Thursday – Piraeus and Athens, Greece
Today, we arrived in the port of Piraeus, in Greece. It was another relatively early start, in order to get up on deck and see whereabouts we were. Piraeus is a large port, so it pays to establish your bearings as soon as possible. After a hearty breakfast, we got our things together and went ashore. Today’s objective was to get to Athens, about 8km North of Piraeus. Once again, we’d decided we would do our own thing instead of just booking places on a tour, so our first challenge was to find transport.
Taxi drivers outside the terminal building were all quoting 20 euros for a one-way trip, but we figured there must be a regular bus route to the capital, so after asking a few more questions, one taxi driver pointed in a direction somewhere just outside the cruise terminal perimeter, and told us we needed the 040 bus…
This was all very well, but outside, it was busy busy busy, and we simply didn’t know which way to turn, or where we would find such a bus, so we started walking….
We came to another entrance, where hundreds of passengers were disembarking from another ship, looking for their excursion buses, in the midst of which where two or three sightseeing buses, each of which boasted a hop-on-hop-off service to Athens. We asked one of the operatives who was standing alone, supervising things, how much it would cost to hop-on one of his buses, and he told us it would cost 20 euros – the same as a taxi. We pushed him on the notion of a regular local bus-service, and he pointed in the direction of a bus stop on the opposite side of the busy road – he confirmed that we needed the 040 bus, but advised that a taxi ride would be more appropriate… we thanked him and diced with death in order to get to the bus stop.
Once at the bus stop, we cast our eyes down the timetable, but couldn’t see an 040. Eventually, we asked an elderly bloke who was sat there waiting, which bus we needed to get to Athens, and he told us we needed the 049 to Omonia. Hm… We were a little uncertain about this. What on earth was Omonia? Was it Greek for Athens? Had the kind, but elderly bloke, understood us at all?….
When the 049 finally turned up, the old bloke gesticulated towards it… this was the one… go for it… so we did!
The bus ride took about 20 minutes. When we got on, the first thing we wondered was; how do we pay for tickets? No-one else seemed to be paying the driver, who seemed, for the most part, to be ignoring everyone, so we just sat down. We both had a bit of a nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right; in the whole of the journey, no money changed hands at all. As the bus started to fill up quite considerably, we noticed that some passengers seemed to have tickets, and some not. A sign just inside the automatic doors warned passengers they should validate their ticket, otherwise there could be a fine of up to 20-times its value – but where to get the tickets from?….
We started to worry that the ticket police might board at any moment and drag us off in irons for not having one, but it never happened. Omonia, as it turns out, is an area right in the centre of Athens, so we alighted from the bus at a point when the greatest exodus of other passengers seemed to take place. Once off the bus, I think we both expected to hear the cries of outraged authority behind us…. but it never happened. We still don’t know what ticketing system they were using – and in these times of financial hardship…. here’s a thing; Greece… try charging for bus-rides – it might bring in a bit of cash!
Once we’d got our bearings, we started making our way towards where we believed the Acropolis to be. This took us down the length of a very long, busy street, on which we came across the most awesome meat market either us had ever laid our eyes on. It was huge – and bustling – with just about every cut of meat you could think of hanging in long rows of stalls, each of which was brightly lit, and manned by colourful characters doing what market traders do the world over… make a lot of noise. The market was a chance discovery, but absolutely well worth the diversion… fantastic!
Finally, we made it to the Acropolis. This is a large, sacred rock, upon which sits The Parthenon, and a couple of other smaller, but no less important temples. As we climbed the steps towards the entrance to buy our tickets, the numbers of people grew, until we were surrounded by hoards of visitors – many of whom were in excursion groups, but also independent travellers – this was a Thursday; I can’t begin to imagine how much busier it must be of a weekend. The views across the city of Athens were breathtaking; like a huge white carpet of buildings, it spreads off in all directions, as far as the eye can see… as far as the distant, shimmering mountains beyond.
We joined the heaving throng of visitors and made our way up the steps to The Parthenon, the largest, and most impressive of the temples to be found here (dedicated to the goddess Athena, and the oldest of the buildings still standing). It’s as impressive as we expected; the only slightly disappointing thing about it was the scaffolding and cranes that currently surround it. My first thought was; they’re going to take some photoshop-ing out! It’s a shame, really, but one can understand the Greek’s desire to maintain the integrity of its ancient past – it’s still, and always will be, a very bankable item.
Across the way from The Parthenon is the Erechtheion; a far better preserved, and stunning piece of architecture to gaze upon and photograph. On our way back down, we chanced upon more riches; an area billed as The City of Agora. It was a chance discovery because it wasn’t very well signposted, and was accessed via a walkway that we weren’t even sure was where we should be going – turned out to be another gem; a smaller version of The Parthenon, Hephaistos Temple, stood proud amidst the trees, in which were hidden other treasures – an old, ornate church, and a museum. As we approached, we realised that there was a ticket booth there, and, thinking we were going to be asked for another entrance fee, we almost didn’t proceed – until we were told that all we needed was our Acropolis tickets for admission…. what value! 12 euros each had bought us an absorbing, and memorable day!
Needless to say, after chilling out at a bar, which seemd to take forever to serve drinks, and pottering around a market for a while, we took a taxi back to the port. The taxi driver was so full of life, and quite funny, despite the fact that we barely understood a word he said, and he barely understood a word we said, we even gave him a little extra…. (he only charged us 15 euros!)
We left Piraeus at 6pm, to a stunning sunset over the distant hills of Greece. What can I say? A thoroughly memorable day indeed!
