Athens - Ancient city of learning - Piraeus, Greece
Piraeus, Greece
Today we docked in Piraeus, the port of Athens and were awakened with a loud thud. The day was gloomy and raining so we knew ponchos would be required. Giva had whinged so much being under my poncho after our rainfall experience in Messina, that I decided he needed to acquire one for himself. Out came the embroidery scissors packed for just such an emergency – snip, snip, snip and hey presto the maestro created one perfect poncho to keep him dry! Even Giva was impressed at my innovation and creativity! No dramas with buses today. We were "Battalion 10" today – the English speaking clustered with the Italians. Our guide today was Nina and she effortlessly switched languages throughout the tour. Piraeus was built as seaside accomodation for the rich. Unlike many of the old cities we have been in, this one was not built by slaves, but workers were paid one drachma of silver a day – enough to buy a sheep or a goat. Many of the buildings are neo classical style. Nina told us that the apartments are still sought after by the wealthy today, with those with a sea view being particularly expensive. What struck us was how run down everything appeared – graffiti everywhere, shutters falling off windows, crumbling stone buildings and grimey paint and plaster work. This is perhaps a reflection of a struggling Greek economy with money not being spent on basic maintenance. Enroute to the Acropolis – our destination for todays tour Nina gave us plenty of information on modern day and ancient Greece. Schooling is compulsory for 12 years with the 13th year optional for those wishing to study further. Entrance exams to university are extremely tough and once tertiary studies are complete, young men are required to do 9 months compulsory military service – usually being sent far away from home to do so. It took a good 45 minutes through the traffic from the ship to the Plaka or old city. We passed many interesting old churches and buildings including St Nicholas church which was built to pray fro protection for sailors going to sea. First stop was the Panethenia or Olympiad. It hasn't been used since 1896 for Olympic games although the marathon from the last games ended there. The rain stopped long enough for us to get out of the bus and take photos and then a sudden deluge sent us all scuttling back to our bus. We continued past many beautiful buildings – too many to name. Unfortunately many of the historical sites were bombed during the Second World War, with 80%25 being destroyed. Fortunately “those on the hill” survived. Nina told us that that prior to this when Athens first became the capital of Greece, after all the invasions, it started as a destroyed city with only 9000 inhabitants. It now has 4 million. How sad to have lost so much, so often. Their flag has 9 stripes, representative of the 9 Greek symbols that spell the phrase “Liberty or Death” the motto that they have always fought under to defend their land. The white cross on the flag represents the Christian Faith as according to Nina this is very important to the Greeks. When we arrived at the Acropolis the heavens opened and out came the ponchos. I will definitely put them on my “10 things to pack” list for an overseas holiday as they have been invaluable in keeping cameras, bags and of course us dry in the heaviest of downpours. Not deterred, we continued up, up, up. At times it was quite treacherous with the jostling crows on those wet marble steps. The Acropolis is another “bucket list” place. In a word it is magnificent! The sheer size and height of those columns remarkable. I loved all the different colours and shades in the marble. Even the rocks and stones on the ground ranged in colour from shades of pale salmon pink to a deeper rosy hue. We were told that many of the treasures – sculptures and bronze statues – priceless works of Art were taken back to England after the war by I think she said the Govenor to a private collection, and were later sold to the British Museum, where they are today. It seems outrageous that these national treasures are not returned to their rightful home – I am sure the Greek Gods Athena and Zeus would not be pleased! The Greek people have a reverent awe about the Acropolis and are fiercly protective of it. There are signs that say “Don’t pick up rocks/stones”; “Don’t touch the marble”, “Don’t introduce animals onto the site” (not sure about the many stray cats and the stray dog, that we saw right at the top!?). All of those I can understand but didn’t quite get the “Don’t sing!” one. Giva was highly mortified and upset when he came out of my bag to have his photo taken – not on the marble! Not on the stones but on a modern day brick structure which had a light on it – he meant no disrespect, simply wanted to have his photo taken on the Acropolis – the next minute a lady comes flying down the hill, whistle blowing and finger wagging – “ Put that thing back in your bag” she said! “Why?” I asked. “Not allowed, not allowed to photograph with such things!” she said! Have you ever seen a monkey blush? Poor Giva! They really should add it into the things one can and cant do to save future travelling monkeys from similar embarrassment! Our delay back to the ship was somewhat delayed when one elderly lady on our bus couldn’t find her husband and we found another bewildered and anxious elderly gentleman from bus 11 who couldn’t find his family. Tour guides do not seem to subscribe to the belief - "we dont leave any one behind" - as we had discovered in Istanbul - a schedule is a schedule after all - fortunately they do send an MSC rep on each tour and they seem to be a bit more protective of the MSC "flock" and were able to arrange for the gentleman from No 11 to find his bus. Once back on the boat we were interested to note a boat and divers working on the side of our ship. Our departure was going to be delayed we were told. The thud we had heard this morning was actually the side of the ship colliding with a concrete pillar – caused by a gust of wind we were told (On a ship of this size we asked???). The damage was “minor” we were told and repairs were being made! “Oh my goodness!!” shrieked Giva – “I have seen what happened on the Titanic” he cried – such a drama queen!!!! The rest of our day was relaxing. At that point we had no idea how long repairs would take and were reluctant to walk back into the centre of Piraeus - a good 40 min walk each way, if we only had an hour there. The dress theme tonight was carnival masks so I went off to where they were making masks, to rustle some up for Keith and I and Giva. The boys chose to have a catch up snooze to prepare for the dancing our group had planned for tonight. It was a fun evening. Tony and Audrey had made creative masks out of the breakfast menu and we looked very colourful in the ones I had made. Giva quite fancied his - had to be persuaded to remove it at bed time! We had agreed the night before to go dancing and the 8 of us dominated the dance floor, even though some had not danced for ages. We even did some Greek Dancing to the stirring sound of Zorba the Greek – step, step kick – other way -step step kick - what fun! Before retiring we made one last walk around the deck to peer over the side at the repairs – 11:30 pm and still going – poor divers must be freezing. I wonder what tomorrow will hold!