Athens, Spetsai, and Crete

April 22, 23, 24, 25

Friday, April 21:  Arrival in Athens

Our arrival, getting through immigration, luggage retrieval, and customs went reasonably quickly, and we found the driver for our transfer to the hotel.  We were the only passengers in a small van and it was a comfortable 25 minute ride to the hotel, the “Hotel Grande Bretagne”, just about in the center of Athens. 

The Hotel Grande Bretagne

Our two hour delay getting to Athens did not really make much difference, as the hotel did not have our room ready anyway.   They suggested that we check back in about 45 minutes, so we took a short walk, checking out the neighborhood.  When we got back to the hotel, the room was still not ready, so a manager offered to get us a drink in the restaurant next to the lobby.  Naturally, I asked if we could get a couple of glasses of wine and he said “sure”.  Perhaps he appreciated that we asked for some Greek wine (which was very good), but we were also served some olives, nuts, and bread sticks for a very nice (and much appreciated) snack.  After finishing our little snack, we only had to wait a couple of minutes and our room was ready.  This is a rather old hotel that had been updated so you could see some age in the structure and fixtures, but it was also very nice, although our room was not overly large.  We unpacked, settled in a bit, and rested for a while to try to adjust to the time zone a little. 

A little after 5:00 we were getting hungry so we decided to find something to eat.  It was threatening rain outside and we weren’t sure where to head for dinner, so we just headed to the hotel restaurant on the top floor.  It turned out that this was the start of the busy season and there were no tables available without a reservation.  I guess we probably looked somewhat tired and disappointed about no tables, so the maître d said that there was a table available “first come, first serve” in the bar area.  We took a quick look and grabbed it.  We just had something light for dinner, and I don’t remember much about it, but I do remember the view.  From the windows of the restaurant, we could look directly at the Acropolis, probably a mile or less away.

The Athens Acropolis, as seen from the restaurant atop our hotel.

When I looked out at this view, I couldn’t help but think: “Not a bad way to start our trip!”.

Saturday, April 22:  Athens Tour

For Saturday, I had scheduled a non-Seabourn general tour of Athens.  We got our breakfast in the rooftop restaurant and enjoyed the view of the Acropolis again.   We boarded a bus that only took us about 2 blocks away to another hotel that apparently acted as sort of a switching point where people were collected, then routed to the proper bus for their tour.  We had a lady guide who did a good job passing along lots of information without sounding like she was lecturing us.  Our first stop would be the Acropolis, hopefully before it got too crowded.  The bus dropped us off at the base of the mesa that held the Acropolis.  (Tidbit: “Acropolis” means “high place” and several other Greek cities had their own Acropolis with temples and such of their own.  The Acropolis of Athens is the largest and best known.)  We started walking up the walkways, going up the hill and checking out important structures on the way.  One of the first was the “Theater”.

The Theater at the Athens Acropolis. 

As we learned later on our trip, this is easily identified as a Greek built theater because it is built into the side of a hill, with the hill providing part of the structure.  Roman theaters were always free-standing structures, such as the Rome Coliseum. 

Although we apparently got there before the worst of the crowds, there was still a lot of people entering the grounds.

People entering the upper part of the Acropolis at the Beule Gate

We went with the crowd, with our guide showing the way, and giving some information and history.  Once inside the gate, the first stop was at one end of the Parthenon, sometimes called the most magnificent structure of the ancient world.  This structure venerated the cult of Athena the Virgin (Athena Parthenos), the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare, and the Guardian of Athens.  The protection and restoration of the temples is probably forever ongoing, but the cranes and scaffolding somewhat distorted the views of several structures.

Even with the scaffolding, the Parthenon was impressive.

As we went around the Parthenon, we looked over at the Erechtheion, perhaps the most sacred building on the Acropolis. It is a complex marble building, a brilliant example of the Ionic order. The eastern part of the temple was dedicated to the worship of Athena, the patron goddess of the city, while the western part was dedicated to Poseidon-Erechtheus, from which the temple got its name, Hephaestus and other gods and heroes.  One of the most striking features of the Erechtheion is the maidens serving as support columns for part of the roof.

The six maidens hoilding up part of the Erechtheion.

Some years back the original maidens were removed and replaced with exact copies, down to most of the missing pieces, but we would see the “real thing” later.  At this point we were given about 30 minutes to wander around on our own before meeting back at the exit point.   Susan and I wandered to the other end of the Parthenon to check the views there.

Yes, we really were at the Acropolis.

Of course, I took a few photos, but, between the construction equipment and the crowds, it was hard to get a good photo.  The one below is about as good as I could do.

It is about 2500 years old now: how much longer can it last?

We left the Acropolis and made our way back to the waiting bus for a short ride to our next stop.  This would be just a short “Photo Op” stop at the Panathenaic Stadium.  The first stadium at this location was built about 330 BC for some of the original Olympic games.  It was rebuilt several times over the many years and underwent a major refurbishment to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the first of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

I wonder what it looked like 2400 years ago?

From the stadium, we rode around in the bus a bit, with our guide pointing out significant ancient structures and current government buildings.  We were a little surprised to find that the Greek Parliament and their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier building was almost directly across the street from our hotel. 

The guards are next to the little huts with the blue roofs.

We also learned that there is a minor “Changing of the Guard” every hour and a major ceremony every Sunday morning at 11:00 AM.

Our next and final major stop was the Museum of the Acropolis, which was quite impressive.  It is somewhat unique in that all the contents of this museum either came from or are directly related to the Athens Acropolis. 

The entrance to the Museum of the Acropolis.

Even the entrance was part of the display: there were transparent panels under your feet to allow viewing part of an excavated site with the remains of several buildings.  Inside the museum, there were many artifacts from the Acropolis and a few models of what parts of the Acropolis once looked like.  One display looked somewhat familiar.

Five of the six maidens

The five of the original six maidens from the Temple of Erechtheion were on display here.  (The sixth is in the London Museum, as are many other Acropolis artifacts.)  We finished at the museum and ended the tour, heading back to our hotel.

As we entered the hotel, we, almost literally, ran into the Seabourn representative who was organizing things at the hotel.  We got some information we needed from her and asked about places to eat, since we had not had lunch yet.  She suggested a restaurant a short distance away, and also mentioned a wine bar not far from there.  That was all we needed, so we headed to the restaurant, found it, and enjoyed a very good and filling late lunch.  We were still feeling the results of the jet lag, so we just rested for a couple of hours, then took a walk around the shopping areas close to the hotel.  At dinner time we still were not hungry, so we headed to the wine bar where we tasted several Greek whites and reds and had some light snacks.  By the time we got back to the hotel, we were ready to call it a night.

Sunday, April 23:  Athens and boarding the Encore.

Sunday morning we had some time to kill in the morning before time to transfer to the ship.  We started off with breakfast in the rooftop restaurant again, enjoying the view of the Acropolis.  Although we took the elevator, the stairs did look interesting.

Looking at this stairwell almost made me dizzy…  Don’t fall!

On our walks, we had noticed a large park close to our hotel, next to the parliament building, so we decided that would be a good place to take a walk.  We got most of our bags packed so that we could get them and check out quickly after our walk.  The park was nice, with pretty walkways and benches, some of which were in use by locals passing a nice Sunday morning.

A very pleasant place to take a walk.

There were a couple of ponds with lots of turtles and ducks but no other animals: we were surprised at the absence of squirrels or anything similar.  Athens has a somewhat tropical climate, so there were palm trees, citrus trees, and lots of tropical plants.

Just off to one side of the park was an open area with some large columns.  The guide had pointed those out to us the previous day as the remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch. 

These columns are taller than the ones at the Parthenon.

This temple was started about 174 BC but was not finished until Roman Emperor Hadrian had it completed about 130 AD, thus the name of “Hadrian’s Arch”.  There was very little of the temple remaining, mostly the arches, but you could tell that it was very large in its day.

We got back to the hotel, checked out, left our luggage with the hotel staff, and went out to watch the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  While very few people bothered to watch the hourly changing, there was a large crowd gathering for this ceremony. 

You can see the band coming toward us, and behind them, the Presidential Guard.

The guards are part of the Evzones, a part of the Greek Army, and wear special uniforms of some historical significance.  They walk with a distinctive gait that emphasis their uniforms, as you can see in this short video.  We watched what we could of the ceremony through the crowd, then went back to the hotel to await our appointed departure time of 12:45. 

A little before departure time, we retrieved our luggage and, just about right on time, the Seabourn rep ushered us to a car that would take us to the port.  I think our driver was in training, as there was a second person in the passenger seat who seemed to be monitoring the driver.  It was about 25 minutes to the port of Piraeus, where the Encore was docked.  The “check-in” process was quick and easy (I had done most of the check-in on-line about a week previously) and we headed to the ship.

The crew were welcoming us to the ship.

We boarded, found our cabin, and settled in as much as we could without our luggage.  It was almost 2:00 by now, so time for lunch and we headed to the Colonnade for our first of many meals there.  The rest of the day we wandered around the ship, finding where things were and making reservations at the special restaurant, “The Grill”. 

The view of the port from our veranda

That evening we ate dinner in “The Restaurant”, enjoyed some cognac in the “Observation Lounge”, and then enjoyed the ship’s entertainers in sort of a welcome “Song and Dance” show.  We were almost adjusted to the time zone change by now and called it a night at a reasonable hour.

Monday, April 24: Spetses

This morning we were anchored just outside the harbor of the town of Spetses.  “Just where is Spetese?” you ask….  Well, funny you should ask.

Map showing Spetses, Greece.

Spetses is a small island just a little off the mainland of Greece, a short distance southwest of Athens.  The map above does not show the name Spetses, but the point of the arrow on my label is right at the island. 

The harbor and town of Spetses

It is a quiet and rather pretty island and we were to have a tour called “A stroll through Spetses”.   We took the tender into the town and met with our guide for the tour, taking off through town on foot.

The waterfront was pretty and the water in the harbor was clear.

We walked around the waterfront to an open park area dominated by a statue of a woman.  We were to hear quite a lot about this woman.

A statue of Laskarina Bouboulina, a very interesting woman

Laskarina Bouboulina, the local heroine of Spetses, is a Greek hero known for her tremendous contribution to the Greek War of Independence in the 19th century.   Said to be the first woman to achieve the rank of Captain in any military, she was also awarded the rank of Admiral by the Russian navy.  If you look closely at the statue, you will see something in her belt.  That is her pistol, which she always carried with her.  (Nothing was said whether she ever had to use it.) 

From the park we walked a short distance to what had been her home/mansion and was now a museum about her life. 

The Bouboulina mansion and museum.

As you might guess from the size of her mansion, Bouboulina (no one seemed to use her first name) was from a wealthy family involved in shipping and trade, which helped give her the means to undertake some of her liberation activities.  It did make for an interesting story about an interesting woman.

One interesting “feature” of Spetses that we did see elsewhere, although not to this degree, was the decorated walkways and patios.

Pictures are drawn with different colored pebbles.

They used different colored pebbles laid into a form of cement to create pictures and designs in the walkways and patios.  It was sort of like mosaics, but done with natural colored pebbles rather than tiles.  After a short stop at a small bakery to sample some of the local specialties, our guide turned us loose to head back to the ship.  Before getting on the tender, I did take the time to get a video of the harbor and the Encore. In the video, notice the land mass in the distance: that is the mainland of Greece just a couple of miles away.

After a look around, we hopped on the tender and headed back to the ship for lunch and relaxing for the afternoon.  Late this afternoon there was a reception, or party, around the pool with various edibles and drinks and featuring champagne and caviar.  We’re not big “fish eggs” fans, but we sampled some and had a little champagne and other snacks.  It was OK, but we thought it a bit overblown for what we actually got.  Perhaps if we were caviar lovers we would have thought better of it.

Before the dinner hour, there was an introduction of the ship’s officers in the Club.

Ship’s captain. David Bathgate is speaking: Aimee is in the red dress.

We seldom saw the officers around the ship, and I don’t think that, outside of the reception greeting, we ever talked to them.  The Cruise Director, Aimee, on the other hand, we saw a lot and got to know her a bit.  She had a hard job on this trip because of the multiple changes and challenges from the spotty weather.

That evening we had reservations in “The Grill by Thomas Keller” for dinner.  The food and service was a step above the main restaurant, but I did not find anything really outstanding or memorable.  Like in the main restaurant, the sommelier did not want to discuss the included wines, only the available/extra cost ones.

Dinner in The Grill

Oh yes, the photo reminds me, tonight was “Formal Night”, which explains my coat and tie.  I ended up wearing the jacket quite a bit, but more as a nod to the cool weather than the need to “dress for dinner”.  After dinner, we again enjoyed some cognac in the Observation Lounge until time for another “song and dance” show in the main lounge.

Tuesday,  April 25:  Crete (Aghios Nilolaos), Greece

Today, we are in Crete, specifically the town of Aghios Nilolaos and nearby areas.

Today we will start our tours of rather ancient towns and civilizations, and this will probably be the oldest of the places we will visit.

We were anchored in the bay and took the tender into the town to meet our tour guide and hop on the bus.

The pretty (and calm) harbor of Aghios Nilolaos, Crete

It was about a 45 minute ride to the site of what is sometimes called Europe’s oldest city.  Kossos (there are several possible spellings, but that is what I’ll use) was thought to have been settled as a community as early as 6000 BC, with some habitation as far back as 12000 BC.  The middle of the Minoan period is around 2000 BC and it is thought that is about when the main part of Kossos was constructed.  This place is OLD and I was surprised how big it was.

Only a small part of the extensive grounds of Kossos

To give you a better feel for the scope of what is called “The Palace”, check this video.  It was a big complex and not exactly what you would expect for a site probably 8000 years old.  There were areas and rooms apparently meant for long term storage of food, suggesting a rather knowledgeable agricultural culture, as well as one that is capable of building complex structures.

Some of the buildings were at least three stories high:  all stone.

Throughout our visit, we were frequently “serenaded” by the resident Peacocks who were wandering freely around the site.

Peacocks are pretty, but they make an awful racket.

We had a very good guide who explained many of the interesting facets of the site, including a mosaic reproduction of a rather famous series of images depicting young persons (probably men, but uncertain) leaping over a bull. 

Our guide, explaining the “Bull Leaping” mosaic

The original artwork was apparently rather large and was found in in many pieces, but had to have been a major “investment” by whoever had it created.  It depicts the sport of “bull leaping” where young people leap over a bull.  It is not known whether this was a general sport, or possibly a rite of passage for young men.

We lined up to pass through part of what was apparently a “Throne Room”, with a stone throne, where the ruler would have conducted the business of the community.

The Throne room, with a rather uncomfortable looking throne

Notice the rather bright colors used in the throne room above.  Although all the non-restored colors are faded or gone, this is what the restorers think the buildings looked like.  The columns seemed to get these bright colors also.

Some of the brightly painted columns

After spending a couple of hours in the site, we were given about 20 minutes to check out the gift shop and snack bar before climbing back into the bus.   We had about a 40 minute ride to what turned out to be a reconstructed village, representing what a village might have been like here in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

Entrance to the Apolithos hotel and village

Within the village were a hotel, several shops, and a couple of restaurants.  The people in the village wore appropriate period costumes and at least some of the goods for sale were reasonably correct for the period.

The “main street” through the village

The stores were just waking up when we arrived, as we were the first bus of visitors for the day.  (Many more were arriving as we were leaving.) 

The fabric shop was displaying its wares in the sun.

After looking around for a few minutes, we were led to a open patio with several long dining tables prepared for us: lunchtime!  We had several local specialties, accompanied by a decent wine.  Three men were providing traditional music while we dined…  well, as “traditional” as you can get considering they were using an electronic keyboard, drum-machine/mixer, and electric guitar.  About the time we finished eating, four dancers came out to demonstrate the traditional dancing style.  I’ve put a couple of clips of the dancers together in this video.  We were also entertained by several cats who seemed to know whom to approach.  At one point, we counted six cats gathered around, being cute in exchange for food. 

One of the cats being cute

All of the cats looked well fed.  After eating (and feeding the cats), we wander around a bit, taking in the scenery.  This village was located well up the side of a mountain and had some excellent views of the neighboring areas, which were mostly agricultural.

A nice view from up here: Crete is a major agricultural producer.

We loaded back onto the bus and headed back to town where we took the tender back to the Encore.  A little rest, a glass of wine in the observation lounge, and we were ready for dinner in the main restaurant.  The food and service seemed a little better this evening, but we still had to play a bit of a guessing game as to what wines were available. 

The entertainment in the main lounge this evening was a British songwriter, pianist, guitar player, and singer named Ben Mills and he put on a very entertaining show.  Many of his songs were in the Rod Stewart style but Mill’s voice will remind you of Joe Cocker in his prime.  I don’t see how his voice can last through two shows an evening.  It turned out that we would see him again.

End of Chapter 1:

You can now click your “Back button” and return to the main document, or click this Chapter 2 to continue to Chapter 2.