Having never been to Athens before, we were fortunate to share the day with our very own Greek goddess - Joanne (and of course, Garry) in a taxi with Jordan, our very own Greek godfather!!
Disembarking at 7.00am, we were at the Acropolis before the crowds and so were able to freely wander around without the crowds. Jordan seemed determined to turn us into students of Archeology, and he gave 5 minute lectures before each stop, and them tested us when we got back into the car - Garry decided to stir him by deliberately giving him the wrong answer - to get a punch in the arm accompanied by a ‘Garry, Garry, Garry’ and a resigned shake of the Greek head!! At the end of the day, as we neared the port, Jordan once again questioned us about the temples and the gods, and the history of the Olympics etc - Garry showed remarkable improvement - straight A results - and Jordan took all the credit for his new Greek protege!!
Greece is the land of Gods and Goddess - mythical of course - and each one seems to have a temple and an accompanying legend - which gave Jordan heaps to talk about as we drove around - we visited all the usual historical sites - The Acropolis, Pantheon, Propylea, Temple of Athena Nike, Diana, The Ancient Agora, Hadrian’s Arch, The Olympic Stadium and the Plaka for some shopping.
 |
| My head hurts! |
 |
| A Greek goddess???? |
The highlight for me was our stop for the changing of the guard at the home of the President. Dressed in traditional Greek Army dress - these young men who are national Service soldiers, stood in front of their small guard houses without blinking - we tried to get them to blink or smile, they are so well trained - it didn’t matter what we did - we couldn’t get them to move a muscle - and then at quarter past every hour - without warning, on some invisible signal, they spring to life and follow an ‘unusual’ marching step - you just have to see it, impossible to describe without laughing - to process down the street for the change. If you have ever seen the John Cleese skit about the ‘Ministry of funny walks’ - then you will have some idea of the hysterical steps they take. I was just walking back past one of the guard houses after taking photos - when suddenly - a high kick from a pompom covered wooden shoe hit me right in the butt!! I spun around but he didn’t even flinch!!
Each guard marches slowly from his guard house to the centre of the block, to meet up with the guard from the opposite corner. When they meet, the supervisor comes along and fusses like a mother hen to straighten their uniform - he straightened the strands coming from the hat and re-creased the pleats on their skirt (I half expected him to pull out a hanky and spit on it to wipe their mouth) - before giving the signal for them to swap places with the new guards, and marching across the street. Each soldier stands guard for one hour before being replaced and then coming back to repeat the whole process in five hours.
After a wonderful family style Greek lunch in a suburban restaurant - we didn’t want to eat in the touristy places - we drove down the coast to Cape Sounion for a visit to the Temple of Poseidon - located on a picturesque outcrop over the sea. It was a welcome change to spend some time out of the city, in the Greek countryside.
 |
| Temple of Poseidon |
On the way back, Jordan decided it was time for a break, so he stopped at a roadside stall and came back with a mysterious bag of goodies. Further along, he pulled off the highway, and we walked down to take off our shoes, and sit down on a rocky outcrop - Jordan had bought beers for the boys and Joanne and I had a bottle of water - it was a very hot day, so we enjoyed a quite interlude dangling our feet into the Aegean Sea while sipping a cold drink and sharing a few jokes - heavenly!!
 |
| Does life get any better than this? |
All too soon, we were back on the ship just in time for the last call - I was the third last person onto the ship - so once again - we had wrung every minute from our day in the Greek ruins with Apollo, Athena, Zeus, Hadrian, Pericles and Poseidon - another place to come back to again!!
No comments:
Post a Comment