Touring Athens

The next day, Tuesday, Oct. 9, we arrived in Athens at 7 a.m. We immediately joined an 8 a.m. bus tour of Athens, which took us by the Temple of Zeus, the National Gardens, the Parliment and the grounds of the first modern Olympics. The tour finished at the Acropolis atop a rocky hill overlooking Athens. It was quite a hike uphill but entirely worth it.
There we saw the ruins of the Parthenon, built in the 5th century B.C. as a temple to the goddess Athena. While little remains after the ravages of time and looting by the British, one can still get a historical sense of the glory that was once there, particularly from the porch of the maidens or Caryatids.
Much of the grounds is still undergoing renovation and preservation and was fenced off. As long as you stayed on the public areas, you could go wherever you wished. But if you stepped over the line or even stood on top of a granite stone as I did, a guard would quickly but politely wave you off.
Just below the hilltop is the Rock of the Aeropagos where St. Paul preached to Athenians in 51 A.D. To Peter and I, this place was very special so we climbed the rock. Unfortunately, neither of us had a homily at hand to preach to the tourists.
After a half-day touring Athens, we passed up an opportunity to do some shopping in Athens and returned to the ship. Some of us took a nap, some went onto the Internet.
I opted to go to the solarium, which was virtually empty and just warm enough despite the overcast sky. The large pool was cool and the jacuzzi was warm and it was a very peaceful place to read and listen to my iPod and read a good book.
As you can see, the solarium was nicely decorated sculptures and columns and plants.