Athens and a Photo Phinish

by Bob Sparrow

We disembarked in the port of Piraeus at 8:30 in the morning and had about a 45-minute ride through Athens, a clean city that looked a bit tired except for the fresh graffiti, to Hotel Grande Bretagne, which is five-star and in a great location across from Syntagma Square, a major park in Athens. After checking in and freshening up, we were met at the hotel with two, four-passenger golf carts for our tour and introduction to Athens. It often seemed like we took our life in our own hands by riding a golf cart in this very heavily trafficked city. But our guide was used to it, so we survived. Our guide was not only a good driver, but very knowledgeable about Greek history; not only knowledgeable, but passionate about it. 

It was a three-hour tour that covered virtually all the city, including the Parliament, with the swastikas on the gate – yes, swastikas. It seems the Nazis stole this symbol, that ironically means peace, from the Greeks. We were told that marble is abundant in Greece and in fact the street curbs are all made of marble. So, it has that going for it. We were taken to the top of Lycabettus mountain that provided us with a panoramic view of the entire city. While we got closer in distance to the Parthenon and Acropolis, this distant view of it was as good as we were going to get of this historic site. Our guide told us that the Parthenon and Acropolis are on a different tour and downplayed it saying that they’re just really old buildings. So, my hope of seeing the only thing I had some knowledge about in Greece was dashed. But hey, I was told they just look really old; I can look in the mirror and see that!  We ended our tour in the bustling market district that housed lots of shops and restaurants, and had lunch.

Back to our hotel for a little rest before we went to the rooftop bar and restaurant, but since we had just eaten, we had a drink and actually had to pay for it – our cruise drink package was no longer valid!

That was our quick tour of Athens. The next morning came the easy part for you and the not-so-fun part for us – a long flight home, but fortunately for both of us it was uneventful.

Enjoy some of the photos below.

Thanks for coming along.