Other sites include the Panathinaiko Stadium , the site of the first modern Olympics, but that was back in 1896. It was made entirely of white marble, and it quite impressive.
The National Archaeological Museum houses the largest collection of Greek antiquities in the world. And the nearby Plaka is quite popular, especially if you like shopping or dining on Greek cuisine.
An interesting fact about Athens is that it has 148 theatrical stages…….the most in the world. The most famous of these theaters is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, which sits on the Acropolis. It was erected in 161 AD.
Ship tours offered here ran from 4 hours to 8 ½ hours, costing from $55 to $225. Most of the excursions toured the sites in Athens with a lunch, or a simple transfer for 4 hours in total. A few trips took people out of the area to see Cape Sounion and ancient Corinth. As for us, we have been on every tour offered here….some more than once. By the way, one good option for the transfer to Athens from Piraeus is taking the hop on hop off bus for 20 euro. And that would not restrict you to only 2 hours in town. You could spend all day touring Athens, and come back before or after dinner today, since the ship was staying overnight.
So we spent the day in Piraeus, which we find just as interesting as Athens. There is a lot of history here as well. Much of the history here has been lost over the centuries, but there is evidence that it could be as old as 2000 BC. Back in the early days, Piraeus was the only shipping port for Athens. It was also the site for the naval ships. Even today, there are numerous shipping companies and ship owners offices. There is also evidence of ruins of tobacco factories, tanneries, textile manufacturing, and oil and flour mills.
By the 5th century BC, Piraeus was the largest naval and commercial center of the entire Mediterranean and the Black Sea. That's some big shoes to fill. The opposite harbor across the peninsula from the Central Port is Zeas Port and Marina. This is where the ancient naval shipyards were located. Today it is a beautiful sheltered harbor for small boats to mega-yachts. This was our eventual destination today.
We left the ship around 10pm, to mostly cloudy skies. Until the sun began peeking through the clouds, it was chilly. So we did wear sweatshirts just in case, although as the day wore on, we did not need them.
Our hike began from the ship, which was docked much closer to town today. Last year, we had to take a shuttle bus to get to the terminal building. We picked up a tourist guide booklet, complete with maps of the main part of the city, and plenty of excellent info. We walked the waterfront, past the big Greek Orthodox church, St. Nicholas. Last year it was undergoing restoration, and this year it looks beautiful. Continuing on, we went to the ferry docks to watch them load up with cars and passengers. Even though today was Monday, they were busy here. Weekends are much more crowded though. And summertime must be ridiculous for sure.
This is the point where we always cross the street, and find the central marketplace. There is a huge building with fresh fish by the tons, young fresh lambs, cut in half, veggies, fruit, and kitchen utensils. It is also very noisy with the vendors calling out their prices for the day. Or should we say yelling their prices. The Greeks are very high energy people. All the surrounding streets are full of small traditional shops selling everything to do with food. There are shops that sell herbs and spices, local bakeries, nut shops, olive and olive oil shops, soaps, and housewares. Many places sold affordable clothing on tables outside their stores. This is where we found a good deal on leather belts. Yesterday, one of us was looking for dress belts, but they were mostly 10 to 20 euros each. Today we found exactly what we wanted for 3 euro……same belts, but not in the touristy area like Rhodes.
From here we planned on walking over the hills to get to the Zeas Port. But somehow, we took a wrong turn, and ended up lost. From the streets up on the hillside, you cannot see the water on either side of this peninsula. You get buried in apartments and highrise buildings. When the streets did not look familiar, we pulled out the map, but could not find any of the streets. One problem was that many of the streets were not marked, and we discovered where we were walking was not even on the map.
So the next best thing was to ask someone for directions. That happened to be a nice elderly Greek lady dressed in black, of course, who did not speak one word of English. We showed her the map, and indicated that we were looking for the Zeas harbor. She understood, but had a hard time pointing out the correct streets. Lucky for us, we happened to be standing outside a car shop, and the owner came out to help. He did speak some English, and said we were not far from the correct streets. He must have asked the lady to take us to the right intersection, because she motioned for us to follow her. Obviously older than us, she could outwalk one of us going uphill. Up at a main intersection, she pointed for us to go left, where we would find the harbor. We thanked her as she continued on her daily walk going the other way.
By the time we walked about one mile, we began to recognize the side streets and the cafes and taverns. It was a bit early for lunch, so we walked to the far end of the harbor, and sat on a bench, enjoying the warmth of the sun that had finally peeked out of the clouds. We have done this on previous hikes here, but never went down to the water and walked around the outside of the marina. We were surprised to come across some of the nicest yachts…..some of what you would expect to see in Monte Carlo for instance. And right across from this area was a row of very nice-looking restaurants and taverns. We discovered at dinner later that our buddies Barb, Susie, and Woody went to one of these restaurants for lunch today, and also had great pizza. Since we were walking around there about 12:30pm, we must have missed them by ½ hour or so. Guess where we are going tomorrow? Right here, especially after seeing Susie's photos of the food on her phone at dinner tonight.
We hiked all the way back to the opposite side of the harbor to the Parmigiani Restaurant, where we have gone to lunch for the last three visits here to the harbor. We ordered two draft beers, one margarita pizza, and one order of Bolognese spaghetti with parmesan cheese. The meal began with five slices of salted pizza bread with assorted olives. Sure tasted good. Even though there is a restaurant, we have always sat outside across the road. Several other establishments also serve food from across the street, because sitting on the seawall is so pleasant with the view of the harbor below. We stayed until after 2pm, when the all of the cafes were starting to get busier. Locals eat much later in Greece, often having lunch at 3pm, and dinner at 9 or 10pm.
Taking no chances on the side streets for any short cuts, we went back over the hills by the street we know will take us to the Central Port and the ship. It really is not as far, but we still did 7 or 8 miles today. For sure, we will sleep good tonight. Got to rest up to do it again tomorrow.
We had hoped to do a little grocery shopping, but the local Carrefour market was gone. Stopping at a small market yielded nothing we needed. So tomorrow will be a day to find some new markets for some room snacks. It might be worth mentioning that this is one port, where everyone goes through the security check in the terminal. What is different about that is the fact there is a duty free store after the security checkpoint. Besides the typical souvenirs, they sell some food products, as well as alcoholic beverages. Many folks were purchasing bottles, because there was no xray on the ship. We did see the wine, beer, and alcohol collection table on deck A, but when we got back onboard, it was unmanned.
There was a nice surprise waiting for us at the ship. A new security officer joined the staff today…..Copper John, as he is known on Cruise Critic. Having just gotten an email from one of our friends telling us he was on the way, it was surprising to see him standing at the gangway so soon. Still recovering from jetlag, he was ready to get working. Nice to see that he did remember us from previous cruises, and also nice knowing that he still follows our blog.
The rest of the afternoon, we worked on the computer while watching Barbara H's talks on the upcoming ports of Nafplion, Iraklion, and Mykonos. They are all new to us, so we needed to catch up on all the info we can absorb.
Dinnertime found that we had company….Susie and Woody. All of their tablemates had other plans, so we welcomed them to our table for the evening. For the first time in weeks, we had a full table of ten, with very stimulating conversations, sharing our exploits of the day. Mostly, we were glad that a new pizza place had been uncovered for us to try.
The show in the Queen's Lounge was a local group of Greek folk dancers. It was a one-time performance at 9:30pm, so none of us were able to attend. We have seen similar show, if not the same as recent as last year.
So today ended another segment, with the final segment beginning tomorrow. And one more mandatory muster drill left to do.
Bill & Mary Ann
An unfinished structure in the Central Port of Piraeus
Central Port is shared with many ferries
Ferries for cars and people
The terminal building
Pier building
Piraeus terminal
Security check is inside this terminal
Close to the ship this time
Martin, our tablemate, and his new friend
Important port for ship supplies
The way we will walk later
Abandoned structure
The gangway
Oh goodie…..new supplies
We should get more tomorrow
Port dog
Walking out of the terminal
Tour buses waiting for customers
Parking lot for the Hop On Hop Off buses
St. Nicholas Church
Businesses of Piraeus
Map of the Main Port of Piraeus
Small chapel across from St. Nicholas Church
Inside the tiny chapel
A very stately church, probably Greek Orthodox
Walking towards the ferry terminals
Nicely landscaped with mature trees
This is the street we should have turned right
Will come back this way later
Continuing on towards the harbor
Another Greek church
Old mixed with modern
The ferry area
A harbor full of ferries
Car ferries
Different types of vessels
Capable of transporting many vehicles
The Amsterdam on the left, and two smaller local ships near us
Every ferry goes to a different island
Many cars
This should be a museum
Not sure what this building is
A public square near the ferries
Statue of George Karaiskaki, a hero of 1821
Local kids (possibly Syrian)
Finding our way towards the central market
So much traffic
Ship supplies and diving gear
An ancient headpiece (Corinthian helmet)
Shipyard businesses
Fresh produce market
Fresh fish
Many unusual varieties
Not sure what these are
Plentiful catch
Catch of the day
It was a bit smelly
Some of the fish has to be imported (salmon)
It was all on ice
Did not see one fly on any of the fish
Healthy garlic cloves
Caught today, cooked tonight
The fish vendors were noisy
Fresh shrimp
Mussels
The ice was melting into the buckets
Will all be sold by the end of the day
Fresh lamb
Not sure what this is
Salmon
Larger lambs
Must have a big grill to cook these
Lamb and all of the side cuts and organs
Liver, kidneys, stomachs, tongue, etc.
Fresh
Wheels of cheese
Heads and all
Easter eggs……..Easter is coming soon
Sidewalk vendors
More fish
Salted and dried
Dried herbs
Live snails for escargots
Food shopping
We could smell rosemary and thyme
Loofa sponges
Dried beans and fresh ginger
