“Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence.” John Milton, Paradise Regained
We arrived yesterday morning, and were quickly whisked off to our hotel. It didn’t take long to settle into our room and then head off to explore the city. After going across the street to the Parliament building to watch one of the more interesting Changing of the Guard ceremonies I’ve ever seen, our next act was to test out the Athens Metro system, of which the city is justifiably proud. It is clean, quick, cheap and efficient.
Our first stop was something of a completion of a full circle from my first trip outside the U.S. many years ago. That was to England, where during a visit to the British Museum I got an earful from a couple of Greek women about the outrage of the Elgin Marbles being in London and not Athens from where they came (not to mention that that fine ancient Greek statuary was named for the British Lord Elgin who had removed them from Greece).
So it was fitting that our fist visit on this journey was to the building for the new Acropolis Museum. It’s not actually open yet, but the public is invited to come see its architecture and view the one small exhibit that is there. The museum was built in part to respond to the British refusal to return the Elgin Marbles and other antiquities removed from Greece—they’ve always claimed that Greece does not have a place to properly display them. This museum should give the lie to that. It’s a beautiful building. Perhaps its most interesting feature is its glass floor, where you can look underneath to see the ruins that are preserved under the building.
Since we had limited time in Athens, and hadwe both been up the Acropolis before, we bypassed that climb and instead set out to wander the streets and byways of the Plaka. It was a great place to soak in atmosphere and watch people (who in turn were no doubt watching us), even as we dodged cars and motor scooters driving its narrow streets and sometimes it sidewalks.
We then went to the ancient Agora area, to walk where the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle once walked and talked. I tried to imagine them there, even as I forgave Socrates for the curse he imposed on first year law students throughout the Western world—the Socratic method.
From the top of the Agora we had a wonderful view of the city and of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. Then it was back to the hotel, where we watched the sun set over the Acropolis from the amazing rooftop deck of the Hotel Grand Bretagne.
Unfortunately, more exploration of Athens this morning was not to be—there was a general strike starting at 11:00, so the cruise line had to get us out of our hotel and to the ship before the strike began. In fact, the mass transit workers had already started their strike and we passed huge masses of commuters at bus stops, trying to figure out how to get to work or get home with no buses or subways operating, and precious few taxis out and about.
So today was really all about getting on the ship and getting unpacked and settled in. A nice touch was a “block party” whereby at 6:00 everyone went out into their hallways to meet their neighbors and enjoy some wine. It was a nice way to start a cruise.
We arrived yesterday morning, and were quickly whisked off to our hotel. It didn’t take long to settle into our room and then head off to explore the city. After going across the street to the Parliament building to watch one of the more interesting Changing of the Guard ceremonies I’ve ever seen, our next act was to test out the Athens Metro system, of which the city is justifiably proud. It is clean, quick, cheap and efficient.
Our first stop was something of a completion of a full circle from my first trip outside the U.S. many years ago. That was to England, where during a visit to the British Museum I got an earful from a couple of Greek women about the outrage of the Elgin Marbles being in London and not Athens from where they came (not to mention that that fine ancient Greek statuary was named for the British Lord Elgin who had removed them from Greece).
So it was fitting that our fist visit on this journey was to the building for the new Acropolis Museum. It’s not actually open yet, but the public is invited to come see its architecture and view the one small exhibit that is there. The museum was built in part to respond to the British refusal to return the Elgin Marbles and other antiquities removed from Greece—they’ve always claimed that Greece does not have a place to properly display them. This museum should give the lie to that. It’s a beautiful building. Perhaps its most interesting feature is its glass floor, where you can look underneath to see the ruins that are preserved under the building.
Since we had limited time in Athens, and hadwe both been up the Acropolis before, we bypassed that climb and instead set out to wander the streets and byways of the Plaka. It was a great place to soak in atmosphere and watch people (who in turn were no doubt watching us), even as we dodged cars and motor scooters driving its narrow streets and sometimes it sidewalks.
We then went to the ancient Agora area, to walk where the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle once walked and talked. I tried to imagine them there, even as I forgave Socrates for the curse he imposed on first year law students throughout the Western world—the Socratic method.
From the top of the Agora we had a wonderful view of the city and of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. Then it was back to the hotel, where we watched the sun set over the Acropolis from the amazing rooftop deck of the Hotel Grand Bretagne.
Unfortunately, more exploration of Athens this morning was not to be—there was a general strike starting at 11:00, so the cruise line had to get us out of our hotel and to the ship before the strike began. In fact, the mass transit workers had already started their strike and we passed huge masses of commuters at bus stops, trying to figure out how to get to work or get home with no buses or subways operating, and precious few taxis out and about.
So today was really all about getting on the ship and getting unpacked and settled in. A nice touch was a “block party” whereby at 6:00 everyone went out into their hallways to meet their neighbors and enjoy some wine. It was a nice way to start a cruise.
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