Athens

We met with some other Cruise Critic friends at 7.15 am today, to go with one of them, Bev, into Athens by train. The ship had docked at a distant terminal (B), so Princess provided a shuttle bus for us to take into Terminal A. From there we had a 25 minute walk around the port to catch the train. It was hot, even early in the morning. We got our trains, David having a bit of trouble with one ticket machine and thus we almost forgot to validate our tickets - dashed off, validated them, and back on again. We all got off at the wrong stop (Monastiraki), one past the one we'd intended (Thissio), but Bev was able to help us find our way up the route to the gate of the Acropolis. On the way, we passed the Roman Agora and Tower of the Wind. We bought our tickets at the Roman Agora so we didn't have to queue once we got to the Acropolis.

We didn't find it too steep, some of the marble steps were slippery, but not too bad, thought the ground was uneven at the top and the crowd was growing rapidly. It was wonderful at the top, to see this amazing building - the Parthenon, and the other temples and ruins on the way up (we missed the Theater of Dionysus, but saw the Herodian Theatre), and around the Parthenon. The views were amazing too. We read some of Rick Steve's notes about all of this, but also remembered a History Channel episode about the Parthenon which helped us appreciate it even more. It was sad to think that we had seen the Parthenon Marbles on display in the British Museum a few days earlier. We saw the Propylea, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheum and the Porch of Caryitids. Unfortunately, the Acropolis Museum was closed because it was a Monday. By the time we left the crowds coming in were getting horrendous. A couple at our dining table at night told us that they'd been amongst the crowd, on a Princess Tour, and they'd felt like cattle being herded - just awful. We were lucky we got there earlier!

We were up there about an hour or a little more, then found our way down into the ancient Greek Agora area below - got a little lost, but then looked at some of the main sights there. We were impressed by the replica of the Stoa of Altalos (now housing the Agora Museum) and the Temple of Hephaisteion.

After the Agora, we sat and had a a coke and then wandered through the main street of the Plaka area - an older area with narrow streets and lots more little shops. We bought a bag of fresh strawberries and nibbled on these as we walked - they were amazing! Really sweet and juicy - a real treat! We got through that area pretty quickly, then headed past Hadrian's Arch (he has them all through the Mediterranean - he was a Roman Emperor), past the Temple of Olympian Zeus, along the edge of the lovely National Gardens, past Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. By now we were starting to melt in the heat and my feet were killing me again. We stopped occasionally, but had to keep going unless we got held up in the traffic later in the day and couldn't get back to the ship on time.

We walked through Syntagma Square (can't say that many of the squares in Europe have particularly impressed me (they are all paved, no grass), I reckon Victoria Square can give them a run for their money), walked along a main street (Ermou) and gradually found our way back to the Monastiraki Square (passing Hadrian's Library on the way) and the train station to get back to the ship.

We caught the train and stood on board with the crowd, David watching out for anyone that looked like a pickpocket - we've been warned about them everywhere, but particularly in Athens. Apparently their latest trick is to cough nastily right in your face, and while you try to gather yourself from that, they take your bag, or pick your pocket. Ugh! We heard later that one couple from our cruise had had a handbag taken - she had placed it on the back of a chair at a cafe, and even with four of them sitting there, someone had managed to lift the whole bag with her camera, glasses, and wallet (she'd left the credit cards and passports back on the ship). And she told us of a couple of women that we'd caught the train into Athens with, who both had their handbags slashed while they were on the train, and didn't even realise till a little later - nothing being taken on this occasion. Scary!

By the time we got back to our station, walked the 25 minutes back around the port to where we could catch the ship's shuttle bus the rest of the way, I was just about dead. I had a migraine rapidly developing and my feet felt like pulp. And, it was SO hot. A couple of different people told us the temperature was 35-37 degrees - we didn't feel that it was that hot, but certainly it was tough walking those distances in the heat.

I collapsed into a cold shower, and then lay on the bed and went to sleep for an hour, took some panadol and neurofen, had David massage my feet, and gradually came right. I discovered I'd developed a nasty rash on the lower parts of my legs, above my ankles - not sure what that is, but we've noticed other people have this too. Looks like some sort of allergic thing. Anyway, I've got the USANA Night Renewal on it and will watch it carefully.

After dinner, we went and saw a 45 minute Comedian show - it was reasonably funny - we had a few laughs - he was Irish...