Athens, Greece (Our Last Day!)

Athens is full of marble

We arrived in Athens (the Port of Piraeus) early in the morning. We did two visits from our ship to Athens on this day. Our first visit was a ‘panoramic’ tour of Athens by bus, and then a stop at the National Archeological Museum.

 

Athens is a modern looking city.

With the occasional surprise of ancient history popping up (the Acropolis).

We saw the Changing of the Guard at the Monument for the Unknown Soldier, in Syntagma Square.

We passed the Panathenaic stadium used in the 2004 Olympic games. It dates back to the 4^th century B.C., and was last rebuilt in 1896. It is solid marble.

On to the Archaeological Museum.

This burial mask was one of the oldest things in the museum. It dates from the Mycenaean culture, 1600-1100 BC, listed as the gold mask of Agamemnon.

This stone sculpture is from the Archaic period, around 575 BC. The facial expression is known as the “archaic smile.” It is a very stylized depiction of the human body.

We saw this beautiful bronze statue of Poseidon (or Zeus - it’s debated), 460 BC. He is bigger than life sized, and full of energy, ready to hurl a thunder bolt at his enemy. It is an example of Early Classical Greek art, still somewhat idealized, but very life-like. It was found at the bottom of the sea off cape Artemision, in north Euboea,  because some conquerer had pilfered it to bring home, and the boat sunk on the journey. A number of the statues in the museum owe their existence to that ship wreck.

 

This marble Aphrodite was made about 300 BC and is an example of the Classical Style, completely life-like.

This bronze statue of a young jockey on his horse date about 140 BC. There is nothing idealized about him, just an ordinary person doing his job. (Sami here - my year of studying art history made me need to put everything in the order of date and style.)

There was much, much more, and we saw it at a fast pace.  We re-boarded the bus for a little more exploring of down town Athens.

Hadrian's Gate, 130 A.D.

 

Here’s the Acropolis topped by the Parthanon (not the best viewpoint, and we didn’t have time to go to the top)...

We returned to our ship for a rest, and then came back in to Athens for our evening activity, the final tour for our cruise. First we went to the seventh floor of the Royal Olympic Hotel for a night-time vista of Athens, and a glass of champagne. Then we went on a walk in the old-town Plaka district, and had dinner, complete with traditional dancing and music at the Geleneksel Yunam Tevernas restaurant.

 

This was one of a long series of "CHEERS!" for our trip.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

We passed this shop along the way. They must have seen us coming.

In Greece we learned the word "Opa!" - a Greek expression of enthusiasm.

Good night Athens...

Mykonos and the Sacred Isle of Delos

(Don here) Mykonos is the name of both the Island and its main town. We arrived in port around 8:00 am. Mykonos, the town, has a population about the size of Ashland. It is surprising that such a small place can directly dock a cruise ship.

 

Mykonos is known for its white buildings with turquoise blue shutters.

Our floating hotel

Following breakfast, we disembarked and directly boarded the Delos Express, a smaller boat that took us to Delos Island, about a 40-minute trip. We explored the town of Mykonos when we returned.

 

This was the coldest day on the trip, in the 50s, but beautifully bright and sunny.

Delos Island is a Greek Island in the Aegean sea. It is covered with ruins dating back several millennium before the birth of Christ.

Here we saw some of the oldest artifacts of our entire trip.

A little history will help put what we saw in perspective. The Island of Delos is important in Greek mythology, as it is the birth place of Apollo, the god of light, and of his sister, Artemis, and had temples honoring many Greek gods and some from other countries as well. It has a long history. It was a spiritual center and one of learning as well as a center of commerce. It was most prosperous in late Hellenistic and Roman times, when it was declared a free port and became the financial and trading center of the Mediterranean. By 100 B.C. the island had a population of 30,000. But in 88 B.C., Mithridates, the king of Pontus, attacked the island as part of a revolt against Roman rule. The entire population was killed or sold into slavery.  The Romans partially rebuilt the city, but revival was prevented by continuous pirate raids. Delos was gradually abandoned, leaving extensive, although pirated, remains.

Formal excavation work began in 1872 by the French School of Archaeology, which still continues today. Seeing Delos was like being in a time machine set back thousands of years. Some of the entire town remains complete with the remnants of homes, temples, and places of business, as well as a water and sewage system.
 

This was a temple honoring Dionysus, the god of wine and good times. From Rome to Athens we saw temples honoring him.

House of Dionysus floor mosaic.

Delos is very hot and dry. This is part of an ancient water storage system. It had a roof when the town was alive.

This out door Theater was used for oration and learning. We are sitting in the donor's seats. The trough in front of us would have held water that evaporated and kept us cool. (Sami here, I think the kitty got as much attention as our guide.)

The down spout of a rain gutter.

The Terrace of Lions is almost 3,000 years old

We saw no cats in Italy but everywhere else there were always cats hanging out. This pretty gray boy followed us all around Delos and was super sweet and friendly.

We returned to the town of Mykonos and explored it before we returned to the ship.

Mykonos is known for its white-washed buildings with blue trim. It was quiet when we were there... definitely off-season. During tourist season, it is a vacation hot spot, known for clubs, music, and being gay-friendly.

We were a little too cold to put our feet in, but we had to get a photo of the Aegean Sea.

The sun was setting as we re-boarded the Viking Star. Good bye Mykonos and Delos, we had a wonderful time!

Rhodes, (Part 2) Jewish Heritage

Soaked to my knees.

(Sami here) The second day in Rhodes dawned beautifully bright, although the forecast was for rain. Our tour that day was titled “Rhodes – Jewish Heritage.” We set out in the morning on a bus to view of the countryside and then a walk through the Jewish cemetery. After that we returned to town for a visit to the Sephardic synagogue, Kahal Shalom built in 1577.

A red Viking hat and a cheap scarf from Rhodes were my two souvenirs of our trip.

A view out the tour bus window as we drove through the countryside.

Most of the Jews living on Rhodes were Sephardic Jews, Jews from Spain who fled the inquisition in 1492. For centuries they had a thriving community and culture on Rhodes. When the Italians took over Greece, anti-Semitic laws were enacted and the Jews were harassed. Finally the cemetery was moved out of town to its present location. On the way, tomb stones were taken for material to build Italian monuments.

The cemetery was a solemn and beautiful place well cared for by mostly overseas descendants of the Rhodes Jews. It was full of bits of tombstones that had been found abandoned by history. There were rows of crypts from the old location, and there was also a monument to the Rhodes Jews who were killed in Auschwitz, most of the island’s Jewish population.

One of my favorite trip photos

After our visit to the cemetery we drove back to town.

On our way to the Synagogue it began to rain.

And POUR!

I was wearing my "Toms" and I might as well have been barefoot, but the rest of me was lovely and dry, thanks to the travel poncho Don had packed and my umbrella. It was a warm day and so I was comfortable.

After WW II, only one the several synagogues on Rhodes survived, the Kahal Shalom synagogue (built in 1577). It is still used by the small Jewish population of Rhodes

In the synagogue was a memorial with all of the names of the approximately 4,000 Rhodes Jews who were sent to Auschwitz. Only 150 of them survived the Holocaust.

After we lingered in the little museum adjacent to the church we walked back to the shops. The rain began pouring again, so we ducked into a cafe and had some yummy fried calamari with Tzatziki dip, made of yogurt, dill and cucumbers. A Rhodes tradition for tourists was to drink "beer from a boot," commemorating the Colossus of Rhodes. This was the perfect time for that. The rain continued and we took our time with the beer and snacks. Finally we took a photo together with our server (a young Muslim man from Bangladesh).

This young man from Bangladesh greeted customers

Our view as we sipped beer. Happy with this photo.

This flower is another favorite shot, it shows the bright sunshine after the rain.

Then we wound our way back to the ship through the "Water Gate," one of the seven gates in the old city walls.