Cruisin' VII- Athens, Greece

On Christmas Eve we woke up very early to make it down to the terminal in time to meet with Nikous, a tour guide I had booked unrelated to the cruise line. This was one of the best decisions I made on the whole cruise! Nikous met us right outside the cruise terminal, dressed very professionally, with a Mercedes mini-bus for our party of 15. 

Nikous and our mini-bus

The first thing Nikous told us was that the employees of all the Greek archaeological sites had gone on strike over night so all of those sites were closed. We were a little bummed but it turned out to be perfectly fine because we got to see more things and didn't have to pay museum entrance fees.

A military band met us at 8am at the terminal to play some Christmas carols.

The arena you see behind me was a basketball court built for the 2004 Olympics (is that right? 2004)?

We got to the Acropolis, which houses the Parthenon, Athena's temple, and some other stuff I can't remember.

The cool thing was that it was before 9am, the sites were totally closed, and it was Christmas Eve so it was completely empty. We were literally the only people there at the time.

We could get close enough to take pictures and walk around a good bit but we couldn't actually go in.

Potential Christmas card.
We never sent out a Christmas card.

Greece is full of stray dogs which we learned the government takes care of. They are well behaved and well fed, although I noticed none of them were fixed. Well, the boys weren't at least. They have doggie shelters set up around the city for the dogs to go eat and sleep, but Nikous says the dogs don't need them because the shop keepers take good care of them.

Silent sentry guarding the Acropolis

Our mini-bus had my name on it all day. I'm a rock star.

View from Mars Hill to the Acropolis

Wouldn't it be cool if you worked or lived in Athens and this was your background every day?

The New Acropolis Museum was open, however and I found it extremely interesting. I think I was the only one that thought this. I spent a ton of time mulling over the ruins and artifacts in there. The part I HATED was that the floors are made of reinforced glass so you can see down in to the excavation project they have going on. In the picture below you can see some ancient tile work and some ruins under my feet.

Maggie hated it too, okay?

We made a quick stop at the Temple of Zeus which was also closed so we had to peer in from the gate. This is the biggest temple in Athens because Zeus is the most important god.

Next up was a stop at the modern Olympic stadium. Built in 1896 completely out of marble, it is the largest completely marble stadium in the world.

Also it's really old.

 If you make it Athens you should try to see the changing of the guards at Parliament. It is a show-stopper (literally) and full of pageantry and ritual.

Check out his slippers.

After this we had lunch and went shopping in the pedestrian zone in the old town. I think I could spend a week in Athens and never be finished with it.


Dinner that night was formal and full of surprises- free wine, a show put on by the waiters, and double Italian dessert. Afterward one of the kids hung out with Maggie in our room so we could have some adult time. It was an awesome way to spend Christmas Eve.

This dress fit really well two years ago.

A gift from the cruise line- an Italian Christmas cake

She was actually asleep when this picture was taken, despite the open eyes.