2019 Jewel of the Seas Greek Isles Cruise

2019 Jewel of the Seas Greek Isles Cruise - Athens Continued

August 14, 2021

Most stores weren’t open yet...I bet you can’t guess what our goal was...

did you guess food?

While Nate ordered his food I went to the little bakery two doors down and got myself a chocolate croissant...turned out to be the best I’d had so far.

so this was a new one for us...the green olive spread...tastes just like it sounds...i’m guessing green olives with olive oil? it was very good if you like olives

Nate’s meal

I wasn’t very impressed with this restaurant even though I didn’t try the food...we were there nearly 1.5hours just for Nate’s simple meal.

Once finally done we continued walking.

woohoo I found me another Sephora

There were 2 H&M stores within a block of each other...oh boy if I had come prepared with an all you can spend budget!!!!

Before we left on our trip I pulled up maps of Athens and looked for things we did not see last year: Parliament, Olympic Stadium, Archaeological Museum.

We headed for the Parliament building. We wouldn’t be able to see the changing of the guard but I at least wanted to see the building.

Nate wasn’t as interested in it as I was so I asked him to pull up the directions to the museum. Here’s where things started getting “off” for us...His phone had been working really well the whole trip but it chose now to have no signal. So I gave him mine...i only had limited data and text and pulling up the museum on maps took forever! We started in that direction...suffice it to say it took forever for us to get there...but we did walk through neighborhoods and local businesses....it always interests me to see how the locals live.

This building had a sign that said no signal...I think it was trying to tell us something

FINALLY...i didn’t time the walk but it had to be 30-40 minutes.

we both thought this was cool. we need more of these here!

welp...the Acropolis doesn’t cover the entry here...20euros later we entered. (note: they make you check any bags or backpacks at the front)

this artist was sketching away

was the museum worth our long walk and the 20euro? I’m honestly not so sure..though I did enjoy it. But where we ended up next was totally worth it.

As we continued our walk we started seeing huge police buses on every block...armed guards were everywhere...after a few blocks there were more and more.

We came to this...

shortly past him were several police n I just HAD to know. WHERE ARE WE??? Turns out we found ourselves in front of the Presidential Palace and Prime Ministers office. [emoji1787][emoji33]
ok...I’m here for this!!

I like this shot with the flag in the background too

Our Acropolis tickets did not cover this. We were hungry from all that walking so took a few pictures outside the entrance instead

We walked on. Heading towards Hadrian’s Arch which is across the street from the Plaka district, taxi stand and FOOD.

we passed beautiful gardens on the way

and came to the Temple of Zeus. Last year we didn’t go in so decided to this year. Especially because we didn’t feel like we got the full value from our upgraded Acropolis tickets.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Zeus,_Olympia

I like this one with the arch and the acropolis both in it

We picked Plakiotissa...and learned a lesson. We should have looked at reviews first. In hindsight I see it’s rated 2.5 stars on google.
We both got lamb gyros...at the time they tasted good but we both had upset stomachs that night. Also...we should have asked if they take Visa...every other restaurant we’d eaten at had so I didn’t think to by this point....
we went to pay the bill n they said cash only...but conveniently had an atm in their lobby with a $5 fee and cost $128 for 100euro.

Lessons learned...don’t be like us. :) It was still an enjoyable atmosphere and the wine was great but I without a doubt would not recommend this place.

did that meal ruin our day? not even a little bit not even at all...in fact the best was yet to come.

we took a taxi back to port for 35 euro and back on board at 4pm.

remember on our Crete day when I mentioned we met a lovely couple from AU, Aaron and Tracy? Well we had exchanged instagram info and all week had been trying to meet up for a drink.

When we got back on the ship we went up to deck 12 to take in the views, and they happened to be up there sitting with a large group. They invited us to join and we did. We all laughed and enjoyed stories together until 6:30! We decided we were the new UN...such a eclectic group of us: Americans, Aussies, Brits, and a couple folks from Dubai! I think one of the things I love so much about cruising is that everyone is there for the same purpose...and it makes it easier to talk or even not talk to people. We’ve met so many wonderful people over the years.

Nate and I had 3 Miami Vice each.

We enjoyed each other’s company so much we decided to do formal night dinner together and made plans to meet back outside Tides at 8:15.