Athens was a disappointment. The traffic was horrible and the Parthenon didn't live up to expectations. Maybe was expecting too much or we didn't have enough time, but outside of the Parthenon, Athens was relatively ugly and uninteresting. Our guide was knowledgeable and told us a lot about Greece and Athens, but the sites themselves were not what I was expecting. Here are a few pictures.
The theatre at the foot of the Acropolis
Temple to Athena for granting the Greeks victory over the Persians.
Part of the Parthenon
More Parthenon. Note the it looks pretty plain along the top. That's because Lord Elgin stole the marble carvings and took them back to England. You can now see the"Elgin" marbles art the British museum. They are regarded as some of the most beautiful carvings of antiquity.
Another temple to Athena (actually all the temples on the Acropolis are to Athena--she was the patron goddess of Athens). The statues are caryatids.
We sailed at night from Athens to Santorini, where we meet up with the brand new sister ship to the Star, the Viking Sea. This was the first time that both ships had ever been in the same port. The Sea was on its shakedown cruise.
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Santorini, if you didn't know is the site of a massive volcanic explosion centuries before Christ. The eruption left one major island, Thera, and several smaller islands. For practical purposes Thera and Santorini are the same. We had a nice tour till a couple of towns on a very photogenic island.
We did see some unusual things. For instance, this is a vineyard.
We were told that at times the wind is so strong that grape vines have to be grown along the ground or else they are broken by the wind. Santorini has a long history of fine wines, mainly white and dessert wines.
One off the famous cave houses of Santorini. Most of the house is cut out of the rock behind the door.
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