Athens

 Saturday, 9/4/21.

Last night after we during the checkin process, I noticed a beautiful chandelier in the lobby. It was assembled of hundreds of pieces of crystal(?) and lighted up the lobby area. Standing nearby was bellman Georghio. I took a photo and told him he was the chandelier guard. After some explanation Georghio had a good laugh.

This morning we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel. It reminded me of the buffets in Japanese hotels with lots of veggies plus all the regular foods typically found in a good American brunch buffet. On the way back to the lobby I saw this advertising on the steps. I think it's the first time I've seen such.

Just before sunrise I took the following photos of our neighborhood from our room window.

This is the operable window in our room. It measures about 3 x 5 feet. We're on the seventh floor and such a window in most hotels would have a block preventing it from being opened enough for a suicidal person to do the deed. Not this one. It opened wide so I could lean out and take photos.

Caught our bus at 1030 for the city tour and sightseeing. 

We wandered around the city seeing one sight or another from the bus. That didn't lend itself to photography, even my amateur attempts. But then we stopped at the new Athens Museum. It's relatively new (2009?) and a great experience. Museum on the right.

It contains all the artifacts found in and on the slopes of the Acropolis. We spent two hours there and I could have spent another four. Here's the URL if you're interested in more info: https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en. Of course, you could also check it out on Wikipedia, no URL needed.

The museum was built over the excavations in that neighborhood and showcases them through line of sight from the ground floor and glass floors in many places on the other floors. Here you can see the view from the side of the ground floor.

From the first floor upwards many feature glass floors.

The glass floor on the first floor covers the excavations shown below.

Inside, on the first floor, there are five glassed-in models of the Acropolis as it was in five periods of its history. this view is from circa 1500. In the background, through the glass, you can see the turnstiles that admit visitors to the ramp leading to the upper floors. There are displays of artifacts on both sides and down the middle.

The entire museum features displays of artifacts found nearby. I didn't count, but it seems there are five floors with themed displays on each. You can see the glass floor here.

From the top floor there is a good view of the nearby Acropolis.

After the museum, we had free time to explore the area. Hit an ATM for some Euros, then Ikuko and I found a nice sidewalk café to have a bit of lunch.

We had good Greek coffee and shared some salad and calamari.

Back on the bus, we stopped near the Parthenon for a photo op.

We also stopped at the Olympic stadium. I won't bore you with the details but our guide told us all about the most expensive local marble that was used to rebuild it to match the original built for the original Olympic games.

Back to the hotel, we rested. Well, Iko rested while I edited photos and started the next post. 

On the buses again at 1930 for a drive to our "special Greek dinner experience." All the Travel with Allen groups that were in Athens waiting to board cruises attended. I figured around 225 or so around 12-person tables in a large outdoor plaza. Wine was on the tables and resupplied regularly. There were musicians playing a guitar and an electric bouzouki.

Dinner was buffet style followed by a dancing troupe.

Near the end of the this dancing they began breaking dishes. Before it was over there were broken dishes all over the floor. The wine encouraged our folks to participate in the dancing.

The crockery was swept to the side and we had more dancing. Didn't get back to the hotel until almost midnight. A long day to adjust to the local time zone.