The Acropolis had some excavation and reconstruction going on and the place was PACKED. With the start of summer upon us and 5 cruise ships in port, there was no shortage of tourism.
The Temples to Athena, Dionysus, and all of the other Greek Deities were all overwhelming and huge, yet quite impersonal, much unlike Ephesus. In Turkey, the land seemingly came to life amidst rebuilding, in Athens, it looked like remains of an old civilization.
We drove by the original stadium built for the First Olympics in the 1800s and
The temple to Zeus and Hadrians Arch were the perfect opening into the market area of Plaka.
Lunch of lamb with rice and a tzatziki dip paired with amazing Greek wine finished up the afternoon.
Today, we are in Chania, Crete. 8am found us visiting the Souda War Cemetery, which is the final resting place of 2200 British, Australian and New Zealand armed troops. This was one of the most manicured and serene cemeteries that we have ever seen.
Next, we visited the Monastery of Agia Triada (holy trinity) and experienced a better understanding of the Greek Orthodox Religion.
A quick visit to the plateau cemetery where Cretes most important political figure, Venizelos, was buried then we were off to Chania for shopping.
It's surprising to me that the Greek tour guides are quicker to be rid of us, then to take advantage and try to teach us more about their history and culture.
If I could redo one thing about this portion of the trip, would be to hire a private guide that actually knew what they were speaking about.
Tomorrow is the last day at sea, then Fiumicino, Italy for a night, then home... Back to reality.
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