Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts

Saturday August 11, 2012

Athens seemed like an easy port to conquer. Kyle had lived there for three months when he was modeling back in the summer of 2009, and had become fairly familiar with finding his way around. Of course, Athens isn't a port city - we docked in Piraeus, a short 20-minute train ride from the city center. Upon exiting the ship in Piraeus we searched for a bank, we only had Lyra left and had spent our remaining Euros on the Ho-Ho bus in Istanbul. Unfortunately being familiar with Athens meant Kyle was unfamiliar with Piraeus, and we walked around for nearly two hours trying to find a BNL (global network alliance with Bank of America) ATM before giving up and paying the transaction fee and exchange fees at a random Greek ATM. With money finally in our pockets we attempted to locate the metro station - which proved to be yet another difficult task. Turn after turn in the wrong direction, and without a map we seriously considered heading back to the ship... just as we saw the big blue "M” marking the metro station – what a relief!

We gladly paid €4 for two 24-hour unlimited metro passes and jumped on the first train bound for the historic area of Athens. Our first stop was the Acropolis, where we were again pleased to find that for only €12 each we could by bundled tickets for the Acropolis, Zeus's Temple, the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, Theatre of Dionysus, Hadrian’s Library, and Keramikos! Packaged tickets are available on the South side of the Acropolis, and can also be found at any one of the seven points of interest (students with a valid ID can get tickets half price.) As we passed through the gates that led to the Acropolis we were blasted by hot stale air, and a light dust from tourists who kicked up the loosely packed dirt path before us. We began our exploration with the Theatre of Dionysus wandering around the remnants of thousand-year-old stadium seating. Next we climbed the steps past the Odeon of Herodes theater, which is still in use today and walked up the steep hill to the Acropolis. Investigating our surroundings we noticed the many construction sites of ancient relics, which were being rebuilt - a trend in Athens that we're not sure we agree with.

Being herded like we were cattle we finally reached the top of the Acropolis, and here is what we saw:

Ancient Acropolis from Traveling In The Moment on Vimeo.

After taking in the majestic views of the ancient buildings, the legendary Parthenon, and the stunning city below we headed off to conquer the remaining sites our tickets allowed. Without a map we asked the closest tour guide for directions to Hadrian's Library - after pointing us in the right direction he glanced at his watch and informed us that all of the places we could see closed at 3:30pm... and it was already 1:30! Panicked that we might not get to see EVERYTHING, Megan shifted gears from admiring tourist to deranged do-it-all'er - as we sprinted down from the top of the Acropolis. Zigging, zagging and flying past tour groups and families we located a map, and managed to make it every single stop on our tour list that our tickets entitled us to. We even managed to squeeze in a pit stop for some authentic Greek frozen yogurt before heading back to Piraeus to board the ship.

Our time in Athens was short and rushed but we still managed to tackle the better part of what was recommended to see and do despite the intense heat. It’s a little disheartening seeing the fading remains of what was once one of the most magnificent societies of our time. We’re grateful for our youth and the ability to literally run around a city while still being able to learn about its history and take in its majesty.

Xo,
M&K

Wednesday August 8, 2012

Between our days in Naples and Mykonos we had a day at sea, which was a nice way to catch up and relax sans taxing itinerary. Mykonos was a unique port; we were only there from 7am until 2pm, and the shallow harbor forced the ship to tender rather than dock. Tendering means that our ship anchors near the port and smaller boats take groups of people to and from the docks. Due to the limited number of boats, we wanted to be two of the first passengers off the ship so that the better part of our day was not wasted waiting. Unfortunately our time on Mykonos was the least of all of the ports, just 6 hours, so we had to make the most of it. That morning we woke up extra early and rushed down to the lobby at 6am, hope we would get “Tendering Tickets” in the first group – we ended up with Group 4, good enough! As we waited for our group to be called to the galley we watched the sun break over the mountainous island, nothing on the cruise thus far compared to how beautiful it was.

We touched land at 7:30, and were early enough to have everything to ourselves – which meant Kyle was able to pop off many shots of people free landscapes. We made our way past a night club that appeared to still be open, (full of drunk people that seemed determined to party on through the morning). The white buildings hovered over the crystal blue ocean, backlit by early morning light creating a surreal atmosphere. In the first half and hour Kyle took over 500 pictures of pelicans, windmills, cats, churches and the ocean. We were lucky to be the first people at the windmills, Kyle had been to the island before and knew a more direct path from the docks so we snuck around the coast successfully beating the crowds.

We played on the beach near the windmills, collecting shells and taking in the views of Little Venice. A grisly bearded man broke the ambiance as he came strolling up the dirt path, approached the edge of the sea, stripped to his skivvies and jumped into the azur water. After a short while he returned from the ocean, dressed himself and continued back up the dirt path into town. Emboldened by his behavior Megan stripped down as well and also went for a swim. Kyle acted as a lookout to the mischievous 9am brazen swimming session. Reenergized we headed back into town as the shops were now open - Kyle cringed as Megan rejoiced! Every shop had different knick knacks that had to be examined. As a reward for tolerating yet another round of "junk" shopping, Kyle decided we would go for coffee on the water in Little Venice.

As the tiny town filled with tourists the ambiance was lost, we headed back to the ship for lunch by the pool and waved good-bye to Greece for a few days.

Xo,
K&M