April 30 - Athens

 The Acropolis & The Parthenon

Today was the first full day of the cruise itinerary and we spent a "full day" visiting the ancient Acropolis by climbing to the top and then seeing the Parthenon up close.  Having taught World History for several years, this was a big bucket list to me.  I loved teaching about the ancient Egyptians - saw the pyramids of Giza last fall; about the Roman Empire - visited the Roman Coliseum a few years ago; and finally about the ancient Greeks - and today saw the Acropolis.  SOOOOOO cool.  

You'll note my Florida Panthers Sweatshirt - We beat Tampa Bay to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs last night!

We were on the bus by 9am after meeting our guide for the day Efie - who's named for a heroine of a Greek tragedy!  As we drove through Athens we saw several landmarks including the Olympic Stadium that was built in 1896 and Hadrian's Arch, right outside the ruins of the Temple of Zeus.

We then visited the Acropolis Museum.  The VERY coolest part of the museum, besides the fact that the place is FILLED with artifacts all found on the Acropolis site, is that it is built over an archeological dig site.  AND you can see down into the ruins as you approach the museum AND THEN INSIDE the museum the floors are of glass on the basement level and you can look down on more of the ruins.  Just really something to see.  

Ruins from outside the museum

Walking over the ruins inside the museum

Original artifacts found on the Acropolis

Exiting the museum we climbed - and I DO MEAN WE CLIMBED to the top of the Acropolis.  The views of the outer temples as we approached were breath taking, and looking back down on the theatre was a very cool site.  Once we'd reached the outer temples we went through the massive entrance and there before us was the Parthenon itself.  Just huge - I've included images of what it would have looked like inside and outside originally.

This is actually the back of the Parthenon

What it would have looked like outside & inside

The front of the Parthenon

As we left I got what I thought was a very cool shot of the city of Athens framed through the temple entrance.  This evening we set sail for Santorini which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful of the Greek Isles.  Side story....we were all on the bus ready to leave when we realized one couple on the climb up to the Acropolis had decided to "go on their own."  Their friends notified Efie they were missing.  Finally got hold of them on the phone and they said, "we don't know where we are."  Sigh.... the entire rest of the tour group is being held up because they wanted to explore and got lost.  Finally Efie was able to get from them they were near the museum and one of their friends on the bus offered to go find them and take them to the shuttle busses which were near the museum.  Word to the wise when part of an excursion group - stick with the program :)

Sailing out of Athens from the 360 degree views of the Explorer's Lounge

The fabulous sunset as we leave Athens

April 28-29: Travel Day

 Day 1:  Travel Day & Greece

Today was the BIG day - the start of our big adventure!  We were not all that excited about the L-O-N-G day of travel but honestly, we both remarked more than once after we'd arrived in Athens that as far as long travel days go, it not only went smoothly but didn't seem all that long at all.  About 8:30am we got a message that our car service was arriving soon and by 8:45 we were loaded up and on our way to Miami International.  We had about a twenty minute wait through security - despite having TSA - and soon were at our gate.  Boarded and left for Atlanta a few minutes early and landed without any issue.  Took the train from Terminal A to Terminal E for our international flight to Greece and were at the gate a good 90 minutes before take-off.  

Once airborne for the international flight we settled in for the 10 1/2 hour flight.  We both watched some shows/movies then had dinner and then settled in.  I actually slept for several hours while Kim drifted in and out but was never fully awake, so for both of us it didn't seem long before they were coming around with a light breakfast an hour out of our final destination.

As we were eating we were approaching Greece and what I think were the best photos of the day (other than pictures of us) came when I got these shots of some of the Greek Islands.

We were off the plane in less than five minutes....the walk to customs was MUCH shorter than nearly every other international destination we've been to and there was no one in line for customs besides the about ten passengers from our plane who were ahead of us.  Quickly through and met by our Viking hosts who checked us off and whisked us to the bus.  Once all the luggage was loaded we set off for about an hour drive to the pier and to board the Viking Sea.

Friday morning we'd received an email from our wonderful travel agent Nancy Nelson who alerted us that we'd had our room upgraded by Viking.  We had booked what was called a "Penthouse Veranda" - this is a slightly bigger room than a "Deluxe Veranda" (NOTE:  ALL Viking Ocean ships have a veranda).  But our upgrade was to a "Penthouse Junior Suite."  Not only about 75 square feet bigger but came with several additional, nice perks.  When I looked it up, had we booked the Junior Suite we'd have seen our cost increase by nearly $5,000.  THANK YOU VIKING!

We went through check-in quickly, as we'd done the "Comfort Check-In" a couple of weeks ago so it was simply a matter of showing our paperwork.  Got right into our room (after talking with a few couples who could not get in their rooms yet - one of our perks!).  We went upstairs to the World Cafe and enjoyed lunch on the open deck with the lower 70-degree air and cool breeze gently blowing through our hair!  AHHHHHH :)

As we headed back to the suite to see if our bags had arrived - and they had - I took a few photos of the upper decks on the ship :)

We headed up one deck (which is the top deck of the ship, other than the sports deck) and went to the Explorer's Lounge for a pre-dinner drink.  I had my "signature" drink, a frozen mudslide.  And then we went downstairs to the "specialty restaurant," Manfredi's.  This not only is one of our favorite restaurants on any cruise ship .... but of any restaurant anywhere!  And the cool think about Viking Ocean cruises compared to other "big ship" cruises - Viking's specialty restaurants do NOT come at an additional cost, you just need to make reservations in advance.

Tomorrow we will be up early and off the ship by 9am for a five hour excursion around Athens, highlighted by spending time on the Acropolis - a big "bucket list" item for me since my days of teaching World History.