CRUISING: ATHENS

In spite of being in the middle of the huge city of Athens, the green belt of the Acropolis hill with the Parthenon temple on top is a marvelous sight. We took the subway in from the cruise port of Piraeus and then walked up the Acropolis. You sort of know what to expect, but when you first actually see the temple ruins on the top pof the big hill....it is a breathtaking deja vu thing. And everthing is so, so old. And how did they even build things like this in those days?

Here we are in front of the Parthenon (400BC) which is continually being restored in one way or another. There is rock everywhere on this hill...such that the steps are carved from rock, the walkways and squares are solid rock and the pieces of rock for the actual structures are apparently brought in from quarries hundreds of miles away...try that in 400BC. We spent some time in the museum nearby. It was filled with very old artifacts and a lot of interesting historical pieces. All in all, Athens is one of the must sees places in the world. We were back on the ship by late afternoon and on our way to Corfu.