Monday - Tuesday
An 8:20 am flight from Denver to Newark allows for the minimum 3 hours 40 minute connection time there for the flight to Athens. Well, for Newark where as the agent said, "Two drops of rain can cause hours of delays". It also allows for having to wake up at 3 am and feeling like a Zombie when arriving in at our hotel in Athens 24 1/2 hours later--at 11:30 am with a whole day of sightseeing to go.
Upon checking in to a fantastic hotel, The Athens Gate, located at the foot of the Acropolis and adjacent to the old town, Plaka area, we climbed the Acropolis to document the heinous thievery perpetrated by Lord Elgin. The picture of me in front of the Parthenon duplicates one taken 18 years ago. I will post that one when we get back to Boulder. Now with our pictures of the so-called Elgin Marbles taken last year at the British Museum, we can do a little Photoshopping and right a wrong. We stopped for a beverage after our hike where I learned that a "large beer" is, uh, large. Then we had a lovely afternoon (I'm told) listening to a guy hammering some instrument that took hours of tuning and visited a Byzantine church that seems to have found itself in the driveway of an office building. Then I think I fell asleep.
Wednesday
I asked yesterday upon checking in at the hotel if the demonstrations a 1/2 mile away at Syntagma (not what I originally typed) Square were a problem. The desk clerk said, "No problems. We are a democracy and enjoy getting together." This morning after breakfast at Athens Gate Hotel's fantastic penthouse restaurant (see view of Acropolis therefrom), I asked if the roadblocks being set up were a problem. The same desk clerk, ever optimistic, said, "It's just to keep traffic down. Not to worry. Have a great morning. Take a walk." We took a long walk (in the other direction from Syntagma Square) and noticed a fierce looking dog guarding a government building. (Barbara said I was paranoid.) The graffiti on a bus top sign didn't phase me since it had a bit of an unintended joke in it considering the bad judgment of the former head of the IMF. But the sign on the hotel Reception Desk upon our return giving the closures for the General Strike today in anticipation of the big demonstrations did. The ever jolly desk clerk answered when I asked if I should be concerned, "You better go right away to your ship." So we jumped the 12:30 pm early embarkation time I had negotiated by 3 hours and was in the cruise terminal here in Piraeus at 9:30 am, the earliest I've tried to board a Silversea ship. Oddly enough, the Hotel Director greeted us in the empty terminal, said that it was prudent to arrive when we did (without explaining why but mentioning something about evacuating early this morning the Silversea guests who had been staying on the Bretagne Hotel which is right on the Square. We were onboard enjoying refreshments by 9:45 am, and now all is well.
We sail at 6 pm for Turkey where no problems ever happen. Maybe I'll buy more evil eye charm medallions. I'll explain why these always have blue eyes in the next post. By the way, after dinner tonight we will enjoy a almost 2 hour totality of a lunar eclipse.
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