We were asleep this morning when we arrived at Piraeus so when we looked out the first things we could see and hear were loads of the island ferries busy coming and going from this busy port.
Most of the ships tours had already left by the time we made it down to the buffet so it was nice and quiet and consequently much quicker to go about your food gathering business.
We left the ship at just before 9:00am and made our way out of the terminal building heading for the HoHo bus stop. There were 2 rival bus company’s wanting our business and we opted for the City Sightseeing one which we have used on many occasions before. The price for the 2 routes was 22 Euros per adult and being as Alex is 14 he went for free. The buses go every 30 minutes and we only had to wait for 15 minutes before we were making our way on the 30 minute journey to the Acropolis bus stop. The journey took us round the Piraeus peninsula before joining the main highway into Athens.
This is where we disembarked and started our ascent up to the ticket office and although it was only 9:45 in the morning it was incredibly hot already. The queue for tickets took approximately 10 minutes and there was a little bit of argy bargy at one point as some Germans thought they could join the queue near the front. These were soon sent packing as just about everyone in the queue joined forces to send them to the back. Funny how they suddenly loose the ability to speak English.
Tickets were 12 Euros for adults and Alex again went free after producing his passport, so all in all he was having a cheap day. The climb to the top of the plateau was a little slow with everyone seemingly wanting to photo them selves at every vantage point, it was probably what you would consider “selfie” heaven (or hell)!
We we did eventually reach the top it was still very busy, extremely hot but at least there was a bit more space. If you have ever been then you will appreciate the views from the top and it really is something you need to do at least once.
There is still lots of scaffolding around parts of Parthenon along with a couple of cranes where the restoration is going on but it should look amazing when it is all done.
We didn’t bother with a guide today just opting to go and see, take some photos then return to the ship. The fact we had got Alex here was a major achievement and I think he would be first to admit that in the end he actually enjoyed it. Its just a shame that he will probably look back at this when he is older and wonder why he didn’t want to explore more. Yes it was hot and we could have done more but we will leave that for our next visit, perhaps when there is just the 2 of us.
After making our way down there was a bus waiting which had loads of space and was just about to leave so we promptly hopped on for the return journey.
We arrived back at the ship at just before 1:00pm and made our way up to the buffet for some lunch and then it was time to worship the sun god again. Its a nice balance for the day splitting it 50-50 with a bit of culture and a bit of R&R.
Tomorrow is a sea day and the next port is Naples which will be our last stop before we arrive back to Civitavecchia the following day for disembarking to return home.