We departed the cruise ship this morning promptly at 7:00 and headed directly from the port of Piraeus to the Acropolis in Athens. Our goal was to get up to the top before the majority of the cruise ship excursions (and there were plenty of them later in the morning!) got there. This group has been fantastic and cooperative with lots of 7:00 am starts - we've noticed the difference that just a few minutes makes. The morning light for our pictures has been inspiring and for the most part, we've beat the crowds each and every time. By the time we're done with a tour of a site and have free time, other tour groups are just getting started. This is thanks in no small part to our guide Maria and our group's understanding nature.
The morning sun bathed the Parthenon in a warm, golden light that once again made us feel as if we were in the middle of a postcard. The construction techniques mastered by the Ancient Greeks are astounding. In order to create the optical illusion of perfectly straight columns, each column was constructed with curved lines - the Greeks understood that human eyes would interpret the slightly curved lines of the columns to be straight, thus making the entire building look balanced and perfectly constructed.
When we were done admiring the buildings on the Acropolis and the panorama of Athens, we walked down to the Plaka district, passing by the old Roman Agora and the ruins of Hadrian's Library. Once in the Plaka, we had a few hours to shop, enjoy a plate of gyros or otherwise enjoy the warm autumn sun. The afternoon was spent exploring Athens on our own or resting and repacking our suitcases at the hotel - a nice, leisurely way to end our time in Greece. This evening we enjoyed dinner, music and dancing at a taverna in the Plaka district - a fun and entertaining conclusion to our time in Greece.
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