ATHENS: Ancient City in Modern Times

Our Black Sea cruise was coming to an end. Cruising is a wonderful way to see new destinations; a taste of what a city, a country or even a culture is like. This was my first trip to Romania and the Ukraine and I already want to go back. I have to see Transylvania and the Caucasus Mountains, plus going back to Odessa and spending a few days mid-week would enable me to visit the museums I missed that were closed on Saturdays and maybe check on my roots.

We arrived into Athens in the early morning and it was a sad time as we said goodbye to our newly-made friends. Some of the group had decided to stay with us in Athens for a few days; others were going directly to the airport for their flights back to Los Angeles.
For Marjorie Handel and me it was déjà vu. When we first started our travels so many years ago, we spent weeks in Athens and the Greek Isles. We were looking forward to being back.

On the way to the hotel we took a short city tour and our guide pointed out several churches, museums, monuments and government buildings. Our first stop was Panathinaiko Stadium where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896.
As we drove into the city center you could hear the oohs and ahhs as we got our first glimpse of The Acropolis of Athens, sitting high on a hill overlooking the modern city of Athens.
We continued our city tour ending at Syntagma Square, the central hub of the city and our hotel, The Grande Bretagne.

Once we checked into the hotel everyone took off to see the city on foot. Most of us headed for the Plaka, one of Athens most famous, old neighborhoods filled with restaurants, souvenir shops, jewelry stores and nightclubs. The Plaka is open from early morning to late at night and is the center of Athens’s nightlife. Carolyn Groves, Bill and Marjorie Handel, Sally Lovers and Chuck Lovers take a break in one of the local restaurants.
My favorite food is Thai and I never tire of the foods in China, Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand. One of Marjorie’s favorite foods is Greek--she was in heaven. We stopped in a small, local restaurant and started ordering. There were six of us and we wanted to taste everything: Greek salad, tzatziki (cucumbers and spiced yogurt), souvlaki (lamb skewers with vegetables), hummus and my favorite, spanakopita, a spinach pie baked in filo dough. It was wonderful.

In the evening we were back in the Plaka enjoying another delightful Greek meal and a floorshow. Tom Dobbertin, Glenn Salisbury and Bruce Harris joined the cast for some Greek dancing. It was a fun evening.
While most of the group stayed for two nights, Marjorie and I stayed for four nights. We said our goodbyes to Bill and the group and off we went. We stopped at the Parliament building across from our hotel and watched the changing of the guards.

They really have cute costumes and put on quite the show. I wonder if having “nice legs” are a criteria to be a guard!!!?
Next we walked to the Benaki Museum. Compared to other museums in Athens, the Benaki is small but features more of the art and culture of both ancient and modern Greece.

It is wonderfully organized--the bottom floor covers ancient Greece and each floor covers different periods of Greek history. On display are wonderful photographs, religious art, costumes and writings.

Next we headed for the National Archaeological Museum, the largest museum in Greece and considered one of the world’s great museums.
Originally it was established to secure all the finds from the 19th Century excavations in and around Athens. Through the years it became the central museum in Greece for archeological finds and now has more than 20,000 exhibits that provide a panorama of Greek civilization from the beginnings of prehistory to late antiquity.

Trying to see a museum of this magnitude is almost impossible without a guide, unless you have unlimited time and energy. Several members of our group, who had been on an in-depth tour the previous day, recommended their guide, Antonia, and she met Marjorie and me at the museum. Thank goodness for Antonia. She took us through the highlights of the museum including the Sculpture collection, which presents the development of Greek sculpture from large-scale sculpture (7th Century B.C.) to the late Roman period (4th Century A.D).

Since Marjorie and I were taking a day trip the following day to the Argolis region including Mycenae and Epidaurus, we were particularly interested in the Mycenaean collection. The objects in the collection come from the late Bronze Age and were found in graves and settlements that date from 1600 to 1100 B.C.
The masks that were found in Mycenae are wonderful. This is the mask of Agamemnon.

We spent several hours in the museum before heading up to The Acropolis.

This really brought back memories. Today many of the buildings are under renovation and you can no longer can walk in the Parthenon or other buildings. Like many historical sights around the world, you look from afar.

The Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis were built by Pericles in the 5th Century B.C.as a monument to the cultural and political achievements of the inhabitants of Athens.

The following morning we were up bright and early for our tour to Mycenae. Years ago Marjorie and I drove the same roads as we toured mainland Greece. We stopped in Corinth to see the famous Corinth Canal, which separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece and connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf.
The Corinth Canal, though only completed in the late 19th Century, was an idea and dream that dates back over 2000 thousand years.

We visited Mycenae and entered the “city” through the Lions Gate to the royal grave site where the masks (we saw in the Archeological Museum) were discovered. The ruins of Ancient Mycenae date back to the Second Millennium B.C. Though most of the original city state has been destroyed over time, parts of the Acropolis that overlooked a fertile plains still remain.

We continued on to Epidaurus, a healing center as well as a cultural center in ancient times.
Epidaurus was built around the 3rd Century B.C. and it is adorned with a multitude of buildings, most famous of which is the ancient Theater of Epidaurus.

The day was wonderful and brought back many memories. I do believe it was easier the last time we visited here; I don’t remember my knees rebelling quite as much as we hiked up to the ancient ruins!!!

We left early the following morning for our flight home. It had been an amazing trip. If you’re looking for a new travel destination I highly recommend a cruise to the Black Sea, and definitely an extended stay in Greece.