Athens

We docked in Piraeus early this morning and as I looked out I saw this ship (in extras) bearing down on us!! I quickly realised that it was the fuel supply vessel which has been tied up next to us for 9hrs!! I bet that’s a hefty bill.

Our trip today was to Athens, about 7 miles away, to see the Acropolis. The blip shows The Caryatides, the only one of my pictures that isn’t populated by tourists!!

As we drove in to the city the roads and pavements were eerily empty!! It is Easter Monday here (Greek Orthodox calendar), so a bank holiday and a sleep in for the population. We were amongst the first of the coaches to arrive at the Acropolis, but it quickly got extremely busy. There were the usual mixture of visitors from the UK, States, Australia etc, and a considerable number of Russians and people from the China & Japan.
A city tour on the way back to the ship, showed some of the locals on the move.

We hear a great deal in the media about the financial state of Greece and their debts. On the way out we saw many new developments and no sign of poverty, but on the way back it was a different situation. Many shops and business showrooms were empty and boarded up and they were covered in graffiti!!! Even beautiful historic buildings we scribbled on!! The guide was asked about it and responded that no one gets punished for doing it so it’s seen as fair game!! 

We enjoyed the FI from Sochi on the TV last night, good going Lewis!!!