Europe 2011 day 9: Athens, Greece

Halfway through our European vacay our next stop on day 9 (Sept. 21) was Athens!  Warning: long post ahead, it was a busy day!

Good morning Athens!

Athens was Nick's favorite stop of the trip and because of all the protests going on there we were a little worried things would get out of hand and we would have to skip that stop - thank goodness things were fine there!

We took the subway into town from the cruise port and walked on the nice pedestrian walkway to the Acropolis. Apparently they really cleaned up the city and made it more pedestrian friendly before the 2004 Summer Olympics.  We were walking up the pedestrian walkway and all the sudden there was the Acropolis - it was pretty cool to all the sudden just see it right there.

our first view of the Acropolis from the pedestrian plaza - we made it!

Our first stop of the day was to the Acropolis.  We wanted to get there as soon as possible to avoid the big crowds and that was the highlight of the trip

sightseeing at the Acropolis

The Porch of the Caryatides

standing above the Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Athens is normally a pretty smoggy city but due to rain the day before we had  smog-less skies

The temple of Athena Nike

The Erechtheum

checking out the view - our ship is way, way in the background

Philopappos Monument

Looking down at the Temple Of Olympian Zeus

And of course lots of pictures of the famous Parthenon

And I of course had to take my fan picture for Rick Steves (I took one too in Paris) - like I said, I'm a big fan

our Rick Steves book - for my fan letter of course

After the acropolis we went up to stand on Mars Hill, a place were St. Paul stood and preached to the Athenians

hanging out on Mars Hill

View of the Acropolis from Mars Hill

A plaque with Apostle Paul's sermon at the base of Mars Hill

Then we walked through the ancient Agora, which was basically the hangout place in Ancient Athens and the area where people like Socrates and Plato wandered

walking around the Ancient Agora

the stomping grounds of Plato and Socrates

The Temple Of Hephaestus

The Temple Of Hephaestus

After a very busy morning of walking and sightseeing we decided it was ready for some good.  An area that was recommended to us for takeaway gyros is called "Souvlaki row."  Nick and I love gyros - we eat them a lot at home so we were both so excited to have a gyro in Athens.  They were so so yummy!

A gyro stand

delicious gyro

After refueling with some much needed food we went to the Acropolis Museum which was really nice to get inside and out of the sun and into an air-conditioned place.  It has a lot of good history and we both learned a lot about the Acropolis.  (No pictures were allowed inside).

After the museum we walked to temple of Olympian Zeus (what remains of it, just a few truly huge columns) and Hadrian's Arch.

The Temple Of Olympian Zeus

Then down the main street of the Plaka, past all the shops, to Syntagma square. This is where all the protests that we had seen on TV were taking place, but it was all quiet when we went there.  On the cab ride back to the cruise ship our cab driver told us a protest had recently been broken up about an hour before.

walking around the Plaka

Greek guards

Whew - what a busy day!  We really enjoyed Athens and it was fun seeing all the ancient sites of the city that we learned about in school.

Next stop: Mykonos (my second favorite place of the trip!)