Adriatic Cruise 2023

 A second day in Athens - the cruise is broken up into week-long sections, at the end of which a lot of people change over, so that's what was happening today. It's also a busy port. There have been several other cruise ships (admittedly there have been several at every port we've been to) and also many, many ferries of different sizes going to the islands. Hadrian's Gate Anyway, after breakfast we took the shuttle bus in to the Plaka district. That's the area at the base of the Acropolis. It's largely old buildings and lanes, and very touristy - cafes, shops, hotels. It was also another very hot day, 40+ degrees, so we abandoned any remaining plans to climb the Acropolis in the heat and crowds. Instead we wandered the outskirts of the hill, taking photos and got as far as the Filippapou Hill park and Socrates' Prison. Which turned out not to be a prison but the foundations of an old building. Acropolis The Prison of Socrates By then it was getting to hot, s...

 Today we woke up in Athens. And while we were keen to get out and explore a new city, our tour wasn't until the afternoon and it was going to be 40 degrees. So rather than exhaust ourselves by midday we decided to entertain ourselves around the ship. It seemed like almost everyone else had gone ashore and we had the ship to ourselves. We started down in the spa again, because I really like the whole hot/cold thing. Then we went up to the main pool, which was very humid and also deserted, and finally to the small plunge pool on the back deck. After reading for a while we had a light lunch and then it was time for the tour. This drove round a couple of the sights - the harbour district of Piraeus, a few public buildings and the old marble stadium. Then we were droopped off at the National Archeological Museum. This was very well presented and in many ways similar to yesterday's museum in Crete - it had a lot of Cycladic artifacts and then moved on to the Hellenic sculptures and ...