I continue to reach back into my archives today to provide more armchair adventures as the world reels under the coronavirus pandemic. Like you, Peggy and I are ‘sheltering at home’ while reliving past travel experiences and dreaming of future ones. They will come.
Athens was grumpy. Several years of extravagant spending by the Greek government and its citizens had come home to roost. The European Union had required steep austerity measures in Greece as the price of a pulling the nation back from the brink of fiscal chaos. Nothing was spared from spending cuts including social services, wages and pensions. A massive influx of impoverished immigrants and a nascent neo-Nazi movement added to the country’s woes. Everyone was expected to make sacrifices to help solve the crisis.
Since sacrifices are best made by someone else, there had been massive strikes and violence in the country.
We didn’t know what to expect but had decided to see Athens on our own. Tours offered by the cruise line are very expensive. They help assure a healthy profit margin. There is little encouragement for independent exploration. No handy-dandy sheets are handed out saying this is what you should do if you want to see such and such on your own.
Normally our self-guided tours worked great but Athens proved to be challenging.
From the moment we stepped off the ship, taxi drivers offering tours inundated us. Tourism had dropped with the fiscal crisis and was dropping even farther with the end of the tourist season. The air of desperation turned to rudeness when it was discovered we were planning to use public transit. Finding the right bus stop and the right bus turned out difficult, however. When we finally did find the bus, it was leaving. Out of frustration I turned to a taxi driver. We were able to hire two taxis for an all day tour for the six of us that was substantially less than the cruise tours.
Was it worth all the hassle? Absolutely.
Much of who we are in the West evolved from what happened in the City State of Athens between 500 and 350 BC. We visited the cradle of democracy and walked where Socrates and Plato had walked. We climbed up the Acropolis and admired the Parthenon and other buildings that have been a major inspiration for Western architecture for 2000 years. We watched the changing of the guard at the Prime Minister’s residence, visited the site of the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, and concluded our tour with an expensive but excellent Greek meal.
On Friday we will return to Athens and discover what gave Zeus his horrendous headache.
Wandering through Time and Place 
Hello to you Curt and Peggy! . Great post. Boy has your wanderlust wings been clipped with this. I especially enjoyed this photo essay of yours because it displayed size and perspective so well of some truly remarkable structures.
May you and all your loved ones stay safe, and know in your hearts that this too shall pass. Thank you.
Yep, we are missing our travels. We’d be in Guatemala right about now. But, as you say, it will pass. And we are thankful that we have a great place to hunker down in the meantime. Take care. And thanks. –Curt
As I’ve always told you, Curt… you show places I’ll never see in this lifetime!
Now for today’s lesson…..
The Parthenon is a great backdrop.
Pretty hard to beat, huh. 🙂
Good post Curt. One of my favourite cities even though Kim was robbed on the metro and a thief stole her camera and all of her holiday memories.
Oooh-ouch. They tried it with us on the metro but we caught them in the act and made lots of noise. They were primarily interested in getting away. Another person was carrying several thousand dollars (who knows why) and thought it would be safer on him than in the hotel safe. Bad decision.
I had my pocket picked in Barcelona. I was upset about that but thinking about it had to admire his skill!
They are good. I felt something move my pocket, however, and slapped it hard! 🙂
I may have mentioned this before, but in Mr. Ratcliff’s 9th grade Western Civ class, I utilized a shoebox to make a diorama of the Parthenon. That was the class where I learned to distinguish among the columns on our bank, the Methodist church, and the courthouse, and got to be part of the chorus in a Greek drama. Bedsheet togas are the best!
First time I heard about the diorama, Linda. Sounds like it is was quite the lesson. And topped off by participating in a Greek drama. Hopefully no one was having their eyes put out. The only diorama I created was in the fourth grade where I made a Western Fort that came with a stagecoach. 🙂 Peg’s mom took a group of high school students to Greece on a field trip. She loved it. –Curt
Great sense of scale in your photos, Curt. Thanks for taking us to Athens! Can’t wait for the next part.
Now, you’ll get Dubrovnik, Kelly. 🙂
I remember the sense of awe about the history of democracy, and just history in general when I visited back in 1980. It looked dirtier then, I think they were just getting started with cleaning up the monuments.
It certainly was a ‘Cradle of Civilization’ in the truest sense of the word, Dave. So few people, actually, and so much influence. And yes, there was a lot of renovation going on when we were there. –Curt
Loved the Acropolis and all the buildings. Was not expecting so much repair when we were there last November, but was fascinated by the time they were taking adding more mortar (or that’s what it looked like) to stabilize the columns. I’d go back there in a heartbeat!
Me, too Rusha. Athens, like Rome, could keep us busy for a month and we’d still just be scratching the surface! –Curt