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 Athens |
Anne and I awakened early the next morning anxious to explore the Acropolis and get a close-up look at the Parthenon. We had enjoyed the light show the night before and looked forward to walking among the ancient ruins of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. It's funny now that I sit and think about all those hours spent in high school and college learning about the ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations and how little it meant to me. That all changed in the early 1970's when Anne and I took our first two trips to Europe. Somehow having the opportunity to walk among the ruins of ancient Rome firsthand changed my level of interest in history and I enjoyed it immensely. I knew that I would experience those same feelings walking atop the Acropolis and having the opportunity to place my hands on the ancient stones that were once such a magnificent fortress to an ancient civilization. Athens (left) is a sprawling city not dominated by skyscrapers and a complete joy to discover. While we didn't have much time to really tour the city we did enjoy the few hours we had there. |
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| Arriving at the Acropolis we found it to be exactly as described: The ruins of an ancient civilization situated on the top of a big rock. You really can't call it a mountain, it wasn't that high. It was just a very large rock on which the Athenians built a fortress and temple to Athena. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Anne standing near the Parthenon |
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 The Parthenon |
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| We experienced the same problems at the Acropolis that most vacationers to famous landmarks experience ... an over abundance of tourists. Yes, I know we were among them, but it was almost impossible to get any pictures of the ruins that weren't ruined by hundreds of tourists lurking around. One of the advantages we enjoyed though was that we were not a part of an escorted tour as most were. When we arrived at the Parthenon we could hardly move because of the number of people there (left). We spent the time walking and exploring the ruins up close and, after a little while, the escorted tours moved to other locations and I was able to get some pictures without the crowds (above left and right). |  |
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Without much delay the Atlas was ready to set sail and we left the Port of Athens behind us. Shortly after leaving port Anne and I would enjoy our first sunset of the voyage. It wasn't spectacular by any means (see photo right), but it was still special. There's always something special with the setting Sun when you're on the water. We would sail through the night to our first stop, the beautiful island of Rhodes. Join Anne and I on the next page and enjoy the sights of Rhodes. |
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