after an adventurous afternoon exploring the area around Kusadasi.  I found my "local Starbucks".

There were a few cafes on the pier.  This is looking back towards the main part of Kusadasi.

We saw this little shop and went crazy buying Turkish products.  We bought several boxes of Turkish Delight in fruity flavors.

This was a smart idea.  The passengers were dropped off and could walk through this little shopping area for some "one more thing" shopping before boarding.  Can you see the Starbucks sign at the end of the walkway?

A lot of the items that we had seen during our tours were available.

A very pretty backgammon board, plus those lamps that I liked so much.

Very pretty and colorful.

There was quite a variety of items to buy, but we were able to walk past these.

Only to get caught in another Food store. I bought one of the baskets with apricots, nuts and other fruits. Everything tasted very good.  I have since found dried Turkish apricots in Costco and I'm a big fan.  You can also seasonally buy the dried figs.

Interesting sign that was in the terminal building as we made our way to the ship.

A little map to show where we were. We will now head across the sea to tour Athens.

Selcuk (Turkey) - Storks

5/20/2012 There were several nests throughout the town.  I am going to put all of the nest photos in one blog post.  This nest had two little white heads peeping up.  Baby Storks!  So cute. Everyone on the bus moved to the one side to be able to see this nest.  "There are many more," said the tour guide.

The birds found nests throughout the city, on top of a variety of high places.

 The storks are the messengers for the beginning of summer.  This one is standing on an ancient ruin.

 One story mentions that remaining parts of the aquaduct that ran through town provide high platforms that the storks love for nests.  A closer look at these structures make me think that these are the aquaduct remains.

We all continued to move from one side of the bus to the other trying to see the birds.  It was fun to see them.

This map is for reference and shows the location of Kusadasi, Turkey.  Selcuk is in this general area.