Piraeus (Athens)

Piraeus (Athens) - 11th April 2008.  Arrived in Piraeus Port at 6am to a cool and misty morning.  Our trip to Athens started at 9:30, which was a journey to the city centre with a quick guided tour of the ancient sites.  We had 6 hours of free time and the information available helped us to select where we wanted to visit on our own.  Our quick tour included the original Olypium Stadium built for the 1896 games, temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch.  Our first port of call was to climb up to the Parthernon on top of the Acropolis, thank goodness the weather was warm and not blazing hot.  Lovely views of the city and the site was very busy and interesting.  We then had a Greek lunch, fresh salad and Calamari most enjoyable.  We then had a wander around and ended up outside the Parliament building in time for the changing of the guard, which was something out of the ordinary (see pics).  We carried onto the Zappion park, the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch for a closer view of the monuments.  Before we knew, it was time to go back to the bus.  We had arranged to go out in the evening with a group of friends to a geniune Greek restaurant for a Greek Mezi.  14 off us had a fabulous meal with lots of wine some ouzo lots of meats and fish made a nice change from on board meals.  Back to the ship for the Midnight sail away.  Next stop Naples

2 Old Ruins

Guards

hadrian`s Arch and the Acropolis

Olimpic Stadium and Temple of Zeus

Temple of Athina