Skip to main content

Greece 2010 - Athens 1


Early wake up calls and our final morning gathering in the Metropolitan Ballroom on the ship before disembarking in the port of Piraeus. We met our local guide Andi, oarded our bus and headed off to downtown Athens.

We enjoyed a sightseeing tour of the city - a great we to become acclimated to the new city. Our tour ended at the Acropolis, where we got off the bus and tour the site. Except for some wind on the top of the mountain, it was perfect. The ruins/excavation is awe-inspiring and the views overlooking the city were fantastic!

We returned to the bus, checked into our hotel - the Classical Imperial Athens- first class all the way - and then met up with Andi again for a tour of th Acropolis Museum. What a marvel just the building is. the glass floors outside (and in!) gave a fascinating perspective of the excavated ruins right under foot.

We then went our own ways and enjoyed the city, our hotel (and it's squigee-less bathrooms) and dinner in local tavernas.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cordoba

First our morning started with an alarm - or a lack of one; as Mary Jane and Pat's room never received a wakeup call.  So everyone else was on the bus ready to go when they finally got a knock on the door.  What troopers they were, though!  In 15 minutes they were on the bus with everyone and not long after they were able to laugh at the 'chaos' of it all. Our local guide Isabel was just delightful - and clearly has a love for her city.  She tells us that filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is from here as we begin our walk. First we go through the old Jewish center.  Nearly all of the city's buildings are white-washed (originally by the women we hear). We stop at an old Jewish synagogue and learn some history of the area.  Then we stop at the statue of a famous rabbi ( can you name him ?) which legend is that by rubbing his foot and then touching your own head you will get taller and wiser.  most of us did that - some hoping for extra height, others for a...

2011: Day 4 - Vienna

Another great day! We had a 6am wake up call - but it paid off! Our tour director, Robert, secured the first reservations of the day at Shronbrunn Palace - which meant we were the only guests in the Palace for the most part. We went room to room with our own local guide, Gabi, for a nearly private tour! A one-of-a-kind experience for sure. The Palace and Gardens were beautiful. 1,441 rooms and acres and acres of grounds. We learned about Mary Theresa (and all of her 16 children). This was the summer palace for the Hapsburg dynasty. We then switched gears and went to see modern art at KunstHausWien - what a creative artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser was. And a man who epitomized eco-friendly living and work. A very different experience after our tour of the Palace. Next was a driving tour of some of the city's monuments, etc. with a stop for lunch along the way. We ended with a walking tour to additional historic spots and a tour of the downtown palace - the winter residence of the...

Seville Tour II

Following our stop at Plaza Espana in Seville we headed out on foot through the Santa Cruz area and then made our way to the Seville Cathedral . Its Main Mosque and minaret were built using bricks from 1184-1198.  In 1248 the building was consecrated as Catholic with construction from 1434-1517 on the Gothic Cathedral.  It is the most extensive Gothic cathedral all over the world.  It houses the Tomb of Christopher Columbus. Following the guided tour some of us made our way up the 36 ramps to the top of the tower to see panoramic views of this great city!