This morning we had the tour of the ancient ruins of the Acropolis. Later we will head to Patras for our ferry crossing back to Ancona, Italy.
On the way, we had a tour of various city buildings and the changing of the guard at Parliament. This short stop proved to be the highlight of the Greece trip! There are two guard dressed in traditional costume next to guardboxes. There is also a regular army man who speaks to people and makes sure all is ok. The traditional guards don't speak. They have the shoes with the huge pom poms on them. The shoes are made of wood and are apparently quite heavy - they also have studs and a horseshoe on the soles!
The new guards come marching in with this pecular step where they stop and wave one foot in the air, before stomping it down and then doing the same with the other. I took a movie of it. We were fascinated. The changing of the guard happens every hour and on SUndays they were the costume with the 400 pleated skirts. The 400 pleats represent the 400 years that Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
After this we headed up to the Acropolis. It was only 8:30 when we arrived and there were already dozens of buses. It was getting hot - about 29C when we arrived. From the bottom, the climb up looks enormous and we all sort of groaned. Dunno about these tours being ABC Another Bloody Church as more Another Bloody Staircase/Hill.
The guide took us up a pathway made of chunks of marble. You have to be constantly watching your feet in Europe with all the cobblestone and marble/stone paths. It proved to be less of a climb than we thought but having a few minutes break in the shade of a tree was now and again was most welcome. As we climbed, we could see all over Athens and Pyrios, the port (sp?).
The columns are huge and you have to wonder how they got all that stone up that hill! I wasn't as impressed though as I had been with Pompeii and Olympia. Maybe the hundreds of other tourists spoiled the moment :/
Then we piled back into the bus, to be taken to the oldest theatre in the world. We ended up at the start of the Plaka where we had been the other night (where the police and cars were). A short walk, straight straight straight, and we were in the ruins of the old theatre. We had seen this from above from the Acropolis which loomed above us. It was very hot now and most were just wanting to get back onto the bus and go. there were tortoises everywhere.
We stopped for lunch on the Corinth Canal. Where we had seen it a few days ago, it had been an enormous cutting, sheer rock walls dropping to the canal below. This part was the entrance to the sea and had gentle banks. There is a bridge which goes down into the water to allow ships through and we were lucky enough to see this. The bridge drops 12 metres - the canal is 9 metres deep here; the whole cancel is around 6km long.
Finally we reached Patras. As we drove to the port, Giorgio would coast up to the traffic lights. The illegal immigrants try to jump under buses and trucks to get through the port gates, if they stop. Greece has stopped giving assistance to these people as there are so many of them, so now they are trying to get to Italy, which has a softer policy. They had to move the Patras port gates a ways so they could get more control of who/what went into it. All along the road, there are fences to the port area with barbed wire or razor wire on the top. Along the roads, on the rocks near the main gates, they wait. There are police everywhere and all buses/trucks are thoroughly checked. Patricia said they even had one man who had climbed into the engine bay of a bus! If the hitchhikers are hurt or die, it is apparently the driver's fault.
This is one of the few places we have to show our passports although it is a fairly perfunctory check maybe because we are a tour group. We wait for Patricia to get the tickets then we climb back onto the bus. We had thought we would just be taken to the ship and go up the gangplank like on the last one but nooooo this is different. We stay on the bus as it drives into the ship's garages and up onto the top vehicle deck. Then we walk into reception. This is primarily a vehicle/freight ship. It carries around 300 trucks. Despite an official sailing time of 6pm, we leave over an hour later - greek time lol.
Our cabin is a 4 berth again but this one is big! We have 3 bunks made up, a desk and fridge, a Tv, a trouser press (???) and a shower you can actually turn around in. Pure luxury! We are going to be on this boat for the next 24 hours so it is nice to be comfortable.
Depending on when the boat docks, we could be in San Marino anywhere from 6pm to 10pm tomorrow.
Hotel:
Wakeup: 6:00 ; Breakfast: 6:45 ; Depart: 7:30
On the way, we had a tour of various city buildings and the changing of the guard at Parliament. This short stop proved to be the highlight of the Greece trip! There are two guard dressed in traditional costume next to guardboxes. There is also a regular army man who speaks to people and makes sure all is ok. The traditional guards don't speak. They have the shoes with the huge pom poms on them. The shoes are made of wood and are apparently quite heavy - they also have studs and a horseshoe on the soles!
The new guards come marching in with this pecular step where they stop and wave one foot in the air, before stomping it down and then doing the same with the other. I took a movie of it. We were fascinated. The changing of the guard happens every hour and on SUndays they were the costume with the 400 pleated skirts. The 400 pleats represent the 400 years that Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
After this we headed up to the Acropolis. It was only 8:30 when we arrived and there were already dozens of buses. It was getting hot - about 29C when we arrived. From the bottom, the climb up looks enormous and we all sort of groaned. Dunno about these tours being ABC Another Bloody Church as more Another Bloody Staircase/Hill.
The guide took us up a pathway made of chunks of marble. You have to be constantly watching your feet in Europe with all the cobblestone and marble/stone paths. It proved to be less of a climb than we thought but having a few minutes break in the shade of a tree was now and again was most welcome. As we climbed, we could see all over Athens and Pyrios, the port (sp?).
The columns are huge and you have to wonder how they got all that stone up that hill! I wasn't as impressed though as I had been with Pompeii and Olympia. Maybe the hundreds of other tourists spoiled the moment :/
Then we piled back into the bus, to be taken to the oldest theatre in the world. We ended up at the start of the Plaka where we had been the other night (where the police and cars were). A short walk, straight straight straight, and we were in the ruins of the old theatre. We had seen this from above from the Acropolis which loomed above us. It was very hot now and most were just wanting to get back onto the bus and go. there were tortoises everywhere.
We stopped for lunch on the Corinth Canal. Where we had seen it a few days ago, it had been an enormous cutting, sheer rock walls dropping to the canal below. This part was the entrance to the sea and had gentle banks. There is a bridge which goes down into the water to allow ships through and we were lucky enough to see this. The bridge drops 12 metres - the canal is 9 metres deep here; the whole cancel is around 6km long.
Finally we reached Patras. As we drove to the port, Giorgio would coast up to the traffic lights. The illegal immigrants try to jump under buses and trucks to get through the port gates, if they stop. Greece has stopped giving assistance to these people as there are so many of them, so now they are trying to get to Italy, which has a softer policy. They had to move the Patras port gates a ways so they could get more control of who/what went into it. All along the road, there are fences to the port area with barbed wire or razor wire on the top. Along the roads, on the rocks near the main gates, they wait. There are police everywhere and all buses/trucks are thoroughly checked. Patricia said they even had one man who had climbed into the engine bay of a bus! If the hitchhikers are hurt or die, it is apparently the driver's fault.
This is one of the few places we have to show our passports although it is a fairly perfunctory check maybe because we are a tour group. We wait for Patricia to get the tickets then we climb back onto the bus. We had thought we would just be taken to the ship and go up the gangplank like on the last one but nooooo this is different. We stay on the bus as it drives into the ship's garages and up onto the top vehicle deck. Then we walk into reception. This is primarily a vehicle/freight ship. It carries around 300 trucks. Despite an official sailing time of 6pm, we leave over an hour later - greek time lol.
Our cabin is a 4 berth again but this one is big! We have 3 bunks made up, a desk and fridge, a Tv, a trouser press (???) and a shower you can actually turn around in. Pure luxury! We are going to be on this boat for the next 24 hours so it is nice to be comfortable.
Depending on when the boat docks, we could be in San Marino anywhere from 6pm to 10pm tomorrow.
Hotel:
Wakeup: 6:00 ; Breakfast: 6:45 ; Depart: 7:30
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